APPENDIX. ADDITIONAL STANZAS OF "THE VISION* In a letter to Mrs. Dunlop of January 15, 1787, Burns speaks of certain stanzas of The Vision which he had omitted from the printed copy. A manuscript of ten leaves, in Burns's handwriting, has been preserved, which contains The Vision unabridged, as it stood in 1786 The Gloomy Night is Gathering Fast - The Lass of Ballochmyle — My Nanie, 0— Handsome Nell-Song in the Character of a Ruined Farmer - Song, Though Cruel Fate should bid us Part— and Misgivings of Despondency on the Approach of the Gloomy Monarch of the Grave; all of them being poeins which did not appear in the first edition, but most of which were inserted in the Edinburgh, or second edition. From allusions, the MS. was undoubtedly written after July 1786, and before the Edinburgh edition came out. By the liberality of Mr. Dick, bookseller, Ayr, present proprietor of the MS., we are enabled to present such portions of its contents as have not seen the light. After 18th stanza of printed copies: With secret throes I marked that earth, And near I saw, bold issuing forth In youthful pride, A Lindsay, race of noble worth, Famed far and wide. Where, hid behind a spreading wood, A female pair; Sweet shone their high maternal blood, An ancient tower 2 to memory brought Who "far in western "3 climates fought, There, where a sceptred Pictish shade I saw a martial race portrayed In colours strong;4 Bold, sodger-featured, undismayed, They stalked along. 1 Sundrum.-B. Mr. Hamilton of Sundrum was married to a sister of Colonel Montgomery of Coilsfield; consequent ly, Burns felt a great interest in the family. The female pair were Misses Lillias and Margaret Hamilton, the latter of whom was living in 1851. 2 Stair.-B. 8 These words are written over the original in another band. 4 The Montgomeries of Coilsfield Among the rest I well could spy A diamond water; I blest that noble badge with joy That owned me frater.1 After the 20th stanza: Near by arose a mansion fine,2 With holly crowned, But th' ancient, tuneful, laurelled Nine, I mourned the card that Fortune dealt, That village near; 4 There Nature, Friendship, Love I felt, Fond-mingling dear. Hail! Nature's pang, more strong than death! 1 Captain James Montgomery, Master of St. James's Lodge Torbolton, to which the author has the honour to belong.-B. 2 Auchinleck. B. The poet here pays a compliment to the Boswell family, and particularly to the biographer of Johnson. 8 Ballochmyle. The Whitefoords were at this time parting with the property. 4 Mauchline. Love, dearer than the parting breath "Not even "1 with life's wild devious path, Your force shall end! The power that gave the soft alarms, While lovely Wilhelmina warms After the 21st: The coldest heart.? Where Lugar leaves his moorland plaid,3 I marked busy, bustling Trade, In fervid flame, Beneath a patroness's aid, Of noble name; While countless hills I could survey, That better please, Where polished manners dwelt with Gray 1 Originally written "only." 2 A compliment to Miss Wilhelmina Alexander, the "Bonny Lass of Ballochmyle," in whom certainly, when Maria Whitefoord departed, the poetic worshipper of beauty found a new goddess not inferior to the former divinity, 3 Cumnock. — B. 4 Mr. Farquhar Gray. - B. Where Cessnock pours with gurgling sound, Slow runs his race, A name I doubly honoured found,2 With knightly grace. Brydone's brave ward, I saw him stand, Lamenting their late blessed land Must change its lord. The owner of a pleasant spot, But large in every feature wrote, Auchinskieth. Caprington.-B. Cunningham of Caprington, Baronet Colonel Fullarton.-B. Dr. Fullarton. - B. 5 Orangefield. B. Mr. Dalrymple of Orangefield, near Arr, was an active patron of Burns. |