Within a week before his removal from amongst us, Mr. Glassford Bell was engaged in correcting the proofs of the present edition. He had selected from a mass of MSS. and other material what new pieces he thought worthy of insertion in this enlarged edition—he had rearranged the whole and finally revised the greater part of the volume, which it was his intention to preface with a Memoir and Criticism. He looked forward to accomplishing this labour of love in a period of retirement from more active work which he had proposed to pass in Italy.
It has been thought inadvisable to commit to other hands the unexpectedly interrupted task. For a statement of the few and simple vicissitudes of the Poet’s career, as well as a brief but discriminating estimate of his rank in our literature, the reader is referred to the speech—at the close of the volume—delivered by Mr. Bell, nine years ago, on the inauguration of the Monument in the “Auld Aisle” Burying-ground. Of the movement which resulted in this tribute to departed genius, the late Sheriff was one of the most active promoters. Himself a poet, and a generous patron of all genuine art, the West of Scotland has known no “larger heart” or “kindlier hand.” There is something suggestive in the fact that his last effort was to throw another wreath on the early tomb of David Gray.
March, 1874.
CONTENTS.
| page | |
| The Luggie, | [ 1] |
| In the Shadows, | [63] |
Miscellaneous Poems. | |
| A Winter Ramble, | [99] |
| The Home-Comer, | [104] |
| My Brown Little Brother of Three, | [108] |
| The “Auld Aisle,” | [111] |
| To Jeanette, | [120] |
| The Poet and His Friend, | [124] |
| The Two Streams, | [127] |
| Evening, | [132] |
| The Love-Tryst, | [134] |
| An Epistle to a Friend, | [139] |
| A Vision of Venice, | [145] |
| The Anemone, | [150] |
| The Yellowhammer, | [154] |
| The Cuckoo, | [158] |
| Fame, | [161] |
| Honeysuckle, | [164] |
| Where the Lilies Used to Spring, | [167] |
| Snow, | [170] |
| October, | [175] |
| The Roman Dyke, | [179] |
Sonnets. | |
| Ezekiel, | [183] |
| The Mavis, | [184] |
| Despondency, | [185] |
| The Moon, I., II., | [186] |
| The Luggie, I., II., III., | [188] |
| Thomas the Rhymer, | [191] |
| The Lime-Tree, | [192] |
| The Brooklet, | [193] |
| Maidenhood, | [194] |
| Sleep, | [195] |
| The Days of Old Mythology, | [196] |
| Discontentment, | [197] |
| Snow, | [198] |
| The Thrush, | [199] |
| Stars, | [200] |
| My Epitaph, | [201] |
Gray’s Monument, | [ 203] |