"The open field, a cottage in a glen,
An auld wife spinning at the sunny end,
At a sma' distance, by a blasted tree,
Wi faulded arms and half-raised look, ye see
Bauldy his lane!"[21]
"A green kail-yard; a little fount,
Where water poplin springs;
There sits a wife[22] wi' wrinkled front,
An' yet she spins and sings."
With these localities in our mind, let us sit down on this "gowan'd brae," and run over the story of "The Gentle Shepherd," one of the most graphic pictures of Scottish manners, and one of the sweetest pastorals in any language.
Patie or Patrick, a humble shepherd-lad, born and bred in the region we have entered, about the middle of the seventeenth century, was a handsome fellow, and remarkably distinguished for his good temper and rustic accomplishments. He was of a gay-hearted cheerful disposition, and made the woods and hills ring again with his mirthful songs. Moreover, he was sensible and well-informed. His mind, indeed, was superior to his station; still he was contented and happy.
Symon Scott, a worthy man and a wealthy farmer, with whom Patie had lived from his childhood, was a tenant of Sir William Preston's, owner of the neighboring lands, who, to save his head, he having taken part with the royalists, had fled his native country, and was living abroad, no one knew where.
Patie loved Peggy Forsyth, a "neebor lassie," of excellent character and great beauty, who fully requited his attachment. This girl was the reputed niece of Glaude Anderson, a comfortable farmer, and a tenant of Sir William's. He had found her one summer morning, at his door, carefully wrapped in swaddling clothes. Being a warm-hearted man, he had adopted the little stranger as his own relative.
The interviews and conversations of the lovers, and their friends, Roger and Jenny, who after some embarrassments from Jenny's independence, are found to be warmly attached to each other are related by the dramatist with great beauty and simplicity. The reader sees them at early morn, or amid the shadows of the gloaming, wandering by the "bonnie burnie's side," and with hearts of innocence, giving themselves up to the full enjoyment of nature's beauties and their own sweet affections. Glaude and Symon are fine specimens of the honest and hospitable farmers of Scotland. The house of the former is such as one often sees in the rural districts:
"A snug thack[23] house, before the door a green,
Hens on the midden, ducks in dubs[24] are seen.
On this side stands a barn, on that a byre:[25]
A peat stack joins, an' forms a rural square.
The house is Glaud's;—there you may see him lean,
And to his divot[26] seat invites his frien."
The character and fate of Bauldy are graphically described. He is a wealthy but vulgar minded farmer, attached to Peggy, and resolved, if possible, to withdraw her affections from Patie and secure them for himself. For this purpose he has recourse to Mause, a sensible and worthy old woman, but reputed a witch, from her superiority to the common people. Mause agrees to assist him, but secretly resolves to expose his ignorance and punish his effrontery. The following is Bauldy's account of the matter:
"Ah! Sir, the witch ca'd Mause,
That wins aboon the mill amang the haws,
First promised that she'd help me wi' her art,
To gain a bonnie thrawart[27] lassie's heart.
As she had trysted, I met wi' 'er this night;
But may nae frien o' mine get such a fright!
For the curst hag, instead of doing me guid,
(The very thocht o'ts like to freeze my bluid!)
Raised up a ghaist, or deil, I kenna whilk,
Like a dead corse, in sheet as white as milk;
Black hands it had, and face as wan as death;
Upon me fast the witch and it fell baith,
And got me down; while I like a great fool
Was 'laboured[28] as I used to be at school:
My heart out o' its hool[29] was like to loup,
I pithless[30] grew wi' fear, an' had nae houp,
Till wi' an elritch laugh, they vanished quite;
Syne I, hauf dead wi' anger, fear and spite,
Crap up, and fled straught frae them."