O mirk, mirk is this midnight hour,
And loud the tempest's roar:
A waefu' wanderer seeks thy tower,
Lord Gregory ope thy door.

An exile frae her father's ha',
And a' for loving thee;
At least some pity on me shaw,
If love it may na be.

Lord Gregory, mind'st thou not the grove,
By bonie Irwine-side,
Where first I own'd that virgin-love
I lang, lang had denied.

How aften didst thou pledge and vow,
Thou wad for ay be mine;
And my fond heart, itsel sae true,
It ne'er mistrusted thine.

My love she's but a lassie yet,
My love she's but a lassie yet;
We'll let her stand a year or twa,
She'll no be half sae saucy yet. —

I rue the day I sought her O,
I rue the day I sought her O,
Wha gets her needs na say he's woo'd,
But he may say he's bought her O. —

Come draw a drap o' the best o't yet,
Come draw a drap o' the best o't yet:
Gae seek for Pleasure whare ye will,
But here I never misst it yet. —

We're a' dry wi' drinking o't,
We're a' dry wi' drinking o't:
The minister kisst the fidler's wife,

Go on, sweet bird, and soothe my care,
Thy tuneful notes will hush Despair;
Thy plaintive warblings void of art
Thrill sweetly thro' my aching heart.
Now chuse thy mate, and fondly love,
And all the charming transport prove;
While I a lovelorn exile live,
Nor transport or receive or give.

For thee is laughing Nature gay;
For thee she pours the vernal day:
For me in vain is Nature drest,
While joy's a stranger to my breast!

These sweet emotions all enjoy;
Let love and song thy hours employ!

" GAY go up and gay go down
To ring the Bells of London Town. "
When London Town's asleep in bed
You'll hear the Bells ring overhead.
In excelsis gloria!
Ringing for Victoria,
Ringing for their mighty mistress — ten years dead!

T HE B ELLS :

Here is more gain than Gloriana guessed —
Than Gloriana guessed or Indies bring —

The Crescent-moon, the Star of Love,
Glories of evening, as ye there are seen
With but a span of sky between —
Speak one of you, my doubts remove,
Which is the attendant Page and which the Queen?

A sad and lovely face, with upturned eyes,
Tearless, yet full of grief. — How heavenly fair
How saintlike is the look those features wear!
Such sorrow is more lovely in its guise
Than joy itself — for underneath it lies
A calmness that betokens strength to bear
Earth's petty grievances — its toil and care: —
A spirit that can look through clouded skies,
And see the blue beyond. — Type of that grace
That lit Her holy features, from whose womb
Issued the blest Redeemer of our race —
How little dost thou speak of earthly gloom!

You call it, " Love lies bleeding," — so you may,
Though the red Flower, not prostrate, only droops,
As we have seen it here from day to day,
From month to month, life passing not away:
A flower how rich in sadness! Even thus stoops
(Sentient by Grecian sculpture's marvellous power),
Thus leans, with hanging brow and body bent
Earthward in uncomplaining languishment,
The dying Gladiator. So, sad Flower!
('Tis Fancy guides me willing to be led,
Though by a slender thread,)
So drooped Adonis, bathed in sanguine dew

I

You have heard " a Spanish Lady
How she wooed an English man;"
Hear now of a fair Armenian,
Daughter of the proud Soldan;
How she loved a Christian Slave, and told her pain
By word, look, deed, with hope that he might love again.

II

" Pluck that rose, it moves my liking,"

Of th' Atrides I would sing,
Or the wandring Theban King;
But when I my Lute did prove,
Nothing it would sound but Love;
I new strung it, and to play
Herc'les labours did essay;
But my pains I fruitlesse found,
Nothing it but Love would sound;
Heroes then farewell, my Lute
To all strains, but Love, is mute.

The whole life is lost in the love of ill desires.
Thus three stages of life have passed: the hairs of the head are grown grey.

The breath is choked: it comes no more to the mouth: but is as the Moon in the grip of Ketu.
As he who forsaking Ganga drinks water from his well, are they who forsake Hari and worship demons.

Living in sloth they have forgotten Gobind, and are drowned with all the rest.
O Sur Das, without money without price thou mayest take the name of Rama.