SCOTTISH GARDENS 



horizon, within which Auld Reekie rears her dusky 

 canopy. 



A word about Lady Anne Lindsay, whose best 

 years had sped before she changed her name in 

 marrying Mr. Barnard. "Her hand/' says her nephew, 

 Colonel Lindsay, "was sought in marriage by several 

 of the first men of the land, and her friendship and 

 confidence by the most distinguished women ; but 

 indecision was her failing ; hesitation and doubt 

 upset her judgment ; her heart had never been 

 captured, and she remained single till late in life, 

 when she married an accomplished, but not wealthy, 

 gentleman, younger than herself, whom she accom- 

 panied to the Cape of Good Hope when appointed 

 Colonial Secretary under Lord Macartney/' 



Upon Scottish hearts this lady has founded an 

 undying claim as the author of Auld Robin Gray, 

 whereof Sir Walter Scott wrote as " that real pastoral 

 which is worth all the dialogues which Corydon and 

 Phyllis have had together, from the days of Theo- 

 critus downwards." The real authorship of this ballad, 

 which from its first appearance in 1771 captured and 

 retained the fancy of people of all ranks and many 

 nationalities, was disputed for many years as hotly 

 as that of Waverley. Strange to say it was the 

 author of Waverley himself who first revealed the 

 author of Auld Robin Gray, by comparing the lot 

 of Minna in The Pirate to that of Jeanie Gray, "the 

 village heroine in Lady Anne Lindsay's beautiful 

 ballad." 



154 



