" OH, WERE MY LOVE YON LILAC FAIR." 403 



And while speaking of birds, this is, perhaps, the proper place 

 to refer to a paragraph that appeared recently : — 



" The Lilac Tree and Birds. — Burns has a song, ' Oh, were my 

 love yon lilac fair,' &c. Cunningham has remarked that Burns 

 had made an unhappy selection of a tree for sheltering his little 

 bird ; for the feathered songsters are found to avoid the lilac when 

 in flower, owing to its peculiar smell. We confess we are not 

 skilled enough in natural history to attest the accuracy of Cunning- 

 ham's assertion." — Paterson's Burns, vol. iii. 



Fully to appreciate Cunningham's objection, it is proper that we 

 quote the song in f idl ; but before doing so, it may be observed 

 that it is founded on an older version, of which the hest lines are 

 retained, as is the case with not a few of Burns' finest love-songs. 

 Writing to George Thomson in the summer of 1793, the poet 

 says — 



"Do you know the following heautiful little fragment in 

 Witherspoon's Collection of Scots Songs ? — 



" ' Oh, gin my love were yon red rose, 

 That grows upon the castle wa.' ' 



" This thought is inexpressibly beautiful, and quite, so far as 

 I know, original It is too short for a song, else I would forswear 

 you altogether, unless you give it a place. I have often tried to 

 make a stanza to it, but in vain. After balancing myself for a 

 musing five minutes on the hind legs of my elbow-chair, I 

 produced the following. The verses are far inferior to the original, 

 I frankly confess ; but if worthy of insertion at all, they might be 

 first in place; as every poet who knows anything of his trade 

 will husband his last thought for a concluding stroke : — • 



" Oh, were my love yon lilac fair, 



Wi' purple blossoms to the spring ; 

 And I a bird to shelter there, 

 When wearied on my little wing. 



