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LADY NAIRNE AND HER SONGS. 129
Wha '11 buy my caller herrin' ?
They 're no bought without brave darin' ;
Buy my caller herrin',
Haled thro' wind and rain.
Wha '11 buy my caller herrin' ? etc.
Wha '11 buy my caller herrin' ? Oh, ye may call them vulgar farin'; Wives and mithers maist despairin' Ca' them the lives o' men.
Wha '11 buy my caller herrin' ?
They 're bonnie fish and halesome farin',
Wha Jll buy my caller herrin',
New drawn frae the Forth.
There are other verses to Caller Herrin', but they were merely occasional, intended to serve as a benefit to Nathaniel Gow, the son of the famous fiddler, Niel Gow, the composer of the air, who was seeking patronage in Edinburgh, and they only injure the effect of the first and perfect stanzas.
The poetical work of Lady Nairne was smaller in bulk than that of her chief contemporaries, even than that of Allan Cunningham. She was without any personal literary ambition whatever, and her inspiration was smothered by domestic grief and an absorbing and narrow piety. A portion of what there is is also imperfect, ephemeral, and careless, but she has written one of the most perfect lyrics in the English language, and a number of others, which, in their melody, their inter- |
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