New Collected Rhymes

Part 1

Transcribed from the 1905 Longmans, Green and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

NEW COLLECTED RHYMES

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BY ANDREW LANG

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LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY

1905

All rights reserved

PREFACE

THIS poor little flutter of rhymes would not have been let down the wind: the project would have been abandoned but for the too flattering encouragement of a responsible friend. I trust that he may not “live to rue the day,” like Keith of Craigentolly in the ballad.

The “Loyal Lyrics” on Charles and James and the White Rose must not be understood as implying a rebellious desire for the subversion of the present illustrious dynasty.

“These are but symbols that I sing, These names of Prince, and rose, and King; Types of things dear that do not die, But reign in loyal memory. Across the water surely they Abide their twenty-ninth of May; And we shall hail their happy reign, When Life comes to his own again,”—

over the water that divides us from the voices and faces of our desires and dreams.

Of the ballads, The Young Ruthven and The Queen of Spain were written in competition with the street minstrels of the close of the sixteenth century. The legend on which The Young Ruthven is based is well known; The Queen of Spain is the story of the Florencia, a ship of the Spanish Armada, wrecked in Tobermory Bay, as it was told to me by a mariner in the Sound of Mull. In Keith of Craigentolly the family and territorial names of the hero or villain are purposely altered, so as to avoid injuring susceptibilities and arousing unavailing regrets.

CONTENTS

DEDICATORY PAGE IN AUGUSTINUM DOBSON 3 LOYAL LYRICS HOW THE MAID MARCHED FROM BLOIS 7 LONE PLACES OF THE DEER 9 AN OLD SONG 10 JACOBITE “AULD LANG SYNE” 12 THE PRINCE’S BIRTHDAY 14 THE TENTH OF JUNE, 1715 15 WHITE ROSE DAY 17 RED AND WHITE ROSES 18 THE BONNIE BANKS O’ LOCH LOMOND 19 KENMURE 21 CULLODEN 23 THE LAST OF THE LEAL 25 JEANNE D’ARC 27 CRICKET RHYMES TO HELEN 31 BALLADE OF DEAD CRICKETERS 32 BRAHMA 34 CRITICAL OF LIFE, ART, AND LITERATURE GAINSBOROUGH GHOSTS 37 A REMONSTRANCE WITH THE FAIR 39 RHYME OF RHYMES 42 RHYME OF OXFORD COCKNEY RHYMES 44 ROCOCO 47 THE NEW ORPHEUS TO HIS EURYDICE 47 THE FOOD OF FICTION 59 “A HIGHLY VALUABLE CHAIN OF THOUGHTS” 51 MATRIMONY 53 PISCATORI PISCATOR 55 THE CONTENTED ANGLER 56 OFF MY GAME 58 THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN WHO HAS GIVEN UP COLLECTING 60 THE BALLADE OF THE SUBCONSCIOUS SELF 62 BALLADE OF THE OPTIMIST 64 ZIMBABWE 66 LOVE’S CRYPTOGRAM 68 TUSITALA 70 DISDAINFUL DIAPHENIA 72 TALL SALMACIS 73 JUBILEE POEMS WHAT FRANCESCO SAID OF THE JUBILEE 72 THE POET AND THE JUBILEE 79 ON ANY BEACH 81 ODE OF JUBILEE 82 JUBILEE BEFORE REVOLUTION 84 FOLK SONGS FRENCH PEASANT SONGS 89 BALLADS THE YOUNG RUTHVEN 93 THE QUEEN O’ SPAIN AND THE BAULD MCLEAN 97 KEITH OF CRAIGENTOLLY 101

DEDICATORY

In Augustinum Dobson.

JAM RUDE DONATUM.

DEAR Poet, now turned out to grass (Like him who reigned in Babylon), Forget the seasons overlaid By business and the Board of Trade: And sing of old-world lad and lass As in the summers that are gone.

Back to the golden prime of Anne! When you ambassador had been, And brought o’er sea the King again, Beatrix Esmond in his train, Ah, happy bard to hold her fan, And happy land with such a Queen!

We live too early, or too late, You should have shared the pint of Pope, And taught, well pleased, the shining shell To murmur of the fair Lepel, And changed the stars of St. John’s fate To some more happy horoscope.

By duchesses with roses crowned, And fed with chicken and champagne, Urbane and witty, and too wary To risk the feud of Lady Mary, You should have walked the courtly ground Of times that cannot come again.

Bring back these years in verse or prose, (I very much prefer your verse!) As on some Twenty-Ninth of May Restore the splendour and the sway, Forget the sins, the wars, the woes— The joys alone must you rehearse.

Forget the dunces (there is none So stupid as to snarl at you); So may your years with pen and book Run pleasant as an English brook Through meadows floral in the sun, And shadows fragrant of the dew.

And thus at ending of your span— As all must end—the world shall say, “His best he gave: he left us not A line that saints could wish to blot, For he was blameless, though a man, And though the poet, he was gay!”

LOYAL LYRICS

How the Maid Marched from Blois.

Part 2

(Supposed to be narrated by James Power, or Polwarth, her Scottish banner-painter.)

THE Maiden called for her great destrier, But he lashed like a fiend when the Maid drew near: “Lead him forth to the Cross!” she cried, and he stood Like a steed of bronze by the Holy Rood!

Then I saw the Maiden mount and ride, With a good steel sperthe that swung by her side, And girt with the sword of the Heavenly Bride, That is sained with crosses five for a sign, The mystical sword of St. Catherine. And the lily banner was blowing wide, With the flowers of France on the field of fame And, blent with the blossoms, the Holy Name! And the Maiden’s blazon was shown on a shield, Argent, a dove, on an azure field; That banner was wrought by this hand, ye see, For the love of the Maid and chivalry.

Her banner was borne by a page of grace, With hair of gold, and a lady’s face; And behind it the ranks of her men were dressed— Never a man but was clean confessed, Jackman and archer, lord and knight, Their souls were clean and their hearts were light: There was never an oath, there was never a laugh, And La Hire swore soft by his leading staff! Had we died in that hour we had won the skies, And the Maiden had marched us through Paradise!

A moment she turned to the people there, Who had come to gaze on the Maiden fair; A moment she glanced at the ring she wore, She murmured the Holy Name it bore, Then, “For France and the King, good people pray!” She spoke, and she cried to us, “On and away!” And the shouts broke forth, and the flowers rained down, And the Maiden led us to Orleans town.

Lone Places of the Deer.

LONE places of the deer, Corrie, and Loch, and Ben, Fount that wells in the cave, Voice of the burn and the wave, Softly you sing and clear Of Charlie and his men!

Here has he lurked, and here The heather has been his bed, The wastes of the islands knew And the Highland hearts were true To the bonny, the brave, the dear, The royal, the hunted head.

An Old Song.

1750.

OH, it’s hame, hame, hame, And it’s hame I wadna be, Till the Lord calls King James To his ain countrie, Bids the wind blaw frae France, Till the Firth keps the faem, And Loch Garry and Lochiel Bring Prince Charlie hame.

May the lads Prince Charlie led That were hard on Willie’s track, When frae Laffen field he fled, Wi’ the claymore at his back, May they stand on Scottish soil When the White Rose bears the gree, And the Lord calls the King To his ain countrie!

Bid the seas arise and stand Like walls on ilka side, Till our Highland lad pass through With Jehovah for his guide. Dry up the River Forth, As Thou didst the Red Sea, When Israel cam hame To his ain countrie. {11}

Jacobite “Auld Lang Syne.”

LOCHIEL’S REGIMENT, 1747.

THOUGH now we take King Lewie’s fee And drink King Lewie’s wine, We’ll bring the King frae ower the sea, As in auld lang syne.

For, he that did proud Pharaoh crush, And save auld Jacob’s line, Will speak to Charlie in the Bush, Like Moses, lang syne.

For oft we’ve garred the red coats run, Frae Garry to the Rhine, Frae Baugé brig to Falkirk moor, No that lang syne.

The Duke may with the Devil drink, And wi’ the deil may dine, But Charlie’s dine in Holyrood, As in auld lang syne.

For he who did proud Pharaoh crush, To save auld Jacob’s line, Shall speak to Charlie in the Bush, Like Moses, lang syne.

The Prince’s Birthday.

ROME, 31ST DECEMBER, 1721.

(A new-born star shone, which is figured on an early Medal of Prince Charles.)

A WONDERFUL star shone forth From the frozen skies of the North Upon Rome, for an Old Year’s night: And a flower on the dear white Rose Broke, in the season of snows, To bloom for a day’s delight.

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