AULD ROBIN GRAY

When the sheep are in the fauld, and thc kyc at hame, And a' thc warld to rest are gane, The waes o' my heart fa' in showers frae my e'e, While my gudeman lies sound by me.

Young Jamie lo'ed me wecl, and sought me for his bride But saving a croun he had naething else beside : To make the croun a pund, young Jamie gaed to sea; And the croun and the pund were baith for me.

He hadna been a^va' a weeck but only twa, When my father brak his arm, and the cow was stown awa ; My mother she fell sick, and my Jamie at the sea — And auld Robin Gray came a-courtin" me.

My father couldna work, and my mother couldna spin ; 1 toird day and night but their bread I couldna win ; Auld Rob maintain'd them baith, and wi' tearsin his e'e Said, Jennie, for their sakes, O, marry me !

My heart it said nay ; I look'd for Janiie back ;

But the wind it blew high, and the ship it was a wrack;

His ship it was a wrack — why didna Jamie dee ?

Or why do I live to cry, Wae's me ? '

My father urgit sair : my mother didna speak ; But she look'd in my face till my heart was like to break : They gi'ed him my hand, but my heart was at the sea; Sae auld Robin Gray he was gudeman to me.

I liadna been a wifc a week but only four, When mournfu' as I sat on the stane at the door, I saw my Jamie's wraith, for I couldna think it hc — Till he said, Fm come hame to marry thee.

0 sair, sair did we greet, and muckle did we say ; We took but ae kis, and I bad him gang away :

1 wish that I wxrc dcad, but Tm no like to dcc ; And why was I born to say, Wae's me!

I gang like a ghaist, and I caréna to spin ; I daurna think on Jamie, for that wad be a sin ; But ru do my best a gude wife aye to be. For auld Robin Gray hc is kind unto me.

Ladv a. Lixdsay.

i) page 98. — Martini (Jean-Paul-Egide), de son vrai nom Schwartzemdorf, naquit à Freistadt, dans le Haut- Palatinat, le 1«»" septembre 1741; il mourut à Paris, le 10 février 1816. Ses romances qui ont précédé celles de Garât et de Boïeldieu sont des modèles. Il est le pre-

mier qui ait publié, en France, des romances et des airs détachés avec un accompagnement de piano. Avant lui, tous les morceaux de ce genre étaient gravés avec une basse simple ou chiffrée.

(26) page 100. — C'était le prénom de la bonne de M°ie Charles.

(27) page 107. — Lettre inédite.

(28) page 107. — Ce château, dont nous donnons la gravure, est très ancien; malheureusement Xavier de Vignet le défigura en faisant élever, entre les deux tours, un péristyle à Titalienne. La sœur de Lamartine, Césarine, y habita de 1819, date de son mariage avec Xavier de Vignet, à 1824, date de sa mort. Bien qu'on ait transporté plus tard son corps à Chambéry, on voit encore dans la chapelle du château, sur une pierre encastrée dans la muraille, l'inscription suivante qui fut rédigée par Lamartine :

Hic jaget

Helena Cesaria de Lamartine

CoMiTissiMA DE Vignet