o insert
several pieces hitherto unpublished. Of the lays which we have selected,
several are new versions to old airs; the majority, though unknown as
the compositions of Lady Nairn, are already familiar in the drawing-room
and the cottage. For winning simplicity, graceful expression, and
exquisite pathos, her compositions are especially remarkable; but when
her muse prompts to humour, the laugh is sprightly and overpowering.

In society, Lady Nairn was reserved and unassuming. Her countenance,
naturally beautiful, wore, in her mature years, a somewhat pensive cast;
and the characteristic by which she was known consisted in her
enthusiastic love of music. It may be added, that she was fond of the
fine arts, and was skilled in the use of the pencil.

[44] Robertson of Struan, cousin-german of Lady Nairn's mother, and a
conspicuous Jacobite chief, composed many fugitive verses for the
amusement of his friends; and a collection of them, said to have been
surreptitiously obtained from a servant, was published, without a date,
under the following title:--"Poems on various Subjects and Occasions, by
the Honourable Alexander Robertson of Struan, Esq.--mostly taken from
his own original Manuscripts." Edinburgh, 8vo.

[45] Writing to one of her correspondents, in November 1840, Lady Nairn
thus remarks--"I sometimes say to myself, 'This is no me,' so greatly
have my feelings and trains of thought changed since 'auld lang syne;'
and, though I am made to know assuredly that all is well, I scarcely
dare to allow my mind to settle on the past."

[46] A daughter of Baron Hume was one of the ladies who induced Lady
Nairn to become a contributor to "The Scottish Minstrel." Many of the
songs were sent to the Editor through the medium of Miss Hume. She thus
expresses herself in a letter to a friend:--"My father's admiration of
'The Land o' the Leal' was such, that he said no woman but Miss Ferrier
was capable of writing it. And when I used to shew him song after song
in MS., when I was receiving the anonymous verses for the music, and ask
his criticism, he said--'Your unknown poetess has only _one_, or rather
_two_, letters out of taste, viz., choosing "B. B." for her signature.'"

THE PLEUGHMAN.[47]

There 's high and low, there 's rich and poor,
There 's trades and crafts enew, man;
But, east and west, his trade 's the best,
That kens to guide the pleugh, man.
Then, come, weel speed my ple