Nor tinge the white brow o' my dearie,
For I 'll shade a bower wi' rashes lang and green
By the lanesome Wells o' Wearie.

But, Mary, my love, beware ye dinna glower
At your form in the water sae clearly,
Or the fairy will change you into a wee, wee flower,
And you 'll grow by the Wells o' Wearie.

Yestreen as I wander'd there a' alane,
I felt unco douf and drearie,
For wanting my Mary, a' around me was but pain
At the lanesome Wells o' Wearie.

Let fortune or fame their minions deceive,
Let fate look gruesome and eerie;
True glory and wealth are mine wi' Mary Grieve,
When we meet by the Wells o' Wearie.

Then gang wi' me, my bonnie Mary Grieve,
Nae danger will daur to come near ye;
For I ha'e ask'd your minnie, and she has gi'en ye leave,
To gang to the Wells o' Wearie.

ALEXANDER LAING.

One of the simplest and most popular of the living national
song-writers, Alexander Laing, was born at Brechin on the 14th May 1787.
His father, James Laing, was an agricultural labourer. With the
exception of two winters' schooling, he was wholly self-taught. Sent to
tend cattle so early as his eighth year, he regularly carried books and
writing-materials with him to the fields. His books were procured by the
careful accumulation of the halfpence bestowed on him by the admirers of
his juvenile tastes. In his sixteenth year, he entered on the business
of a flax-dresser, in his native town--an occupation in which he was
employed for a period of fourteen years. He afterwards engaged in
mercantile concerns, and has latterly retired from business. He now
resides at Upper Tenements, Brechin, in the enjoyment of a well-earned
competency.

Mr Laing early wrote verses. In 1819, several songs from his pen
appeared in the "Harp of Caledonia"--a respectable collection of
minstrelsy, edited by John Struthers. He subsequently became a
contributor to the "Harp of Renfrewshire" and the "Scottish Minstrel,"
edited by R. A. Smith. His lyrics likewise adorn the pages of
Robertson's "Whistle Binkie" and the "Book of Scottish Song." He
published, in 1846, a collected edition of his poems and songs, in a
duodecimo volume, under the designation of "Wayside Flowers." A second
edition appeared in 1850. He has been an occasional contributor to the
local journals; furnished a number of anecdotes for the "Laird of
Logan," a humorous publication o