frae thine e'e, Mary.
The rending pangs and waes o' life,
The dreary din o' care, Mary,
I 'll welcome, gin they lea'e but thee,
My lanely lot to share, Mary.

As o'er yon hill the evening star
Is wilin' day awa', Mary;
Sae sweet and fair art thou to me,
At life's sad gloamin' fa', Mary.
It gars me greet wi' vera joy,
Whene'er I think on thee, Mary,
That sic a heart sae true as thine,
Should e'er ha'e cared for me, Mary.

JAMES BALLANTINE.

James Ballantine, one of the most successful of living Scottish song
writers, was born in 1808 at the West Port of Edinburgh. Of this
locality, now considerably changed in its character, but still endeared
to him by the associations of his boyhood, he has given a graphic
description in a poem, in which he records some of the cherished
recollections of the days when amid its "howffs," and "laigh"
half-doored shops he "gat schulin' and sport." He lost his father, who
was a brewer, when he was only ten years old, and, being the youngest of
the family, which consisted of three daughters and himself, his early
training devolved upon his mother, who contrived to obtain for her
children the advantage of an ordinary education. James Ballantine must,
however, be considered as a self-taught man. Beyond the training which
he received in early life, he owes his present position to his own
indefatigable exertions.

By his father's death, the poet was necessitated, while yet a mere boy,
to exert himself for his own support and the assistance of the family.
He was, accordingly, apprenticed to a house-painter in the city, and
very soon attained to considerable proficiency in his trade. On growing
up to manhood, he made strenuous exertions to obtain the educational
advantages which were not within his reach at an earlier period of life,
and about his twentieth year he attended the University of Edinburgh for
the study of anatomy, with a view to his professional improvement. At a
subsequent period he turned his attention to the art of painting on
glass, and he has long been well-known as one of the most distinguished
of British artists in that department. At the period Mr Ballantine began
his career as a glass-painter, the art had greatly degenerated in
character; and the position to which it has of late years attained is
chiefly owing to his good taste and archaeological researches. When the
designs and specimens of glass-pa