li
3/6
BOOKS BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER B. GROSART,
I. ORIGINAL.
1. Srna/J Si //r. Third Edition, with Additions, royal ibmo,
cloth antique, price i». 6d. Pp.no, « There •» in it both genius and lodgment, good writing, good learning, and good gospel*
Jmxf 4, 1863.
><arf • noble sermon.'— Rev. C. H. SlTBGKOW, m^md^t to anextrtutfrom it im kit ' Illtutr«tt4Atm*»mtktf»r 1864.
•The theology of the hook u puritanic; the thinking, •esailhn and weighty ; the mm- Oration* picturesque, and drawn from a wide range of*bsenrade« and reading : and the appeals to the conscience are often both unenpededand very pungent. The author's bril- ttu^Mand there is not a little of it) is Uke a rMtJnsh, wWdTb3t that a buflet b oa u.
bg to the conscience. '—Brititk amd Ferrigm Ev+*crlit*J Rtvirw (Qmtrtrrjy), Jmfy 1863.
2. Jesus Mighty to Save; or, Christ for all the World, and all
the World for Christ. Third Edition, with Additions, royal iomo, doth and rjnsscssed of man than^nnHnaij bright tote ssodem lliiiiiisiijffne appears to have
.,:*•!,; • : i ..-. • ...
. • .. !, • , • .'•.•.:•••• i! . -. ,
dkmonds gathered from these mines. And when yon sit dawn to lead his book, through,
you find that this knowledge is only the vesture of a thinking power, worthy of such assodti^
t • ' • • • ••.,:••• .:..:•>.:'....•.!.,-• . • • . .
as you go along.'— TAr Sfifttator.
3. Thf Princt of Light and tht Princt of Darkness in Conflict ; or,
The Temptation of ems. Newry Tramlatcd. Exhuned. IUi»tnited.and AKed.
ewry Tramlatcd. Exphuned. IUi»tnited.and AppKed. Pricey
exhaustive of the subject, and yet, like every book from an original mind, k is •oggestire after all . . . The whole is treated with full learenfc M *3la* with dear native discernment.'— THOMAS Amo, E*q.. in tkt Dmm/nrt HtrmU. Monk 4, 1864.
I win for itself a place, andthat a permanent ao^^Brititk amd ftrngn Ewmftlical Rfoitw, Afril 1864.
rhe Lambs All Safe; or, The Solution of Children. Third
on, with considerable Additions. iSmo, cloth antique, price is. ' A quaint, pithy, and godly little book, on a scriptural basts.'— Evamgrticmt CkruttniUm.
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IL EDITED. 8. The I (h Memoir, Introduction, and Notes, of Richard
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a BOOKS BY THE REV. A. B. GROSART.
9. Lord Bacon not the Author of ' The Christian Paradoxes .-'
Being a Reprint of 'Memorials of Godliness,' by HERBERT PALMER, B.D. ; with Introduction, Memoir, Notes, and Appendices.
Printed for Private Circulation (Old English Type}.
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In an introduction I give account of the remarkable little discovery that it has fallen to me to make : to wit, the non-Baconian, and actual, authorship of ' The Paradoxes.' I describe the different editions. Thereafter will be found illustrations of the evil influence against Bacon of his supposed authorship of these 'Paradoxes' as misunderstood, more especially in France and Germany ; and also of how the real authorship sweeps away the abounding guess-work as to their meaning and design. In a Memoir of HERBERT PALMER, I have brought together, from all accessible sources, in print and manuscript, such facts and memorials as remain.
10. Selections from the Unpublished Writings of Jonathan
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%* Nos. 12 to 15 in NichoFs- Series of ' Puritan Commentaries.' Memoirs of Torshell, Stock, Bernard, and Fuller to follow.
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This priceless little tractate by the great Nonconformist was unknown to Calamy, and appears to have been overlooked by all Baxter's biographers. It has all its saintly author's best characteristics — richly scriptural, fervent to passion of entreaty, pungent, pointed, and unmistakeable. Our copy was formerly in the famous collection of Dr Bliss, who deemed it apparently unique. It is proposed to reprint it in a limited private impression. The price will be 35. 6d. Prefixed will be an Introduction, containing an annotated Bibliographical and Anecdotical Catalogue_/7"<cw actual copies of the numerous books and tractates of Baxter, much more full than any extant, and purged from errors.
%* Persons wishing copies of the privately-printed and -unpublished books, -viz. Nos. 9, 10, and 16, will please address Mr Grosart.
THE WORKS
MICHAEL BRUCE.
' ©torpte to ren ar fcelitaMIl,
tfjat rtja fce nocfjt Sot faMH. guiti gtoryte t|at ^utfifajSt toer, tlja toar igatH on gttti matter,
in fjmng. . . . fane 0et m^ t»in, dB'tf m^ toit mtc^t guflig t^artill, Co jut in tortt ane gut^fasft ^tor^, tSL^at it legt a^ furt^ in memory, ©a t^at na t^m of lent!) it let, jBa ger it ^aT^ !ie
JOHN BARBOUR : The Brus . Spalding Club Edition.
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MICHAEL BRUCE
EDITED,
CBitb q^emofr tnu fiotc*,
BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER R GROSART,
' With gentle BRUCE, flinging melodious blam On the Future for an uaconpletcd name.' DAVID GRAY,
EDINBURGH:
WILLIAM OLIPHANT AND CO.
LONDON : HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.
1865.
MURRAY AND GIBE, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
Co t(e Q9cmorp
Cfct Art. UUHUm q9«c*tltfr, D.D.,
BALGEDIE,
ASTHI
JTfrft ainuicator OF THE CLAIM FOR
TO THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE
4 Out to tfce Cucloo,'
AMD OTHER rORMS;
1 INSCRIBE THIS EDITION OF THE POET HE REVERED.
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
CONTENTS.
MM
PREPACK. ....... . ix
PART I.
MEMOIR, ....... "
PART II. INTRODUCTION TO THE POEMS: Logan Controversy, 'Ode to the
Cuckoo,' and Paraphrases, . S«
APPENDIX TO MEMOIR : Letter*, .... • «»$
POEMS.
ODE TO THE CUCKOO, ...... .113
HYMNS AND PARAPHRASES—
I. The Complaint of Nature, . 117
u. The Lord God Omnipotent. ... .130
in. The Call of Wisdom, . . -131 iv. Heavenly Wisdom, .
v. Atoning Sacrifice, . > 4
i ; s
vn. Sorrow not as without Hope, > ' •
viu. The Enthroned High Priest, . 137
ix. Hying in the Lord, ... . ' -
x. Trust in Providence, . . . . . ' -
xi. Advent of the Messiah, . 140
xti. The Approaching Saviour. ... .144
REVISED HYMN—
The Millennium, . US
ELEGY is SPRING. .... 149
CONTENTS.
MISCELLANEOUS PIECES —
Weaving Spiritualized, . . . . . 155
Inscription on a Bible, . . 156
The Last Day, . . . . ... . 157
Lochleven, . . . . . . . .176
Sir James the Ross : An Historical Ballad, . . . 197
Ode : To a Fountain, ' . . . . . . 205
Danish Ode, .... ... 207
Danish Ode, . . . . . . . 208
To Paoli, . . '.'-.; . . . .209
The Eagle, Crow, and Shepherd : A Fable, . . . 214
The Musiad : A Minor Epic Poem, • . . . . 215
Anacreontic : To a Wasp, . . . .. .219
Alexis : A Pastoral, ....... 220
Damon, Menalcas, and Meliboeus : An Eclogue, . . . 223
Philocles : An Elegy on the Death of Mr William Dryburgh, . 227
Daphnis : A Monody, . . . • . . . 230
Verses on the Death of the Rev. Wm. M'Ewen, . . .234
To John Millar, M.D., . > . . . 235
An Epigram, . . . . . . . . 236
Pastoral Song, . , . .... . . 236
Lochleven No More, .... . . . 237
Fragments of Satires, ... . . . . 238 «
The Poet's Petition for 'a Table,' . . . . . 240
Eclogue : In the Manner of Ossian, . . . .241
The Vanity of our Desire of Immortality here, . . . 244
NOTES, . ..... 249
PREFACE.
is well-nigh an hundred years since MICHAEL BRUCE closed, in little beyond his twenty- first year, as fine an example of ' The Gentle Life* as can be found anywhere. About three years afterwards a little volume of his 'Poems' was published under the anonymous editorship of his college associate, JOHN LOGAN, subsequently known as the Rev. JOHN LOGAN of Leith. I tell the story of this publication in its own place, — a story than which, as there is in relation to Bruce no more pathetic, so in relation to Logan there is no more dishonourable, chapter in the history of Literature. Apart from his impudent theft of the ' Ode to the Cuckoo ' and the Hymns and Paraphrases, we have to lament the loss of BRUCE'S Correspondence, which, in order to carry out his after- claims, this ' friend " took all care to secure, even to single letters, as shown in our Memoir. The scanty original materials for a ' Life ' were thus in the outset made scantier ; for JOHN LOGAN deliberately DESTROYED every scrap of the Bruce Letters and other MSS. ' wyled ' into his possession, over and above the quarto volume
x PREFACE.
of his transcribed ' Poems/ on which the young Poet worked so yearningly when he knew that
. . . ' All that tender bloom about his eyes Was Death's own violets, which his utmost rite It is to scatter, when the red rose dies.' — [HooD.]
Since the original edition of the Poems in 1770, there have been at least other twelve editions. The worthiest was edited by the late DR MACKELVIE in 1837, — fully one-half of the volume consisting of a ' Life of the Author from Original Sources.' The 'Life' won for its right-hearted and manly author the praise and gratitude of all the leading literary authorities. Long ' out of print,' a new edition of the ' Poems ' has been a desideratum, as witnessed by the enhanced price fetched by chance-occurring copies of Dr Mackelvie's edition, and by the immediate sale, so as to put it also ' out of print,' of a humble little edition published in Belfast.
Had Dr Mackelvie's health not failed him, he would in all probability have re-issued his edition with revision. Now that he is gone, I have undertaken the ' labour of love ;' and while awarding the original Biographers (Drs Anderson and Mackelvie) all honour and all acknow ledgment when quoted or in any way used, it will be found that our Memoir and handling of the Logan con troversy concerning the ' Ode ' and Paraphrases, are based upon independent researches that have resulted in the recovery of new data, and in placing what was already known in new lights. In some passages of the Memoir I cherish an hope of having spoken words of cheer to young men now battling with Bruce's diffi culties, or sorer.
PREFACE. xi
In Part I. I bring together the facts of the ' Life ' of Bruce ; and in Part II., in an Introduction to the 4 Poems,* I establish his claims to the ' Ode to the Cuckoo* and the Hymns and Paraphrases. 'Time brings the truth to light.'
.... * Intmlum vkia prosunt hominibus
Sed temporc ipso tamcn apparet veritas.' — [PlUBDRUS.]
The Notes explain local allusions and other points.
I have to acknowledge the kind interest shown in our undertaking by many correspondents, who will find some of their information and suggestions used. To David Laing, Esq., LL.D., of the Signet Library, Edin burgh ; Henry Flockhart, Esq. of Annafrech •, and Robert Arnot, Esq. of Portmoak, I return special thanks.
ALEXANDER B. GROSART.
i v .
•»* 150 copies on large paper, toned (crown 4to, cloth antique), with original photographs of the scenes of the Memoir and Poems^ are being prepared. The price ios. 6d.
' I owe thee the far-beac ning memories Of the young dead, who, having crossed the tide Of Life where it was narrow, deep, and clear, Now cast their brightness from the further side, On the dark-flowing hours I breast in fear.'
LORD HOUGHTON.
?art jFtrst.
MEMOIR.
' He shall be strong to sanctify the poet's high vocation, And bow the meekest Christian down in meeker adoration ; Nor ever shall he be, in praise, by wise or good forsaken, Named softly as the household name of one whom God hath taken.'
MRS E. B. BROWNING.
MEMOIR.
is a name of renown in .Scotland -, and just as, over the Atlantic, all the Rogcrscs are ingenious in tracing their lineage to JOHN ROGERS, the proto-martyr of The Refor mation, so every one who bears it, ' gentle and simple,' is eager to claim descent from the victor of Bannockburn. There appear to have been many branches — full of seed — from an ancient parent-trunk of Druces. The name is met with to this day in well-nigh every county of ' the land of the mountain and the flood.' In the native shire of MICHAEL BRUCE, and its borders, from Leslie to Stir ling, and from Perth to ' fair Edina,' it is to be found, as well in the charter-chest of the towered and moated Manor, as in * the huts where poor men lie/ ' THE BRUCE* of whom JOHN BARBOUR sang in no unworthy Iliad, sleeps in the cathedral church of Dunfermline ; while down toward the Forth, among ' immemorial trees,' is the family seat of the Earls of Elgin, whose proudest memory is, that they are of ' the blue blood' of the regal BRUGES. Farther West, the Bruces of Kennet, in their contendings
a THE WORKS OF
for baronage, show many a dim old roll. Within Kin ross-shire itself, the Bruces of Arnot — on whose property stands the shattered ' Peel ' referred to by our Poet — have lately asserted their claim to represent, through Sir John Bruce Hope, Bart., a long line of the name, by disinterring from the mossed vaults in the ' Auld Kirk- yard ' of the Parish, ranges of coffins in musty velvet and faded gold, and rearing over them, in the very bathos of ostentation, a * Tomb,' that in its hideous largeness and newness — not a sprig of ivy even on its nakedness — spoils the sequestered beauty of this fairest and most tranquil of ' God's Acres.' I do not know that it were possible to connect the name of the * sweet singer/ whose short Life-Story it is our purpose to tell in this Memoir, with any of these inheritors of royal and lordly descent. Sooth to say, I can't greatly lament this ' Miss ing Link ; ' for MICHAEL BRUCE wears his unfading * crown' of violets — their bits of blue, intense as heaven's own azure, and their fragrance never to be exhaled — from what he was and has left behind him, not from what his 'forbears ' gave him. Yet it is not unmeet to enroll his lowly name among THE BRUGES :
'Of him I think this buk to ma. Now God gif gras that I may sa Tret it and bring it till ending That I say nocht bot suthfast thing.' T
Kinnesswood, or as Sir Robert Sibbald spells it, ' Kinask- wood,' 2 or as * the common people ' pronounce it now,
1 John Barbour: The Brus, as on title-page, p. 4.
2 The History, Ancient and Modern, of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross, with a description of both, and of the Firths of Forth and Tay, etc. etc. By Sir Robert Sibbald, M.D. A new edition. Cupar-Fife, 1803. 8vo, p. 284.
MICHAEL BRUCE. j
' Kinaskit,' is a fair-placed village in the Parish of Port- moak, a parish locally known — and therein is fathered up probably old ecclesiastical tradition — as ' The Bishop- shire.' Couched at the feet of • The Lomonds '—hills green to the top — it overlooks pleasantly ' Lochleven,' and shares a Landscape that is touched with a quiet beauty, in its well-cultured fields, brightened with the flash of streams •, its shy, bosky nooks, vocal with the ' singing of birds ;' its ' Walks ' in hill and dale, abiding in undesecrated primitivcncss ; and its bits of antique ruralness that Gainsborough had worshipped : shares also memories of The Rets and The Culdees and St Moak, of Mary Stuart and Sir Walter Scott's ' Abbot,* of The Covenanters and of good Ebenezer Erskine.' It neighbours Scotland- well, another village, which still possesses its full-flowing 'Spring/ with its floor of silver-white sand, the ' Font Scott* ' of ancient Charters, if not of Tacitus himself ; noticeable likewise as having been among the last places in Scotland that had the peculiar form of street with a raised footpath in the centre, which illustrates the proverb of 'keeping the croon (" crown ") o* the causey.' a
Kinnesswood is lovingly sketched in ' Lochleven : '
' Behold the village rise- In rural pride, 'mong intermingled trees ! Above whose aged tops the joyful swains, At eventide descending from the hill,
ildces' and 'St Mode/ Sibbald, as above mf *omi*Unu, and Dr Jamieson: for Mary Stuart, any of the innumerable 'Lives:' for the 'Cove nanters,' any of the early Histories and Biographies : and for Ebenexer Erskine, his ' Life/ by Fraser. The finest scenes of Scott's 'Abbot' are laid in and around 'Lochlevcn.*
' On Scotland-well, cf. Sibbald, as before, pp. 282 «y. Dr Mackclvic told me of the 'causey.' as abort.
4 THE WORKS OF
With eye enamour'd, mark the many wreaths Of pillar'd smoke, high curling to the clouds.'1
Within this village, in a house that survives grey and ruinous, in one of the lanes that strike off from the main street and ascend the hill, MICHAEL BRUCE was born on March 27th, 1746,* within less than a couple of weeks of the Battle of Culloden. The frontage of the house presents two storeys, or, Scotice, ' flats :' the upper was tenanted by the Bruces, and, entered from behind through a small garden, it shows as only one 'storey' there, owing to the declivity of the site. It is a weather worn, ' eerie ' looking place enough at this day ; but from the accounts of the older inhabitants of the village, which again corroborate those of Lord Craig and of Dr Huie on their visits in I7793 and 183 1,4 it must have looked sunnier and l bonnier ' even comparatively recently. The roof was thatched, and the vernal days found the ' fow ' or ' fowat ' spreading out its tropical-like leaves along the * rigging ' and patches of moss, showing now the sheen of emerald and now in their dewiness the richer glow of the mottling on a bee's wing ; while the ' window' — seen in our photograph5 — had a honeysuckle twined around it, that no doubt gladdened the ' sick heart' of the dying lad in after years with the rich odour of its pensile blossoms and hum of invited bees. The swal-
1 In the 'Life' of Bruce in Chambers' 'Eminent Scotsmen,' this description is quoted with enthusiastic praise.
2 Bruce's own letters inform us of his birth-date. See onward: also 'Life,' by Dr Anderson, in his 'Works of the British Poets.' Vol. xi. p. 273.
3 Lord Craig in 'Mirror,' No. 36. 1779.
4 Dr Huie in 'The Olive Branch,' a golden little book published in 1831.
5 The photographs will be given in the large paper copies of our book, being prepared.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 5
lows kneaded their nests in the latticed window-corner, and the sill was visited o* winter mornings by the robin with his ruff of red.
His rather was ALEXANDER BRUCE -, his mother ANNE BRUCE, which was her maiden name as well, though not previously related. ' I would I were a wftitvr/ says Falstaff: 'I could sing psalms.'1 The mighty Knight's wish was doubly gained by Master Michael. His father was a ' weaver j ' his cradle was rocked beside the clicking loom ; and, though in far other sense than Sir John intended, ' psalms ' were sung in devout praise in his house. For over and above his possession of his full share of shrewd, ' common sense ' — most un-common of all sense — ALEXANDER BRUCE was a man of much individuality and sterling worth and weight of Christian character— of the old Scottish type: less loquacious than its modern counterfeit, but all the truer from its silent ' witnessing ' rather than fussy con sciousness. He was a ' Seceder ' and ' elder ' in his Congregation ; and as an evidence of the breadth of his opinions at a narrow period, nor less of his independence of judgment, he adhered to THOMAS MAIR of Orwell, when that misunderstood and holy man was ejected from the Anti-Burgher Synod for holding that ' there is a sense in which Christ died for ALL men.' a Both Mr and Mrs Bruce were connected with his Congregation, and reckoned it no burden to go Sabbath after Sabbath to Milnathort,3 — a daily journey to and fro of fully ten
* Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 5.
3 Darid Pearson (of whom more in the sequel) drew up a memoir of Alexander Bruce, which appeared in the Edinburgh 'Missionary Chronicle ' for 1797. It i» well wonky penMaL
6 THE WORKS OF
miles. ANNE BRUCE, again, was a genuine ' mother in Israel,' vigilant, loving, frugal, 'eident;' and having been spared long after her husband, and nearly all her chil dren, she mellowed beautifully as she wore her crown of silver hairs, and exemplified the ' hoary head found in the way of righteousness' (Prov. xvi. 31). Thus the lines of Cowper, that can no more grow trite from often quotation than can a Rose or Violet, express his lineage :
' My boast is not that I deduce my birth From loins enthron'd, and rulers of the earth ; But higher far my proud pretensions rise, The son of parents pass'd into the skies.' x
The Poet of * The Cuckoo ' was thus born into just such a * fireside ' as a few years later his brother-bards ROBERT TANNAHILL and ROBERT NICOLL, not to name others. Of course your * gentleman ' and ' fine lady,' who have nothing but compassion for the ' poor Weaver/ and to whom the very thought of a ' Loom ' calls up visions of wretchedness and want, deem it a sad start in life. But I don't at all agree with them : I very thoroughly disagree. A ' godly ' parentage weighs down mere outward splendour ; and ' daily bread ' sweetened by honest earning is not to be scorned because of the absence of dainties and luxuries to gratify every whim of appetite. The men of Scotland who have made their deepest mark on their generation, have worked their way upward from just such levels ; and in my own personal knowledge of how much of love and comfort, of plea sant laughter, of kindly helping one another, of real
1 ' Passing' while he lived : 'passed' after he had 'gone before.'
MICHAEL BRUCE. 7
happiness, all transfigured with 'that light that never was on sea or land,* but comes from Above, are to be found under lowly roofs, — and how far a small sum, well-guided, and unbroken by 'strong drink* or other fleshly indulgences, goes, — and how the 'bit* always ' comes * for each new ' mouth,* with the great Father's blessing over all, that seems still miraculously to 'in crease ' the ' loaves and few small fishes ' and to leave ' baskets over,* — and what stores of knowledge are con trived to be laid up, and how the family ' pew * 'is un failingly paid for, and never the 'penny* wanting for the ' plate ' o' Sundays, or white money for any special appeal, — I must regard the pity as misdirected, and the sentimcntalism as unmanly whimpering. The old Cove nant-promise is, ' His bread shall be given him : his water shall be sure,* as our daily petition left us by The Master runs, ' Give us this day our daily brfad* Let a man have these — ' Bread and Water,' — necessaries, not dainties ; and if he have a man's brain and a man's heart, and the Christian's faith and hope, he will prove stronger than his circumstances, and will conquer, un less perchance there be taint i* the blood, as in early- ailing MICHAEL BRUCE. I make these remarks because too much has been made of the ' indigence,* etc. etc., of Bruce. Thousands are born into, and are bravely and truthfully and purely living through, the same pres sure and ' fight ;' and they are the bone and muscle of the body politic, ay, and are ever and anon showing that God gives intellect and genius impartially. Me- thinks, instead of patronizing pity, the best thing possible for not a few of your gloved and jewelled ' Upper
8 THE WORKS OF
Classes' (so-called), were enforced winning of 'bread,' even to the tanning of their brow by sweat, and rough ening and enlarging of their hands by labour.
We have no pedigree of the ' Kinnesswood ' Bruces, whence to trace the Christian name of ' Michael.' I have consulted old records, and registers not a few, including the Baptism-Book of my own congregation, which goes back to the very commencement of ' The Secession,' and embraces the entire county, and far beyond ; but while there are many Bruces, there is no ' Michael ' in one of them. Neither do the present representatives of the Poet (descendants of a sister) know of any one from whom the name might be selected. It has struck me, that in all likelihood good Alexander Bruce chose the Christian name of the child from ' Michael Bruce,' the famous Covenanter-preacher, whose burning ' Sermons,' once scattered in quaint chap-books, were much read by the godly peasantry of Scotland and of the North of Ireland.1
' Michael ' was a delicate infant. He was the ' fifth '
1 The following are the titles of a few of these : —
1. The Rattling of the Dry Bones ; or, a Sermon preached in the night-time at Chapel-yard, in the parish of Carluke, Clydsdale, May 1672. Ezek. xxxviii. 7, 8. 4*0.
2. Soul-Confirmation : a Sermon preached in the parish of Cambusnethan, in Clyds-dail. [Acts xiv. 22.] 410, 1709.
3. Six dreadful alarms in order to the right improving of the Gospel ; so [mis print for 'or'] the substance of a sermon. Matt. vii. 24. 410.
4. The duty of Christians to live together in religious communion, recommended in a sermon preached at Belfast, January 5, 1724-5, before the sub-Synod, on Rom. xv. 7. 8vo. Belfast, 1725.
5. A sermon preached by Master Michael Bruce, in the Tolbooth of Edin burgh, the immediate Sabbath after he received the sentence of exile for Virginia. Ps. cxl. 12, 13. 4to. I have over and over come upon the 'Sermons' of this ' Michael Bruce ' in our County, — a circumstance that speaks of their circulation in the district, and so is confirmatory of our supposition concerning the Poet's Christian name.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 9
of a family of eight. While ' Saunders ' — that is, his 4 father ' — plied his shuttle, and 4 Annie/ his ' mother,' or as Doric lips call her, ' mither/ having put all to rights exactly as inimitably photographed by ROBERT BURNS in ' The Cottar's Saturday Night/ sat down at the • Spinning-Wheel,' and worked away at materials for winter underclothing 'for a' the bairns? ever and anon lilting some old snatch of song, or perchance a ' Psalm ' •.id, — Mary Miller, an adopted orphan, took charge of the sickly little thing. All as still to be seen repeated in an hundred lowly but happy Scottish * hanitsS
Children were earlier sent to school long ago than now : partly because of their pair of hands being all too soon needed to add to the family purse as ' herds/ if boys ; as * servant-maids/ if girls.1 ALEXANDER BRUCE had taken special pains with ' Michael ' himself : so much so, that when he ' toddled/ before he had reached his fourth year, to the village school, which was then taught by a Mr Dun, of whom there are still faint memories in the ' Bishopshire/ he could take with him the Bible as his first lesson-book. ' The Master/ says Dr Mackelvic, reporting the account of those who had been his playmates, ' was surprised at what he con sidered the stupidity of his parents, in furnishing their child with the sacred volume instead of the Shorter Catechism.' ' His surprise, however, was transferred from the parents to the child, when, upon asking him to
worthy friend, Mr David Marshall, of the Lochlcven Fishing*, Kinross, has put into my hands an old receipt, in the handwriting of Dr James Stedman of Whinneld to his grandfather, also Mr David Marshall, by which it appears that down to 1807 even 'girls' acted as 'herds:' said receipt including 12$. 'to bis daughter Mary ' as ' her fee as Herd.'
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show what he could do, he commenced reading with fluency at the place pointed out to him.'1 Poor, dear little fellow, better far had he run about the hills awhile, ruddying his small cheeks on their breezy slopes !
' At the end of the first week,' the same Biographer continues, * he was considered by his instructor to have been long enough among the easy lessons of The Gos pels ; and was therefore enjoined to bring with him, upon his return, the book read by the more advanced class.'2 Another anecdote has been preserved, witnessing to his precocious attainments. The father and Michael, then a mere child, having visited a book-stall at one of the Market-Fairs in the village, the poems of Sir David Lindsay of the Mount were inquired for. The vendor of books did not chance to have the volume ; but learn ing that it was asked for the child before him, he was so surprised that he should wish it, that he turned up a little volume, entitled ' A Key to the Gates of Heaven ' (so tradition tells, but probably it was good old Thomas Brooks' * Privy Key of Heaven j* or perchance Scudder's 'Key of Heaven, or the Lord's Prayer Opened'), and promised to let him have it on condition that he would read a portion of it upon the spot ; which being done to his satisfaction immediately, he awarded him the prize.3
His progress through the other branches of school- learning was equally rapid. A scrap of one of his few letters that have survived the spoliation of Logan — of which in the sequel — informs us that he could ' write ' when in his sixth year. ' I could write,' he says, ' or at least scratch, my name, with the year 1752 below it. In
1 As before, p. 12. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. pp. 6, 7.
MICH4BL BRUCE. 1 1
that year I learnt the elements of pencraft ; and now, let me see, 1752 from 1766 leaves fourteen, — a goodly term for one to be a scholar.'1 Nay, gentle Michael, not 'fourteen years' a scholar, at least not 'fourteen years ' at School : for thy • often infirmities ' compelled frequent absences. Very touching are the reminiscences of the apt boy. He was slender •, breast narrow, high- shouldered, neck long ; his skin white, even pallid and ' glistering ; ' his cheeks flushing into red rather than ruddy ; his hair golden, and inclined to curl. These traits are gathered from various agreeing sources.*
Besides his detention by illness, there was the further abstraction of the summer months of six years, during which, according to the ' use and wont ' of persons in his circumstances, he acted as a 'Herd* among the 4 Lomond ' hills, that rise behind his native village. Perhaps these summers in the open air, following ' the sheep* through strath and across 'brae,' in devious wanderings, gave him what of the brief lease of years he got. I meet with no lads so brawnily healthy, so full of gleesomeness, so ready for sport or ' trick,' as ' Herds.' I have met with some, top, who revealed, through their stammering, bashful speech, a brain at work under the shock of sunburnt hair ; eyes out of which a soul looked not altogether unvisited of speculation. If one might recall delicate 'Michael,' as he went about his daily task, there should doubtless be many a ' daunder * along the ' Glen Vale ' to be followed -, many a musing
1 Letter to Mr David Pearson : Madcelvic, as before, pp. 12, 13.
* Mackelvie, a* before, p. 13 : confirmed to myself by a grandniece from her mother. No portrait has been preserved. Pity that it should be so, while we have the wrenched and bloated face of Logan, that none cares for.
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pause among the huge stones of ' Richard Cameron's pulpit ;' interrogations of sky, and earth, and his own deepening nature, and of ' The Book.' These are not surmises merely. The Proprietor of Upper Kinneston, a small estate upon the south-west declivity of the ' Lomond Hills,' used to tell in his old age how
* Michael ' was wont to recount many a wondrous story, and put many a strange question, when he carried his little ' meal ' to him, — a service he was always forward to undertake for the sake of having a ' crack ' with the
* auld-farrant ' Herd ; * while his ' Lochleven ' is evi dently a reproduction of his youthful wanderings and
* visions ' transfigured with the hues of poetry — the in effable light that streams out upon everything which genius looks on. Like the shepherd-boy David ' of old,' even thus early there was a shadow of awe upon his young spirit ; and he delighted to turn the conversation to sacred things.2 If at any time it happened that his father was absent at the usual hour for * family worship,' — and in the godly weaver's home ' prayer was the key o' the morning and the lock o' the nicht,' as the old Scottish proverb runs, — Michael, by the common consent of the household, took his place. ' It has been stated to the present writer,' Dr Mackelvie ob serves, 'by a person who was once present upon an occasion of this kind, and who was well qualified to judge of what was becoming in such circumstances, that he was impressed for the moment with a sense of incongruity in a child acting as the domestic " mini ster" in a family in which there were, at the time,
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 15. 2 Ibid.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 13
both an adult man and a matron •, but that, before the boy had concluded the service, he was so struck \vith the propriety of his language, the variety of scriptural allusions, the suitableness of the petitions, and the so lemnity of the manner, that he could hardly permit him self to believe that the boy whom he saw before him really uttered the prayer which he heard."
Spite of the hindrances from sickness and ' herding,' Michael had no difficulty in making up lost ground at school ; and indeed it was commonly seen that his class- fellows soon lagged behind him. All who were his associates at school agreed in ascribing an unaccountable ' weight ' and influence to all he said and did. It was a common saying, that Michael's word was of as great authority as the Master's. The quarrelsome were abashed by his look ; the injured fled to him for help ; he was the decider of all disputes. It is un speakably touching to find the loving way in which Arnot, and Pearson, and Birrel, and others of his school-mates, in long after years, spoke of him. At home the same indefinable deference was paid to him. He was a /rf, but not spoiled. ' He was,' finely re marks his Biographer, already quoted, ' the Joseph of the family, without provoking the envy of his brethren.'*
Altogether, not without reason has he been regarded as one who might have sat for Beanie's ' Minstrel : '
. . . ' Poor Edwin was no vulgar boy, Deep thought oft seemed to fix his infant eye ; Daintk-s he heeded not, nor gaud, nor toy, Save one short pipe of rudest minstrelsy.
' ' Dr Mackclvie. as be/ore, p. 16. * Ibut.
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Silent when glad, affectionate though shy,
And now his look was most demurely sad,
And now he laughed aloud, yet none knew why ;
And neighbours stared, and sighed, and blessed the lad ;
Some deemed him wondrous wise, and some believed him mad.'1
All this will have prepared the reader for a decision which was arrived at, not without prayer, when Michael was in his eleventh year, viz., that he should be edu cated for the office of the holy ' ministry,' — a worthy ambition of many of the very humblest ranks in Scot land, and which has furnished some of the sturdiest heads and most devout hearts, as well as the most efficient ' workers,' in all the Churches. Let those who wish to see how, when there is a ( will,' there opens up a ' way,' read the f Life ' of Dr Robertson, the late inestimable Leader of the recent ' Endowment Scheme ' of the 'Kirk of Scotland,' as admirably and faith fully written by the Rev. A. H. Charteris, now of Glasgow ;2 and in reading it, they will read of just such an upward struggle as Michael Bruce had to maintain, though without the thews and vis of the peasant-son of Aberdeenshire. Again, I must protest against misdirected sentiment and pity in this matter. A lad who has manhood and Christianhood is all the better of such ' hardness ' and contending. It is mere puling and unmanly weakness, to make a to-do about the self- denial, the vexations, the ' worry,' the inequalities, that have to be endured by those who go out into the world's arena from the humble hut, and wholly thrown upon their own resources. The discipline welds the
1 Book i. Stanza xvi. 2 One vol. 8vo. Blackwood.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 15
character, if there be substance in it — strengthens, not weakens •, and the issue, under the divine blessing, makes success all the finer and nobler. As a rub, your * young men ' who have had parents to do all for them, turn out inferior stuff, and in the work-a-day world go down where the poverty -inured advances buoyant to the conflict. Michael Bruce had neither less nor more to contend with than hundreds of others at the present day. Not his ' indigence/ not his ' hardships,' barbed the arrow that laid him low ; but his infirm, ' con sumptive' constitution — a heritage that had worked to the same mournful end had he been dandled on the knee of fortune. To hear some men speak, one would suppose that there are no away-goings on 'the far journey' by Michael Bruces, whose cradles were rocked in palaces, and who through their whole days were fenced and guarded, that 'the winds of heaven might not visit their cheeks too roughly.' As with his life-start from a ' weaver's ' house, — not lowlier than that in Henley Street, Stratford-on-Avon, — so with his life-progress, by far too much has been made of Brace's difficulties.
Having decided to 'prepare* for college, Michael, in association with the children of ' portioners ' in the parish, and a son of the village teacher, Mr Dun, who was an excellent classic, 'gave himself' to the acquisi tion of Latin. The tradition is, that he was always ' dux ' in the class, and that Latin came to him as had his mother-tongue. One of his ' fellows ' was a son of Mr David Arnot, proprietor of Portmoak. They were as twin-brothers ; but their friendship was prematurely
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broken up by the death of William while at school. He is the ' Daphnis ' of an elegy written four years sub sequently. Our photograph shows his ' grave ' in the lonely churchyard, on the margin of * Lochleven.' The removal of this youth, who seems to have been a sin gularly interesting l boy,' moved Bruce deeply. The father was a man of fine character, of rare sagacity, and, in his circumstances, of rarer culture. To him it was Michael Bruce was indebted for his first introduc tion to Shakespeare, Pope, Young, and other of the great names of our country. The death of William, so far from sundering Mr Arnot and the now * student,' appears to have drawn them closer and kindlier together. To the end they corresponded ; and many an unosten tatious * present' witnessed to the thoughtfulness and tenderness of ' the laird's ' regard. All honour to the memory of the Arnots of Portmoak !
When Michael had reached his fifteenth year, the ' village class ' was broken up ; one of its members, as we have seen, being dead ; one, young Dun, had left for College ; and others were variously entered on their various avocations. The question was, to which Uni versity he should go. It is said that his first intention was to offer himself as a candidate for a ' bursary ' or scholarship in St Andrews j but a companion of his own having been excluded from the competition, Bruce, suspecting that his connection with ' The Secession ' Church had operated against him, resolved, rather than hazard rejection, not to apply. His thoughts were next directed to Edinburgh. In the interval he employed himself at leisure hours in transcribing large portions
MICHAEL BRUCB. 17
lilton and of Thomson ; and he was * imping ing for larger flight* than he had yet indulged. While he was still somewhat uncertain as to the future leaving the village school, a letter came to his father, informing him that a relative had died, and be queathed him 200 merks Scots (£ll, 2s. 2d.).s It was received as a direct ' gift ' from God. It was at once 4 separated ' to Michael's use -, and he proceeded to enrol himself as a student in the University of Edin burgh. His unfailing friend, Mr Arnot of Portmoak, declared his readiness to render what assistance lay in his power ; and the monthly ' chest,' as it passed from Kin ness wood to Edinburgh, showed that he did not fail of his promise ; for there went in it now a little 1 kit ' of sweet butter, and now a dozen new-laid eggs, even well-nigh all the presents to David at Mahanaim — ' honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine' (2 Sam. xvil 29).
Dr Mackelvie states his inability, from the loss of his college tickets, to give the classes attended by Bruce ; i examination of the Matriculation Album of the University has furnished us with his first entry, viz., under date lyth December 1762, in the ' Greek* class, under Professor Robert Hunter. . His signature is ex ceedingly neat and careful, and contrasts with others on the same page. Along with him there appear the names of ' John Logan ' and ' William Dryburgh.' Under date 1763 his signature again appears, — John Stevenson, Professor « Rationalis Philosophic ,' />. of Logic, — and once more Logan and Dryburgh are found on
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 29. B
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the same page. His signature this time is larger than in 1762, but is equally neat, as our frontispiece fac-similes beneath the Letter show.
The enrolment in what is now called the * Matricula tion Album' of the University must then have been voluntary, not, as now, compulsory ; as, while it is known that Bruce attended four years or sessions, the above two are the only occurrences of his signature. Moreover, a final search and scrutiny revealed that neither Mr George Henderson of Turf hills, afterwards the Rev. George Henderson, of what is now the United Pres byterian congregation ' Greyfriars,' Glasgow,1 nor Mr George Lawson, afterwards Professor Lawson, of Sel kirk, — a prodigy of learning, and a venerable man,2 — enrolled themselves. The name of Mr David Greig, afterwards the Rev. David Greig of Lochgelly, appears in 1764 in the * Greek' class. The only other notice able ' students ' of the period that I have come upon are 'Dugald Stewart' (1765 and 1767), afterwards the eminent Professor of ' Moral Philosophy ' in the Uni versity ; and ' William Smellie' (1762), one of the stur diest of Scottish thinkers.3
There are very few memorials of Bruce's progress and position in the University ; but the above fellow-
1 We have been favoured with the use of a copy of a privately printed volume in memoriam of this good man. It is called, ' Discourses of the Rev. George Henderson, Minister of the Associate Congregation, Shuttle Street, Glasgow ; with a Prefatory Notice by his son, George Henderson. For private distribu tion. Glasgow, 1859.' He died on 5th December 1784.
2 The ' Life ' of Lawson has been at last written by Dr John Macfarlane of London, i vol. crown 8vo. 1862.
3 I have to acknowledge the kindness of Mr Smith, Secretary of the University, in allowing me to go through the ' Registers ' of the period, and for the permission to take our fac-similes.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 19
students, Henderson and Greig and Lawson, were wont in after years to speak of him with enthusiasm.
Dr Anderson thus summarizes his course from mporaries : — ' He applied himself to the several branches of literature and philosophy with remarkable assiduity and success. Of the Latin and Greek lan guages he acquired a masterly knowledge •, and he eminent progress in Metaphysics, Mathematics, and Moral and Natural Philosophy. But the Belles Lett res was his favourite pursuit, and poetry his darling study/'
It is remembered that Bruce became a member of a literary society that met once a-week during the sitting of the College. The laws of the association required each member to read an essay in turn to the meeting. But Michael preferred verse to prose ; and his poem of 'The Last Day,'— only in occasional lines successful, — is understood to have been one of his exercises. His Fable of 'The Eagle, Crow, and Shepherd,' as ex plained in the place, was another.
We catch a vanishing glimpse of his bookish tastes in another fragment of a letter to his friend Mr Arnot : —[Edinburgh, November 27, 1764.] 'I daily meet with proofs that money is a necessary evil. When in an auction, I often say to myself, How happy should I be if I had money to purchase such a book ! How well should my library be furnished ! " Nisi obstat res angusta domi."
' " My lot forbids, nor circumscribes alone
My growing virtues, but my crimes confines.'"
He proceeds : ' Whether any virtues would have ac-
1 As before, p. 274.
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companied me in a more elevated station, is uncertain ; but that a number of vices, of which my sphere is incapable, would have been its attendants, is unquestion able. The Supreme Wisdom has seen this meet, and the Supreme Wisdom cannot err.'1
Let there be no < whimpering ' over ' indigence,' etc. etc. etc., again, from this text. All who have them selves been students know how ' tempting ' a book auc tion is ; and how spendthriftly often one is led to buy and buy that which a little self-denial had enabled us to resist with gain, not loss.
That Michael Bruce had this f weakness,' is evidenced by the singularly beautiful copies of the classics — nearly all Elzevirs — and other books which he secured ; and specially from his committing to the furtive care of Mr Arnot of Portmoak his copies of Shakespeare and of Pope, which he wished hidden from his worthy father, not because they were Shakespeare and Pope, but because he had indulged his Bibliomania in purchasing ' splendid copies ' of what were already available to him, either in his own home-shelves or at his friend's of Portmoak.2 All his books that remain are beautiful copies, of the finest editions. I have his fair vellum- bound ' Greek Testament,' in selected sections ; and the Rev. Thomas Swan of Muirton has his Lactantius, with this inscription on the title-page : ' Michael Brusius
1 As before, pp. 274, 275.
2 Dr Mackelvie, as before, pp. 5, 6, has conclusively removed the charge of ' illiberality' from Alexander Bruce, as made in the 'Penny Cyclopaedia,' in the Memoir of Bruce. 'The fear of a discovery' intimated, is explained above ; and the young Poet's penchant will not be hardly regarded by those who know the luxury of the indulgence.
MICHAEL BRUCE. ai
jure cmptionis tenet hunc librum. Edinr Martii 10°^ 1763*'°' ;' also his Josephus, by Stoer.
like many other students in his circumstances, then as now, at the close of each Session of College, he had to look out for employment, toward replenishing his purse, and preparing for the demands of another Winter. In the earlier Summers he resided chiefly with Mr Arnot, and Mr White of Fittendreich ; and was con stantly engaged, spite of depression of spirits and head ache, in wooing the Muses.
Later, under date ' March 27,' dies natalit 1765, we find him on the outlook for a School. Writing from Edinburgh to Mr Arnot, he says : ' I am in great con cern just now for a school. When I was over last, there was a proposal made by some people of these to keep one at Gairney Bridge. How it may turn out I cannot tell.'1
The ' School ' herein referred to had been commenced by Mr John Brown, afterwards Professor John Brown, of Haddington — c/arum ft wncrabile nomtn. It had gone down after his departure, on entering upon his ministry.* But it was re-established, and Bruce entered upon its duties. Our photograph shows it as it now appears, in all probability little changed ; just such a rustic nest as WILLIAM SHENSTONE saw at Hales Owen, and made immortal in his 'Schoolmistress.' The present Writer has the pleasure of conducting public worship once a month within it, besides a Sunday School established; and long may the spot so hallowed by memories of the
1 See Appendix A to our Memoir for another and hitherto unpublished letter of Bruce'*. 3 Sec Life of Dr Brown ; and Dr Mackclvie, as before, p. 47-
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f Founders ' of ' The Secession,' — who held their first Presbytery in a little ' Hostelry ' here, now removed, — of JOHN BROWN of Haddington, of MICHAEL BRUCE, and of JOHN BURT, — the last a ' man of God,' who l^ept a Sunday School here for many years, and the savour of whose name is as ' ointment poured forth ' to this day, — abide as it at present is.1
We have various interesting glimpses of Bruce while engaged at < Gairney Bridge ' School. First of all, there is still in the possession of the Laird of Anacroich, or Annafrech (Henry Flockhart, Esq.), a versified petition from the Poet to his ancestor. Here it is, with Dr Mac- kelvie's remarks : —
' The school was kept in an old cottage which hap pened to be previously untenanted. A few deals laid on blocks of wood sufficed for forms, and an old table served as writing-desk. This latter article of furniture was so frail, that before the first month transpired, in which it had been so used, it was damaged beyond repair. Upon this disaster the poet addressed the following letter to Mr Flockhart, proprietor of the lands of Annafrech, who took the active management of the school : —
<"SiR, — The following will inform you that we are in a tdbleless condition (if you will excuse the novelty of the word), which I desire you to take into consideration. I was about to say a great many fine things on the sub ject, but I find they are all slipt out of my head. To your wife and brother make the compliments of, — yours sincerely, MICHAEL BRUCE.'"
1 John Burt was an elder of what is now known as the First United Presby terian congregation, Kinross.
MICHAEL BRUCE. aj
THE FALL OP THE TABLE.
thin this school a table once there stood— It was not iron— No ! 'twas rotten wood. Four generations it on earth had seen — A ship's old planks composed the huge machine. Perhaps that ship in which Columbus hurl'd Saw other stars rise on another world, — Or that which bore, along the dark profound, From pole to pole, the valiant Drake around. — Tho' miracles long since were laid to cease, Three weeks— thrice seven long days — it stood in peace ; Upon the fourth, a warm debate arose, Managed by words and more emphatic blows ; • The routed party to the table fled,
ch seemed to offer a defensive shade. Thus, in the town, I've seen, when rains descend,
•re arched porticoes their shades extend, Papists and gifted Quakers, Tories, Whigs, Forget their feuds, and join to save their wigs — Men born in India, men in Europe bred, Commence acquaintance in a mason's shed. Thus they ensconc'd beneath the table lay, — With shouts the victors rush upon the prey, — Attack 'd the rampart where they shelter took. With firing battered, and with engines shook,
11. The mighty ruins strew the ground.
11 ! The mountains tremble at the sound. But to what end (say you) this trifling tale ? Perhaps, sir, man as well as wood is frail. — Perhaps his life can little more supply, " Than just to look about us and to die." '
'GAIRNIE BRIDGE, Jtau 17, 1765.'
' I hare had Dr Mackelvie's T«*»on compared with the original MS. through the kindness of Mr FlockharL A number of mistakes haw been thereby cor rected I »m nuich iixfcbted to Mr Hockhart b allowing a f^-siinik to be Ukcn of the Letter prefixed to the above petition.
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From his gentle disposition his friends feared that Bruce lacked the necessary firmness for the discipline of a School. Accordingly his fellow-student and friend Dryburgh wrote him certain counsels, which we may read : —
' Now that you have taken up a school, I beg to remind you that you are a pedagogue — neither be too gentle nor too severe. The one treatment is as bad as the other ; but if there be any difference, I think indul gence the worse of the two. But, on the other hand, there are many who, professing to whip blockheads, ought to undergo a similar punishment for being one themselves — to whom the words of Solomon, which Dean Swift once chose for his text, may be very well applied, "Stripes are for the back of fools."' These sentiments were still further enforced in a letter sent him, about the same time, by his more experienced friend Arnot. 'The energies of the young,' says he, ' will be sure to lie dormant, if they be not roused by those to whom their training is entrusted, as most soils are barren without cultivation. But there is much need of prudence, for, as some ground requires the stronger plough, another plot may be managed by an easy hand. With some, force must be used ; forbearance must be employed towards others. You have the advantage of spurring them up by emulation, which seldom fails, but which, at the same time, does not always succeed. By this common impulse I could not be affected.'1
It appears that these excellent ' counsels ' were very
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 52 ; and see Appendix B to our Memoir for the entire Letter, along with another, from the original MS.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 15
much thrown away, in so far as the ' rod ' and ' taws ' were concerned, as Bruce never could be induced to use either.
• school was not large. About two months after its re-establishment, there were only twenty-eight pupils. A ' Dialogue ' written by the poet-teacher has been preserved ; and while there are in it evident humorous touches, verging on caricature, it is nevertheless plain that the fees were trifling, and not very willingly paid by certain of the parents. One is gladdened to find that the cloud of melancholy which brooded over him was not without its silver lining of a quiet, ' pawky ' mirthfulness. pleasant to think of the worn face, ' sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought/ illumined by the gentle smile that accompanies felt power of insight into cha racter, especially pretenct. Here is the ' Dialogue : ' —
' As I was about to enter on my labours for the week, an old fellow like a Quaker came up and ad dressed me thus : —
' Q. Peace be with you, friend.
4 M. Be you also safe.
* Q. 1 have brought my son Tobias to thee, that thou mayest instruct him in the way that he should go.
' M . He is welcome.
' Q. Our brother Jacob telleth me that thou showest thyself a faithful workman, hearing thy scholars oftener in a day than others, because thou hast few.
' M. I presume I do.
1 Q. Verily therein thou doest well ; thou shalt not lose thy reward -, it shall be given thee with the faithful in their day.
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( M. Ay, but, friend, I need somewhat in present possession.
' Q. I understand you ; thou wouldst have the prayers of the faithful.
' M. Ay, and something more substantial ; in short, my friend, I must have two shillings per quarter for teaching your son Tobias.
' Q. Ah ! friend, I perceive thou lovest the mammon of unrighteousness ; let me convince you of your sin.
' M. Certainly, since thou seemest to be a most right eous man, who deemeth the servant worthy of his hire.
' Q. Hearken unto my voice ; Ezekiel, who was also called Holdfast, took but sixpence in the quarter, as thou callest it. He was a good man, but he sleepeth ; the faithful mourned for him. He catechized the chil dren seven times a-day. He was one of the righteous, yea, he was upright in his day, save in the matter of
' M. I still think that the labour you expect me to bestow upon your son Tobias is worth two shillings a quarter.
' Q. Two shillings ! verily, friend, thou art an extor tioner ; yea, thou grindest the face of the poor, thou lovest filthy lucre. Thou hast respect unto this present world. — Cetera desunt^
' Elia ' had laid up the quaint little paper in an inner place of that wizard Memory of his, and produced it, with added puns and quips, to ' set the table in a roar.' But while Bruce had apparently slender pecuniary re compense for his * teaching,' otherwise he was comfort-
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, pp. 54, 55.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 17
ably situated. It had been agreed that, in addition to the school fees, and in place of salary, he was to reside and receive free-board with the more 'bien* parents of the children. Accordingly, he went to Classlochic, a firm then possessed by a Mr Grieve, — a man of excellent Christian character, who was so 'taken* by his guest, that he would not hear of his leaving him to go elsewhere during the whole period he taught at Gairney Bridge.
We revisited the ' farm ' the other day, and found it to be a pleasant residence. It was conveniently near ' the school,' and the roads leading to and out from it are like the English lanes of Miss Mitford's ' Our Village ' itself, — odorous hedgerows on either side, and many a fair wild-flower nestling at the roots. The ' Gairney ' glints in silvery windings through the fields on its way to ' Lochleven.' Eastward was his own native Kinness- wood. Southward rises Benarty, darkened with plan tations — pine and spruce, and sprinkling of birch, with scintillating bark and quivering leafage, tenderly green in spring, and many-dyed in autumn as a New England ' wood ' in the Indian summer. All round about were good neighbours ; and every ' farmer's ingle ' gave hospitable welcome to the shy, gentle Student-Teacher. Tradition garners memories of visits at ' The Bracldeys ' and * Cavilstone,' « Annafrech ' and ' Turf hills.'
In each of these ' farms ' were to be found fine specimens of the old type of gcottiah 'laird-,' some naturally ' wild,' perchance, but subdued and well-nigh reverential in the presence of Michael.
But the old, old story came in to play its part also in
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the residence at Classlochie. Mr Grieve had a daughter — Magdalene ; and the young Poet loved her fondly, but with ' silent love.' She is the ' Eumelia ' of his ' Lochleven,' and the ' fair maid ' of his * Lochleven no more.' Magdalene Grieve survived her lover, and became the wife of Mr David Low, proprietor of Cleish Mill and Wester Cleish, in the neighbourhood. She was wont to speak of Bruce with touching affection, but always declared that he had never ' asked ' her. Ex cessive modesty, and a presentiment that his days were numbered, have been assigned as reasons for his leaving unspoken a love that seems to have been burning in its shy passionateness, and enduring to the end of his brief life. A stanza, by a well-known local character, in tended to immortalize this love-story, is still in circula tion in the county. It is as follows :
' In Cleish Kirk-yard lies Magdalene Grieve, A lass [sweetheart] o' Bruce the Poet ; And Tammie Walker made this verse, To let the world know it.' *
While at Gairney Bridge, he contemplated the publi cation of a volume of * Poems ; ' but this I leave to be spoken of in the second division of our Memoir, in the Introduction to his 'Poems.' One short and hitherto unpublished letter to Mr Arnot, dated from Gairney Bridge, may fitly close our account of his connection therewith. It is as follows : —
'My DEAR SIR, — I have sent the letter which you have undertaken to carry spite of disappointments. It is open, but I believe the pleasure of reading it will not pay the
1 Communicated by Mr David Marshall, as before.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 29
trouble of carrying it. I do not choose to send a blank : therefore this (as I shall endeavour to fill it up somehow) shall never be called in question as to its Ictter-ality, that is to say, a return shall be due in law, and that [such as] it shall pass for an identical letter.
' I have been reading Shaftesbury's Characteristics, and shall transcribe for you what I think the best note I have found in it ; and it's this :
"'It seems to me remarkable in our learned and elegant apostle, that he accommodates himself, according to his known character, to the humour and natural turn of the Ephesians, by writing to his converts in a kind of architect-style, and almost with a perpetual allusion to building, and to that majesty, order, and beauty of which this temple was a masterpiece ; as Eph. ii. 20-22 ; and so iii. 17, 1 8, etc., and iv. 1 6, etc." This is not a bad remark from one whom, notwithstanding my deference for the moderns, I look upon as little better than a deist.
• I was about to entertain you with a character, not altogether unknown to you, of a talker or story-teller ; but I do not choose, merely for a little diversion, to deserve the reprehension of any person living.
' I would have seen you this day (only I was troubled with a pain in the head), and perhaps I may see you as soon as this. I am yours affectionately,
' MICHAEL BRUCE.
'GAIRNY BRIDGE, May 75, 1765.
' P.S. — You may put to a date to the letter when you close it.'1
1 From the original, kindly sent me with others from the present Mr Arnot of PortflKMk, or, as Bruce spells it invariably, ' Portmoag.'
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Having finished his * four years ' of attendance at the University, he was now at that stage in his curriculum of study which naturally led to his passing from the University to what was then, and still is, designated the ' Theological Hall,' entrance into which constituted him a ' student of divinity,' as distinguished from a ' student of humanity.' There was a difficulty in the way, to wit, that along with his father and mother, and other relatives and friends, he had hitherto attended the Rev. Thomas Mair, who, after his ejection from the Anti-Burgher Synod, stood alone. He had indeed applied for admission to the * Moral Philosophy ' class of the Anti-Burgher Synod at Alloa ; but his connection with Mair was deemed an insuperable barrier. He turned next to the Burghers, or Associate Synod, with whose attitude toward what was called the ' Burgess Oath ' he sympathized, rather than with the narrower * Antis.' He was accordingly admitted to the fellowship of the Church by the Rev. John Swanston of Kinross, who had been recently appointed Professor of Theology by the Synod, and into whose classes he was afterwards enrolled as a student. At the 'Hall,' which was held in the large room of what is now the ' Lochleven Inn ' in Kinross, and of which our photograph gives a faithful presentment, he had, as fellow-students, George Henderson of Turf hills, David Greig, George Lawson, Ar. Bennet, and An drew Swanston, with others who in after years emi nently filled the pulpits of the Burgher Synod.
Professor Swanston was a man of no ordinary kind, full, wise, scholarly, evangelical in his opinions, but rising above mere orthodoxy, fatherly in his superintendence,
MICH4EL BRUCE. 31
and above all, attractive as a Christian to the young : in his whole ' walk and conversation ' emphatically ' com mending ' Christ, and ' adorning the doctrine.'
m the outset the Professor was drawn to MICHAEL i:f who got ' far ben* into his large loving heart, and was treated rather as a young brother or son than a mere Church member or student. That delicacy of constitution which he inherited, it is believed, from his father, showed itself very mournfully during his first Session at the Hall ; so much so, that good Professor Swanston advised the ailing lad to give over study altogether for a time. But he persevered, fought on, though wounded and bleeding inwardly. For he was wounded : ' He had weakened his strength in the midst of his days.'
The arrangements made for the ' students,' if a primi tive, was an exceedingly agreeable one for them. In the congregation of the Professor there were a number of Proprietors of lesser or larger ' Farms,' and otherwise well-to-do. These received the young men into their several houses in the character of friends, without any remuneration further than the satisfaction of thereby rendering service to the future ministers of their beloved Church. In accord with this arrangement, Bruce resided, during his attendance at the Hall, with Mr Henderson, the * Laird ' of Turf hills, whose son George we have already had occasion to mention as his associate at the University, and who is celebrated in * Lochleven ' under the name of * Lelius.'
The compact little estate of Turfhills, which is still in
t succession held by Hendersons, had come down
through many generations of the name, long known in
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the county as freeholders, and of the old stock of Covenanters. It is told in the family, that Michael Henderson, in 1715, came forward in Kinross to sup port the government of George n. ; and that thereby he excited the rage of the rebels then in the town, so much so, that he had to take refuge in the Castle of Edinburgh until Mar's rebellion was put down. Again in 1745, when the second Rebellion under Prince Charles brought a host of Highlanders to the low country, James Henderson rescued a neighbour from a savage attack of two of these Highlanders, and con ducted them to Kinross, where they were reprimanded by their officers, and the plunder restored. In the evening, a messenger despatched from the town an nounced that a party of Highlanders were on their way to avenge their comrades. Thus warned, ' the Laird ' fled to Stirling, where he remained until the Stuarts were finally scattered at Culloden. There are other traditions of ' hairbreadth escapes,' of Christina Arnot of Arlary, wife of James Henderson, and her infant son, afterwards the Rev. George Henderson. The Hendersons were not only loyal to the Government, not only ' honoured the King,' but at a cold ' moderate ' period ' feared God' At the time of the noble stand for the ' true Evangel,' made by the Erskines and their compeers, as was to be expected, James Henderson adhered to them ; and at the very first meeting at * Gairney Bridge ' was chosen as an ' elder.' All the preliminary * meetings ' — and they were numerous — were held at Turf hills ; so much so, that one room in the mansion-house — shown in our photo graph — was known as ' the Presbytery's room.' Many
MICHAEL BRUCE. 33
a heartfelt prayer, many * wrestlings ' for the welfare of Scotland, many burning words to Christ for souls, and to souls for Christ, were spoken from one of the open 'windows,' — hundreds, even thousands, coining from nd near* to hang upon the lips of such men as Ebenezer Erskine of Stirling, Ralph Erskinc of Dun- fermline, Thomas Mair of Orwell, James Fisher of Kinclaven, William Wilson of Perth, and Alexander MoncriefT of Abernethy, — a noble band, to whom Scot land owes more than ever will be known until ' the great Day.'
It was into this Family — one of the old stamp of 'godliness,' kingly men and mother-of-Lemuel-like women — that Michael Bruce was received. It must have had peculiar attractions to him. There were the traditions of 'The Covenanters;' there was a heredi tary taste for ballad-lore and the ' auld manners ' of ' auld langsyne ;' there was generous hospitality ; there was a fellow-student like-minded •, and above all and about all as an atmosphere, real godliness of no austere but contrariwise joyous sort.1 Altogether, whether in the outset with Mr Arnot of Portmoak, and Mr White of 1 Attend reich, or while at Gairney Bridge with Mr 1 e of Classlochie, or while at the Hall with this grand old Scotchman and his no less noble wife — be fore whom we bare instinctively the head — James Hen derson and Christian Arnot, — MICHAEL BRUCE seems
1 I have gathered the details of the text from the volume in memoriam of the Rev. George Henderson, already mentioned ; and from the MS. ' Records' of Pro fessor Swanston'* congregation, now in my possession, as the minister thereof, together with gleanings from the History of ' The Secession,' and the Lives of the several Leaden in that great evangelical movement
C
34 THE WORKS OF
to have been singularly fortunate in his circumstances. I must regard it as sheer nonsense to sentimentalize over ' pressure of indigence,' and the like. Sure we are, the student-Poet had been the first to reject such misdirected commiseration. At no time, as it appears to us, had MICHAEL BRUCE to struggle with a tithe of the difficulties which many of his contemporaries had : not to speak of the present day, wherein brave-hearted, large-faithed young men are doing stout battle up ' the hill Difficulty,' with none to cheer save ' the great Taskmaster.' It looks to us unmanly exaltation of circumstances over the man, to make such a to-do about them, even had they been very much more adverse. It seems to us to under value the divine * discipline ' of self-denial, — the glorious necessity, through a trustful poverty that is not ignoble, of reposing on the Fatherhood of God.
While at Turfhills it is traditionally remembered that Michael Bruce and George Henderson, and other fellow- students, were wont to take frequent walks along ' the Kirk-gate ' to the ' Auld Kirk- Yard ' of the Parish — shown in our photograph ; and to recite their Hall * Ser mons ' and other exercises on a small elevation near Turfhills, called < The Kippit Knowe.'
At the close of the Hall in 1766, Bruce was again on the outlook for a * School ' — that of Gairney Bridge not being sufficiently remunerative. Besides, a sad 'back sliding ' of his substitute while he himself was attending the prelections of Professor Swanston, distressed him ex ceedingly, and rendered the place distasteful. One was offered him at Forrest Mill, then a lorn and ill-favoured place, about fifteen miles south-west of Kinross, and a
MICHAEL BRUCE. 35
from TilJicoultry. We paid a recent pilgrim- to the spot -, and from inquiries made and faint memories revived, can understand that to one so predis posed to consumption, and, spite of resistance, apt to be overcome with melancholy, it was a poor exchange for Gairney Bridge and Classlochie. The • School ' was low-ceiled, earthen -floored, chill, musty, dose. Outside, dreary spaces of moor flushed with 'heather,' skirted with sombre pines, — the 'wild ' of his 'Elegy in Spring.' Society uncongenial ; children dense, stupid, backward. The only ray of sun-light was the wistful care of him by a daughter of the family with whom he lodged, whose name was Mill.
Tradition has it, that Bruce, in fording the Devon on horseback on his way to Forrest Mill, was thrown, and though not hurt in limb was wet 'all through,' and arrived drenched, so that he had at once to be put a-bed. He soon rose and began his ' School ;' and it is told of Miss Mill, that she saw that it was as well ' warmed ' as might be before the Teacher entered, and that ' boards ' were placed on the ground where his feet rested, to keep them from the clammy floor. But all was in vain. ' Disease ' was working out to the last issue -, all the more touching, that it was what the great Poet has called ' CONCEALMENT,* which, ' like a worm i' the bud, feeds on the damask cheek.' And yet ' Concealment ' is scarcely cither the word or thing, inasmuch as Bruce seems from the outset to have looked forward to early dying.1
1 I would return thanks to the present Teacher at Forrest Mill, Mr Alexander Fortune, for his kind attention in the above visit, in tracing out traditional scenes connected with Bruce.
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A few of his ' Letters ' from * Forrest Mill ' have been preserved, and put into my hands. They are none the less pathetic from their slight out-flashings of humour. First of all : I am fortunate enough to have recovered one complete Letter that has hitherto only been given in fragments.1 The opening allusion is to ' stocking- knitting,' which was then practised by males as well as females, as Geikie has immortalized : —
' DEAR FRIEND, — What has happen'd to you, that I don't hear from you ? Surely you have forgot me. No, I cannot think so, for I measure your friendship by my own ; and barely to say I love you, were poor to my soul's measuring.
' I rather think my evil genius has hindered you from writing, or what you may have written from reaching me. Well, be it so. For once I shall consider I have more time than you. But I beseech, request, and com mand (d5 ye see ?) that you set apart a night every week for writing to me. Out of my sovereign, royal bounty, I will allow you the others, at least four of them, for seeing the I[assie1s, always providing that you carry your stocking with you to enable you to purchase candles. But, trifling apart, write as often as your situation will allow. I have not many friends, but I love them well. Scarce one enjoys the smiles of this world in every respect, and in every friend I suffer. Death has been among the few I have. Poor Dryburgh ; but he's happy. I expected to have been his companion through life, and that we should have stept into the grave together. But
1 I am indebted for it to the Rev. William M'Laren of Blairlogie, who discovered it among some family papers.
MICHJEL BRUCE. 37
Heaven has seen meet to dispose of him otherwise. And there's my dear Geordie, perhaps at this moment (for I have not heard from him of late) in the grasp of death. May " the good will of Him who dwelt in the be with him ! Alas, that I can do no more than ' But who in this case can do more ? What think you of this world, Da vie ? I think it very little worth. You and I have not a great deal to make us fond and yet I would not change my condition with the most wealthy unfeeling fool in the universe, if I were to have his dull hard heart into the bargain. Bat to have done. Farewell, my rival in immortal hope, my com panion (I trust) for eternity. Though far distant, I take thee to my heart. Souls suffer no separation from the obstruction of matter or distance of place. Oceans may roll between us, and climates interpose -, in vain, the whole material creation is no bar to the winged mind. Farewell, through boundless ages, fare-thou-well. The broad hand of the Almighty cover thee. Mayst thou shine when the sun is darkened. Mayst thou live, and triumph when time expires. // is at least passible ive may meet no more in this foreign land, this dreary apart ment of the universe of God. But there is a better world, in which may we meet to part no more. — Adieu. Remember your sincerest friend,
' MICHAEL BRUCE.
•To Mr DAVID PEARSON, Easter Balgedie.'
Ail his 'correspondence* that remains runs in the same vein : nor is the vcining superficial like the painted
3 8 THE WORKS OF
imitative marble ; rather is it interpenetrative as in the stone itself. Writing to Mr Pearson again, he says :
' The next letter you receive from me, if ever you re ceive another, will be dated 1767. ... I lead a melan choly kind of life in this place. I am not fond of com pany. But it is not good that man be still alone ; and here I have no company but what is worse than solitude. If I had not a lively imagination, I believe I should fall into a state of stupidity and delirium. I have some evening scholars, the attending on whom, though few, so fatigues me, that the rest of the night I am quite dull and low-spirited. Yet I have some lucid intervals, in the time of which I can study pretty well.' z
Another * Letter,' of a somewhat earlier date, to his friend Arnot of Portmoak is tinged with even a deeper despondency :2
'DEAR SIR, — It is an observation of some of your philosophers, that it is much better for man to be ignorant of, than to know the future incidents of his life ; for, says one, if some men were beforehand acquainted with the terrible miseries that await them, they would be as miserable in fearing (and I believe more so) than in suffer ing. Again, when we are in expectation of any good, we paint all the agreeable to ourselves, and dwell in fancy on it ; nor can we be convinced, but by experience, that everything here is of a mixed nature. When this so long expected convenience arrives, we can scarce believe it [is] what we hoped for, and, in truth, it is
1 Dr Anderson, as before, p. 277.
z The original is now before me, and it is given for the first time accurately and in its complete form.
MICHJBL BRUCE. 39
different. Many a disappointment of this kind have I met with. What I enjoyed of anything was always in the hope of it. I expected to be happy here, but I am not ; and my sanguine hopes are the reason of my disappointment. The easiest part of my life is past, and I was never happy. I sometimes compare my condition with that of others, and imagine if I was in theirs I should be well. But is not everybody thus ? Perhaps he whom I envy thinks he would be glad to change with me, an .1 yet neither would be better for the change. Since it is so, let us, my friend, moderate our hopes and fears, resign ourselves to the will of Him who " doth all things well," and who hath assured us that He careth for us ; and rejoice in hope of the glory that is to be revealed, and which will infinitely surpass our greatest expectations.
. . . . " Hoc res est una Solaque qui fecere possit el aervare beatum."
Things are not very well in this world, but they are pretty well. They might have been worse ; and, as they are, may please us who have but a few short days to use them. This scene of affairs, tho' a very per plexed, is a very short one, and in a little all will be cleared up. Let us endeavour to please God, our fellow-creatures, and ourselves. In such a course of life we shall be as happy as we can be in such a world as this. Thus, you who cultivate your farm with your own hands, and I who teach a dozen blockheads for bread, may be happier than he who, having more than he can use, tortures his brain to invent new methods
40 THE WORKS OF
of killing himself with the superfluitie. But whither do I ramble ? I forget that I am telling you what you know better than I do. But I must say something. I hope to hear from you an account of your journey to Edinr., &c.
' I have wrote a few lines of a descriptive poem, cm titulus est ' Lochleven.' You may remember (as Mr
M r says) you hinted such a thing to me; so I have
set about it, and you may expect a dedication. I hope it will soon be FINISHED, as I every week add two lines, blot out six, and alter eight. You shall hear the plan when I know it myself. My compP- to the family. Farewell. — I am, yours, etc.
* MICHAEL BRUCE.
' FORREST MILL, July 28^, 1766.'
One leaf only of another Letter from ' Forrest Mill ' remains. The reference in the opening sentences is pro bably to the famous or infamous treatise of De Mande- ville, ' The Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices Public Benefits.' This Letter — which is now published for the first time — is also addressed to Mr Arnot of ' Portmoag.' . . . * I think it a most dry unentertaining oddity, wanting that which makes a number of bad books too agreeable, I mean beauty of language. Many have erred in their pictures of human nature, on the favourable side, but he on the opposite. I look on it as an attempt to prove that even God Himself, who rules in the kingdoms of the earth, cannot promote the wealth and strength of a nation, but by the means of luxury and profusion, in all their most detestable branches.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 41
1m representations of men he differs very little from the Candiduf of Voltaire, and the too witty Dr Swift's Hughninu. But surely the contempt of the world is not a greater virtue than the contempt of our fellow-creatures is a vice. Dr Young has said it, and it is truth.
Like my compliments to your Family, and believe me yours, e:
' MICHAEL BRUCE.
' FORREST MILL, Dtcr. toM, 1766.
4 P.S. — I design to be at Kinross, Sabbath next, from whence I will send this. I will probably fetch Rollin to Gair[ney] Brpdge], and engage J. Campbell to carry him to you. By him you will write to me.'
Bruce's sickness, with its accompanying day-gloom, was not all that he had to contend with. His weakness was such that he slept but little, and his condition alto gether was very much a reproduction of Job's : ' When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint ; then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions ' (Job vii. 13, 14). Perhaps ' terrify ' is not the exact word ; but one of his ' Visions ' has been preserved in a Letter to his life-long friend Pearson. Taking a stanza of his own tender and ex quisitely-touched 'Elegy in Spring' as a motto, — the ' Elegy ' having also been composed at ' Forrest Mill,'— he proceeds :
' If morning dreams presage approaching fete,
And morning dreams, as poets tell, are true, Led by pale ghosts, I enter death's dark gate, And bid this life and all the world adieu.
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' A few mornings ago, as I was taking a walk on an eminence which commands a view of the Forth, with the vessels sailing along, I sat down, and taking out my Latin Bible, opened by accident at a place in the book of Job, ix. 23, " Now my days are passed away as the swift ships." Shutting the book, I fell a-musing on this affecting comparison. Whether the following happened to me in a dream or waking reverie, I cannot tell ; but I fancied myself on the bank of a river or sea, the oppo site side of which was hid from view, being involved in clouds of mist. On the shore stood a multitude, which no man could number, waiting for passage. I saw a great many ships taking in passengers, and several per sons going about in the garb of pilots, offering their service. Being ignorant, and curious to know what all these things meant, I applied to a grave old man, who stood by, giving instructions to the departing passengers. His name, I remember, was the Genius of Human Life. " My son," said he, " you stand on the banks of the stream of Time. All these people are bound for Eter nity, that 'undiscovered country from whence no tra veller ever returns.' The country is very large, and divided into two parts : the one is called the Land of Glory, the other the Kingdom of Darkness. The names of those in the garb of pilots are Religion, Virtue, Pleasure. They who are so wise as to choose Religion for their guide, have a safe though frequently a rough passage ; they are at last landed in the happy climes where sighing and sorrow for ever flee away. They have likewise a secondary director, Virtue, but there is a spurious virtue who pretends to govern by himself ; but
MICHAEL BRUCE. 43
the wretches who trust to him, as well as those who Pleasure for their pilot, are either shipwrecked, or are cast away in the Kingdom of Darkness. But the vessel in which you must embark approaches; you must begone. Remember what depends upon your conduct." No sooner had he left me, than 1 found myself surrounded by those pilots I mentioned before. Immediately I for got all that the old man said to me, and seduced by the fair promises of Pleasure, chose him for my director. We weighed anchor with a fair gale ; the sky serene, the sea calm. Innumerable little isles lifted their green heads around us, covered with trees in full blossom ; dissolved in stupid mirth, we were carried on, regardless of the past, of the future unmindful. On a sudden the sky was darkened, the winds roared, the seas raged ; red rose the sand from the bottom of the troubled deep. The angel of the waters lifted up his voice. At that instant a strong ship passed by ; I saw Religion at the helm. " Come out from among these," he cried. I and a few others threw ourselves out into his ship. The wretches we left were now tost on the swelling deep. The waters on every side poured through the riven vessel. They cursed the Lord ; when, lo ! a fiend rose from the deep, and, in a voice like distant thunder, thus spoke : " I am Abaddon, the first-born of death ; ye are my prey ; open thou, abyss, to receive them.'* As he thus spoke they sunk, and the waves closed over their heads. The storm was turned into a calm, and we heard a voice saying, " Fear not, I am \vith you. When you pass through the waters, they shall not overflow you." Our hearts were filled with
44 THE WORKS OF
joy. I was engaged in discourse with one of my new companions, when one from the top of the mast cried out, " Courage, my friends, I see the fair haven, the land that is yet afar off." Looking up, I found it was a certain friend who had mounted up for the benefit of contemplating the country before him. Upon seeing you, I was so affected that I started and awaked. Fare well, my friend, farewell/1
There must have been ' lucid intervals,' as he himself designates them — re-luming of life's lamp of Hope — seeing that his long poem of * Lochleven ' was com posed while resident in ' Forrest Mill,' as appears from the letter to Arnot of July 26th, 1766. But at last the weaker went 'to the wall.' The 'lean fellow' who ' beats all conquerors/ threw him in the wrestle. As he felt the shaft rankle, not without blood flowing, the young heart yearned for home — for a mother's hand, a mother's face, a mother's kiss, a mother's love. And giving up ' The School,' he hied him slowly eastward 'on foot.' He walked the full twenty miles, resting only for a little at Turfhills. He reached the humble dwelling, not unwilling to live, but prepared to ' die.'
For a little while, through a few weeks, he was able to go out into ' the garden/ reclining on a ' bank of soft grass/ which until recently was pointed out. Having also procured a quarto volume of writing paper, he with pathetic earnestness daily transcribed his ' Poems ' therein, including his ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' ' Hymns ' and ' Para-
1 Dr Anderson, as before, pp. 277, 278. I have said that the 'Elegy' was composed at Forrest Mill, and this because the letter to his friend Pearson, which contains a stanza from it, must have been written there. Pearson was resident in Kinnesswood ; there could be no occasion for letters after Bruce had returned home.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 4J
phrases/ and ' Elegy in Spring,' and in short all that he deemed worthy of preservation. Latterly he was alto gether confined to bed. There his one inseparable com- :\ was his little pocket Bible, from which he was wont to commit portions to memory, repeating and commenting upon them to visitors very sweetly and modestly.
One day his old College and Hall friend, George Lawson — who being appointed to occupy the pulpit of the deceased Thomas Mair — hastened to Kinnesswood to see him. He found him in bed, very pale, his eyes large and lustrous, but delighted to see his unexpected visitor. Mr Lawson observed to him that he was glad to find him so cheerful. ' And why,' said he, with noble trustfulness, ' should not a man be cheerful on the verge of heaven ? ' an answer which reminds us of the Poet's picture of the Christian's death-bed : —
' The chamber where the good man meets his fate Is privileged beyond the common walks Of virtuous life, quite on the verge of heaven.'
' But,' said his friend, ' you look so emaciated, I am afraid you cannot last long/ Quickly, and with a flash of the humour of his healthful days, he answered, ' You remind me of the story of the Irishman who was told that his hovel was about to fall ; and I answer with him, Let it fall, it is not mine ; ' or perhaps his words were, ' it is not me" ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee.' He maintained this cheerfulness throughout his illness, overcast only for a moment by the sudden death of his beloved minister
1 Dr Mackclvie, as before, pp. 77, 78.
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and professor, Swanston ; lingered for a couple of months, ' wearin' awa' to the land o' the leal ;' and in the night-time, when ' deep sleep falleth upon men,' slept the deeper sleep, being found in the morning of 5th July 1767, dead, aged twenty-one years and three months. ' He was not, for God took him.'
( Bewildered reader I pass without a sigh\ In a proud sorrow ! There is life with God In other kingdoms of a sweeter air. In Eden every flower is blown. Amen.' x
It is his own request. His Bible — which is still lovingly preserved — was found upon his pillow, a corner of the leaf turned down at Jer. xxii. 10, ' Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him.' His father was ' chief mourner.' The world heeded not the weeping that day in the ' weaver's ' home of Kinnesswood. You look in vain in the magazines and newspapers for so much as an announcement of his death. But ' devout men carried him to his grave, and made great lamentation over him' (Acts viii. 2). Our photograph shows the monument that now marks the spot in the churchyard of what was the first charge of EBENEZER ERSKINE. Pil grims from ' far Lands ' still find their way to it. Not a Summer but some are observed reading the inscription, and mayhap plucking a few spires of grass or an early primrose from the mound. A very gentle, very modest, very pure, very holy, very beautiful, very genuine, very gifted Life had here its premature close. And a Sky-Lark that rose, with broken wing, from his grave when last we visited it, supplies us with at once an emblem of his
1 David Gray, as before.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 47
Life, and a guarantee of his Fame. Of his Life : for
his delicate constitution was as a • broken wing ' to his
piring spirit. Of his Fame : for it needeth not
'great things,* no Sinai thunder, but a 'still small voice,'
in an abiding place among the 'sweet singers' who
aim ' outlives the Epic ; the snatch of true
'Song' what was intended to compel immortality.
We may draw near, and read the Inscription on the
monument : —
TO THE
MEMORY OP MICHAEL BRUCE,
WHO WAS BORN AT KINNESSWOOD IN 1746,
AND DIED WHILE A STUDENT IN CONNECTION WITH THE SECESSION CHURCH.
MEEK AMD GENTLE IN SPIRIT, SINCERE AMD UNPRETENDING IN HIS CHRISTIAN DEPORTMENT. REFINED IN INTELLECT, AND ELEVATED IN CHARACTER, HE WAS GBEATLY BELOVED BY HIS FRIENDS, AND WON THE ESTEEM OP ALL; WHILE HIS GENIUS, WHOSE FIRE NEITHER fOVEETV NOB SICKNESS COULD QUENCH, PRODUCED THOSE ODES UNRIVALLED FOB SIMPLICITY AND PATHOS WHICH HAVE SHED AN UNDYING LUSTRE ON HIS NAME.
' Early, brigkt, transient, chut* at morning dm, H« tfarkUd, and txkalcd, and wtnt to ktaven.'
Alexander Bruce survived his son Michael for a few years only ; but Mrs Bruce, his mother, lived on until 1798. In her old age, while ' poor,' she continued 'stedfast' in her ' faith,' and received with touching gra titude certain small annual sums which admirers of the Poet sent her. It is told that, regularly as these little
48 THE WORKS OF MICHAEL BRUCE.
payments arrived, she was seen, with basket on arm, going from house to house of still lowlier neighbours ; and on being asked what she was about, said, in the largeness of her heart, 'When Heaven is raining so plentifully upon me, I may let two or three drops fa' on my puir neighbours.' A fine trait of the grateful old ' body ' is also remembered, which may be given in Mr Birrel's words. When acknowledging a little money sent for her, he says, ' My brother-in-law has put up a stone chimney for Ann, and a halland of brick, which makes her little cot much more cleanly and comfortable than it was. She insists upon having a window cut out in the south wall, in order that she may see Lochleven and Stirling ; for she says, that though she never saw either Mr Harvey or Mr Telford, yet she likes to see the airt they come frae ; and this window must be cut out, though it should be at her own expense.' x
Toward the beginning of Autumn, while the fields were mellowing to Harvest, one of her acquaintances chancing to ' look in ' upon her, found the venerable Saint seated in her arm-chair, with her head leaning a little back, and her open Bible on her knee. She had tranquilly ' fallen on sleep.' Her ' spectacles ' were re moved, and placed upon the Bible. Did she think that another help was needed to illumine ' the dark valley ? ' ' Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season' (Job v. 26).
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, pp. 160, 161.
INTRODUCTION TO THE POEMS.
INTRODUCTION TO THE POEMS.
>GAN— ODE TO THB CUCKOO— HYMNS OK PARAPHRASES.
FEEL that it is a pity to perturb so meek and gentle a life as was that of Bruce with con troversy. But unfortunately the first editor of his Poems so dealt with the MSS. entrusted to him, and subsequently so asserted for himself the authorship of the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' and the well- known ' Paraphrases ' or * Hymns,* that no choice is left. I have gone over the whole of the evidence pro and con after Dr Mackelvie, with a ' single eye ' to ascertain the truth — nothing more, nothing less, nothing else; and the result has been a conviction of the utter untenable- ness of the claims of Logan. I use no stronger word
^ent.
I would narrate the facts, adduce the evidence, and v our conclusions ; and I am mistaken egregiously if any capable of weighing ' proof ' will refuse acquies cence in the last.
We have first to narrate and examine the FACTS — general and From fragments of letters that sum
has been ascertained, that while at Gairney Bridge, Bruce
52 THE WORKS OF
had himself intended to publish a volume of his ' Poems.' With reference to the scheme, his old school-fellow and fellow-student Dun thus wrote him, under date ' Edin burgh, January 25th, 1766:' — fl received yours, and am surprised that you say you have nothing to write. Have the Muses forsaken you ? Have the tuneful sisters withdrawn from the banks of Lochleven ? It is impossible you can have offended them. No I they will yet exalt your name as high as ever they did Addison's or Pope's. My dear friend, / long to see you appear in public. I hope I shall be freed from suspense ere long. Do not fail to do it soon.'1 Again, in a letter from his fellow- student, subsequently Professor Lawson, dated ' Bog- house, Feb. 20, 1766,' there is an incidental allusion to the extent of his materials for such a volume as was projected. ' Pray, inform me,' he says, ' when Mr Swanston proposes to begin his course of lectures, and whether you design to attend them. I would have been glad to have seen your criticism on Moir's pam phlet, or some of your new compositions, unless so large that they cannot be conveyed.' 2 Another letter from Bruce himself to his friend Pearson, in which he had enclosed his ballad of ' Sir James the Ross,' confirms the same abundance of materials : * Let me see some of your papers/ he writes -, ' at least a little more of something new ; for really I cannot afford such cartloads of stuff as you have every day from me, if it were to my brother, at the rate you return.'3
We have thus far two facts : ( I ) That Bruce himself contemplated the publication of a volume of Poems ;
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, pp. 57, 58. 2 Ibid. p. 58.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 53
(2) That even before 'Lochleven' was written— it not having been begun until fully half a year subsequently — there were ample materials. Hence, as Logan received the whole of his manuscripts, there was not the shadow of need for ' making up ' what he called, as we shall see, a
ellany.'
Attendance at the ' Theological Hall/ his transference to ' Forrest Mills/ and his increasing illness, combined with his naturally shrinking temperament, explain the
and ultimate non-publication of the volume under his own auspices. But that to the deep-shadowed close he ' hoped against hope/ that he might still be spared to ' make a book/ is evident from his careful revision of all his papers, and copying out of them into a large quarto volume, obtained for the express purpose, as stated in our Memoir, and of which volume more in the sequel.1
He 'died/ his year 'ending in May/ and his young purpose unfulfilled. He had not been gone many months when Logan, who was at the time a tutor in the family of Sir John Sinclair, Bart., came to Kin ness wood ; and having called upon the parents of the deceased Poet, expressed the deepest interest in his fame, and by the representations made, prevailed upon Alexander Bruce to furnish him with all Michael's MSS., which he knew, it appeared, were prepared for the press ; as also all
s by and to him, and particularly those which he — Logan — had himself addressed to him.
Besides delivering up to him the quarto volume of
ally transcribed ' Poems/ in guileless, unsuspecting compliance with Logan's additional request, every person
1 Dr Mackclvic, as before, p. 77 ; and our Memoir, pp. 44, 45.
54 THE WORKS OF
who had ever been known to correspond with the Poet was importuned to furnish him with his letters and poetry. I have to state that, in addition to Dr Mackelvie's testimony, based upon personal inquiries at those who had been so ' importuned,' — for various survived even up to 1837, — there are living at this day sons and grandchildren who over and over heard their several relatives repeat precisely the same statement. I have to specify representatives of the Hendersons of Turf hills, Arnots of Portmoak, Flockharts of Annafrech, Lawson of Selkirk, Greig of Lochgelly, and many others.
Before leaving the Village, Logan assured Mr and Mrs Bruce, that every paper with which they had entrusted him, or might send, should be carefully returned ; and that he had no doubt of realizing from the publication of their son's ' Poems ' such a sum as wouJd maintain them in comfort during the remaining part of their lives. These are the exact words preserved to this day — to use a fine expression— by oral tradition ; the tradition being mostly from first to second hand. So that once more it is apparent he contemplated such a volume as the abundant materials warranted, not the small thing ulti mately published and ' made up ' by him into a ' mis cellany/
Anxiously was the publication looked for by the household of Kinnesswood, and by the circle of admirers who cherished the lamented Poet's winsome memory. One year passed, and then another, without the slightest intimation of what was being done. Wearied and wist ful, Alexander Bruce addressed a letter to Logan, request ing information as to progress. No answer was returned.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 55
The first letter was succeeded by several others, with the same result. At length in 1770, three years after apers had been delivered to him under the circum stances narrated, a slight volume appeared, containing seventeen poems [not nineteen, as Dr Mackelvie states1], under the title, * Poems, on Several Occasions, by Michael Bruce.' No name of Editor was given, nor any state ment of how the MSS. had come into his possession ; but Logan let it be known in society that he was the Editor.
The following, in the form of a * Preface,' was prefixed to the volume : —
* Michael Bruce, the Author of the following Poems, lives now no more but in the remembrance of his friends. He was born in a remote village in Kinross-shire, and descended from parents remarkable for nothing but the innocence and simplicity of their lives. They, however, had the penetration to discover in their young son a genius superior to the common, and had the merit to give him a polite and liberal education. From his earliest years he had manifested the most sanguine love of letters, and afterwards made eminent progress in many branches of literature. But poetry was his darling study ; the poets were his perpetual companions. He read their works with avidity, and with a congenial enthusiasm -, he caught their spirit as well as their man ner ; and though he sometimes imitated their style, he was a poet from inspiration. No less amiable as a man than valuable as a writer ; endued with good nature and good sense -, humane, friendly, benevolent •, he loved
'Sec pi 95.
5 6 THE WORKS OF
his friends, and was beloved by them, with a degree of ardour that is only experienced in the aera of youth and innocence.
' It was during the summer vacations of the college that he composed the following Poems. If images of nature that are beautiful and new ; if sentiments, warm from the heart, interesting, and pathetic ; if a style, chaste with ornament, and elegant with simplicity ; if these, and many other beauties of nature and of art, are allowed to constitute true poetic merit, the following Poems will stand high in the judgment of men of taste.
1 After the author had finished his course of philosophy at Edinburgh, he was seized with a consumption, of which he died, about the 2 1st year of his age.
' During that disease, and in the immediate view of death, he wrote the elegy which concludes this collection ; the latter part of which is wrought up into the most passionate strains of the true pathetic, and is not perhaps inferior to any poetry in any language.
* To make up a miscellany, some poems, wrote by different authors, are inserted, all of them original, and none of them destitute of merit. The reader of taste will easily distinguish them from those of Mr Bruce, without their being particularized by any mark.
' Several of these Poems have been approved by per sons of the first taste in the kingdom ; and the Editor publishes them to that small circle for whom they are intended, not with solicitude and anxiety, but with the pleasurable reflection that he is furnishing out a classical entertainment to every reader of refined taste.'
Of this ' Preface ' as a whole, the Biographer of
MICHAEL BRUCE. 57
Logan, in the 'Lives of the Scottish Poets' (3 vols. I2mo, Boys, London, 1822), remarks :
• 1 lad he [Logan] been only as scrupulously just to the literary fame, as he has been liberal of praise to the personal character of Bruce, their names could never been mentioned in conjunction but with undivided applause. As Editor of Bruce's works, however, he has been guilty of an infidelity which, as it is of a sort which
POISONS THE VERY WELL-SPRINGS OF LITERARY HISTORY,
cannot be too severely condemned.'
But we must return specifically upon two of the state ments made in this ' Preface ' in their order.
i . ' To make up a miscellany, some poems, wrote by different authors, are inserted.'
The words * make up a miscellany ' would imply, that there were not materials for even so small a volume as was thus at last issued. We have found this to bt the reverse of the truth ; and further, FACTS will go to show why part of the Bruce MSS. was kept back.
' All of them [/>. the ' poems by different authors
inserted *] [are] original, and none of them destitute of
merit. The reader of taste •will easily distinguish them
from those of Mr Bruce, without their being particularized by
The only other author ever specified by Logan was Sir James Foulis, Bart., to whom the ' Vernal Ode ' is ascribed^by Dr Anderson. But letting this pass, could anything have been more preposterous than to assign as a reason for not putting an asterisk or other mark against the pieces not by Bruce, that * the reader of taste ' should ' easily distinguish them from those of Mr
5 8 THE WORKS OF
Bruce,' — nothing whatever of Bruce's having previously appeared in print, whereby his style might be known ? Logan's conduct in this has been called ' disingenuous ' by one, and * dishonourable ' by another, and * villain ous ' by a third.1 I state the fact in his own ipsissima verba ; and leave it to make its own impression.
Again : In the face of this declaration, that the 1 reader of taste ' should so recognise the superior merit of those of Bruce's over the others, what are we to think of the after-claim made upon what was admittedly the gem of the little collection, viz. the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' which every ' reader of taste ' had at once singled out as placing MICHAEL BRUCE among the rare band of true Poets ?
Further : There were seventeen pieces in all only ; and if Logan's own claims, and claims made for him, were to be admitted— which never for a moment can we do — fully the half of the volume, or ten separate poems, and 278 lines of ' Lochleven ' itself, must be assigned to him ; and all this in a volume issued by himself as ' Poems by Michael Bruce.' Logan seems to have had a secret sense of the incongruity, inasmuch as he included only ONE of all the NINE, and nothing of ' Lochleven ' — the one, however, being the ' Ode to the Cuckoo ' — in his own volume published in 1781, though, as we shall see, in this volume he committed other and aggravated spolia tion upon the withheld MSS. of Bruce.
Some time after the volume which we have been de scribing was published, its Editor sent six copies of it,
1 The third is the Rev. Peter Mearns of Coldstream, in his Lecture on ' The Poet of Lochleven,' Kelso, 1863 ; painstaking and sympathetic.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 59
\\ithout one word explanatory of either the delay or the ' making up ' of a ' miscellany,' to ALEXANDER BRUCE
.innesswood. Copies had previously reached the village, and it was instantly the ' talk ' of the community, —then, as to this day, marked by no little discernment and intelligence and godliness, — that there should be
to nothing in the book indicative of the profoundly Christian character of the Poet, — what, above everything, had impressed all who had intercourse with him. Ex cept the 'Elegy in Spring,' there was scarcely a line that breathed of ' divine things.' There was universal wonder ; and all the more that many of the Villagers could repeat verses that breathed the most seraphic de votion, which they knew to have been his productions, but none of which were included in the volume, nor any explanation given why they were not. When the volume was put into old Brace's hands, he went over its contents, and, bursting into tears, exclaimed, 'Where are my son's Gospel Sonnets ?' — a significant phrase, the meaning of which will appear by and by, when we come to consider the ' Hymns or Paraphrases/
Feeling indignant and injured, the good old man re solved upon recovering his son's MSS. from Logan, and publishing them himself. Toward this he scraped together a few shillings which were due to him, and set out for Edinburgh. He found his way to the house of Sir John
iir, where he was informed that Logan had left the Family some time before -, but he was kindly directed to a Bailie Logan's in Leith Wynd. Thither he pro ceeded. Logan was not there at the moment. While strolling about, in order to wait his return, the old man
60 THE WORKS OF
met and recognised him in Leith Walk, told him his errand, and charged him with having kept back the larger portion and the best portion of his son's poems, — having in his eye the ' Gospel Sonnets,' already named, which were his own special favourites. Logan took him to his lodgings, where he delivered to him a few loose papers, containing the first sketch of * Lochleven,' ' The Last Day,' and * Lochleven No More,' expecting that he would be satisfied with these. But Alexander Bruce's heart was set above everything on the ' Gospel Sonnets,' — on his boy's devotional pieces, — and insisted upon having the large quarto manuscript volume, con taining the collection of carefully transcribed and com pleted l Poems,' in Michael's own handwriting. Logan professed inability to place his hands upon it, but pro mised to make a search. Ill as he was able to bear the expense, the old man remained over another night. When he returned the following day, Logan was not prepared to deliver up the book, and expressed his fears ' that the servants had singed fo<wls •with it.1 The poor old father was utterly dejected ; and when — constrained, no doubt, by his poverty — he sought some account of the profits derived from the publication, he received not one penny, nor any satisfaction. One can't but admire at the unblushing audacity which sought to make the old man believe that a ' large fully bound quarto volume ' could have been so used by ' servants,' as if it had been some loose waste paper !
Alexander Bruce returned to Kinnesswood ' cast down ' and broken in heart. The shock caused his wound from the death of his beloved Michael to bleed
MICHAEL BRUCE. 61
afresh. He soon afterwards became exceedingly ' weak/ and died on July lojh, 1772.
I have told the FACTS of the reception of the volume in the Village, and by the Poet's father, on the authority of the painstaking, conscientious, and as-on-oath Narra- >r Mackelvic. But I have had every 'jot and tittle ' of it confirmed and re-confirmed by conversations with the sons and daughters and grandsons and grand daughters of the Villagers, who had over and over heard detail from old Mr Bruce himself, from Mrs Bruce, from the brother of the Poet, James, who lived until 1814; from Mr David Pearson, Mr John Birrel, Mr 1 Bickerton, Mr David Arnot, and from many others who remembered and told their friends the FACTS. THERE is NOT A SYLLABLE OF OUR ACCOUNT BUT RESTS
ON THE AUTHORITY OF EYE AND EAR WITNESSES OF UNCHALLENGEABLE INTEGRITY.
So mucfe for Logan's genera/ conduct in relation to the Bruce MSS. Thus far, we think, it will not be gainsaid that he acted in a singularly heartless and unworthy manner.
Now we enter upon the authorship of the ' Ode to the Cuckoo/ that Ode which won the praise of Edmund Burke, and can never * die.'
Here worse remains behind what we have already told: — In 1781 appeared a thin 8vo volume, entitled ' POEMS. By the Rev. Mr Logan, one of the Ministers of Leith. London : Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand. MDCCLXXXI.' It is now before us. There is no ' Pre face,' and not a single ' Note ' or * Explanation.' Nfvtr- theless, the very first poem in the volume is the ' Ode
6z THE WORKS OF
to the Cuckoo,' which was, as we have seen, the choice jewel of that volume which he had himself published as * Poems on Several Occasions. By Michael Bruce* From the date of publication of Bruce's ' Poems ' up to the publication of this volume, Logan never had hinted his own claim to the ' Ode ;' neither in his interview with Alexander Bruce nor in any way pub licly. But when ' every reader of taste ' had selected it as the poem of the ' Poems,' lo ! he claimed it ; and there have been found those credulous enough to admit the flagrant and impudent claim. On what autho rity ? From what evidence ? On the simple ipse dixit of the claimant ! Which is much as though a Liar or a Thief were to be declared * honourable ' on his own unsupported testimony. Let this FACT be grasped. For Logan there is merely his publication of the ' Ode ' — with a few * corrections ' that it won't be difficult to show were not l improvements ' — in his volume of 1781 ; and his brazening-out of that by subsequent necessary adherence to his claim.1 This is the sum and substance of the evidence in his behalf, — if evidence it may be called, where the accused is at once and in one, arraigned criminal, witness, jury, and judge ; and behind all, a character even then ' blown ' upon, as shall more fully appear in the sequel.
1 The earliest assertion of another's claim than Bruce's to the authorship of the 'Ode to the Cuckoo' that I have met with, is the following: In the 'Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement' — the'well-known Periodical of the Ruddimans, in which Robert Fergusson first published the'most of his poems — for May 5th, 1774 (vol. xxiv. p. 178), there appeared a version of it, showing verbal changes. It is signed R. D. In the next number, among answers to correspondents, there was this sharp rebuke : ' We little imagined our good friend B. M. was capable of imposition. The little Poem he sent us, under the signature R. D., inserted p. 178, proves a literary theft, and is the production of a gentleman in this
MICHAEL BRUCE. 63
It never has been ventured to be affirmed, either as from Logan or by Logan's friends, e.g. his executor, Dr :nas Robertson, of Dalmeny (of whom more anon), that the ' Ode to the Cuckoo ' was seen in his handwriting r than 1767 ; and Ij6j was the very year in which be obtained the MSS. of Michael Bruce. Here is the cautious language of his eulogist, Dr Robertson, in his Life of Logan prefixed to his ' Sermons :' — ' The only pieces which Logan himself ever acknowledged, in his conver sations with the compiler of this biographical sketch, were tory of Levina, the Ode to Paoli, and the Cuckoo. The last was handed about and highly extolled among his literary acquaintances in East Lothian, long before its publication, probably (though not certainly) in 1767, as he did not reside there at all in 1768, and very little in 1769. This fact, and his inserting it as his own in a small volume eleven years afterwards, seem pretty de cisive of his claims.' ' Credat Judxus ! Only first seen in 1767, and yet 1767 was the year of his reception of Brucc's MSS. -, not to say that, as a correspondent of the Poet, he might even have received and ' shown ' it earlier, though it is nowhere attempted to be proved he did this. The claim on such a miserable chance probability, ' not certainly,' is — monstrous ; and as the strength of a
neighbourhood, already in print. He ought to challenge and chastise the thief ' (p. 224 . Nothing more teems to have come out of it : and of course we are unable to say who R. D. or B. M. was ; and equally are we left in the dark concerning the 'gentleman in the neighbourhood.'/./, of Edinburgh. If it was Logan himself,— and Leith answers to the description,— it is singular enough that he did not give his name. Are we to suppose that, though Bruce was dead fix ytor*. he was only feeling his way toward his ultimate claim ? Certainly he was wary enough not to act upon the irate Editor's advice : and still other «rnr* Treat* elapsed before he gave the ' Ode ' to the public at kit mm. 1 Quoted by Dr Mackelvie from Life prefixed to Logan's 'Poems,' pp. ito, in.
64 THE WORKS OF
chain is measured, not by its strongest but by its weakest part, this link failing, the after publication shares its worthlessness.1
As this is the one point that has been put for Logan, I wish to give it in every way in which it has been pre sented. A Mrs Hutcheson, then wife of a Mr John Hutcheson, merchant, Edinburgh, and cousin to Logan, assured Dr Anderson that she saw the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' in her relative's handwriting, 'before it 'was printed' Very possible, nay, most probable. But then it was not printed until 1770, or about three years after Bruce's MSS. had come into Logan's possession. Df Anderson has accordingly very properly remarked upon the statement : ' If the testimonies of Dr Robertson and Mrs Hutcheson went the length of establishing the existence of the ode in Logan's handwriting in Bruce's lifetime, or before the MSS. came into Logan's posses sion, they might be considered decisive of the contro versy. The suppression of Bruce's MSS., it must be owned, is a circumstance unfavourable to the pretensions of Logan'2 No wonder that the good Doctor begins with an 'if;' but never has it been attempted to be shown, as it can't be too earnestly reiterated, that the ' Ode ' was in existence in Logans handwriting before the Bruce MSS. were secured by him. In all the many Letters of Logan that are extant, not one sentence has been produced, vindicating or establishing in any way
1 A friend reminds us of a pat anecdote : An old fellow got into trouble before the Sheriff about some debt he owed or did not owe. When he came home from seeing the Sheriff, a neighbour asked him how he had got on : ' How did I get on, ye fule ? It was left to my ain oath.' Anybody who knew him could have told exactly how much his oath was worth.
2 Life prefixed to Logan's ' Poems,' p. 1030.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 65
aim. Absolutely nothing has been adduced, be-
idherence to his claim, after publishing the Ode
in his volume of 1781. Most strange, that not one of
all those 'literary acquaintances/ of whom Dr Robertson
blmeny speaks, ever was or has been found to so
urn the Doctor's ' probably ' as to 1767 into
1767 was too damning a coincidence with
the reception of the Bruce MSS. to bear investigation.1
It must be stated, finally, in relation to Logan's
claim, that when, in 1781-82, a few admirers of Bruce
nt in Stirling were preparing a reprint of the
volume of 1770, he attempted to hinder it by procuring
a 'Bill of Suspension and Interdict ' against the ' printers
and publishers/ The whole proceedings are given, with
superabundant details, by Dr Mackelvie, whither I refer
the reader.2 It is sufficient for our purpose to note
^ four things : —
>d Laing, Esq., LL.D., of the Signet Library, Edinburgh, has kindly favoured me with a copy of the first edition of Brace's ' Poems' (1770), in which •one anonymous former possessor of the volume has marked the pieces usually claimed for Ix>gan as his ; and of course the 'Ode to the Cuckoo' is one of them. But this is of no value whatever, seeing it only shows that the writer, whoever he may have been, accepted Logan's own statement. Dr Laing has also sent me copy of a letter by Dr Robertson of Dalmeny, containing nearly the same list ; but we have seen all that he had to adduce (x*r/r«?\ In short, wher ever I have come upon any attempt at evidence in favour of Logan, an »»anvna- tion has invariably resolved it into his own publication and self-assertion.
On submitting this sheet to an accomplished literary friend, he wrote me, 'Once in my life I composed a little thing of six or eight stanzas, which a college acquaii >hed to be thought a poet, got from me in MS., and wrote
out in his own way, altering three or four words. I afterwards met it in kit handwriting, and with, his name at tht bottom ; and I believe it got into a news paper or small magazine as his. I should have had difficulty in establishing a claim to my own property had it been worth while doing so. But when a man .'HJJ as his, after the real writer is in his grave, he is merely a thief,
len goods in his hands declaring that he got them honestly,— knowing that the main witness against him can't be produced.' cckclvie, as before, pp. 127-142.
E
66 THE WORKS OF
(i.) Logan had the audacity to designate himself PRO PRIETOR of the ' Poems,' and to base his right to prevent any reprint on a FALSEHOOD, viz. that Michael Bruce had * left his works to his charge ;' or as elsewhere, * Mr Logan was entrusted by Michael Bruce, previous to his death, with these very poems.' This instruction to his Law-agent he never attempted to prove, nor could he, as our Narrative must satisfy.
(2.) Logan professed to be himself designing a 'new and elegant edition ' of the * Poems ' — for his own benefit. This too when old Mrs Bruce, mother of the Poet, was in extreme penury ; and although, with the exception of six copies of the volume in 1770, neither she nor the family had ever reaped -a penny of advantage from the publication.
(3.) Decision was given against Logan, setting aside his alleged ' rights,' and holding his ' statements ' as disproved.
Then — what escaped Dr Mackelvie —
(4.) The Stirling volume, which is a verbatim reprint of that of 1770, WAS PUBLISHED. It is now before us : * Poems on Several Occasions. By Michael Bruce. Sine me, liber, ibis in urbem. Ovid. Edinburgh : Printed by J. Robertson for W. Anderspn, bookseller, Stirling.
MDCCLXXXII.' (I2m0, pp. I27).1
Significant surely it is, that, notwithstanding his neces sary disappointment with the ' decision ' against him, and his anger with the Publishers, JOHN LOGAN allowed this volume to go forth into the world without a single
1 Our copy has the book-plate of the amiable Lord Craig, who in 'The Mirror was the earliest to call attention to the merits of Bruce.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 67
public word claiming cither the 'Ode to the Cuckoo' :e other poems ascribed to him. Even in his ' pleadings ' he grounded his ' rights ' to prohibit, on his ' proprietorship,* and in so far as ' authorship ' was con cerned was suspiciously unspecific, designating himself generally ' in a great measure the author of the collec tion of the poems in question.' Never once did he attempt, through all the Tritt/, to prove that he ivas himself the author md his own agent in the prosecution, the late venerable Alexander Young, Esq., W.S., Edin burgh, thus wrote Dr Mackelvie : ' Logan certainly '. to me that he was the author.' '
Turn we now to the evidence for BRUCE'S author ship. If the Bible rule hold good, that 'out of the mouth of t\vo or three witnesses shall everything be established,' then this will be so 'established,' and beyond.
1,2. DAVID PEARSON and ALEXANDER BRUCE. — In answer to inquiries addressed to him by Dr Ander son, one of Michael Bruce s most intimate associates and friends, viz. Mr DAVID PEARSON of Easter Balgedie, thus wrote inter alia, with special reference to the ' Ode :' — ' When I came to visit his father [Alexander Bruce] a few days after Michael's death, he went and brought forth his poem-book Q/^. the quarto volume
Mackelvie, as before, p. 140. In a letter addressed to Dr Mackelvie upon the publication of his edition of Bruce, Mr Young, though Logan's own agent, thus gave his estimate of Bruce and Logan : ' I really am at a loss to express to
approbation of the manner in which you have executed the work, and the justice you have done to the talents and memory of a most extraordinary youth, more especially by rescuing them from the fangs of a poisonous reptile. '
rmons by the late William Mackelvie, D.D. ; with Memoir of the Author by J c, LL.D., London. 1864.' (Oliphant), pp. 31, 32.
68 THE WORKS OF
already referred to, into which the Poet had transcribed carefully all his productions deemed fit for the press] , and read the " Ode to the Cuckoo" and "The Musiad," at which the good old man was greatly overcome.'1 To the same effect he further wrote : [4 Kinnesswood, August 20, 1 795.'] — ' 1 need not inform you concerning the bad treatment that his [Bruce's] poems met with from the Rev. Mr Logan, when he received from his father the whole of his manuscripts, published only his own pleasure, and kept back those poems that his friends would most gladly have embraced, and since published many of them in his own name. THE CUCKOO AND THE HYMNS IN THE END OF LOGAN'S BOOK ARE AS SUREDLY MR BRUCE'S PRODUCTIONS.' 2 Now, David Pearson, who gives this explicit ' testimony J — and there are many persons still alive who over and over heard him make the same unvarying statement, — was first of all an * apprentice ' with Alexander Bruce, then a ' journeyman,' and throughout the bed-fellow of Michael. Manuscripts that remain show him to have had also a taste for poetry, a taste which the elder Bruce encouraged, and which he and our Poet mutually stimulated in one another. The friendship between David and Michael was of the most intimate kind. It was their delight to read every now and then their ' new pieces ' as they came fresh from the mint, though Bruce's absence at Forrest Mill latterly prevented their seeing or showing all they produced, which, however, was supplemented
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, pp. 117, 118. The 'original letter' of Pearson was entrusted to Dr Mackelvie by the daughter of Dr Anderson.
2 Dr Anderson, as before, p. 274.
ICHAEL BRUCE. 69
by Correspondence of the most ardent and confiding
.ctcr. The Letter given by us (pp. 34-36) is one
of the few spared from the spoliation of John Logan,
when, as explained, he sought every possible MS. to
and from Bruce. Besides all this, David Pearson was
a man of shrewd and noticeable intelligence, of literary
i ad of the same tender religious character with
Michael ; and through life was regarded as of sterling
integrity, unquestionable truthfulness, and rare worth.
;i he died, in a 'good old age,' the whole Village
mourned as for a father. Dr Anderson, in his Life of
Logan, describes him as ' a man of strong parts, and of
a serious, contemplative, and inquisitive turn, who had
improved his mind by a diligent and solitary perusal of
such books as came within his reach This
worthy and respectable man is now living at Easter Bal- .' Such is our first twofold witness and witness ing Alexander Bruce and David Pearson. And it may be added, that over and above his distinct and unfor- getable remembrance of old Alexander Bruce reading from the well-known quarto volume the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' David Pearson was wont to tell with the same certainty that he knnu the poem to be Michael's, for that he had repeatedly read and heard it in Bruce's life time. This I have had confirmed not once or twice, but at least six timfs, by present representatives of the Villagers, and of county families with whom Pearson was wont to converse on the subject. He always, it must be added, in common with Mr Birrel and all others of the circle of the Bruces' relatives and acquaint ances, adhered to the version of the 'Ode* as first
70 THE WORKS OF
given in the Poems published in 1770 (of which more by and by).
3. JOHN BIRREL. — Another 'witness,' — who died in 1837, as Dr Mackelvie's edition of Bruce was passing through the press, — viz. Mr John Bir.rel, gave the very same unhesitating ' testimony ' from personal knowledge. He was the junior by a few years of Bruce and Pearson, but was very early in life admitted into the friendship of both. He was specially ' the friend ' trusted in every thing by Alexander Bruce, and he learned from him again and again the facts that have been stated. The elder Bruce died on 1 9th July 1772, nearly ten years before Logan published his own volume, or in any public way claimed the ' Ode to the Cuckoo ;' so that he never had occasion to be interrogated as to its debated author ship. But Mr Birrel, in common with David Pearson, recalled the tears of the old man as he would now and again take up the little volume of 1770, and read the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' and the ' Elegy,' and ( Lochleven,' when he was wont to recall the circumstances under which these and other pieces were composed. It was to Mr Birrel that Alexander Bruce gave over the few loose MSS. that Logan had returned to him on his sad visit to Edinburgh. In a letter to Dr Anderson ['Kinnesswood, Aug. 31, 1795 '], he thus gives a narrative of the FACTS : ' Some time before the poet's father died, he delivered to me the book containing the first draught of some of Michael's poems, his sermons, and other papers, desiring I would keep them, saying, " I know of none to whom I would rather give them than you, for you ' mind ' me more of my Michael than anybody," — a com-
MICHAEL BRUCE. 71
pliment which I never deserved, and which in modesty I should conceal. Some years after I entered upon terms with Mr Morison of Perth to selJ the MSS. for the benefit of auld Annie [Mrs Bruce], who was in very destitute circumstances. But in the meantime Dr Baird wrote for them, with a view to republish Michael's poems, with any others that could be procured of his. I sent them to him gladly, hoping soon to see the whole in print, and the old woman decently provided for in consequence. The finished book of MifkaeFs poems was given to Mr Logan, who never returned them. Many a time, with tears trickling down his face, has old Alex ander told me how much he was disappointed. He came unexpectedly and got all the papers, letters, and the books away, without giving him rime to take a note of the rifles, or getting a receipt for the papers,' etc.1 There follows the reception by Logan of the father, as already fully told. In another Letter to Dr Anderson, after specially calling upon DAVID PEARSON, he informs him that he € does not remember of seeing the Ode to the Fountain, The Vernal Ode, Ode to Paoli, Chorus of , or the Danish Odes, until he saw them in print. But the rest of the publication [/>. of 1770] he DECIDEDLY ascribes to Michael, and in a most parti cular manner the ' Cuckoo/ ' Salgar and Morna,' and the other 'Eclogue.' The 'decidedly* here is inter preted to us by what David Pearson himself wrote to Dr Anderson j and from a man so upright, so truthful, so guarded, so venerable, it was as an oath.
In the course of our researches for this edition of
1 Dr Anderson, as before, pp. 1099, 1030.
7* THE WORKS OF
Bruce, a number of interesting letters of Mr Birrel have been put into our hands ; and otherwise I have had fresh light shed upon his circumstances and character. All go to show that he must have been thoroughly well-educated, of literary and specially poetic tastes, and, in the fullest sense of the term — a ' godly man? From the outset on to his white-headed old age, Mr Birrel gave the same unvarying statement to all who introduced the subject, and to Dr Mackelvie from within the shadows of the ' Valley of Shadows ;' and such * testimony ' from such a man in such circumstances, and speaking from his own immediate personal knowledge, and as having also read the ' Ode ' in the Poet's volume of transcribed pieces, cannot be set aside by the audacious claim of Logan himself, made without a syllable of explanation or of evidence.
Thus far we have adduced three unchallengeable * witnesses,' viz. :
ALEXANDER BRUCE, father of the Poet ;
DAVID PEARSON and)
JOHN BIRREL, j associates and correspondents.
All of these had ' heard ' and ' read ' the ' Ode ' during the lifetime of Bruce, and before Logan had ever been heard of. All of them had ' seen ' it in the MS. volume carefully prepared by the dying Poet ; and out of this volume, within a few days after his death, David Pearson had heard the Ode ' read ' by Bruce's father, as one of his favourite pieces. The volume which con tained it and many other ' Poems,' was, as we have seen, guilelessly entrusted to, or rather, by false pre tences secured by, John Logan ; and, as we have also
MICHAEL BRUCE. 73
, he DESTROYED it, thus removing the one grand once against his claim.
Fortunately, at least one other copy, not improbably two, of the ' Ode* in Bruce's handwriting had been preserved ; and we have the ' testimony * of two ' wit nesses,' who will not be suspected, to having seen the manuscript, viz. Dr Davidson of Kinross, and Principal Baird of Edinburgh. These in order :
(l.) DR DAVIDSON OF KINROSS. — Dr Mackelvie hav ing applied to the Lord Chief Commissioner Adam, of .Jam, who had made investigations into the ques tion, was informed by his Lordship, that Dr Davidson, Professor of Natural and Civil I IKtory, Marischal Col lege, Aberdeen, had stated to him, that his father [Dr '.son of Kinross] told him that he had seen a letter from Michael Bruce, in which he said, ' You will think me ill employed, for I am writing a poem about a gowk ' (Anglicl, cuckoo).1
On communicating with Professor Davidson, Dr Mac kelvie received this more detailed and thoroughly factory account : —
'The information you have received from the Lord Chief Commissioner is in every respect correct ; but in addition to what my father told me (as stated in his Lordship's letter), he also told me that the letter con taining the poem was in the possession of a Mr Bicker ton, ig either at Kinncsswood or Scotlandweil, but, at this distance of time, I cannot certainly recollect which. But soon after this, I was paying a visit to Colonel Douglas of Strathenry ; when passing through Kinness-
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 114.
74 THE WORKS OF
wood, I met a Mr Birrel [already noticed] , an acquaintance of my father's, who introduced me to Mr Bickerton, who showed me the poem written upon a very small quarto page, with a single line below it, nearly in the words as stated by the Lord Chief Commissioner, and signed Michael Bruce. The words were, as nearly as I can recall them, " You will think I might have been better employed than writing about a gowk." If I recollect right, the worfl Glasgow was written on one corner of the paper, but no date. The handwriting was small and cramped, and not very legible ; but as I had not seen Bruce's handwriting, I could not positively say that the handwriting was his, although Mr Bickerton assured me that it 'was. I cannot be perfectly certain in what year I saw the manuscript, but, from some circumstances which occurred about that period, I am inclined to believe that it was in the year 1786 or thereby. I may observe, that there were some slight differences between the manuscript which I saw and the copy published in Logan's poems. The word " attend ant" was used in place of "companion;" and several other variations, but of no importance. I shall be most happy if what I have stated can be of any use to you in your projected edition ; and if there are any dubious points in Bruce's life which would require to be cleared up, perhaps I might be able to give you some informa tion, as my father and. 1 had many conversations regarding him; and he had good opportunities of knowing him, from being his medical attendant.' I
There are two or three points in this letter which call for remark.
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, pp. 114, 115.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 75
I. I have to state that Miss Davidson, daughter of Dr Davidson of Kinross, and sister of Professor David son, who lived and died in Kinross, is still remembered by various of the older residents in the town to have made the very same statement on the same authority, viz. her father, who never for a moment doubted that Bruce was the author of the ' Ode.'
nfirmation of Dr Davidson's incidental recol lection that the paper on which the ' Ode ' was written was ' a very small quarto ' page, it is to be noted that all Bruce's letters which have been preserved are written upon half of a sheet of foolscap, folded double, which makes exactly such a page as is described. The fac-simile prefixed to our volume is also written on the same kind and size of paper.
3. The Mr Bickerton mentioned by Professor D son is still remembered by many in the village and county, as having been a school-fellow and associate of Bruce, and afterwards a correspondent. He was a man of kindred character and worth with Pearson and Birrcl ; and he gave identically the same account of Logan's visit and conduct with theirs.
It is greatly to be lamented that the manuscript was lost by Mr Bickerton, who never ceased to grieve over it, in common uith Mr Birrel and Mr Pearson. In the very same way the original MS. of the * Elegy in Spring* has gone amis sing from the family papers of the Hendersons of Turfh'tlls.
(2.) PRINCIPAL BAIRD. — When Dr Anderson published the 'Poems' of Logan, in his well-known Collection of the British Poets, he assigned the 'Ode ' to him. After-
76 THE WORKS OF
wards, in applying to David Pearson for information, while preparing a ' Life ' of Bruce, that worthy man cordially entered into a correspondence with the Doctor ; but in a little Memoir of Bruce, which he drew up, and which was submitted to Dr Anderson, reflected somewhat 1 snelly on the giving of the ' Ode' to Logan. The Doctor's letter to Pearson, in reply, is given by Dr Mackelvie.1
The following extract is important : 1 1 have since seen your account of Bruce, which, so far as it goes, is pleasing and interesting. I hope, however, you will do me the justice to cancel the sentence relating to me. I do not complain of its coldness, but of its unfairness. In my narrative 1 followed Dr Baird' s authority in ascrib ing the " Ode to the Cuckoo " to Logan, who had indeed himself claimed it, and, till I saw Mr Birrel, I had no doubt of his being the indisputable author of it.' On all this Dr Mackelvie has these remarks and FACTS : —
' The reader will observe that Dr Anderson, accord ing to his own account, had assigned the " Ode to the Cuckoo " to Logan, upon Dr Baird's authority. Now it is necessary to inform him that, in the year following that in which he gave Dr Anderson the sanction of his authority for assigning this Ode to Logan, Dr Baird published a new edition of Bruce's Poems in behoof of the poet's mother, in which he inserted the " Ode to the Cuckoo " without note or comment ; thus awarding to Bruce what he had formerly claimed for his friend Logan, and what he was aware Logan had claimed for himself. The reason for this apparent inconsistency on the part of Dr Baird, in whose commendation we have
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, pp. 116, 117.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 77
yet much to say, is explained in a letter to Mr John Birrel, from Mr John Hervey, merchant, Stirling, with whose character, and connection with this publication, the reader will be made acquainted in a subsequent stage of this narrative. " He " (Dr Baird) " has found the Cuckoo to be Michael Bruce's, and has the original in his own handwriting." ' '
In all probability, the MS. formerly in possession of Mr Bickerton was identical with that which Principal Baird had obtained, though it is not known how it reached him. It may have been another copy. If it exceedingly to be desired that the Baird family papers should yield up this prize.
The Mr Hervey referred to, promoted, and indeed was the moving agent in, the publication of Dr Baird's edition of Bruce's ' Poems.* He was the bosom friend of Mr Birrel ; and two of the latter's letters to Mr Telford, banker, Stirling, which have been kindly forwarded to \press very touchingly his grief for his death.
Besides all this indubitable ' testimony,' direct and in direct, from personal knowledge, and from those who had seen the ' Ode ' in Bruce's handwriting, there falls to be added this, that Professors Swanston and Lawson, the Rev. George Henderson of Glasgow, the Rev. David Greig of Lochgelly, and all the fellow-students of Bruce at the University, and afterwards at the * Theological in Kinross, over and over stated, on grounds of persona/ knowledge, that the ' Ode ' to the ' Cuckoo ' was the composition of Michael Bruce. All the re presentatives of these persons confirmed this to Dr
1 Dr Mackclvic, as before, p. 117.
7 8 THE WORKS OF
Mackelvie ; and I have had it repeatedly re-confirmed to myself.
Further, we have the unhesitating * testimony ' of a man greatly revered in his generation, to wit, Mr Bennet of Gairney Bridge. He was the grandson of Ebenezer Erskine's friend, the ' Laird ' of Gairney, and son of good Mr Bennet, Associate minister of St An drews. He was a fellow-student and intimate friend of Bruce's. He received ' Licence,' but never having re ceived a ' Call,' he settled down on Jiis paternal acres, and filled most exemplarily the office of ' Elder ' in the congregation of which the present Writer is minister. He is still remembered as having often attested Bruce's authorship ; and Lord Commissioner Adam thus inci dentally refers to his testimony, in the letter to Dr Mackelvie already quoted : ' I ought to have mentioned that Mr Bennet of Gairney Bridge, the Seceding clergy man, told me that he believed, or rather that he kne<wt that Bruce was the author of the " Cuckoo." ' *
Two additional things only remain to be added :—
1. That during Bruce's lifetime, and before the l Ode ' was published — which was not until 1770 — many of the young men of the Village who were the Poet's contem poraries, could and did repeat it, from copies furnished by himself, as he was wont to furnish of any of his pieces that might be sought. Besides the ' witnesses ' already cited, there are those now living who perfectly remember their grandfathers and grandmothers so repeating it.
2. That it is still remembered in Kinnesswood that old Mrs Bruce, mother of the Poet, having gone along with
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 113.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 79
a number of the Villagers to see a * Cuckoo,' which had been shot by one of them, — a thing of rare occurrence from the shyness of the bird, — remarked, ' Will that be the bird our Michael made a sang about ?' the good old ' body ' meaning the well-known ' Ode.'
Such is our case against Logan and for Bruce. On the one hand, for Logan, there is his publication of the ' Ode/ with a few verbal changes, in his own volume - 3 1 , but without note or explanation or subsequent proof ; ' and without a solitary witness to its existence in his handwriting, prior to the Bruce MSS. coming into his possession. On the other hand, there are for Bruce : ( I ) The ' Ode,' known to many of the Villagers be fore publication ; (2) read by Alexander Bruce out of the quarto MS. volume •, (3) heard and read by two associates and correspondents, David Pearson and John Birrel -, (4) possessed in Bruce's manuscript by Mr Bickerton ; (5) that MS. seen by Dr Davidson ; (6) another MS. copy in Bruce's handwriting, possessed by Principal Baird ; and (7) the still well-remembered mony ' of the County of Kinross, of those who per sonally knew the Poet. Besides, as against Logan : ( I ) The destruction of Bruce* s carefully prepared quarto volume of Poems, •which is attested to have contained the ' Ode;' (2) its publication by himself as Bruce's, in the volume of 1770. I gather up the whole in the emphatic verdict of another, well-fitted by genius and culture to judge, and,
1 We shall we in the sequel the worth or worthlessness of Logan's claim from publication, in other relations. We shall see that he similarly 'published' at kit own, in the same volume, and on the strength of like mere slight verbal changes, what was printed before he was bom, over and above his appropriation of the Bruce MSS.
80 THE WORKS OF
as an Englishman, removed beyond national and local prejudices : —
* This beautiful Ode first appeared in the posthumous Poems of Michael Bruce, Edinburgh, 1770. It was, however, subsequently claimed by the editor of the volume, the Rev. John Logan, among whose poems it was afterwards printed. It is here unhesitatingly assigned to the author, under whose name it was first given to the public, on the following grounds : First, No one of Logan's unquestioned pieces makes the slightest approach to it in beautiful simplicity. Second, Were such literary frauds to be tolerated, and editors of posthumous poems allowed to claim and possess without title the best pieces in such volumes, thus taking the benefit of their own laches, no posthumous work would appear without sus picion of being interpolated, and no author's fame resting on such works would be safe.'1
In addition to the external evidence submitted, there has recently been discovered a singular internal confir mation of the Bruce authorship of the ' Ode.' In a rich and racy Paper in the * North British Review ' for February 1864, entitled 'Bibliomania,' we read as follows : —
1 No 6 is a copy of the poems of the Rev. John Logan, which formerly belonged to John Miller, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn. Over against the Ode to the Cuckoo, Mr Miller has inserted a slip of paper containing the following curious piece of information : " The follow ing note relative to the Ode to the Cuckoo was found
1 The ' Poetic Wreath,' consisting of select Passages from the English Poets from Chaucer to Wordsworth. London : Chapman and Hall. 1836. 8vo.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 81
among the papers of Dr Grant, one of Logan's execu tors : —
' Alas, sweet bird ! not so my fate,
Dark scowling skies I see Fast gathering round, and fraught with woe And wintry years to me.'
I rind that, after the stanza ' sweet bird,' he had written the above ; but as he did not express a wish to have it inserted, I have omitted it. And it is perhaps too solemn for the tone of the rest of the poem, but it is expressive of that predictive melancholy which was with him con stitutional."
' Now, of course, Dr Grant must have been much better qualified to judge than we are as to Logan's " pre- dictivc melancholy." But it is at least remarkable that the Ode to the Cuckoo should thus be ascertained to have included a stanza so strikingly characteristic of Michael Bruce, who is on other grounds strongly suspected to have been the real author of the poem. The singularly close parallelism of the above with the well-known lines : —
" Now spring returns, but not to me returns The vernal joy my better years have known," etc.,
must necessarily strike every one. The stanza we have now given has never, so far as we know, been printed before ; and it is a little unaccountable that it should not have reached the hands of Dr Mackelvie, who published a carefully edited edition of Brace's poems about thirty ago, and who, as we remember, mentions that he had applied to Mr Miller of Lincoln's Inn for any infor-
8z THE WORKS OF
mation that might be in his possession, bearing upon the question as to the authorship of the several poems which have been variously attributed both to Bruce and Logan.' x
It is plain that Mr Miller- — into whose possession the Logan and Grant MSS. came — must have discovered this stanza and note subsequently to his correspondence with Dr Mackelvie. It may be well to state, that, after a pro tracted correspondence, evidencing a keen and lawyer- like penetration and sifting of evidence, Mr Miller finally wrote : ' My own firm persuasion is, that the Ode is Bruce's, though Logan may have changed some of the words or expressions.'2
No one will disagree with the writer of ' Bibliomania,' as to the recovered stanza being characteristic of Bruce ; and Logan's suppression of it points to a shrewd dis cernment thereof. The touching lines reflected the very circumstances of the young ailing Poet as he felt himself struggling with a * consumptive ' constitution. At the most, he could only live ' in weakness ' and in pain ; and was looking forward to going away prematurely. Such were his blended fears and hopes. John Logan was too ' riotous ' a ' liver ' to be visited by such * predictive melancholy,' spite of his credulous * executor's ' observa tion.
Having thus vindicated the claims of Bruce to the authorship of the * Ode to the* Cuckoo,' it may not be unmeet that we give it here as originally published in 1770, and as subsequently altered by Logan in 1781.. We place them opposite one another : —
1 North British Review, February 1864.
2 Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 121.
MICHAEL BRUCE.
! II
1770 As BKICE WWOTE IT— 1761. As LOGAN AMENDED IT—
of the wood! HAIL, beauteous Stranger of the grove !
:.: •'-,'' TboU
Now hcav'n repair* thy rural teat. Now Heaven repair, thy rural Mat.
And woods thy welcome sang. And woods thy welcome sing.
Soon as the daisy decks the gi«ta. What time the daisy deck, the green.
Thy certain voice we bear: Thy certain voice we hear ;
Hast thou a star to guide thy path, Hast thou a star to guide thy path.
Or mark the rolling year? Or mark the rolling year?
in.
Delightful Visitant ! with the* Delightful Visitant ! with thee
Ihailihciimeofflow'rs, I hail the time of flowers.
When hcav'n is fill'd with music sweet And hear the sound of musk sweet
Of birds among the boVrs. From birds among the bow*
IV.
The schoolboy, wand'ring in the wood The school-boy, wandering thro' the wood
To pull the floVrs so gay, To pull the primrose gay.
Starts, thy curious voice to hear. Starts, the new voice of Spring to hear,
And imitates thy by. And imitates thy by.
v.
Soon as the pea puts on the bloom. What time the pea puts on the bloom
Thou fly*st thy vocal vale, Thou fliest thy vocal vale,
An annual guest, in other bods, An annual guest in other lands,
Another spring to haiL Another Spring to hail.
VI.
Sweet bird ! thy bow'r is ever green, Sweet Bird ! thy bower is ever green.
Thy sky is ever clear ; Thy sky is ever clear ;
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No winter in thy year! No winter in thy year !
VII.
O could I fly. I'd fly with thee : O could I fly, I'd fly with thee !
: make, with social wing. We'd make, with joyful wing,
Our annual visit o'er the globe. Our annual visit o'er the globe,
Companions of the Spring. n-mfmrnt*** of the Spring.
For reasons that will appear in the sequel, it is neces sary to take particular notice of the successive alterations in the text of 1781 from that of 1770.
First of all, in stanza first, line first, for Bruce's
' wood,' Logan substitutes ' grove,' no doubt because of
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the occurrence of the former in line fourth. It is to be noticed that * wood ' is the local name still, for the plan tation on the hill-sides ; and also that in * Lochleven ' * wood ' occurs repeatedly. In line second we read —
' 'Thou Messenger of Spring,' for Bruce's
' Attendant on the Spring.'
As the Cuckoo comes with, not precedes, * Spring,' the original * Attendant ' is the more nicely accurate.
It is noticeable also — for it is in these little things craft is shown — that Logan had a motive to make the change of ' Messenger ' for ' Attendant ' on the Spring, inasmuch as he thereby removed a suspicious parallelism with the opening of ' Lochleven,' —
6 Beauty . . . where she treads, Attendant on her steps, the blushing Spring And Summer wait.' . . .
In stanza second, for Bruce's vivid ' Soon as,' Logan gives ' What time ; ' in stanza third, for Bruce's
1 When heav'n is filled with music sweet Of birds among the bowers,'
which fills up the vision of the dawning Season — first the ' daisy ' and the ' cuckoo,' then the whole flush of flowers and the whole quire of * singers ' in the wood lands — we have Logan's
( And hear the voice of music sweet From birds among the bowers ; '
the ' and ' being in contradiction to the ' hail ! ' addressed
MICHAEL BRUCE. 85
to the advancing bringer of flowers and birds, and trans forming the future into the present.
In stanza fourth, line first, for Brucefs ' in ' there is 'thro';' and for his 'To pull the flow'rs so gay,' the more definite ' To pull the primrose gay/ — Logan here giving the one improving touch that can be accepted. 4 /// the wood * occurs twice in ' Lochleven.'
In line third, Logan makes a change which no one will approve, and on which we may hear Lord Mac kenzie : ' Will you allow me,' he wrote to Dr Mackelvie, ' to suggest that, when you republish the " Ode to the Cuckoo," you should consider whether the original read ing of the line ought not to be restored, namely,
" Starts thy curious voice to hear," instead of
" Starts the new voice of Spring to hear."
" Curious " may be a Scotticism, but it is felicitous. It marks the unusual resemblance of the note of the cuckoo to the human voice, the cause of the " start " and " imitation " which follow : whereas the " New voice of Spring " is not true ; for many voices in Spring precede that of the cuckoo, and it 'is not peculiar and striking, nor does it connect either with the start or imitation." '
In stanza fifth, line first, we have again Bruce's ' Soon as* exchanged for ' What time.'
Logan leaves untouched stanzas fifth and sixth, the latter the finest of the whole; and only in stanza seventh, line second, for Bruce's 'social' reads 'joyful.' Such are the entire ' words or expressions ' (to use Mr Miller's
1 Dr Mackelvie, as before, p. 2401
86 THE WORKS OF
phrase, ante) ' changed ' by Logan ; and I apprehend it may be safely left with every reader capable of insight, to judge whether the hand that made these alterations was the hand of a genuine ' Makkar ' — whether they do not answer to the drivellings of ' Runnymede.' Two things seem very clear : the altered copy is less truthful and is less poetical. It is the ' lesser ' blessing the 1 greater ' — the backward way. With therefore the one exception of the specification of the ' primrose,' I know not that any one will accept Logan's alterations as im provements. Even the * primrose ' lacks that accuracy characteristic of Bruce, inasmuch as schoolboys don't ramble 'in the woods' to 'pull' one flower in particular, be it ' primrose ' or any other, but are apt to seize upon all that offer ; and again, in the present day at least, in the county of Kinross, I have found the cuckoo pre ceding the full yellowing of the ' primrose ' banks in the bosky glades.
Logan is not the only one who has ' tinkered ' this exquisite ode. Dr M'Culloch, in the third volume of his series of school-books, imagines that he improves the original of
' Starts thy curious voice to hear,' by reading
' Stands still to hear thy two-fold shout/
an attempt to import Wordsworth into Bruce.
That the version of 1770 represents the 'Ode' as it came from Bruce, will appear from these three things : —
I . The Villagers had so ' learned it by heart ' pre vious to publication.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 87
Messrs Pearson, Birrel, Bickerton, Arnot, and all Br uce's contemporaries, so gave it.
3. Principal Baird, who had in his possession a copy in the handwriting of Bruce, so printed it, thus deli berately refusing Logan's version.
Before passing on to another flagrant illustration of Logan's appropriation of the Bruce MSS. in the ' Hymns * or ' Paraphrases,' the Reader will no doubt be glad to have placed before him other three addresses to the ' Cuckoo,' two of surpassing subtlety of thought and music of wording ; and the other interesting for com parison, as having appeared in 1777, is. after Bruce's volume, but prior to Logan's, and showing knowledge, especially in the penultimate stanza, of the former.
We take them in order. First of all, the anonymous ' Ode ' of the old Magazine.
ODE TO THE CUCKOO.
See ! the vernal flow'rets bloom, Wove in Flora's silken loom,
Gay linnet of the Spring ! See ! the halcyon skims the lake, And the lizard leaves the brake,
\\ here countless warblers sing !
Come, dear Cuckow ! come away ! April wanes ! — 'twill soon be May !
Too short thy pleasing reign ! Come, and with unvary'd note, Perch beside my little cot,
And soothe me once again !
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Silver willows shed perfume, Sweeter than Arabia's gum,
Along the marshy rill ; Shepherds pipe the rural lay, As their lambkins frisk and play
Upon the pendant hill.
Whisp'ring pleasure everywhere, Genial zephyrs fan the air,
In mazy, mystic sport ! Insect swarms begin to live ; Jocund nymphs their chaplets weave ;
And Venus holds her court !
Sunshine moments dost thou prize ? Lo ! unclouded as the skies ;
At work the active bees ! Nature bids thee come with speed, Revel in the laughing mead,
Or wanton on the trees !
Oh ! like thee, the bird I love, I, on ev'ry new remove
Fresh scenes of joy would know ; And when gath'ring storms appear (Left the baneful hemisphere),
To kinder regions go.
Mine this hope, when grizzly death Asks the tribute of my breath,
The debt I'll freely pay ; And, unbody'd, take my flight Far beyond the starry height,
Where beams eternal day ! x
It seems -like placing a * gowan ' beside a passion flower, with its awful lines and stains, to follow this
1 Ruddiman's 'Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement,' May 22, 1777.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 89
with Wordsworth's witching and exquisitely-touched ' Ode,' to which, for perfectness of thought, of feeling, of metaphor, of word-painting, and of melody, — there is nothing of its kind that approaches it •, nevertheless the comparison is interesting, and more especially in refer ence to Bruce's ' Ode.' For just as — to return to our symbol — we detect in the mystic passion-flower the very same tints, and spots, and ' freckles ' as are found in the lowlier blossomings of the woodland, so in /'/'/ profounder strain there are self-revealing recollections of the young Scot's simpler lines. It is known that the great Poet of the Lakes admired exceedingly Bruce's ' Ode ' and 1 Elegy.' Next then is Wordsworth's : —
O blithe New-comer ! I have heard,
I hear thce, and rejoice. O Cuckoo ! shall I call thce Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice ?
While I am lying on the gnat, Thy two-fold shout I hear ;
From hill to hill it seems to pass, At once far off, and near.
Though babbling only to the Vale Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou bringest unto me a tale Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring !
Even yet thou art to me No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery ;
90 THE WORKS OF
The same whom in my schoolboy days
I listen'd to ; that Cry Which made me look a thousand ways,
In bush, and tree, and sky.
To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green ; And thou wert still a hope, a love ;
Still long'd for, never seen.
And I can listen to thee yet ;
Can lie upon the plain And listen, till I do beget
That golden time ag^in.
0 blessed Bird ! the earth we pace Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, faery place, That is fit home for Thee !
Lastly, there is the quaint, antique-toned ' Lines ' of Bruce-like David Gray, which remind us of those in stantaneous photographs that give the breaking ' froarie ' curl of the wave, the soft wreathing of autumnal mist, in their fine telling of the shock of illusion, as the actual dissolved the visionary : —
Last night a vision was dispell'd,
Which I can never dream again ; A wonder from the earth has gone,
A passion from my brain.
1 saw upon a budding ash
A cuckoo, and she blithely sung To all the valleys round about,
While on a branch she swung, Cuckoo, cuckoo ; I look'd around,
And like a dream fulfill'd,
MICHAEL BRUCE. 91
A slender bund of modest brown,
My sight with wonder thrill'd. I looked again and yet again ;
My eyes, thought I, do sure deceive me ; But when belief made doubting vain,
Alas ! the sight did grieve me. For twice to-day I heard the cry,
The hollow cry of melting lore ; And twice a tear bedimm'd my eye, —
I saw the singer in the grove ; I saw him pipe his eager tone,
Like any other common bird, And, as I live, the sovereign cry
\\ .is not the one I always heard. O why within that lusty wood
Did I the fairy sight behold ? O why within that solitude
Was I thus blindly overbold ? My heart, forgive me ! for indeed
I cannot speak my thrilling pain ; The wonder vanish 'd from the earth,
The passion from my brain. '
Having successfully, it is believed, vindicated BRUCE'S claim to the ' Ode to the Cuckoo/ — having shown that Logan acted the part of Bathyllus to Virgil, or, if we may be pardoned saying it, the part of the ' Cuckoo ; * for in truth one must retort upon him the old Latin pro verb, ' astutior coccyge,' seeing that if she steal another's nest, she at least lays her own eggs, and adheres to her own mononote, but John Logan usurped nest and eggs, and the ' sweet singing' of the bird whose little all he robbed, — we have now similarly to narrate and examine the FACTS
1 The Luggie, and other Poems. By David Gray. With a Memoir by James Hcddcnriclc, and a Prefatory Notice by R. M. Milnes, M.P. (Lord Houghton . Macmillan' 1862. tamo. Pp. 108, too.
9* THE WORKS OF
concerning Logan's misappropriation of the Bruce MSS. in the well-known Paraphrases and Hymns.
It has already been told how surprised and disap pointed the Villagers were when the little volume of 1770 reached them, and was found to contain none of the Poet's religious pieces. We daresay none of our readers will have forgotten the broken-hearted excla mation of his good old father, l Where are my son's Gospel Sonnets?' The volume of 1781 gave an all too plain explanation of the mystery and of the sup pression ; for at its close there appeared nine 'Hymns' that were instantly recognised as substantially the * Gos pel Sonnets,' or poetical renderings of passages of Scrip ture, of Michael Bruce — some of them revisions of already existing Hymns, and others wholly his own, as will immediately be shown.
That the villagers and old Mr Bruce should thus in stantly have missed the sacred poems of Bruce in 1770, and that the former — for Bruce senior was now dead- should with equal decision have recognised them in the so-called * Poems by the Rev. Mr Logan,' in 1781, is explained by the facts which now fall to be stated. Here I would do all honour to Dr Mackelvie, by allow ing him first of all to present these
' Short and simple annals of the poor/
merely stating for myself, that through venerable sur viving representatives of those whose ' forbears ' were wont to sing these very ' Hymns ' long before they ever appeared in print, and o' winter nights to recall the memory of Bruce and ' auld langsyne,' I have taken no
MICHAEL BRUCB. 93
small pains to re-verify every little detail. The follow ing is Dr Mackelvie's narrative : —
4 The circumstance which first led our poet to write hymns has been rendered memorable in Kinnesswood by its contributing, at the same time, to form a taste for sacred music among its inhabitants, for which they are still celebrated. About the period to which our narrative refers, a farmer of the name of Gibson settled in the village with his family, all the members of which were fond of church music ; and one of them, afterwards a preacher in connection with the Established Church, took delight in teaching this art to such of the villagers as would receive his instructions. Among the youths who benefited by his lessons was one John Buchan, who, after residing in several towns with a view to im prove himself in his profession as a mason, returned to his native village, where he taught church music, and introduced a number of new tunes which he had learned in the places he had visited. Till then, " the old eight/* — which were, " French, Dundee, Stilt or York, Newton, Elgin, London, Martyrs, Abbey,** — as they are now emphatically called, were considered the only tunes which it was lawful to sing in country congregations, and, consequently, were all that it was deemed neces sary or proper to learn ; but in town churches a few others had begun to be added to the number (among these were "St David*s, St Paul's, St Thomas's, St Ann's"). In the summer of 1 764, Michael Bruce joined Buchan's class. At the time of his doing so, the fol lowing doggerel rhymes, among others, were sung by the pupils when practising in school : —
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i i O mother, dear Jerusalem,
When shall I come to thee ? When shall my sorrows have an end, Thy joys when shall I see ? "
" The Martyrs' tune, above the rest,
Distinguish'd is by fame ; On their account I'll sing this In honour of their name."
" Fair London town, where dwells the King,
On his imperial throne, With all his court attending him, Still waiting him upon."
Buchan, knowing Bruce to be both a poet and a scholar, requested him to furnish the class with verses which might be substituted for those we have quoted, which he considered as destitute of sentiment, and calculated to produce a ludicrous effect when sung to solemn airs. With this request Bruce complied, and wrote a number of hymns, several verses of which, in consequence of being often sung in these rehearsals, became familiar to the inhabitants of the parish. The following have been attested to the writer as among the number : —
* i O happy is the man who hears Instruction's warning voice ; And who celestial wisdom makes His early, only choice."
" Few are thy days, and full of woe,
O man of woman born ; Thy doom is written, Dust thou art, And shalt to dust return."
ICHAEL BRUCE. 95
" The beam that shines from Zion hill
Shall lighten every land ; The King that reigns in Salem's towers Shall all the world command.
We have now to make a few remarks upon the Hymns or -Paraphrases, as they belong to the two classes indicated in the outset, viz. revised hymns already existing, and hymns wholly original.
I . Revised Hymns already existing. These are the first and fifth in Logan's volume of 1781, and form the second and eighteenth of the ' Paraphrases ' of the Church of Scotland in universal use among us, and largely in the United States of America.*
It will startle many to be informed, that these two Hymns had been printed, substantially, in 1745; and that the one — viz. ' O God of Bethel ' — belongs to the saintly Dr Dodd ridge of Northampton, in whose posthu mous * Hymns, founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures,' published by Orton in 1755, ** duly aP- pears. To the proof: — Through the kindness of the Rev. Dr Johnston, of the United Presbyterian Church, Limekilns, I have now in my possession a copy of the ad interim edition of the ' Paraphrases.' Its title-page is as follows : —
I ackclvie, as before, pp. 99-103.
3 Or Laing. in his edition of Baillie, has given a most valuable account of the different editions of the metrical ' Psalms.' The same, and something more, were acceptable, concerning the ' Paraphrases.' We have before us what appears to have been a third edition of the volume referred to on next page:— 'Aber deen : Printed by F. Douglas. MDCCLXV.' Three ' Hymns' are added from Dr
96 THE WORKS OF
TRANSLATIONS
AND
PARAPHRASES
OF
SEVERAL PASSAGES
OF
SACRED SCRIPTURE,
Collected and prepared
By a Committee appointed by the General
Assembly of the Church of SCOTLAND.
And, by the Act of last Assembly, transmitted to PRESBYTERIES for their Consideration.
EDINBURGH,
Printed by ROBERT FLEMING and COMPANY, Printers to the Church of Scotland.
In this interesting little volume, at pages 49, 50, as the twenty-eighth, and 74, 75 as the forty-fourth re spectively, the hymns in question are found. It may be well to give them verbatim et literatim ; and over against them Logan's versions : —
1745- LOGAN. 1781. I. ISAIAH ii. 2-6.
i.
In latter Days, the Mount of GOD, Behold ! the mountain of the Lord
His sacred House, shall rise In latter days shall rise,
Above the Mountains and the Hills, Above the mountains and the hills,
and strike the wond'ring Eyes. And draw the wondering eyes.
ii.
To this the joyful Nations round To this the joyful nations round
all Tribes and Tongues shall flow ; All tribes and tongues shall flow ;
Up to the House of GOD, they'll say, Up to the Hill of God, they'll say,
to Jacob's GOD, we'll go. And to His house we'll go.
MICHAEL BRV( 97
in.
To us Hell point the Ways of Truth .
the sacred Path well tread:
From SmJfm and from Z<*«- Hill ThebeamthatihiiiesoaZionH.il
Shdl lighten every had:
tW k :,,.' -. | :./ .( M|
Among the Nations and the Isles, **^ ** *"* ****** command
.is Ju.'.^c nor ii : And, vested with unbounded pow'r. will punish or acquit.
v
No Strife thallrace, nor angry feud. No strife thaU vex Messiah's reign.
disturb these peaceful year* ; Or mar the peaceful yean ;
To plow-chares then they'll beat their To ploughshares soon they beat their
to Pruning- hooks their Spear*. To pruning. hooks their
n. Then Nation shan't 'gainst Nation rise. No lonfer hosts encountering hosts,
and slaughter^ Hosts deplore: Their millions slain deplore ;
They'll by the useless Trumpet by, They hang the trumpet in the hall,
and study War no more. And study war no more.
O come ye, then, of Jacob's House. Come then-O come from every land,
our Hearts now let us join: To worship at His shrine ;
And, walking in the Light of GOD, And, walking in toe light of God.
with holy Beauties shine. With holy beauties shine.
1745 LOCAK. 1781.
KMfssis) xxviii. ao, ai, 93. THE PRAYEK or JACOB.
i.
O Goo of Bftlul, bywhoeeHand O Goo of Abraham ! by whose hand
thine ftratt still is fed! Thy people still are fed ;
Who thro1 this weary pilgrimage Who through this weary pilgrimage
hast all our Fathers led. Hast all our fathers led I
it.
To thee our humble vows we raise : Our vows, our prayers, we now present
hee address our Pr.r Before Thy throne of grace:
And in Thy kind and faithful Breast God of our Fathers, be the God
deposit all our care. Of their succeeding race !
in. If Thou, through each perplexing Path, Through each perplexing path of life,
wilt be our constant Guide ; Our wandering footsteps guide ;
If thou wilt daily Bread supply, Give us by day our daily bread,
and Raiment wilt provide ; And raiment fit provide !
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IV.
If Thou wilt spread Thy Wings around, O spread Thy covering wings around,
'til these our wand'rings cease, Till all our wanderings cease,
And at our Father's lov'd Abode And at our Father's loved abode
our souls arrive in Peace ; Our feet arrive in peace !
v.
To Thee, as to our Cov'nant GOD, Now with the humble voice of prayer
we'll our whole selves resign ; Thy mercy we implore ;
And count that not our Faith alone, Then, with the grateful voice of praise,
but all we have, is Thine. Thy goodness we'll adore !
On comparing the text of 1745 with that of Dr Doddridge (1755), the only departures are in stanza first, line first, where for * Bethel ' we read ' Jacob ;' and in stanza fourth, line first, where for * wings ' we read ' shield.'
Thus the Rev. John Logan published as his own, in his volume of 1781, without a syllable of explanation, two Hymns that, as we have seen, were (substantially] printed in 1745, when he was non-existent j and in 1755, when, if not ' puking in the nurse's arms,' he was at most a child, having been born in 1748. The question then arises, How came Logan to have the effrontery to do this ? The answer is simple : Having Bruce's MSS. beside him, he adopted the grand third stanza of the first:
6 The beam that shines from Zion hill
Shall lighten every land ; The King who reigns in Salem tow'rs Shall all the world command j '
and also the verbal changes, which with true poetic instinct Bruce had made, and thereupon laid claim to the
WHOLE.1
1 It. is quite within probability that Bruce had written an entire and original paraphrase of the passage, Isaiah ii. 2-6, and that Logan took from it the one stanza which lingered in the memory of the villagers of Kinnesswood,
' The beam that shines,' etc. Be this as it may, in addition to the two paraphrases above, which Logan pub-
MICHAEL BRUCE. 99
All this reflects back light upon Ix>gan's similar audacious claim to the ' Ode to the Cuckoo.' As we found, there were slight alterations, — not imprnxmetits, save one,— on the text of 1770 in the volume of 1781 ; and on the strength or weakness and worthlessness of these, lo, he claimed the 'Ode' itself! We have here all unintentionally revealed his principle or no-principle of authorship. Apart altogether from Bruce, it will be admitted that Logan had not the shadow of title to pub
lished as his own in 1781, on the strength of his verbal changes on the teat of 174$.
claimed by Login and bears hi. name-that nevertheless was, in like manner. (substantially) printed in the little volume of 1745- 1 pUce the two side by side.
1745. ROMANS vttL 31, t»t**tmt. 1781. 48th PAKAraKASE.
i
Now let our souk ascend above Let Chratian fiuth and hope dispel
The fear* of guilt and woe: The fears of guilt and woe ;
God is for us, our Friend declared: The Lord Almighty is our friend.
Who then can be our foe? And who can prove a foe ?
11.
He who his Son, most dear and loVd, He who his Son, most dear and lorti,
i» gave up to die. Gave up for us to die,
Will he withhold a lesser gift. Shall he not all things freely give
Or ought thafs good deny? That goodness can supply?
in.
Behold all blesringsseaTd in this, Behold the best, the greatest gift.
The highest pledge of lore; Of everlasting love !
All grace and peace on earth below. Behold the pledge of peace below.
And endless life above I And perfect bliss above !
nr. Who now shall dare to charge with guilt Where is the judge who can condemn.
Whom God hath justified? Since God hath justified?
Or who is .he that shall condemn. Who shall charge those with guilt or crime
Since Christ the Saviour dy'd ? For whom the Saviour dyM ?
v.
He died,— but He is risen again. The Saviour dy'd, but rose again
nphant from the grave ; Triumphant from the grave ;
And pleads for us at God's right hand. And pleads our cause at God's right hand.
Omnipotent to save. Omnipotent to save.
Then who can e'er divide us more Who then can e'er divide us more
From Christ, and love divine » From Jesus and his love.
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lish these hymns as his own ; but when it is shown, as Dr Mackelvie has done, that the stanza which is the ' perfect chrysolite ' of its Hymn, was familiarly sung by the Villagers in 1764, or seventeen years before it was printed by Logan, and that similarly the two Hymns, with the 'verbal changes' upon the text of 1745 and 1755, were regularly used in the village-singing under the cir cumstances recorded, it is difficult to restrain one's indigna tion against Plagiarism so base and Audacity so supreme. We claim for Bruce, then, the stanza, the lines, and the felicitous verbal changes of these two Hymns. Had
Or what dissolve the sacred band Or break the sacred chain that binds
That joins our souls to him ? The earth to heav'n above ?
VII.
Let troubles rise, and dangers roar, Let troubles rise, and terrors frown, And days of darkness fall ; And days of darkness fall ;
Through him all terrors we'll defy, Through him all dangers we'll defy, And more than conquer all. And more than conquer all.
VIII.
Nor death, nor life, nor heaven, nor hell, Nor death nor life, nor earth nor hell, Nor time's destroying sway, Nor time's destroying sway,
Can e'er efface us from his Heart, Can e'er efface us from his heart, Or make his Love decay. Or make his love decay.
IX.
Each future period this will bless, Each future period that will bless,
As it has bless'd the past : As it has bless'd the past ;
He lov'd us from the first of time, He lov'd us from the first of time,
And loves us to the last. He loves us to the last.
Such is another example of the audacity of Logan in claiming as his own what was, with the exception of verbal alterations, in print before his birth. It may be stated that a singularly interesting, if over-violent and controversial, series of papers on ' The Paraphrases,' appeared in the ' Free Church Magazine ' for 1847 ; which papers were fiercely assailed in Macphail's 'Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal' and in 'Tail's Magazine' of the same year. The discussion sprang out of an alleged discovery of the Robert Burns authorship of ' The Paraphrases,' which the ' Evangelicals' were disposed to push over-much against the ' Moderates.' The Manuscript turned out to be, it is understood, Logan's, and shows that he had much to do with the preparation of the ' Paraphrases,' as finally issued in 1781. Beyond doubt, what led him to his 'Paraphrase' studies were the Bruce MSS., and above all the 'Gospel Sonnets,' so shamelessly and heartlessly sup pressed and destroyed, as told ante.
MICH4EL BRUCE. 101
he himself lived to publish his Hymns t ' he would un doubtedly have recorded that in these instances his were only improved versions of older hymns ; just as Hums >wledged the old songs ; which were so amended by him, that no one cares to remember the original verses." So much for the revised hymns, already sub stantially existing in 1745 and 1755, and Logan's impu dent publication of them as hit own. Dr Robertson of Dalmeny earlier, and Chambers in his ' Cyclopaedia of English literature' later, lay stress on Logan's publica tion of the 'Ode to the Cuckoo* as hit own in the volume of 1781 ; but here in the very same volume he is found publishing as his own Hymns that we have seen were printed substantially before he was born. The man capable of doing the one is self-convicted as capable of doing the other ; and he did it. Surely Phardrus may here be cited :
' Quicunquc turpi fraude 8emcl iimotuit, Etiam&i vcrum elicit, amittit fidcrn.'
I would thus render the couplet,
' He who is known, once, a base fraud t* have done, speaking truth, believed is by none.'
Hymns wholly original. These are the 2d, gd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and pth in Logan's volume. The whole evidence for the Bruce authorship of the ' Ode to the Cuckoo ' belongs equally to them. They are the ' Gospel Sonnets ' to which old Mr Bruce referred when he gave them this name, in allusion to the people's classic, the « Gospel Sonnets' of Ralph Erskine, which,
1 The Rev. Peter Mearns, as before, p. 19.
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— as having been composed in part while meditating in a ' plantation ' on the hill-side above the Manse of Port- moak, then occupied by Ebenezer Erskine, — were lov ingly read and sung in the ' Bishopshire ; ' they are what Bruce the elder regarded as the jewels of the quarto volume entrusted to Logan ; they are the ' sacred pieces ' immediately missed by the Villagers when the volume of 1770 reached ; they were personally com mitted to memory (' learned by heart' is the expressive Scotticism) by David Pearson, John Birrel, the Bicker- tons, Arnots, Hendersons, and indeed the whole Community between 1764 and 1767, or seventeen years before Logan published them ; or, reckoning from 1767, fourteen years. There were extant so recently as 1837 written copies of all, and bearing these dates, as Dr Mackelvie discovered almost immediately after his edi tion of the * Poems ' was issued, — as over and over he assured me, and as I have since had confirmed by per sons of indisputable integrity.1 And, further, James Bruce, brother of the poet, — who lived until 1814, and was a man of sterling worth, — declared in the most solemn manner, from his own personal knowledge, 1 that all the Paraphrases published in Logan's name
1 Having had frequent conversations with the late Dr Mackelvie on the whole subject of the Poems of Bruce, I was impressed with the amount of labour be stowed by him in verifying every minutia of his book ; and I had the promise from him, as well of above dated copies as of at least two (already published) letters, part of ' Lochleven,' and other iwss. of Bruce. But his great infirmities latterly made attention to any such things painful, and I forbore urging him. With that kindling eye which all who knew him will remember, he said, ' Every one of the eleven paraphrases belongs to Bruce — every one ; and if I ever print the poems again, they'll all go in.' From one so judicious and conscientious this was weighty ; but independent of it, we have all the above witness-bearing to superadd to Logan's proved self-appropriation of the two Hymns printed before he was born.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 103
were written by his brother Michael , that he had often read them, heard them often repeated, and frequently sung portions of them in Buchan's class long before the addition to the Assembly's collection was heard of/ i>. the final Collection of the present Paraphrases, which was published in 1781.' Finally, be it kept in mind, Logan destroyed the MS. quarto volume into which Bruce bad ribed the whole, and which would no doubt have shown whatever was old in the revised Hymns, and what were Brace's own entirely. Besides other ' sacred pieces/ Hymns and Paraphrases are known to have been included in the volume ; so that we can appeal to the emphasis of good David Pearson : ' They may as well ascribe to Logan the framing of the universe as the writing of these poems.'2
The only reservation which it is necessary to make is, that Logan appears to have made ' verbal changes.' This seems to have been a principle with him, in order to satisfy his ' dregs of conscience ' in his claim there upon to the entire authorship. His own procedure has put it out of our power to get at any ' improvements ' that he may have made. If we may judge from his 'improvements' in 1781 of the 'Ode to the Cuckoo' of 1770, these can't have been great. One admires at the Logan-like assurance of one of his Biographers, who boasts of personal intimacy, — on the whole matter : ' Bruce might have left hymns in a more or less polished
Mackelvie, a* before, p. 104 ; and let any one disposed to undervalue his testimony, or that of Peanon and Birrel and the others, recall Cicero's words. ' Idoneus quidem mea ten tent ia, pnewrtim quum et ipse cum andiverit, ut scribal de mortuo : ex quo nuHa suspicio est, amicitue causa, cum esse mcntitum ' * Dr Mackelvie, a* before, p. 105.
io4 THE WORKS OF
state, and these hymns might have been altered, em bellished, and published by Logan as his own.'1 What a supposition ! What an admission ! What a com mentary upon his ' publishing as his own ' the first and fifth of the Hymns with his (stolen) f alterations ' and ' embellishments !' * O Shame, where is thy blush ?'
Confirmatory of all the external evidence, we have in regard to one of the Paraphrases — viz. The Complaint of Nature, selected stanzas of which make the eighth of the Collection now in use — striking internal evidence. We have only to place three stanzas — the seventh, eighth, and ninth — in juxtaposition with a fragment in Bruce's handwriting, which has been preserved, in order to trace one mind in both : —
f When chill the blast of winter blows,
Away the summer flies ; The flowers resign their sunny robes, And all their beauty dies.
' Nipt by the year, the forest fades ;
And, shaking to the wind, The leaves toss to and fro, and streak The wilderness behind.
( The winter past, reviving flowers
Anew shall paint the plain ; The woods shall hear the voice of spring, And flourish green again.'
Now for the fragment in prose : — * The hoar-frost glitters on the ground, the frequent leaf falls from the wood, and tosses to and fro driven in
1 Life of Logan, prefixed to his Poems. Bell and Bradfute, 1812.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 105
the wind. The summer is gone with all her flowers ;
summer ! the season of the muses.
. " Yet not the more Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt, Clear Spring, or shadie grove, or sunnie hill." '
' It was on a calm morning, while yet the darkness strove with the doubtful twilight, I rose and walked out
" Under the opening eyelids of the morn." ' ' Compare also these stanzas from Bruce's ' Elegy ' : —
' Loos'd from the bands of frost, the verdant ground Again puts on her robe of cheerful green, Again puts forth her flow'rs, and all around Smiling the cheerful face of Spring is seen. Thus have I walk'd along the dewy lawn, My frequent foot the blooming wild hath worn ; Before the lark I've sung the beauteous dawn, And gather'd health from all the gales of morn. And even when winter chilled the aged year, I wander'd lonely o'er the hoary plain ; Tho* frosty Boreas warned me to forbear, Boreas, with all his tempests, warn'd in vain.'
Internal evidence is not very much to be depended on, as the present Writer has had occasion to prove, while this is being passed through the press, in the case of ' The Paradoxes' of Herbert Palmer ;a but in combina tion with such seven-fold external evidence as has been adduced, it is an element not to be despised. It is a misrepresentation of matter of fact in Chambers* Cyclo paedia of English Literature — whoever may be responsible
1 Dr Mackdvie failed to observe these two quotations from Milton (Paradise Lost, book iii. lines 36-28; and Lycidas, line a6). By reading 'shadow' for •shady ' also, the sense » confused.
9 See ' Lord Bacon not the Author of "The Christian Paradoxes," being a re- print of "Memorials of Godlines** by Herbert Palmer, B.D. With Introduction, Memoir, and Note*, by the Rev. A. B. Gnxart. Fer frmttt rimlatim. 1864.
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for it — that Dr Mackelvie rested his claim for Bruce to the authorship of this Paraphrase upon the * resemblances ' presented. Having given irrefragable external proof, these ' resemblances ' were added ; and the interweaving of the lines from Paradise Lost and Lycidas, instead of weakening, strengthens the evidence in favour of Bruce, knowing as we do how lovingly he studied Milton.1
Without the shadow of hesitation, then, in retro spect of the evidence adduced, the 'Ode to the Cuckoo,' and the hymns and paraphrases appropri ated by Logan, together with one of the two revised hymns, are included in the Works of Michael Bruce"; from which may no sacrilegious hand ever withdraw them. Such may suffice. I wish tondere non deglubere ; and indeed it were to waste so fine a thing as righteous anger, to add much more on the literary delinquencies of John Logan. I pause not, therefore, to show — which might easily be done — how, in his no doubt ' elegant ' Sermons, he has appropriated Sherlock, and Blair, and Zollikofer, and numerous others. They were published posthumously; and he must have the benefit of that. Neither do I enter into his astounding candidature for
1 It is somewhat vexatious to find Mr Robert Chambers so very ' shifty ' in re lation to Bruce. In his Correspondence with Dr Mackelvie he is all acquiescence ; and on the appearance of the Doctor's edition in 1837, an admirable paper appeared in his Journal (No. 292, September 2, 1837), unhesitatingly recognising Bruce's claims, and with cordial admiration giving the ' Ode to the Cuckoo ' as his ; and lo ! in his ' Cyclopaedia of English Literature,' without a tittle of further evidence, one way or another, it is carelessly inserted under Logan, with the extra ordinary statement that Logan's authorship never was questioned during his life time, whereas his most earnest defenders could only urge that he asserted his ' innocence,' — a word that involves not merely questioning but accusation, such as we know to have been over and over made during his lifetime. One regrets such slips, from the very love and gratitude cherished for this 'lealest' and truest of Scotland's sons. I don't refer to the Life in ' Eminent Scotsmen,' as it was written by a Mr Hogg.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 107
one of the Chairs of the University, on the basis of a course of ' Lectures ' which were afterwards shown not to have been his own, by their publication, unchallenged, during his own lifetime, by Dr William Rutherford. Defence ' of Hastings, his • Runnymede,* and other ventures lie beneath the ' small dust ' of oblivion. We will not disturb them.
Concerning the man as a man and as a minister of the gospel, it is impossible to speak without reprobation. His life was unwholesome, unclean, base and embased ; for it were to speak ' smooth things ' where rough truth is de manded, to describe the flagitious course of this clerical Champion (for he might have sat to M. About), this clerical scapegrace of mean and meagre nature and un true to the very core, — by the euphemisms of gentle Dr Anderson, e.g. ' deviations from the modes of the world, and violations of professional decorum, which offended his parishioners, and made it eligible for him to discon tinue the exercise of his clerical function,' though even he had to write, 'He grew burdensome to himself, and with the usual weakness of men so diseased, eagerly snatched that temporary relief which the bottle sup plies.'1 We spare the remainder ; for we could not quote, without reproof, apology so misplaced. And yet we have pity for the prematurely old and desolate wretch,
1 As before, in Life of Logan. Chambers in hi< ' Biographical Dictionary of under Logan (Division VI.), famishes one of a hundred
illustrations of his miserable condition even early : 'An aged parishioner of Mr Logan mentioned to a friend of the editor of this work, that he was present in church one day, when the conduct of the reverend gentleman was such as to in duce an old man to go up, and, in no very respectful language, call upon the to descend from the pulpit which he disgraced. Such an anecdote, if read immediately after perming one of the elegant discourses of Logan, would
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trembling with the trembling of fourscore within his fortieth year. If his Biographers tell true, one catches a glimpse of him in an attitude of, at the least, remorse ful penitence. He is said, away in one of the lanes of London, whither he had skulked, to have called in the neighbours' children, and gathering one or two about his knees, to have got them to read the Bible to him. It brims one's eyes with tears to read of it. It moves to pity : it excites hope. * God forbid ' that we should hold even of one so * fallen,' of one so false to such shy genius, and such saintly worth, as that of Michael Bruce, — not to say to trust so sacred, — there could not be divinely given 1 turning' and the divine 'cry' right through the gathering dark, Christ- ward. But while 'judging not' of his soul's destiny, — in the interests of Literature and of Right, JOHN LOGAN must be branded as heartlessly false to a dead young friend, and be spoiled of the lustrous-eyed fea thers with which, at another's cost, he — as sooty a bird as ever ventured among ' sweet singers ' — decked himself. Of the other ' Poems ' published in 1770, the follow ing have been claimed for Logan : — 'Damon, Menalcas, and Melibceus : an Eclogue ;' ' Pastoral Song,' to the tune of 'The Yellow-hair'd Laddie ;' 'Eclogue in the manner of Ossian ;' 'Ode to a Fountain;' the two ' Danish Odes ;' ' Chorus, of Anacreontic to a Wasp ;'
form a singular illustration of the propinquity which sometimes exists between the pure and impure, the lofty and the degraded, in human character' (p. 492).
I must add, that in the course of my literary researches I have been brought pretty near to Logan, by his own letters, by letters of contemporaries, by anecdotes, and other data ; and I know not that a more false life has ever been lived, — the worst of all falsity moreover, seeing it is a serving the devil while wear ing Christ's livery. It may be needful, some day, to reveal all, though personally I should prefer silence, save only where Bruce's claims come in for defence.
MICHAEL BRUCE. 109
the tale of 'Levina' in 'Lochleven;' and the 'Ode to Paoli : ' that is to say, of the entire sevtntten pieces which composed the little volume, ELEVEN are to be appro priated to Logan ; one at least, ' the Vernal Ode,' r
• Foulis, Bart.; and, according to the 'Preface/ some others to ' other gentlemen.' And yet, while thus leav ing, say FIVE short pieces to Bruce, out of the scixntfrn, the volume was published as
POEMS
OM
SEVERAL OCCASIONS
•v MICHAEL BRUCE '
It were no great loss though it could be shown that all the pieces named were not Bruce's. But inasmuch as ( I ) Logan did not place any of them in his volume of 1781, or in any of the editions published during his life time ; and inasmuch as (2) He nvwhfre publicly claimed any of them, though, as we have seen, swift to re-claim the ' Ode to the Cuckoo,' and to publish as his own the nns ;' and inasmuch as (3) The fragments of Bruce's MSS. preserved after the spoiling of Logan, show the germs of ' Levina ' in ' Lochleven,' and traces of various of the others, confirmed by Pearson and Birrel ; and inasmuch as (4) Dr Anderson, spite of Dr Robertson's letter, in which above list is enumerated (dated Septem ber Ipth, 1795), and for which I am indebted to Dr Laing of the Signet Library, — assigns nearly all to Bruce,
1 It is a Law-maxim of Coke. ' Cum duo inter se pugnantia reperiuntur in testa- mento, ultimtim nttim c-t.' The principle holds here. The volume is a 'deed/
II,' and the ' first ' statement, not the last, is binding. That first that Bruce was the author of all the Poems.
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and excludes the whole from Logan ; and finally, inas much as (5) Other Editors have unhesitatingly given all to Bruce, — the whole, save the * Vernal Ode ' of Sir James Foulis, will be found in our edition.
In estimating the position of Michael Bruce among the minor Poets of our Country, three things must be remem bered.
1. That the ' Ode to the Cuckoo' and the ' Hymns/ being proven to be his, we have in them a token of what, had years been given him, he might and would have done.
2. That the quarto volume into which he had trans cribed all his Poems under the shadow of departure, was DESTROYED by Logan. It probably contained many such gems as those named. I strongly suspect that the ballad of the * Braes of Yarrow/ and the Tale com mencing, * Where pastoral Tweed, renown'd in song/ were, in substance, from his Muse, not Logan's.
3. That he died only three months beyond his, twenty- first year. This explains the immaturity of his taste, and his echoes of Milton and Thomson, Gray and Collins, and Young and other poets.
But as it is, this volume of the ' Works ' of our Poet deserves a place among the genuine ' MakkarsJ Even in his barest productions, as ' Lochleven ' and * The Last Day/ there are bits of description not at all un worthy of the master, Thomson. Thus, —
e Fair from his hand behold the village rise, In rural pride, 'mong intermingled trees ! Above whose aged tops the joyful swains, At even-tide descending from the hill, With eye enamoured, mark the many wreaths
MICHAEL BRUCE. in
Of pillared smoke, high-curling to the clouds. The streets resound with Labour's various voice,
whistles at his work. Gay on the green, Young blooming boys, and girls with golden hair, Trip nimble-footed, wanton in their play,
illage hope. All in a reverend row,
grey-haired grandsires, sitting in the sun, Before the gate, and leaning on the staff, The well-remembered stories of their youth Recount, and shake their aged locks with joy.
How fair a prospect rises to the eye, \V here Beauty vies in all her vernal forms, For ever pleasant, and for ever new !
Is the exulting thought, expands the soul, Drowning each ruder care : a blooming train Of bright ideas rushes on the mind. Imagination rouses at the scene ; And backward, through the gloom of ages past, Beholds Arcadia, like a rural queen, Encircled with her swains and rosy nymphs, The mazy dance conducting on the green. Nor yield to old Arcadia's blissful vales Thine, gentle Leven ! Green on either hand Thy meadows spread, unbroken of the plough, \Vith beauty all their own. Thy fields rejoice With all the riches of the golden year. Fat on the plain, and mountain's sunny side, Large droves of oxen, and the fleecy flocks, Feed undisturb'd ; and fill the echoing air With music, grateful to the master's ear.
• Livelier stops, and gazes round and round O'er all the scenes, that animate his heart
i mirth and music. Ev'n the mendicant, Bowbent with age, that on the old grey