Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/151

Rh There health, rosy virgin,

For ever doth dwell;

There love fondest whispers

To beauty his tale;

There—freedom's own darling!

The Gael, lives free,—

Then, oh! give the hills

Of the heather to me.

[ exquisite little song was among the last ever wrote. It was composed in honour of Jessie Lewars (now Mrs. Thomson of Dumfries,) the sister of a brother exciseman of the poet's, and one who has endeared her name to posterity by the affectionate solicitude with which she tended Burns during his last illness.]

[.—Tune, "Ye banks an' braes o' bonnie Doon."]