[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

—
WHEN I UPON THY BOSOM LEAN.
Lines addressed by a husband to his wife, after being six years married, and
sharing a great variety of fortune together
" When on thy bosom I recline,
Enraptur'd still to call thee mine.
To call thee mine for life ;
I glory in the sacred ties,
Which modern wits and fools despise,
Of husband and of wife.
" A mutual flame inspires our bliss,
The tender look—the melting kiss.
Even years have not destroyed.
Some sweet sensation, ever new,
Springs up—and proves the maxim true,
Chaste love can ne'er be cloyed.
" Have I a wish — 'tis all for thee.
Hast thou a wish — 'tis all for me,
So soft our moments move ;
What numbers look with ardent gaze.
Well pleased to see our happy days,
And bid us live—and love !
" If care arise (and cares will come),
Thy bosom is my softest home,
I lull me there to rest ;
And is there ought disturbs my fair,
I bid her sigh out all her care.
And lose it in my breast.
" Have I a joy— 'tis all her own,
Or hers and mine are all but one.
Our hearts are so entwin'd ;
That like the ivy round the tree,
Bound up in closest amity,
'Tis death to be disjoin'd.
" A Happy Husband.
" Edinburgh, Oct. 11.
" Now this appeared nearly twelve years before the date of Bums'
letter to Lapraik (April 1, 1785), and fifteen before Lapraik's own
volume (Kilmarnock, 1788). We copy the song, as it is printed
there, verbatim ; its inferiority to the first version, we think, will be
acknowledged by all. [Here the Editor quotes Lapraik's version.]
Was ever fraud like this Burns improved upon Lapraik for the
Museum. Nevertheless, even his is inferior to that of the Weekly
'
Magazine.' We give it, also, with the changes in italics. « « -«
The hand of the inaster is here, and setting aside the Weekly Magazine
altogether, Lapraik has little or no merit. At any rate, we can
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