Our bonnie bairn’s there, Jean; She was baith gude and fair, Jean; And oh! we grudged her sair To the land o’ the leal. But sorrow’s sel’ wears past, Jean; And joy’s a-comin’ fast, Jean, The joy that’s aye to last In the land o’ the leal. Then dry that tearfu’ e’e, Jean; My soul langs to be free, Jean; And angels wait on me To the land o’ the leal. Now, fare ye weel, my ain Jean! This warld’s care is vain, Jean; We’ll meet and aye be fain In the land o’ the leal.” In quoting this song I have given the words as it has been universally voted, by men at least, that they should be accepted. Lady Nairne wrote “I’m wearin’ awa’, _John_,” meaning the song to be the supposed address of a dying wife to her husband; and so the words still stand, with other differences of text, in the authentic original. I know not by what warrant the change was introduced; though, for my own part, I join in the vote for adopting it, and so making the song the address of a dying husband to his wife. Had there been such a various reading in the text of one of the odes of Horace, what comments there would have been upon it, what dissertations! But, though the song of _The Land o’ the Leal_ is more touching than any in Horace, the modification of its original form has passed hitherto without much comment. The most obvious comment perhaps is that, whatever _Jean_ may produce, it will be appropriated by _John_, if he likes it, to his own use. EDINBURGH THROUGH THE DUNDAS DESPOTISM[7] Will anybody give us a history of Scotland from the year 1745 onwards to the present time? It is not likely that anybody will. For it is precisely from the year 1745 that Scotland ceases to have that sort of history which, according to our ordinary ideas of history, it is easy or necessary to write.