For the second instance, where the melody is predominant over the meaning, and where the poet seemed only to be affected by the desire to frame words that would sing themselves and merely symbolize his thought, there are very many examples in the peasant poetry and folk-song of Scotland,--refrains that have no direct connection with the song, but, like the note of a second flute in a concerto, intensify the effect of the first strain by a kindred, yet diverse accentuation, as The broom blooms bonnie and says it is fair; and as the most perfect specimen that occurs, the refrain to the ballad of Lord Barnard in Jamieson's collection:-- O, wow for day! And dear gin it were day! Gin it were day and I were away, For I haena long time to stay. It is only the uneducated poets who have the courage to use language arbitrarily with a purpose 1 It is needless to say that the supreme felicity of these lines has been pointed out by other and more distinguished critics. more for melody than for meaning, and when an attempt is made to reproduce its effect deliberately, as has been done by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris, the result is simply artificial and bizarre, in spite of the skill, the intensity, and the poetical power of Sister Helen, and the melody of the most perfect example of the modern imitation of the refrain in Morris's The Wind. Wind, Wind, thou art sad, art thou kind? Wind, Wind, unhappy; thou art blind, Yet still thou wanderest the lily seed to find. Perhaps the most perfect example of the lyric song, in which the melody is mingled with and sustains and elevates the feeling, and both are conjoined in an effect which melts the heart and possesses the ear, although the strain is not of so high a rapture of love or sorrow as parts of Burns's Ae Fond Kiss or Lady Anne Bothwell's Balow, and is of a peaceful sweetness and resignation rather than passion, is The Land of the Leal, by Carolina, Lady Nairne. In its original and simplest form, before she had interpolated a verse to express some of her theological ideas, it is the perfect interpretation of a sweet, solemn, and simple thought, the tenderest and purest emotion, breathed in an equally simple, but absolutely perfect melody, that is like the flowing of limpid water, crystal clear and unbroken to the end. The heart of the world has responded, and it has a place like none other in the tongue of song. I'm wearin' awa, John, Like snaw-wreaths in thaw, John, I 'm wearin awa' To the land o' the leal. There's nae sorrow there, John, There's neither cauld nor care, John, The day is aye fair In the land o' the leal. Our bonnie bairn's there, John, She was baith gude and fair, John, And, oh, we grudged her sair To the land o' the leal. But sorrow's sel' wears past, John, And joy's a-comin' fast, John,