What sighs and vows, amang the knowes,
Hae pass'd atween us twa!
How fain to meet, how wae to part,
That day she gaed awa'!
The Powers aboon can only ken,
To whom the heart is seen,
That nane can be sae dear to me
As my sweet, lovely Jean.
[27] These verses were written as a continuation to Burns's "Of a' the
airts the wind can blaw." Other two stanzas were added to the same song
by W. Reid.--See _postea_.
JOANNA BAILLIE.
Joanna Baillie was born on the 11th of September 1762, in the manse of
Bothwell, in Lanarkshire. Her father, Dr James Baillie, was descended
from the old family of Baillie of Lamington, and was consequently
entitled to claim propinquity with the distinguished Principal Robert
Baillie, and the family of Baillie of Jerviswood, so celebrated for its
Christian patriotism. The mother of Joanna likewise belonged to an
honourable house: she was a descendant of the Hunters of Hunterston; and
her two brothers attained a wide reputation in the world of science--Dr
William Hunter being an eminent physician, and Mr John Hunter the
greatest anatomist of his age. Joanna--a twin, the other child being
still-born--was the youngest of a family of three children. Her only
brother was Dr Matthew Baillie, highly distinguished in the medical
world. Agnes, her sister, who was eldest of the family, remained
unmarried, and continued to live with her under the same roof.
In the year 1768, Dr Baillie was transferred from the parochial charge
of Bothwell to the office of collegiate minister of Hamilton,--a town
situate, like his former parish, on the banks of the Clyde. He was
subsequently elected Professor of Divinity in the University of
Glasgow. After his death, which took place in 1778, his daughters both
continued, along with their widowed mother, to live at Long Calderwood,
in the vicinity of Hamilton, until 1784, when they all accepted an
invitation to reside with Dr Matthew Baillie, who had entered on his
medical career in London, and had become possessor of a house in Great
Windmill Street, built by his now deceased uncle, Dr Hunter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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