Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Songs of Scotland adapted to their appropriate melodies > Volume 3

THOU BONNIE WOOD OP CRA IGI E-LE A.
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The following stanzas begin at the mark :#:
Far ben thy dark green plantings' shade,
The cushat croodles ani'rously ;
The mavis, down thy bughted glade,
Gars echo ring frae ev'ry tree.
Thou bonnie wood, &c.
Awa', ye thoughtless, murd'ring gang,
Wha tear the nestlings ere they flee !
They'll sing you yet a canty sang,
Then, in pity let them be !
Thou bonnie wood, &c.
When winter blaws in sleety show'rs,
Frae afF the Norlan hills sae hie,
He lightly skiifs thy bonnie bow'rs,
As laith to harm a flow'r in thee.
Thou bonnie wood, &c.
Though fate should drag me south the line,
Or o'er the wide Atlantic sea,
The happy hours I'll ever mind,
That I in youth ha'e spent in thee.
Thou bounie wood, &c.
"Thou bonnie wood op Ckaigie-lea." The words of thi-i song were written by Robert Tannahill. The air,
which has been very popular, was composed by James Barr, a professional musician in Kilbarchan, who after-
wards went abroad. In a Bacchanalian song of Tannahill's, called "The Five Friends," James Barr is thus com-
memorated in the fourth stanza: —
" There is blithe Jamie Barr, frae St. Barchan's toun,
When wit gets a kingdom, he's sure o' the crown ;
And we're a' noddin, nid, nid, noddin,
We're a' noddin fu' at e'en."
In " The Poems and Songs of Robert Tannahill," edited by Mr. Philip A. Ramsay, Glasgow, 1838, we find that
R. A. Smith says of this air, — " It is a very pleasing and natural melody, and has become, most deservedly, a
great favourite all over the West Kintra side. I think this little ballad possesses considerable merit; one of its
stanzas strikes me as being particularly beautiful : —
' When winter blaws in sleety show'rs,' &c.
' Uarp,' Essay, p. xxxvii.
The scenery here so finely described, lies to the north-west of Paisley. Siace Tannahill's time its beauty has
been sadly impaired by the erection of a most unpoetical object, the gas- work."