And bend beneath the bitter blast,
To save them from despair.

But Nature waits her guests to greet,
Where disappointments cannot come,
And Time guides, with unerring feet,
The weary wanderers home.




ALEXANDER, DUKE OF GORDON.


Alexander, the fourth Duke of Gordon, was born in the year 1743, and
died on the 17th of January 1827, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.
Chiefly remembered as a kind patron of the poet Burns, his name is
likewise entitled to a place in the national minstrelsy as the author of
an excellent version of the often-parodied song, "Cauld Kail in
Aberdeen." Of this song, the first words, written to an older tune,
appeared in the second volume of Herd's "Collection," in 1776. These
begin--

"Cauld kail in Aberdeen,
And castocks in Strabogie;
But yet I fear they 'll cook o'er soon,
And never warm the cogie."

The song is anonymous, as is the version, first published in Dale's
"Scottish Songs," beginning--