Note by the Editor.
The gentle Tannahill, the sweet lyrist of Paisley, in his preface to the “Soldier's Return, with other Poems and Songs,” published in 1807, modestly stated that the Interlude was undertaken by desire of the late Mr. Archibald Pollock, comedian. After publication, it was very severely criticised and condemned, without taking into consideration that the path of the author was lyrical writing, and not dramatic composition ; and ere it was well commenced, Mr. Pollock, for whom it was undertaken, had gone to “that bourne from whence no traveller returns.” The author was thus, in his first dramatic attempt, early deprived of the assistance of the gentleman for whom it was to be composed, and the voice that would have infused a spirit into the piece on the stage had become silent for ever. In these painful circumstances, the author solicited indulgence ; and we are inclined to entertain it favourably, and judge charitably. The six beautiful songs in the first class of lyric poetry introduced by the author into the dialogue, were of such a redeeming quality that they should have saved the whole from the unjust condemnation. At this time, we read the Interlude once, and were well pleased with it ; we read it a second time, and were better pleased with it : and we read it a third time, and, looking to the misty horizon, we saw the memorable date mentioned by the Laird—the only date given in the piece—
March the Eighth,
1801,
and, in the hazy distance, the pictures of the battles of Aboukir and Alexandria, at the last of which Sir Ralph Abercromby was killed. The mist rolled up like a curtain, and we then beheld the places described, the scenery painted, and the persons portrayed in the pages of the “Soldier's Return,” by the pen of the Poet of Nature.—Ed.