Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

PATIE.

When corn-riggs waved yellow, and blue heather-bells
Bloom'd brightly on moorland and sweet rising fells;
Nae burns, brier, or bracken, gave trouble to me,
If I found but the berries right ripen'd for thee.

PEGGY.

When thou ran, or wrestled, or putted the stane,
And cam aff the victor, my heart was aye fain ;
Thy ilka sport manly gave pleasure to me,
For nane can put, wrestle, or run swift as thee.

PATIE.

Our Jenny sings saftly the "Cowden-Broom-Knowes,"
And Rosie lilts sweetly the "Milking the Ewes ;"
There's few "Jenny Nettles" like Nancy can sing;

With "Through the wood, laddie," Bess gars our lugs ring:

But when my dear Peggy sings, with better skill,

The "Boatman," "Tweedsdale," or the "Lass o' the Mill," 'Tis many times sweeter and pleasing to me ;

For though they sing nicely, they cannot like thee.

PEGGY.

How easy can lasses trow what they desire,
With praises sae kindly increasing love's fire!
Give me still this pleasure, my study shall be
To make myself better and sweeter for thee.

THE YELLOW-HAIR'D LADDIE.

ALLAN RAMSAY.

In April, when primroses paint the sweet plain,
And summer approaching rejoiceth the swain,

The yellow-hair'd laddie would oftentimes go

To woods and deep glens where the hawthorn-trees grow.

There under the shade of an old sacred thorn

With freedom he sung his loves ev'ning and morn:

He sung with so soft and enchanting a sound,

That silvans and fairies, unseen, danced around.

The shepherd thus sung: "Though young Maddie be fair,
Her beauty is dash'd by a scornfu' proud air;

But Susie was handsome, and sweetly could sing,--
Her breath's like the breezes perfumed i' the spring.

That Maddie, in all the gay bloom of her youth,
Like the moon, was inconstant, and never spoke truth;
But Susie was faithful, good-humoured, and free,
And fair as the goddess that sprung from the sea.

That mamma's fine daughter, with all her great dower,
Was awkwardly airy, and frequently sour."

Then sighing, he wish'd, would but parents agree,

The witty sweet Susie his mistress might be.

It was

Allan Ramsay founded this song upon a much older composition-of itself not devoid of merit, and free from the concetti of its more modern namesake. inserted in his "Tea-Table Miscellany," and is here appended.

"The yellow-hair'd laddie sat down on yon brae,

Crying, 'Milk the ewes, lassie; let nane o' them gae.'

And aye as she milkit she merrily sang,

The yellow-hair'd laddie shall be my gudeman.

The weather is cauld and my cleadin' is thin,

The yowes are new-clipt and they winna bught in;

They winna bught in, although I should dee,

O yellow-hair'd laddie, be kind unto me!

The gudewife cries butt the house, 'Jennie, come ben;
The cheese is to mak and the butter's to kirn.'
Though butter and cheese and a' should gang sour,
I'll crack and I'll kiss wi' my love a half-hour.
It's ae lang half-hour, and we'll e'en mak it three,
For the yellow-hair'd laddie my gudeman shall be."

DUNT, DUNT, DUNT, PITTIE, PATTIE.

Air-"The yellow-hair'd laddie." From the "Tea-Table Miscellany."

ON Whitsunday morning

I went to the fair;

My yellow-hair'd laddie

Was selling his ware;

He gied me sic a blythe blink
With his bonny black ee,

And a dear blink and a fair blink

It was unto me.

I wist not what ail'd me

When my laddie cam' in;

The little wee sternies

Flew aye frae my een;
And the sweat it dropp'd down

From my very ee-bree;

For my heart aye play'd

Dunt, dunt, dunt, pittie, pattie.

I wist not what ail'd me
When I went to my bed;

I toss'd and I tumbled,

And sleep frae me fled.

Now it's sleeping and waking

He's aye in my ee;

And my heart aye plays

Dunt, dunt, dunt, pittie, pattie.

MARY SCOTT, THE FLOWER OF YARROW.

ALLAN RAMSAY. From the "Tea-Table Miscellany."

HAPPY's the love which meets return,
When in soft flames souls equal burn;
But words are wanting to discover
The torments of a hopeless lover.
Ye registers of heaven, relate,
If looking o'er the rolls of fate,

Did you there see me mark'd to marrow
Mary Scott, the flower of Yarrow?

Ah, no! her form's too heavenly fair,
Her love the gods above must share;
While mortals with despair explore her,
And at a distance due adore her.
O lovely maid! my doubts beguile,
Revive and bless me with a smile;
Alas! if not you'll soon debar a
Sighing swain the banks of Yarrow.

с

Be hush'd, ye fears; I'll not despair;
My Mary's tender as she's fair;
Then I'll go tell her all my anguish ;
She is too good to let me languish :
With success crownèd, I'll not envy
The folks who dwell above the sky;

When Mary Scott's become my marrow,
We'll make a paradise on Yarrow.

The heroine of this song is supposed to have been Mary, daughter of Philip Scott of Dryhope, in Selkirkshire. She was married to Scott of Harden, the notorious border-reiver, or freebooter A different and possibly an earlier version of this song has been discovered by Mr. Peter Buchan. We copy it from a manuscript volume of the Songs of the North of Scotland collected by that gentleman.

"Oh, Mary's red, and Mary's white,

And Mary she's the king's delight;

The king's delight and the prince's marrow,

Mary Scott, the flower of Yarrow.

When I look east, my heart grows sair;

But when I look west, it's mair and mair;

And when I look to the banks of Yarrow,

There I mind my winsome marrow.

Now she's gone to Edinburgh town,

To buy braw ribbons to tie her gown;

She's bought them broad, and laid them narrow,—
Mary Scott is the flower of Yarrow."

BONNIE CHIRSTY.

ALLAN RAMSAY. From the "Tea-Table Miscellany."

"How sweetly smells the simmer green,
Sweet taste the peach and cherry;
Painting and order please our een,
And claret makes us merry!

But finest colours, fruits and flowers,

And wine, though I be thirsty,
Lose a' their charms and weaker powers,
Compar'd wi' those of Chirsty.

"When wand'ring o'er the flow'ry park,
No natural beauty wanting;
How lightsome is't to hear the lark,
And birds in concert chanting!

But if my Chirsty tunes her voice,
I'm rapt in admiration;

My thoughts wi' ecstasies rejoice,
And drap the haill creation.

"Whene'er she smiles a kindly glance,
I take the happy omen,
And aften mint to make advance,
Hoping she'll prove a woman.
But, dubious of my ain desert,
My sentiments I smother;
Wi' secret sighs I vex my heart,
For fear she love another."

Thus sang blate Edie by a burn,
His Chirsty did o'erhear him;
She doughtna let her lover mourn,
But, ere he wist, drew near him.
She spak' her favour wi' a look,

Which left nae room to doubt her:
He wisely this white minute took,
And flang his arms about her.

"My Chirsty! witness, bonny stream,
Sic joys frae tears arising;

I wish this may na be a dream,

Oh, love the maist surprising!"
Time was too precious now for tauk,
This point of a' his wishes;
He wadna wi' set speeches bauk,

But wair'd it a' on kisses.

The heroine of this song was Miss Christina or Christian Dundas, daughter of Sir James Dundas of Arnisten, and wife of Sir Charles Erskine, or Areskine, of Alva, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland in 1763. The song is the first in the "Tea-Table Miscellany," from which it has been conjectured that it was an especial favourite of its author.

« ZurückWeiter »