What siller does is most amazing,
Nane o’ them e’er look’d at
me,
Now my charms they a’ are praising,
For my sake they ’re like to dee.
The Laird, the Shirra, and the Doctor,
Wi’ twa three Lords o’ high degree;
Wi’ heaps o’ Writers I could mention—
Oh, surely this is no me!
But I ’ll no, &c.
The yett is now for ever ringing,
Showers o’ valentines aye bringing,
Fill’d wi’ Cupids, flames, and darts,
Fae auld and young, wi’ broken hearts.
The siller, O the weary siller!
Aft in toil and trouble sought,
But better far it should be sae,
Than that true hearts should e’er be bought.
Sae I ’ll no, &c.
But there is ane, when I had naething,
A’ his heart he gi’ed to me;
And sair he toil’d for a wee thing,
To bring me when he cam frae sea.
If ever I should marry ony,
He will be the lad for me;
For he was baith gude and bonny,
And he thought the same o’ me.
Sae I ’ll no, &c.
[63] This song is printed from an improved version of the original, by a literary friend of the author.
THE MITHERLESS LAMMIE.
The mitherless lammie ne’er
miss’d its ain mammie,
We tentit it kindly
by night and by day,
The bairnies made game o’t,
it had a blithe hame o’t,
Its food was the
gowan—its music was “mai.”
Without tie or fetter, it
couldna been better,
But it would gae
witless the world to see;
The foe that it fear’d
not, it saw not, it heard not,
Was watching its
wand’ring frae Bonnington Lea.
Oh, what then befell it, ‘t
were waefu’ to tell it,
Tod Lowrie kens
best, wi’ his lang head sae sly;
He met the pet lammie, that
wanted its mammie,
And left its kind
hame the wide world to try.
We miss’d it at day-dawn,
we miss’d it at night-fa’in’,
Its wee shed is
tenantless under the tree,
Ae dusk i’ the gloamin’
it wad gae a roamin’;
’T will
frolic nae mair upon Bonnington Lea.
THE ATTAINTED SCOTTISH NOBLES.[64]
Oh, some will tune their mournfu’
strains,
To tell o’
hame-made sorrow,
And if they cheat you o’
your tears,
They ’ll
dry upon the morrow.
Oh, some will sing their airy
dreams,
In verity they’re
sportin’,
My sang ‘s o’
nae sic thieveless themes,
But wakin’
true misfortune.
Ye Scottish nobles, ane and
a’,
For loyalty attainted,
A nameless bardie ’s
wae to see
Your sorrows unlamented;
For if your fathers ne’er
had fought
For heirs of ancient
royalty,
Ye ’re down the day
that might hae been
At the top o’
honour’s tree a’.