JOY OF MY EARLIEST DAYS.

AIR—­"I’ll never leave thee."

    Joy of my earliest days,
      Why must I grieve thee? 
    Theme of my fondest lays,
      Oh, I maun leave thee! 
    Leave thee, love! leave thee, love! 
      How shall I leave thee? 
    Absence thy truth will prove,
      For, oh!  I maun leave thee!

    When on yon mossy stane,
      Wild weeds o’ergrowin’,
    Ye sit at e’en your lane,
      And hear the burn rowin’;
    Oh! think on this partin’ hour,
      Down by the Garry,
    And to Him that has a’ the pow’r,
      Commend me, my Mary!

OH, WEEL’S ME ON MY AIN MAN.

AIR—­"Landlady count the lawin’."

        Oh, weel’s me on my ain man,
        My ain man, my ain man! 
        Oh, weel’s me on my ain gudeman! 
        He ’ll aye be welcome hame.

    I ’m wae I blamed him yesternight,
    For now my heart is feather light;
    For gowd I wadna gie the sight;
    I see him linking ower the height. 
        Oh, weel’s me on my ain man, &c.

    Rin, Jamie, bring the kebbuck ben,
    And fin’ aneath the speckled hen;
    Meg, rise and sweep about the fire,
    Syne cry on Johnnie frae the byre. 
        For weel’s me on my ain man,
        My ain man, my ain man! 
        For weel’s me on my ain gudeman! 
        I see him linkin’ hame.

KIND ROBIN LOE’S ME.[52]

    Robin is my ain gudeman,
    Now match him, carlins, gin ye can,
    For ilk ane whitest thinks her swan,
        But kind Robin lo’es me. 
    To mak my boast I ’ll e’en be bauld,
    For Robin lo’ed me young and auld,
    In summer’s heat and winter’s cauld,
        My kind Robin lo’es me.

    Robin he comes hame at e’en
    Wi’ pleasure glancin’ in his e’en;
    He tells me a’ he ’s heard and seen,
        And syne how he lo’es me. 
    There ’s some hae land, and some hae gowd,
    Mair wad hae them gin they could,
    But a’ I wish o’ warld’s guid,
        Is Robin still to lo’e me.

[52] The author seems to have composed these stanzas as a sequel to a wooing song of the same name, beginning, “Robin is my only jo,” which first appeared in Herd’s Collection in 1776.  There are some older words to the same air, but these are coarse, and are not to be found in any of the modern Collections.

KITTY REID’S HOUSE.

AIR—­"Country Bumpkin."

    Hech, hey! the mirth that was there,
          The mirth that was there,
          The mirth that was there;
    Hech, how! the mirth that was there,
        In Kitty Reid’s house on the green, Jo! 
    There was laughin’ and singin’, and dancin’ and glee,
      In Kitty’s Reid’s house, in Kitty Reid’s house,
    There was laughin’ and singin’, and dancin’ and glee,
      In Kitty Reid’s house on the green, Jo!