My mither bade me marry the Laird, Sin' his wealth bears the bell, Ye may wed him yoursel', With his auld gray beard newly shaven. Wad mither and friends but let me alane, Nor come o'er here again, With his auld gray beard newly shaven. First stanza old, rest original. THERE WAS ANE MAY. THERE was ane May, and she lo'ed nae men, When bonny young Johnny came o'er the sea, He had a wee titty that lo'ed na me, Because I was twice as bonny as she; She rais'd such a pother 'twixt him and his mother, That were na' my heart light, I wad die. 167 THERE WAS ANE MAY. The day it was set, and the bridal to be, The wife took a dwaum, and lay down to die: She main'd and she grain'd out of dolour and pain, His kin was for ane of a higher degree, They said, I had neither cow nor cawf, His titty she was baith wylie and slee, His bonnet stood aye fou round on his brow, And now he gangs dandering about the dykes, Were I young for thee, as I hae been, We shou'd hae been galloping down on yon green, And wow gin I were but young for thee. "There is no single word in modern English," says Lord Hales, in notes to his Selections from the Bannatyne MSS. "which corresponds with dow: that which approaches the nearest to it, is list, from which the adjective listless. The force of the word dow, is well expressed in the penultimate stanza of the foregoing Ballad. The lines alluded to, are in the description of one crossed in love, by an envious sister's machination, and a peevish mother's frowardness:" And now he gangs dandering about the dykes, "The whole," continues his Lordship, "is executed with equal truth and strength of colouring." This Ballad is the composition of Lady Grissel Baillie, daughter of Patrick, the first Earl of Marchmont, and wife of George Baillie of Jarviswood, whose widow she died in 1746. www PRESTWICK DRUM. Air-AITKEN DRUM. AT gloamin' gray, the close o' day, Nae bluidy battle it betides, Nor sack, nor siege, nor ought besides, BAILLIE'S Daughter of BONNY DUNDEE. 169 In days o' yore, when to our shore, An' march'd to Prestwick drum. Gude service aften is forgot, O' Prestwick's ancient drum. "The original charter of Prestwick is now lost, but is referred to, in the renewed grant by James VI. of Scotland. Bruce having at first been unsuccessful, after passing some time in exile, reappeared in Arran, and crossing the Frith, landed on Prestwick shore, where the inhabitants joined his standard in considerable force; for which service, the king was pleased to erect their town into a barony, with a jurisdiction extending from the Water of Ayr to the Water of Irvine." THE BAILLIE'S DAUGHTER OF BONNY DUNDEE. Oh, have I burned, or have I slain, Or have I done ought of injury! I've slighted the lass I may ne'er see again, Bonny Dundee, and bonny Dundas, I maunna stay langer in bonny Dundee! It is barely necessary to mention here, that the two concluding lines of the above lively fragment, are those sung by Rob Roy, towards the finale of his midnight interview with Baillie Nicol Jarvie, in the Tolbooth of Glasgow. See the historical novel of " Rob Roy." WILL YE GO TO ALDAVALLOCH. IMITATED FROM THE GAELIC. Will ye go to Aldavalloch? Sweet the mellow mavis sings, There, beneath the spreading boughs, Winds the pure stream of Aldavalloch. The first golden smile of morn, And the last beam that evening sheddeth, Baith that echoing vale adorn That brightly glows, this mildly fadeth. Short is there hoar winter's stay, When spring returns like Hebe blooming Hand in hand with rosy May, With balmy breath the air perfuming. But there's a flower, a fairer flower Than ever grew in green Glenfalloch, The blithesome maiden I adore, |