But I foor up the glen at een, And lang before the gray morn cam, O weary fa' the waukrife cock, An angry wife I wat she raise, And o'er the bed she brought her; And wi' a mickle hazle rung She made her a weel pay'd dochter. O fare thee weel, my bonie lass! Thou art a gay and a bonie lass, But thou hast a waukrife minnie. * The peasantry have a verse superior to some of those recovered by Burns, which is worthy of notice.-Ed. O though thy hair was gowden weft, An' thy lips o' drapping hinnie, Thou hast gotten the clog that winna cling For a' you're waukrife minnie." TULLOCHGORUM. THIS, first of songs, is the master-piece of my old friend Skinner. He was passing the day at the town of Ellon, I think it was, in a friend's house whose name was Montgomery.-Mrs. Montgomery observing, en passant, that the beautiful reel of Tullochgorum wanted words, she begged them of Mr. Skinner, who gratified her wishes, and the wishes of every lover of Scottish song, in this most excellent ballad. These particulars I had from the author's son, Bishop Skinner, at Aberdeen. Come gie's a sang, Montgomery cry'd, What signifies't for folks to chide For what was done before them: Let Whig and Tory all agree, Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory, To drop their Whig-mig-morum. * Whig-mig-morum occurs in Habbie Simpson's epitaph— "Sa weill's he keipit his decorum, And all the stotis of Quhip Meg Morum," Stotis Let Whig and Tory all agree To spend the night wi' mirth and glee, O, Tullochgorum's my delight, And ony sumph that keeps up spite, For blythe and cheerie we'll be a', Blythe and cheerie, blythe and cheerie, And make a happy quorum, For blythe and cheerie we'll be a', The Reel o' Tullochgorum. What needs there be sae great a fraise, For half a hunder score o' them. Dowf and dowie, dowf and dowie, Wi' a' their variorum ; Stotis means notes of music. Quhip meg-morum, the name of an old air; therefore the sense is, Notes of Whip-meg-morum They're dowf and dowie at the best, They canna' please a Scottish taste, Let warldly worms their minds oppress Shall we sae sour and sulky sit, Shall we sae sour and sulky sit, To the Reel o' Tullochgorum? May choicest blessings ay attend And a' that's good watch o'er him; May peace and plenty be his lot, Peace and plenty, peace and plenty, And dainties a great store o' them; And may he never want a groat, That's fond o' Tullochgorum! But for the sullen frumpish fool, And discontent devour him; May dool and sorrow be his chance, Dool and sorrow, dool and sorrow, Dool and sorrow be his chance, And nane say, wae's me for him! May dool and sorrow be his chance, The Reel o' Tullochgorum. |