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He was a bra' gallant,

As e'er played at the glove,
And the bonny Erle of Murray,
Oh! he was the queen's love.

Oh! lang will his ladie

Look o'er the Castle Down,
Ere she see the Erle of Murray
Come sounding through the town!

A SOUTHLAND JENNY.

THIS is a popular Ayrshire song, though the notes were never taken down before.-It, as well as many of the ballad tunes in this collection, was written from Mrs. Burns's voice.

A Southland Jenny that was right bonny,
Had for a suitor a Norland Johnnie,
But he was sicken a bashfu' wooer,

That he could scarcely speak unto her.

But blinks o' her beauty, and hopes o' her siller,
Forced him at last to tell his mind till her;

My dear, quo' he, we'll nae langer tarry,

Gin ye can lo'e let's o'er the moor and marry.

me,

Come awa then, my Norland laddie,

Tho' we gang neat, some are mair gaudy;
Albeit I hae neither land nor money,
Come, and I'll ware my beauty on thee.

Ye lasses o' the South, ye're a' for dressin;
Lasses o' the North, mind milkin and threshin;
My minnie wad be angry, and sae wad my daddie,
Should I marry ane as dink as a lady.

I maun hae a wife that will rise i' the mornin,
Cruddle a' the milk, and keep the house a scauldin ;
Tulzie wi' her neebors, and learn at my minnie,
A Norland Jocky maun hae a Norland Jenny.

My father's only dochter, wi' farms and siller ready,
Wad be ill bestowed upon sic a clownish body;
A' that I said was to try what was in thee,
Gae hame, ye Norland Jockie, and court your Nor-
land Jenny!

1

MY TOCHER'S THE JEWEL.

THIS tune is claimed by Nathaniel Gow.-It is notoriously taken from The Muckin o' Geordie's Byre.—It is also to be found, long prior to Nathaniel Gow's ara, in Aird's Selection of Airs and Marches, the first edition, under the name of The Highway to Edinburgh.*

O meikle thinks my luve o' my beauty,
And meikle thinks my luve o' my kin;
But little thinks my luve, I ken brawlie,
My Tocher's the jewel has charms for him.

It's a' for the apple he'll nourish the tree,

It's a' for the hinney he'll cherish the bee; My laddie's sae meikle in love wi' the siller, He canna hae luve to spare for me.

* This statement is incorrect. On referring to Niel Gow and Son's 2d book, page 18, it will be seen that it is unclaimed by Nathaniel Gow, or any of his family. Mr. Gow found the tune in "Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion," book 3d, page 28, as a quick jig; it struck him that it would be pretty if slow; and being without a name, he called it Lord Elcho's Favourite. Oswald's book was published as long prior to Aird's æra, as Aird's was to that of Gow.-Ed.

Your proffer o' luve's an airle-penny,
My Tocher's the bargain ye wad buy;
But an' ye be crafty, I am cunnin,

Sae ye wi' anither your fortune maun try.

Ye're like to the timmer o' yon rotten wood,
Ye're like to the bark o' yon rotten tree;
Ye'll slip frae me like a knotless thread,

And ye'll crack your credit wi' mae nor me.*

The four last lines of this song are old. I have seen them in an unpublished MS. Collection by David Herd, the Editor of "Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads," &c. 2 vols. 1776.-the two lines,

"It's a' for the apple he'll nourish the tree,
It's a' for the hinney he'll cherish the bee;"

are also much older than Burns's words.-Ed.

THEN GUDE WIFE COUNT THE LAWIN.

THE chorus of this is part of an old song, one stanza of which I recollect.

Every day my wife tells me

That ale and brandy will ruin me;
But if gude liquor be my dead,
This shall be written on my head,—
O gude wife count, &c.

THERE'LL NEVER BE PEACE TILL JAMIE
COMES HAME.

THIS tune is sometimes called, There's few gude Fellows when Willie's awa.-But I never have been able to meet with any thing else of the song than the title.

By yon castle wa', at the close of the day,
I heard a man sing tho' his head it was gray :
And as he was singing the tears down came--
There'll never be peace 'till Jamie comes hame.

VOL. II.

M

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