Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

And sklented on the man of Uzz
Your spitefu' joke?

And how ye gat him i̇' your thrall,
And brak him out o' house and hall,
While scabs and blotches did him gall,
Wi' bitter claw,

And lows'd his ill-tongued, wicked scawl,
Was warst ava?

But a' your doings to rehearse,
Your wily snares and fechtin' fierce,
Sin' that day Michael did you pierce,
Down to this time,

Wad ding a Lallan tongue, or Erse,
In prose or rhyme.

And now, auld Cloots, I ken ye 're thinkin',
A certain bardie's rantin', drinkin',
Some luckless hour will send him linkin'
To your black pit;

But, faith! he'll turn a corner jinkin',
And cheat you yet.

But fare you weel, auld Nickie-ben!
O wad ye tak a thought and men'!
Ye aiblins might — I dinna ken —
Still hae a stake

I'm wae to think upo' yon den,

Even for your sake!

HE

ON JOHN DOVE,

INNKEEPER, MAUCHLINE.

ERE lies Johnny Pigeon;
What was his religion?
Wha e'er desires to ken,
To some other warl'

Maun follow the carl,

For here Johnny Pigeon had nane !

Strong ale was ablution,

Small beer persecution,

A dram was memento mori;

But a full-flowing bowl

Was the joy of his soul,

And port was celestial glory.

THE JOLLY BEGGARS:

WHI

A CANTATA.

RECITATIVO.

HEN lyart leaves bestrew the yird,
Or wavering like the baukie-bird,
Bedim cauld Boreas' blast;

When hailstanes drive wi' bitter skyte
And infant frosts begin to bite,

In hoary cranreuch drest;
Ae night at e'en a merry core
O' randie, gangrel bodies,

In Poosie Nansie's held the splore,
To drink their orra duddies:
Wi' quaffing and laughing
They ranted and they sang;
Wi' jumping and thumping,
The vera girdle rang.

First, niest the fire, in auld red rags,
Ane sat, weel braced wi' mealy bags,
And knapsack a' in order;
His doxy lay within his arm,
Wi' usquebae and blankets warm
She blinket on her sodger:

And aye

he gies the tozie drab

The tither skelpin' kiss,

While she held up her greedy gab

Just like an aumos dish.

Ilk smack still, did crack still,
Just like a cadger's whip,
Then staggering and swaggering,
He roared this ditty up.'

AIR.

TUNE-Soldiers' Joy.

I am a son of Mars, who have been in many wars, And shew my cuts and scars wherever I come; This here was for a wench, and that other in a

trench,

When welcoming the French at the sound of the

drum.

Lal de daudle, etc.

My 'prenticeship I past where my leader breathed his last,

When the bloody die was cast on the heights of Abram ;

I served out my trade when the gallant game was

played,

And the Morro low was laid at the sound of the

drum.

Lal de daudle, etc.

I lastly was with Curtis, among the floating-bat

teries,

And there I left for witness an arm and a limb; Yet let my country need me, with Elliot to head

me,

I'd clatter on my stumps at the sound of a drum. Lal de daudle, etc.

And now though I must beg, with a wooden arm and leg,

And many a tattered rag hanging over my bum, I'm as happy with my wallet, my bottle and my callet,

As when I used in scarlet to follow a drum.

Lal de daudle, etc.

What though with hoary locks I must stand the winter shocks,

Beneath the woods and rocks oftentimes for a

home,

When the t'other bag I sell, and the t'other bot

tle tell,

I could meet a troop of h- at the sound of a

drum.

Lal de daudle, etc.

RECITATIVO.

He ended; and the kebars sheuk,

Aboon the chorus roar;

While frighted rattons backward leuk,
And seek the benmost bore.
A fairy fiddler frae the neuk,
He skirled out "Encore!"
But up arose the martial chuck,
And laid the loud uproar.

AIR.

TUNE-Soldier Laddie.

I once was a maid, though I cannot tell when, And still my delight is in proper young men ; Some one of a troop of dragoons was my daddie, No wonder I'm fond of a sodger laddie.

Sing, Lal de lal, etc.

The first of my loves was a swaggering blade,
To rattle the thundering drum was his trade;
His leg was so tight, and his cheek was so ruddy,
Transported I was with my sodger laddie.

Sing, Lal de lal, etc.

But the godly old chaplain left him in the lurch, The sword I forsook for the sake of the church;

« ForrigeFortsæt »