Oh, dinna think, my pretty pink,

But I can live without thee:
I vow and swear I dinna care,
How lang ye look about ye.

Thou'rt aye sae free informing me
Thou hast nae mind to marry;
I'll be as free informing thee
Nae time hae I to tarry.
I ken thy friends try ilka means
Frae wedlock to delay thee;
Depending on some higher chance-
But Fortune may betray thee.

I ken they scorn my low estate,
But that does never grieve me;
But I'm as free as any he,

Sma' siller will relieve me.

I'll count my health my greatest wealth
Sae lang as I'll enjoy it :

I'll fear nae scant, I'll bode nae want,
As lang's I get employment.

But far-off fowls hae feathers fair,

And aye until ye try them:

Though they seem fair, still have a care,

They may prove waur than I am.

But at twal at night, when the moon shines bright,

My dear, I'll come and see thee;

For the man that lo'es his mistress weel,
Nae travel makes him weary.

MY LADY'S GOWN, THERE'S GAIRS UPON'T.

Tune-"Gregg's Pipes."

My lady's gown, there's gairs1 upon't,
And gowden flowers sae rare upon't;
But Jenny's jimps and jirkinet,'

My lord thinks meikle mair upon't.

My lord a-hunting he is gane,

But hounds or hawks wi' him are nane ;
By Colin's cottage lies his game,

If Colin's Jenny be at hame.

1 A triangular piece of cloth inserted at the bottom of a robe.

2 Stays and bodice.

My lady's white, my lady's red,
And kith and kin o' Cassillis' blude;
But her ten-pund lands o' tocher guid
Were a' the charms his lordship lo'ed.

Out o'er yon muir, out o'er yon moss,
Whare gor-cocks through the heather pass.
There wons auld Colin's bonny lass,
A lily in a wilderness.

Sae sweetly move her genty limbs,
Like music-notes o' lovers' hymns:
The diamond dew in her een sae blue,
Where laughing love sae wanton swims.

My lady's dink,1 my lady's drest,
The flower and fancy o' the west;
But the lassie that a man lo'es best,
Oh, that's the lass to mak him blest.

ANNA, THY CHARMS.

Tune-"Bonny Mary."

ANNA, thy charms my bosom fire,
And waste my soul with care;
But ah! how bootless to admire,
When fated to despair!
Yet in thy presence, lovely fair,

To hope may be forgiven;
For sure 'twere impious to despair,

So much in sight of heaven.

JOCKEY'S TA'EN THE PARTING KISS.

Tune-"Bonny Lassie, tak a Man.”

JOCKEY'S ta'en the parting kiss,
O'er the mountains he is gane;
And with him is a' my bliss,
Nought but griefs with me remain.
Spare my luve, ye winds that blaw,
Plashy sleets and beating rain!
Spare my luve, thou feathery snaw,
Drifting o'er the frozen plain !

1 Neat, trim

When the shades of evening creep
O'er the day's fair gladsome ee,
Sound and safely may he sleep,
Sweetly blithe his waukening be!
He will think on her he loves,
Fondly he'll repeat her name;
For where'er he distant roves,
Jockey's heart is still at hame.

OH, LAY THY LOOF IN MINE, LASS.

Tune-"The Cordwainers' March."

OH, lay thy loof1 in mine, lass,
In mine, lass, in mine, lass;
And swear on thy white hand, lass,
That thou wilt be my ain.

A slave to love's unbounded sway,
He aft has wrought me meikle wae ;
But now he is my deadly fae,
Unless thou be my ain.

There's mony a lass has broke my rest,
That for a blink2 I hae lo'ed best;
But thou art queen within my breast,
For ever to remain.

Oh, lay thy loof in mine, lass,

In mine, lass, in mine, lass;
And swear on thy white hand, lass,
That thou wilt be my ain.

OH, MALLY'S MEEK, MALLY'S SWEET.

CUNNINGHAM says regarding the origin of this song :-"The poet was one day walking along the High Street of Dumfries, when he met a young woman from the country, who, with her shoes and stockings packed carefully up, and her petticoats kilted,

'Which did gently shaw

Her straight bare legs that whiter were than snaw,

was proceeding towards the Galloway side of the Nith. This sight, by no means so unusual then as now, influenced the Muse of Burns, and the result was this exquisite lyric."

As I was walking up the street,

A barefit maid I chanced to meet ;

1 Palm.

2 Short space.

But oh, the road was very hard
For that fair maiden's tender feet.

Oh, Mally's meek, Molly's sweet,
Mally's modest and discreet,
Mally's rare, Mally's fair,

Mally's every way complete.

It were mair meet that those fine feet
Were weel laced up in silken shoon,
And 'twere more fit that she should sit
Within yon chariot gilt aboon.

Her yellow hair, beyond compare,

Comes trinkling down her swan-like neck;
And her two eyes, like stars in skies,

Would keep a sinking ship frae wreck.

THE BANKS OF CREE.

Tune-"The Banks of Cree."

LADY Elizabeth Heron having composed an air entitled "The Banks of Cree," in remembrance of a beautiful and romantic stream of that name, "I have written," says the poet, "the following song to it, as her ladyship is a particular friend of mine."

ON THE SEAS AND FAR AWAY.
Tune-"O'er the hills and far away."

How can my poor heart be glad,
When absent from my sailor lad?
How can I the thought forego,
He's on the seas to meet the foe?
Let me wander, let me rove,
Still my heart is with my love:
Nightly dreams, and thoughts by day,
Are with him that's far away.

On the seas and far away,
On stormy seas and far away;
Nightly dreams, and thoughts by day,
Are aye with him that's far away.

When in summer noon I faint,
As weary flocks around me pant,
Haply in the scorching sun
My sailor's thundering at his gun:
Bullets, spare my only joy!
Bullets, spare my darling boy!
Fate, do with me what you may-
Spare but him that's far away!

At the starless midnight hour,

When winter rules with boundless power;

As the storms the forest tear,

And thunders rend the howling air,
Listening to the doubling roar,
Surging on the rocky shore,
All I can-I weep and pray,
For his weal that's far away.

Peace, thy olive wand extend,
And bid wild War his ravage end,
Man with brother man to meet,

And as a brother kindly greet :

Then may Heaven with prosperous gales

Fill my sailor's welcome sails,

To my arms their charge convey—

My dear lad that's far away.

SHE SAYS SHE LOE'S ME BEST OF A'.

Tune-"Onagh's Waterfall."

SEE p. 203 for an account of Miss Jean Lorimer, the flaxen-haired Chloris of this and other fine songs.