JACKY LATIN. [NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED.] HEY my Jack, howe my Jack, His heart was at the breakin'. A lad there cam to Peebles toun, He's come vapourin' up the toun ; Up the gate, and doun the gate, As he gaed doun by Fernie-haugh, He had a merry wanton ee, But and a wylie look ; He thocht to tak the lassie's heart Out frae her very bouk. The version here given is composed of that which Mr Herd published, and another which appeared in the later work of Mr Robert Jamieson, Popular Ballads and Songs, 1806; the best lines and stanzas being adopted from each. He's ta'en her by the mantle-neuk, I CANNA WANT MY GRUEL. TUNE-Lass, gin I come near ye. THERE lived a man into the west, They brought to him a gude sheep's heid, Gae, tak your whim-whams a' frae me, [THE BRIDE SPEAKS.] There is nae meal into the hous; There is nae milk into the hous; *This humorous old song is taken down from the recitation of an aged Peebles-shire lady, whose mother was its heroine. From various circumstances, it is probable that the real incident which gave rise to it took place at least ninety years ago. Fernie-haugh, Scott's Mill, and Cardrona Hill, are three places which successively occur on the south bank of the Tweed, immediately below Peebles. Gae to the midden, and milk the soo; TIBBIE FOWLER.+ TUNE-Tibbie Fowler. TIBBIE FOWLER o' the Glen, There's ower mony wooing at her; There's ower mony wooing at her. Courtin' her, and canna get her; That a' the lads are wooin' at her. Ten cam east, and ten cam west; There's seven but, and seven ben, There's ane-and-forty wooin' at her! She's got pendles in her lugs; And a' the lads are wooin' at her. * This curious old folly is from the Ballad-Book, 1824. † Said to have been written by the Rev. Dr Strachan, late minister of Carnwath, although certainly grounded upon a song of older standing, the name of which is mentioned in the Tea-Table Miscellany. The two first verses of the song appeared in Herd's Collection, 1776. There is a tradition at Leith that Tibbie Fowler was a real person, and married, some time during the seventeenth century, to the representative of the attainted family of Logan of Restalrig, whose town-house, dated 1636, is still pointed out at the head of a street in Leith, called the Sheriff-brae. The marriage-contract between Logan and Isabella Fowler is still extant, in the possession of a gentleman resident at Leith.-See Campbell's History of Leith, note, p. 311. Be a lassie e'er sae black, The wind will blaw a man till her. Be a lassie e'er so fair, An she want the penny siller, A flie may fell her in the air, Before a man be even'd till her. JOCKIE SAID TO JENNY. TUNE-Jockie said to Jenny. JOCKIE said to Jenny, Jenny wilt thou wed? I hae gowd and gear; I hae land eneuch; I hae a gude ha' house, a barn, and a byre, can let ye be. Jenny said to Jockie, Gin ye winna tell, Ye're welcomer to tak me than to let me be.* *From the Tea-Table Miscellany, (1724,) where it is marked with the signature Z, indicating that it was then a song of unknown antiquity. Jockie and Jenny, it must be observed, were names which, for a long period previous to the early part of the last century, acted as general titles for every Scottish pair in humble life. The male name, in particular, was then invariably used by the English as appropriate to the personified idea of a Scotsman-exactly as Sandy is used at the present day. BLINK OVER THE BURN, SWEET BETTY.* TUNE-Blink over the Burn, sweet Betty. IN simmer I maw'd my meadows, Blink over the burn, sweet Betty, But I was a widow† for thee. WILL YE GANG TO THE HIGHLANDS. WILL ye gang wi' me, Lizzy Lindsay, To gang to the Highlands wi' you, sir, O Lizzy, lass, ye maun ken little, For my name is Lord Ronald MacDonald, She has kilted her coats o' green satin, *From Herd's Collection, 1776. In Scotland, widow signifies male and female indiscriminately. |