Like them whase daughters, now-a-days, I use nae gums upon my hair, If canny fortune give to me Descending from above, O; Then we'll embrace, and sweetly kiss, Repeating tales of love, O.† BANNOCKS O' BARLEY. TUNE-Bannocks o' Barley. BANNOCKS o' bear-meal, bannocks o' barley! The silken snood, which occurs so frequently in Scottish poetry, was a narrow ribbon worn in former times by maidens of the humbler rank. As it was always abandoned on the loss of maidenly reputation, and changed for a curch, or cap, in case of matrimony, it has come to serve in poetry as the emblem of maidenhood. + From the Tea-Table Miscellany, where it is marked as being an old song even at the time of the publication of that work. Wha in a brulyie will first cry a parley? Wha, in his wae days, were loyal to Charlie? GO TO BERWICK, JOHNIE. TUNE-Go to Berwick, Johnie. Go to Berwick, Johnie ; Bring her frae the Border; But we'll let them ken, A sword wi' them we'll measure. Go to Berwick, Johnie, And regain your honour; Drive them ower the Tweed, And show our Scottish banner. I am Rob the king, And ye are Jock, my brither; We'll a' there thegither.† From Johnson's Musical Museum, vol. V. circa 1798. This incomprehensible, though popular rant, is from Johnson's Musical Museum, vol. VI., 1803. Ritson, in his Scottish Songs, 1793, mentions, that he had heard it gravely asserted at Edinburgh, that "a foolish song, beginning, Go, go, go, go to Berwick, Johnie! Thou shalt have the horse, and I shall have the poney! was made upon one of Wallace's marauding expeditions, and that the person thus addressed was no other than his fidus Achates, Sir John Graham." TUNE The auld Man he cam o'er the lee. THE auld man he cam o'er the lee; * Pret. of shear, to reap. †The Elder. Three pens and a penknife, a proper capital for a poor poet! This ridiculous song, which Burns seems to have designed as a hit at his own character, was written for Johnson's Musical Museum; from which work (Part VI. 1803) the present copy is extracted. He cam on purpose for to court me, My mother bade me gie him a stool; I ga'e him a stool, and he looked like a fool, My mother she bade me gie him some pye;. I ga'e him some pye, and he laid the crust by, My mother she bade me gie him a dram; I ga'e him a dram o' the brandy sae strang, My mother bade me put him to bed; I put him to bed, and he swore he wad wed, HERE'S A HEALTH TO THEM THAT'S AWA. TUNE Here's a health to them that's awa. HERE'S a health to them that's awa, Here's a health to them that's awa; Here's a health to them that were here short syne, And canna be here the day. It's gude to be merry and wise; * From Johnson's Musical Museum, Part V. circa 1798. It's gude to be aff wi' the auld love, Before ye be on wi' the new. 端 HEY, CA' THROUGH. TUNE-Hey, ca' through. UP wi' the carles o' Dysart, We hae tales to tell, And we hae sangs to sing; We'll live a' our days; And them that comes behin', Let them do the like, And spend the gear they win.t HOW SWEET THIS LONE VALE. HON. ANDREW ERSKINE. To a Gaelic air. How sweet this lone vale, and how soothing to feeling *From Johnson's Musical Museum, Part V. circa 1798 |