huckling-comb patching knock with mistress sorrow, earnings shroud O MERRY HAE I BEEN O, merry hae I been teethin' a heckle, An' kissin' my Katie when a' was done. Bitter in dool I lickit my winnins O' marrying Bess, to gie her a slave: And blythe be the bird that sings on her grave. Come to my arms, my Katie, my Katie, An' come to my arms, an' kiss me again! And bless'd be the day I did it again. Had I the Wyte is, we may hope, also purely imaginative drama; it is certainly vividly imagined and carried through with a delightful mixture of sympathy and humorous detachment. blame highroad lane HAD I THE WYTE? Had I the wyte, had I the wyte, And up the loan she shaw'd me; jovially lively tune trouble Macpherson's Farewell, made famous by Carlyle's appreciation, is a glorified version of the "Dying Words" of a condemned bandit, such as were familiar in broadsides after every notorious execution. Part of the refrain is old. One may imagine The Highland Balou the lullaby of Macpherson's child. MACPHERSON'S FAREWELL Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong, The wretch's destinie! Macpherson's time will not be long On yonder gallows tree. Sae rantingly, sae wantonly, Sae dauntingly gaed he; He played a spring and danced it round, Oh, what is death but parting breath? On mony a bloody plain I've dared his face, and in his place I scorn him yet again! Untie these bands from off my hands, And bring to me my sword, And there's no a man in all Scotland, I've lived a life of sturt and strife; I die by treacherie : It burns my heart I must depart And not avengèd be. Now farewell light, thou sunshine bright, And all beneath the sky! May coward shame distain his name, The wretch that dares not die! THE HIGHLAND BALOU Hee balou! my sweet wee Donald, Leeze me on thy bonnie craigie! Thro' the Lawlands, o'er the border, Distinct from either of the foregoing groups are several songs in narrative form, told as a rule from the point of view of an onlooker, but hardly inferior to the others in vitality. In them the personal or dramatic emotion is replaced by a keen sense of the humor of the situation. Lullaby Finely knows Blessings on, succeed Then |