Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/21

Rh For weel do I lo'e him, quo' she,

Weel do I lo'e him;

For weel do I lo'e him, quo' she,

Weel do I lo'e him.

O fee him, father, fee him. quo' she,

Fee him, father, fee him;

He'll haud the pleugh, thrash in the barn,

And crack wi' me at e'en, quo' she,

And crack wi' me at e'en.

[ humorous and once popular song appears in the first edition of the Orpheus Caledonius, along with the music, in 1725. It is, however, of much earlier date, as Ramsay, in his Miscellany, marks it as one, even in his day, of an unknown age. Gay, the poet, selected the air (which goes by the name of Nancy's to the greenwood gane,) for one of his songs, beginning,

[ first two stanzas of this song are by the ill-fated : the others are by the late Mr., bookseller in Glasgow, who was sometimes fortunate in the additions he made to popular ditties.]

ye gang o'er the leelea [sic] rig,

My ain kind dearie, O;

And cuddle there fu' kindly,

Wi' me, my kind dearie, O!

At thorny bush, or birken tree,

We'll daff, and never weary, O;

They'll scug ill een frae you and me,

My ain kind dearie, O.