Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/243

Rh He had the art to please ye,

And was by a' respected;

His airs sat round him easy,

Genteel but unaffected.

The collier's bonnie lassie,

Fair as the new-blown lilie,

Aye sweet, and never saucy,

Secured the heart o' Willie.

He loved, beyond expression,

The charms that were about her,

And panted for possession;

His life was dull without her.

After mature resolving,

Close to his breast he held her;

In saftest flames dissolving,

He tenderly thus telled her:

My bonnie collier's daughter,

Let naething discompose ye;

It's no your scanty tocher,

Shall ever gar me lose ye:

For I have gear in plenty;

And love says, it's my duty

To ware what heaven has lent me

Upon your wit and beauty.

[, "The Collier's bonnie lassie."—"I do not know," says Burns, "a blyther old song than this."—The poet himself furnished Johnson with a copy of the words and the tune for the Museum.]

[ by, for Thomson's collection, to the tune of "The Collier's bonnie lassie."]

to the woodlands, hie!

The balmy morning breeze,

And the laughing voice of merry spring

Are piping 'mong the trees.