Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/322

304 Sure heaven has fitted for delight

That beauteous form of thine,

And thou'rt too good its law to slight,

By hind'ring the design.

May all the powers of love agree,

At length to make thee mine;

Or loose my chains and set me free

From every charm of thine.

[ ditty, which breathes so much homely sense and rural contentment, is marked as an old song in the Tea-Table Miscellany. It is at least older than the beginning of last century, as it appears in "Pills to Purge Melancholy" (2d vol. circa 1700,) where it is erroneously directed to be sung to the tune of "Cold and Raw." The genuine old air of "The Country Lass" is given in Johnson's Museum. The comparatively modern tune of "Sally in our alley" somewhat resembles it.]

[.—Here first printed.—Tune, "O'er the muir amang the heather."]

the braes aboon Dunoon,

In vernal May's delightfu' weather,

I met at e'en a bonnie lass

Alane amang the blooming heather.

A hame-spun gown and westlin' plaid

Was dress enough, she had nae ither,

But blythe and comely was her lace,

And light her step amang the heather.

I spake her fair, and speert her name,

To tell me true she didna swither,

But modestly she hung her head,

And blush'd an red's the blooming heather.

A bonnie lass and free-han'd lad

Maun ha'e a crack when they forgather,

Sae down we sat beside a burn

That wimpled through the blooming heather.

We spake o' kirks, we spake o' fairs,

The sprouting corn, the bonnie weather;

O' every thing we talk'd but love,

Though love was a' our thoughts thegither.