Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/41

Rh He took the grey mare, and rade cannilie—

And rapped at the yett o' Claverse-ha' Lee;

"Gae tell mistress Jean to come speedily ben:

She's wanted to speak wi' the Laird o' Cockpen."

Mistress Jean she was makin' the elder-flower wine;

"And what brings the Laird at sic a like time?"

She put aff her apron, and on her silk gown,

Her mutch wi' red ribbons, and gaed awa' down.

And when she cam' ben, he boued fu' low;

And what was his errand he soon let her know.

Amazed was the Laird when the lady said, Na,

And wi' a laigh curtsie she turned awa'.

Dumfounder'd he was, but nae sigh did he gi'e;

He mounted his mare, and rade cannilie;

And aften he thought, as he gaed through the glen,

"She's daft to refuse the Laird o' Cockpen."

And now that the Laird his exit had made,

Mistress Jean she reflected on what she had said;

"Oh! for ane I'll get better, it's waur I'll get ten—

I was daft to refuse the Laird o' Cockpen."

Neist time that the Laird and the lady were seen,

They were gaun arm and arm to the kirk on the green:

Now she sits in the ha' like a weel-tappit hen,

But as yet there's nae chickens appear'd at Cockpen.

[ by the late, in 1819, on his departure to Southern Africa. It first appeared in the Harp of Caledonia, Vol. III. and is adapted to the tune of "My guid Lord John."]

[ is another effusion of, on his leaving his native land. It is adapted to the tune of "Logan Water."]

of my heart—a long farewell!

The bark is launch'd, the billows swell,

And the vernal gales are blowing free,

To bear me far from love and thee!

I hate Ambition's haughty name,

And the heartless pride of Wealth and Fame,

Yet now I haste through Ocean's roar

To woo them on a distant shore.

Can pain or peril bring relief

To him who bears a darker grief?

Can absence calm this feverish thrill?

—Ah, no:—for thou wilt haunt me still!

Thy artless grace, thy open truth,

Thy form that breath'd of love and youth,

Thy voice by Nature fram'd to suit

The tone of Love's enchanted lute!