Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/592

574 We ha'e a hame, gude halesome cheer,

Contentment, peace, a conscience clear,

And rosy bairns to us mair dear

Than treasures o' Potosi:

Their minds are formed in virtue's school,

Their fau'ts are check'd wi' temper cool,

For my gudeman mak's this his rule,

To keep frae hasty blows aye.

It ne'er was siller gart us wed,

Youth, health, and love, were a' we had,

Possess'd o' these, we toil'd fu' glad,

To shun want's bitter throes aye;

We've had our cares, we've had our toils,

We've had our bits o' troubles whiles,

Yet, what o' that? my Johnnie's smiles

Shed joy o'er a' our woes aye.

Wi' mutual aid we've trudged through life,

A kind gudeman, a cheerfu' wife;

And on we'll jog, unvexed by strife,

Towards our journey's close, aye!

And when we're stretch'd upon our bier,

Oh may our souls, sae faithfu' here,

Together spring to yonder sphere,

Where love's pure river flows aye.

heart sincere, I love thee, Bell—

But dinna ye be saucy, O,

Or a' my love I winna tell

To thee, my black-e'ed lassie, O:

It's no thy cheek o' rosy hue,

It's no thy little cherry mou',

It's a' because thy heart's sae true,

My bonnie black-e'ed lassie, O!

It's no the witch-glance o' thy e'e,

Though few for that surpass ye, O,

That mak's ye aye sae dear to me,

My bonnie black-e'ed lassie, O!

It's no the whiteness o' thy skin,

It's no love's dimple on thy chin;—

It's a' thy modest worth within,

My bonnie black-e'ed lassie, O!

Ye smile sae sweet, ye look sae kind,

That a' wish to caress ye, O;

But! how I admire thy mind,

My bonnie black-e'ed lassie, O!

I've seen thy een, like crystal clear,

Shine dimly through saft pity's tear—

These are the charms that mak' thee dear,

To me, my black-e'ed lassie, O!

[ tune called "Bonnie Dundee" is of undoubted antiquity, as it is to be found in the Skene MS. collection of music in the library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, a collection made in the reign of James VI., most of it between the years 1615 and 1620, and some of it earlier. It is there entitled "Adew, Dundee," and the ancient version of the tune is pronounced by Mr. Dauney (the editor of the Skene MS.) to be superior to the modern. The old words are lost. The following was the opening of an old song to the tune, but not, it is supposed, the original song, which must have been one of pathos and sentiment:

O, where did ye get that hauver-meal bannock?—

O, silly blind body, O, dinna ye see?

I gat it frae a brisk young sodger laddie,

Between Saint Johnston and bonnie Dundee.

To these four lines added twelve, for Johnson's Museum. In the following version of the song, Burns's twelve lines are retained, viz. the second four and the last eight. We cannot say who wrote the intermediate eight lines. The tune of "Bonnie Dundee" was adopted by Gay for one of his songs in "The Beggar's Opera," beginning "The charge is prepar'd, the lawyers are met." It is also familiar to modern ears as being the air of Macneill's popular song, "Saw ye my wee thing?"]

gat ye that bonnie blue bonnet?

O what makes them aye put the question to me?

I gat it frae a bonnie Scots callan,

Atween St. Johnstoun and bonnie Dundee.

O gin I saw the laddie that ga'e me't!

Aft has he doudl'd me upon his knee;

May heaven protect my bonnie Scots laddie

And send him safe hame to his baby and me.