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a. Kinloch MSS, VII, 171; from the recitation of Mrs Charles, Torry. b. Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 127.
1
‘I am the Duke o Athole’s nurse,
My part does weill become me,
And I wad gie aw my half-year’s fee
For ae sicht o my Johnie.’
2
‘Keep weill, keep weill your half-year’s fee,
For ye’ll soon get a sicht o your Johnie;
But anither woman has my heart,
And I’m sorry for to leave ye.’
3
‘Ye’ll dow ye doun to yon changehouse,
And ye’ll drink till the day be dawin;
At ilka pint’s end ye’ll drink my health out,
And I’ll come and pay for the lawin.’
4
Ay he ranted and he sang,
And drank till the day was dawin,
And ay he drank the bonnie lassy’s health
That was coming to pay the lawin.
5
He spared na the sack, tho it was dear,
The wine nor the sugar-candy,
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .
6
He’s dune him to the shot-window,
To see an she was coming,
And there he spied twelve armed men,
That oure the plain cam rinning.
7
He’s dune him doun to the landlady,
To see gin she wad protect him;
She’s buskit him up into women’s claiths
And set him till a baking.
8
Sae loudly as they rappit at the yett,
Sae loudly as they callit,
‘Had ye onie strangers here last nicht,
That drank till the day was dawin?’
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