‘O well’s me o’ my gay goss-hawk,
That he can speak and flee;
He’ll carry a letter to my love,
Bring back another to me.’
2.
2.3 ‘couth,’ word.—Jamieson. The derivation, from Anglo-Saxon cwide, is hard.
‘O how can I your true-love ken,
Or how can I her know?
When frae her mouth I never heard couth,
Nor wi’ my eyes her saw.’