This tune is claimed by Nathaniel Gow.—It is notoriously taken from “The muckin o’ Gordie’s byre.”—It is also to be found long prior to Nathaniel Gow’s era, in Aird’s Selection of Airs and Marches, the first edition under the name of “The Highway to Edinburgh.”
THEN, GUID WIFE, COUNT THE LAWIN’.
The chorus of this is part of an old song, no stanza of which I recollect.
THERE’LL NEVER BE PEACE TILL JAMIE COMES HAME.
This tune is sometimes called “There’s few gude fellows when Willie’s awa.”—But I never have been able to meet with anything else of the song than the title.
I DO CONFESS THOU ART SAE FAIR.
This song is altered from a poem by Sir Robert Ayton, private secretary to Mary and Ann, Queens of Scotland.—The poem is to be found in James Watson’s Collection of Scots Poems, the earliest collection printed in Scotland. I think that I have improved the simplicity of the sentiments, by giving them a Scots dress.