Yet would he boast, and stand on pedigree
From Rice ap Richard, sprung from Dick a Cow;
Be cod, was right gud gentleman, look ye now!
Scott’s Minstrelsy, II, 62, 1833.
In a list of books printed for and sold by P. Brooksby, 1688, occurs Dick-a-the-Cow, containing north-country songs: Ritson, in Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 223, 1833.
Two stanzas are cited in Pennant’s Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides in 1772, Part II, p. 276, ed. 1776.
Then Johnie Armstrong to Willie gan say,
‘Billie, a riding then will we;
England and us have been long at feud;
Perhaps we may hit on some bootie.’