‘What think ye o my coal-black hair,
But and my twinkling een, lady,
A little bonnet on my head,
And cocket up aboon, lady?’
I suppose the Farie of 62, 92, to stand for a locality on the way north to Boggie (Strathbogie); I cannot, however, identify the place. ‘Tempeng chiss of farie,’ 64, 94, 104, may be a tempting fairy treasure. ‘Chis’ is Gaelic for tribute, but I am at present unable, making whatever allowance for the capricious spelling of the manuscript, to suggest any satisfying explanation of this important phrase.
Sir Walter Scott makes this note: “How the devil came Dugald Gunn [so he chooses to read Quin] to be identified with the Marquis of Huntly? I never saw the song before; it has some spunk in it.” Sharpe’s Ballad Book, ed. 1880, p. 154.
1
Dugall Quin came to the toun,
An he’s ben lang awaa,
An he is one to Lissie’s bed,