MY DEARIE, IF THOU DEE. ROBERT CRAWFORD. From the "Tea-Table Miscellany," 1724. Love never more shall give me pain, My fancy's fix'd on thee; My Peggie, if thou dee. Thy beauties did such pleasure give, If fate shall tear thee from my breast, In dreary dreams the night I'll waste, I ne'er can so much virtue find, No new-blown beauty fires my heart But thine, which can such sweets impart, Must all the world engage. "Twas this that, like the morning sun, Gave joy and life to me; And when its destined day is done, With Peggy let me dee. Ye powers that smile on virtuous love, Restore my Peggie's wonted charms, Those charms so dear to me; Oh, never rob them from those arms— I'm lost if Peggy dee. The beautiful air to which this song is sung has been traced back in мs. to the year 1692; but is probably much older. JOHN HAY'S BONNIE LASSIE. From the "Tea-Table Miscellany." By smooth-winding Tay a swain was reclining, To my bonny Hay that I am her lover! Nae mair it will hide, the flame waxes stranger; She's fresh as the spring, and sweet as Aurora, But if she appears where verdure invite her, The fountains run clear, and the flowers smell the sweeter; "Tis heaven to be by when her wit is a-flowing; Her smiles and bright eyes set my spirits a-glowing. The mair that I gaze the deeper I'm wounded, For a' my desire is John Hay's bonnie lassie. Mr. Chambers states that there is a tradition in Roxburghshire that this song was written by a carpenter or joiner in honour of a daughter of John Hay, first Marquis of Tweeddale. JOHN HAY'S BONNIE MARY. From Peter Buchan's manuscript collection of ancient and traditional As I gaed down an' farther down. An' down into a cellar, There I saw the bonniest lass Was writing a letter. She was writing an' inditing, And losing her colour, Cost me a dollar, An' a glass o' canary; An, oh, for a kiss Of John Hay's bonnie Mary! John Hay, hoch, hey, John Hay's bonnie Mary; What wad I gie For John Hay's bonnie Mary! Her father was handsome, Her mother was tall; But as for their daughter, She's the flower o' them all. She's handsome and sprightly, Genteel but not saucy; I wad gang the warld Wi' John Hay's bonny lassie. THY FATAL SHAFTS. TOBIAS SMOLLETT, the novelist, born 1721, died 1774. THY fatal shafts unerring move, I bow before thine altar, Love! I feel thy soft resistless flame Glide swift through all my vital frame. For while I gaze my bosom glows, My falt'ring tongue attempts in vain Condemn'd to nurse eternal care, YE rivers so limpid and clear, Who reflect, as in cadence you flow, All the beauties that vary the year, All the flow'rs on your margins that grow; How blest on your banks could I dwell, Were Margret the pleasure to share, And teach your sweet echoes to tell With what fondness I doat on the fair! Ye harvests, that wave in the breeze In pensive regret whilst I rove, The fragrance of flow'rs to inhale; Or catch, as it swells from the grove, The music that floats on the gale: Alas, the delusion how vain! If anxious to flatter my woes, Or the languor of absence to cheer, What object her charms can assume! Ye zephyrs that visit my fair, Ye sunbeams around her that play, First perish all else that is dear, Ere one sigh should escape her by stealth, Our kindness we struggled to shew; BENEATH A GREEN SHADE. DR. THOMAS BLACKLOCK. BENEATH a green shade a lovely young swain The winds ceased to breathe, and the fountain to flow; |