COUNTRY LASSIE.

TUNE-The Country Lass.

IN simmer, when the hay was mawn,
And corn waved green in ilka field,
While claver blooms white o'er the lea,
And roses blaw in ilka bield;
Blithe Bessie in the milking shiel,

sheltered place

Says, "I'll be wed, come o't what will;"

Out spak a dame in wrinkled eild,

66

"O guid advisement comes nae ill.

"It's ye hae wooers monie ane,

shed

age

And, lassie, ye're but young, ye ken; Then wait a wee, and cannie wale calmly A routhie butt, a routhie ben: There's Johnnie o' the Buskie Glen,

well-stored house

Fu' is his barn, fu' is his byre; Tak this frae me, my bonny hen, It's plenty beets the luver's fire."

"For Johnnie o' the Buskie Glen, I dinna care a single flie;

cow-house

keeps up

ET. 34.]

COUNTRY LASSIE.

He lo'es sae weel his craps and kye,
He has nae luve to spare for me.
But blithe's the blink o' Robbie's e'e,

And weel I wat he lo'es me dear:
Ae blink o' him I wadna gie

For Buskie Glen and a' his gear."

"O thoughtless lassie, life's a faught; The canniest gate, the strife is sair; But

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money

fight

wisest way

aye fou han't is fechtin' best, full-handed — fighting A hungry care's an unco care.

But some will spend, and some will spare,

And wilfu' folk maun hae their will;

Syne as ye brew, my maiden fair,

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Then

Keep mind that ye maun drink the yill." ale

"O gear will buy me rigs o' land,

pleasant

And gear will buy me sheep and kye;
But the tender heart o' leesome luve
The gowd and siller canna buy.
We may be poor Robbie and I,
Light is the burden luve lays on;
Content and luve brings peace and joy -
What mair hae queens upon a throne?"

FAIR ELIZA.

Burns composed this song to a Highland air which he found in Macdonald's collection. In the original manuscript, the name of the heroine is Rabina, which he is understood to have afterwards changed to Eliza, for reasons of taste. Mr. Stenhouse relates, that the verses were designed to embody the passion of a Mr. Hunter, a friend of the poet, towards a Rabina of real life, who, it would appear, was loved in vain, for the lover went to the West Indies, and there died soon after his arrival.

TURN again, thou fair Eliza,

Ae kind blink before we part,

Rue on thy despairing lover!
Canst thou break his faithfu' heart?
Turn again, thou fair Eliza ;

If to love thy heart denies,
For pity hide the cruel sentence,
Under friendship's kind disguise!

Thee, dear maid, hae I offended?
The offence is loving thee:
Canst thou wreck his peace for ever,
Wha for thine wad gladly die?

ET. 34]

O LUVE WILL VENTURE IN.

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While the life beats in my bosom,

Thou shalt mix in ilka throe;
Turn again, thou lovely maiden,
Ae sweet smile on me bestow.

Not the bee upon the blossom,
In the pride o' sunny noon;
Not the little sporting fairy,

All beneath the simmer moon;
Not the poet in the moment
Fancy lightens on his e'e,

Kens the pleasure, feels the rapture
That thy presence gies to me.

O LUVE WILL VENTURE IN.

TUNE-The Posie.

O LUVE will venture in where it daurna weel

be seen;

O luve will venture in where wisdom ance has

been;

But I will down yon river rove, among the

wood sae green

And a' to pu' a posie to my ain dear May.

The primrose I will pu', the firstling o' the

year,

And I will pu' the pink, the emblem o'.my

dear;

For she's the pink o' womankind, and blooms without a peer

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.

I'll pu' the budding rose, when Phoebus peeps in view,

For it's like a baumy kiss o' her sweet bonny

mou';

The hyacinth for constancy, wi' its unchanging

blue

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.

The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair, And in her lovely bosom I'll place the lily there;

The daisy's for simplicity and unaffected airAnd a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.

The hawthorn I will pu', wi' its locks o' siller

gray,

Where, like an aged man, it stands at break

And a' to be a posie to my ain dear May.