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BESSY BELL, AND MARY GRAY.
O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray,
They were twa bonive lasses;
They bilg’d a house on yon burn brae,
And theek’d it o'er wi’ rashes
Fair Bessy Bell I loYd .yestreen,
And thought I ne’er could alter;
But Mary Gray’s twa pawky een,
They gar my fancy falter.
Now Bessy s hair's like a lintstap,
She smiles like a May morning,
When Phoebus darts frae Thetis1 lap,
The hills with rays adorning:
White is her neck, saft is lier hand,
Her waist and feet's fu‘ genty;
With ilka grace she can command.
Her lips, O wow, they’re dainty.
.dnd Mary's locks are like a craw,
Her can like diamonds glances:
She’s ay sae clean, redd up, and braw,
She kills whene’er she dances;
Blythe as a kid, with wit at will,
She blooming, tight, and tall is,
And guides her airs sae grace!u’ still,
© Jove, she’* like my Pallas.
*—■«»-*»
O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray,
They were twa bonive lasses;
They bilg’d a house on yon burn brae,
And theek’d it o'er wi’ rashes
Fair Bessy Bell I loYd .yestreen,
And thought I ne’er could alter;
But Mary Gray’s twa pawky een,
They gar my fancy falter.
Now Bessy s hair's like a lintstap,
She smiles like a May morning,
When Phoebus darts frae Thetis1 lap,
The hills with rays adorning:
White is her neck, saft is lier hand,
Her waist and feet's fu‘ genty;
With ilka grace she can command.
Her lips, O wow, they’re dainty.
.dnd Mary's locks are like a craw,
Her can like diamonds glances:
She’s ay sae clean, redd up, and braw,
She kills whene’er she dances;
Blythe as a kid, with wit at will,
She blooming, tight, and tall is,
And guides her airs sae grace!u’ still,
© Jove, she’* like my Pallas.
*—■«»-*»
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Chapbooks printed in Scotland > Diseases > Bessy Bell & Mary Gray > (2) |
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Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/108851754 |
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Description | Over 3,000 chapbooks published in Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries. Subjects include courtship, humour, occupations, fairs, apparitions, war, politics, crime, executions, Jacobites, transvestites, and freemasonry. Chapbooks are small booklets of 8, 12, 16 and 24 pages, often illustrated with crude woodcuts. Produced cheaply and sold by peddlars on the streets, they formed the staple reading material of the common people, along with broadsides. |
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