Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Scottish ballads

310
His father was a richte good lord,
His mother a lady of high degree ;
But they, alas ! were dead him fro,
And he loved keeping companie.
To spend the daye with merry cheere,
To drink and revel every nichte.
To carde and dice from even to morne.
It was, I ween, his heart's delichte.
To ride, to run, to rant, to roare,
To alwaye spend and never spare,
I wote, an he were the king himself,
Of gold and fee he mote be bare.
Soe fares the unthrifty heir of Linne,
Till all his gold is gone and spent ;
And he maim sell his lands so broad,
His house, and lands, and all his rente >
His father had a keen stewarde.
And John o' Scales was called hee :
But John is become a gentleman.
And John has got both gold and fee.
tor was so much indebted, though, in all probability, it underwent great al-
terations ni passing from the manuscript to the press. There is still cur-
rent in Scotland, a homely version which begins thus :
The bonnie heir, the weel-faured heir.
And the weary heir o' Linne ;
Yonder he stands at his father's gate.
And naebody bids him come in.
O, see where he stands, and see where he gangs.
The weary heir o' Linne !
O, see where he stands on the cauld causey,
Some ane wald taen him in.
But if he had been his father's heir.
Or yet the heir o' Linne,
He wadna stand on the cauld causey ;
Some ane wald taen him in.