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Broadside ballads entitled 'Prince Charlie and his Tartan Pladdie', 'The Tinker's Wedding' and 'The Banks of Sweet Primroses'

Transcription

Prince Charlie and his Tartan Pladdie.

When Charlie first came to the North,
With the manly looks of a Highland laddie;
He turn'd every true Scottish to himself,
To view the lad and his tartan pladdie.

Love, farewell?friends, farewell?
To guard my king I bid all farewell.

When King Geordy heard of this,         
That he had gained North to wear his daddie,
He sent Sir John Cope to the North.
To catch the lad and his tartan pladdie

When Cope came to Inverness,
They told him he was South already,
Like a lion bold conquering atl,
By the virtue of his tartan pladdie.

When they came to Aberdeen,
The English fleet was lying ready,
To carry them o'er to Edinburgh town,
If they catched the lad and his tartan pladdi

On Prestonpans he formed hi? clans,
He neither regarded son nor daddy
Like the wind of the sky he made them fly
With every shake of his tartan pladdie.

The Duke of Perth was on his right,
The bold Munroe and the brave Glengarry,
From the Isle of Sky the bravo Lochiel,
Maclarens bold and the brave Macready.

A painted room and a silken bed.,
Would scarcely please a Gerrn in lairdy,
But a far better prince than e'er he was
Laid amang the heath on his tartan pladdie.

The Tinker's Wedding.

In June when broom an' bloom was seen,
An' brackens waved fu' fresh an' green,
An' warm the sun wi' silver sheen,
The hills and glens did gladden, O.
Ae day, upon the border bent,
The tinkers pitched their gipsy tent,
An' auld an young, wi'ae consent,
Resolved to have a weddin', O.

Diring do a do a day,
Diring do a daddin', O,
Diring do a do a day,
Hurra! the tinker's wedding, O.

The bridegroom was a wild Norman Scot.
Wha' thrice had broke the nuptial knot,
An' ance was sentenced tobe shot
For breach O'martial orders,O.
His gleesome joe was Madge M'Kel!,
A spaewife, match for Nick himsel,
Wi' clamour, cantrip, charm and spell,
She frightit baith the borders, O.

Nae priest was there wi'solemn face;
Nae clerks to claim O' crowns a brace;
The piper an' fiddler play'd the grace,
To set their gabs asteerin, O.
'Mang beef an' mutton, pork an' veal;
'Mang painshes, plucks an' fresh cow-heel
Fat haggises and caller jeel,
They claw't awa' careerin', O.

Fresh salmon newly ta'en in Tweed,
Saut ling an' cod o' Shetland breed,
They worried till kytes were like to screed.
'Mang flaggons and flasks o' gravy, O.
There were raisin kail and sweet milk saps,
An' ewe-milk cheese in whangs and flaps;
An' they roopit to gust their gabs an' craps.
Right mony a cadger's cavie, O.

The drink flew roun'in wild galore,
An' soon upraised a hideous roar,
Blythe Comus ne er a queerer core
Saw seated round his table, O.   
They drank, they danced, they swore, they sarg,
They quarrelled an' 'greed the hale day lang,
An' the wrangling that ran amang the thra- -
Wad match the tongue o' Babel, O.

The drink gaed down before their drouth,
That vexed baith money a maw an' youth,
It damp'd the fire o' age an' youth,
An' every breast did sadden, O,
Till three stout loons flew o'er the fell,
At risk o' life their drouth to quell,
An' robbed a neighbouring smuggler's still,
To carry on the wedding, O.

Wi' thundering shouts they hailed them back,
To broach the barrels they werena slack,
While the fiddler's plane-tree leg they brak,
For playing fareweel to whisky.
Delirium seized the uproarious thrang,
The bagpipes in the fire they flang,
An' sowerin airns on the riggins rang,
The drink play'd siccan a plisky.'

The sun fell laigh owre Solways banks,
While on they plied their roughsome pranks,
An' the stalwart shadows o' their shanks,
Wide owre the muir were spreading.
Till heads-an-thraws amang the whins,
They fell wi broken brows an' shins,
An sair-craist bane filled mony skins,
To close the tinker's wedding.

The Banks of sweet Primroses.

As I walked out one midsummer's morning,   
To view the fields and take the air,
Down by the banks of the sweet primroses,
There I beheld a most lovely fair.

Three long steps I took up to her,
Not knowing her as she pass'd me by,
I stept up to her thinking to view her.
She appear'd to be like some virtuous maic.

I' said, fair maid, where are you going,
Or what is the cause of your grief,
I'll make you as happy as any Lady,
If you will grant me one small relief

Stand off, stand off, you are deceitful,
You are a deceitful man 'tis plain,
It's that caused my poor heart to wander,
To give me comfort it's all in vain.

I'll go down to some lonesome valley,
No man on earth shall e'er me find,
Where the pretty birds shall change their voices,
At every moment shall blow boisterous winds

Come all you maidens that go a courting,
Pray give attention to what I say,
For there's many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a sun shining day

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Probable period of publication: 1830-1860   shelfmark: L.C.Fol.70(141)
Broadside ballads entitled 'Prince Charlie and his Tartan Pladdie', 'The Tinker's Wedding' and 'The Banks of Sweet Primroses'
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