Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Scottish songs > Volume 2

354
TO DANTON ME,
Tune — To danton me.
The blude-red rose at Yule may blaw,
The summer lilies blume in snaw,
The frost may freeze the deepest sea ;
But an auld man shall never danton me !
To danton me, and me sae young,
Wi' his fause heart and flatterin' tongue I
That is the thing ye ne'er shall see ;
For an auld man shall never danton me.
For a* his meal, for a' his maut,
For a' his fresh beef and his saut,
For a' his gowd and white monie,
An auld man shall never danton me.
His gear may buy him kye and yowes,
His gear may buy him glens and knowes ;
But me he shall not buy nor fee ;
For an auld man shall never danton me.
He hirples twa-fauld, as he dow,
Wi' his teethless gab and auld bald pow,
And the rain rins doun frae his red-blear'd ee
That auld man shall never danton me.*
vention, requesting that body to accept them as a mark of his admiration
and respect. The present, and its accompaniment, were intercepted at the
customhouse at Dover ; and here, there appears to be little room to doubt,
was the principal circumstance that drew on Burns the notice of his jea-
lous superiors. We were not, it is true, at war with France ; but every one
knew and felt that we were to be so ere long; and nobody can pretend
that Burns was not guilty, on this occasion, of a most absurd and presump-
tuous breach of decorum."
* From Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, vol. II. 1788.