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

453
If ye be Rob, I've heard o' you ;
Live you upo' the Border ?
The lasses a, baith far and near,
Have lieard o' Rob the Ranter ;
I'll shake my foot wi' richt gude will,
Gif ye'll blaw up your chanter.
Then to his bags he flew wi' speed ;
About the drone he twisted :
Meg up and wallop'd ower the green ;
For brawly could she frisk it !
Weel done ! quo he. Play up I quo she.
Weel bobb'd ! quo Rob the Ranter ;
It's worth my while to play, indeed,
When I hae sic a dancer I
Weel hae ye play'd your part I quo Meg ;
Your cheeks are like the crimson !
There's nane in Scotland plays sae weel,
Sin' we lost Habbie Simpson *
I've lived in Fife, baith maid and wife,
This ten years and a quarter ;
Gin ye should come to Anster Fair,"!"
Spier ye for Maggie Lauder.:}:
* A celebrated piper at Kilbarchan, Renfrewshiie, whose memory and
merits are preserved in an excellent elegy by Semple. He flourished about
the middle of the seventeenth century.
t " In consequence of an enthusiasm upon such subjects, the writer of
these pages did not neglect, on visiting Anstruther, to ' spier for Maggie
Lauder.' He was pleased to find, that the inhabitants of the town have not
only preserved the tradition of her existence, but even know the exact place
of her residence. She lived, and practised (it seems) not the most reputa-
ble profession, in the East Green of Anster, a low street, connecting the
town with the adjacent fishing-village of Cellardykes. Her house was a cot
of one story, and stood upon the north side of the street, at the west end
of two more modern little cottages, almost opposite to a tannery. The spot
is now occupied by a garden, which extends a good way back. The house
itself has not existed within the memory of the present generation ; but all
the people concur in pointing out this as its site. It ought, however, to be
mentioned, that, in opposition to the popular legend regarding this re-
nowned lady, the Anstruther family have a tradition that she was a person
of condition, and connected with their ancient house."— Picture of Scot-
land, vol. 2, article Fife.
i From Herd's Collection, 1776. It is certainly a startling fact, and one
which militates strongly against the tradition of Scrapie's authorship, that
the song does not appear in the Tea-Table Miscellany.