Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns

JOHNIE COPE.
87
m^m
-M
mt^mm
beat - ing
ret? If
were wauk
wad wait To go to the coals i' the morning.
Cope sent a letter frae Dunbar : —
O, Charlie, meet Die an ye daur,
And I'll learn you the art o' war,
If you'll meet me in the morning.
Hey, Johnie Cope, are ye wauking yet ?
Or are your drums a-beating yet 1
If ye were wauking, I wad wait
To go to the coals i' the morning. 1
When Charlie look'd the letter upon,
He drew his sword the scabbard from :
Come follow me, my merry merry men,
And we '11 meet Cope in the morning.
Now, Johnie, be as good's your word :
Come let us try both fire and sword ;
And dinna rin away like a frighted bird,
That 's chased frae its nest in the morning. 2
1 The battle-ground lies in the midst of a coal-field from which
Edinburgh had for centuries been supplied with most of the fuel it
required.
2 It is curious to find in this droll Scotch song an image which had
been previously used by Euripides, in the mouth of Polyxena when called
from the tent by the voice of her mother Hecuba :
3-a.u.pu
I come * * * *
Like a poor bird affrighted from its nest.