Glen Collection of printed music > Printed music > Wood's edition of the songs of Scotland

178
THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND.
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MODERATO.
THEEE WAS A LASS, AND SHE WAS FAIE.
AIR, " WILLIE WAS A WANTON WAQ.
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There was a lass, and she was fair, At kirk and mar-ket to be seen, When
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a' the fair - est maids were met, The fair - est maid was bon - nie Jean. And
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aye she wrought her mam - mie's wark, And aye
sang sae mer - ri - lie: The
m
blith - est bird up - on
the bush
Had
light - er heart than she.
But hawks will rob the tender joys
That bless the little lintwhite's nest ;
And frost will blight the fairest flowers,
And love will break the soundest rest.
Young Robie was the brawest lad,
The flower and pride of a' the glen ;
And he had owsen, sheep, and kye,
And wanton naigies 1 nine or ten.
He gaed wi' Jeanie to the tryste,
He danc'd wi Jeanie on the down ;
And lang e'er witless Jeanie wist,
Her heart was tint, 2 her peace was stown.
As in the bosom o' the stream
The moonbeam dwells at dewy e'en ;
So trembling, pure, was tender love,
Within the breast o' bonnie Jean.
And now she works her mammie's wark,
And aye she sighs wi' care and pain ;
Yet wistna what her ail might be,
Or what wad mak' her wecl again.
But didna Jeanie's heart loup 3 light,
And didna joy blink in her e'e,
As Robie tauld a tale o' love,
Ae e'enin' on the lily lea ?
The sun was sinking in the west,
The birds sang sweet in ilka grove ,
His cheek to hers he fondly prest,
And whisper'd thus his tale o' love :
Jeanie fair, I lo'e thee dear ;
canst thou think to fancy me !
Or wilt thou leave thy mammie's cot,
And learn to tent i the farms wi' me ?
At barn or byre thou shalt na drudge,
Or naething else to trouble thee ;
But stray among the heather-bells,
And tent the waving corn wi' me.
Now what could artless Jeanie do ?
She had nae will to say him na :
At length she blush'd a sweet consent,
And love was aye between them twa.
1 Young horses.
1 Lost.
3 Leap.
4 To take charge of; to watch.
" There was a Lass, and she was fair." Burns wrote this song to the tune of ". Bonnie Jean," for Mr. G.
Thomson's Collection. Mr. Thomson, however, adapted it to the tune of " Willie was a wanton wag," and we have
here given it to the same air. The "Jeanie" thus celebrated by Burns, was Miss Jean Macmurdo, (afterwards Mrs.
Crawford.) eldest daughter of John Macmurdo, Esq. of Drumlaurig. " I have not painted her," says Burns, " in the
rank which she holds in life, but in the dress and character of a cottager." Burns himself considered this song as
" in Ms best style;" and so it certainly is. About the beginning of last century, Mr. Walkingshaw of that ilk, near
Paisley, wrote a very humorous song beginning, " Willie was. a wanton wag;" which was published in the Orpheus
Caledonius in 1725, along with the air which now bears that name. We give the old set of the air from Johnson's
Museum, No. 137.