Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns

296 SONGS OF SCOTLAND.
This said, his breath began to fail,
He could not speak, but stammer ;
He sighed full sore, and said no more
But, Omnia vincit amor !
When I observed him near to death,
I ran in haste to save him,
But quickly he resigned his breath,
So deep the wound love gave him ;
Now, for her sake, this vow I '11 make,
My tongue shall aye defame her ;
While on his hearse I '11 write this verse,
Ah, Omnia vincit amor !
Straight I considered in my mind,
Upon the matter rightly,
And found, though Cupid he be blind,
He proves in pith most mighty.
For warlike Mars and thundering Jove,
And Vulcan with his hammer,
Did ever prove the slaves of love,
For Omnia vincit amor !
Hence we may see th' effects of love,
Which gods and men keep under,
That nothing can his bonds remove,
Or torments break asunder ;
Nor wise nor fool need go to school,
To learn this from his grammar ;
His heart 's the book where he 's to look
For Omnia vincit amor !
The idea of a song with Omnia vincit amor for its burden is as
old at least as the reign of Charles I., for such is the title of one
of the tunes in the Skene Manuscript. The present composition
cannot be traced further back than to a broadside apparently of
King William's time, which is inserted in the Boxburghe