Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Songs of Scotland adapted to their appropriate melodies > Volume 1

WALY, WALY.
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love to me.
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waly, waly, but love be bonnie
A little time while it is new ;
But when it's auld it waxes cauld,
An' fades away like the mornin' dew.
wherefore should I busk 9 my heid,
Or wherefore should I kame my hair ?
For my true love has me forsook,
An' says he'll never love me mair.
Now Arthur's Seat shall be my bed,
The sheets shall ne'er he press'd by me,
St. Anton's Well shall be my drink,
Since my true love has forsaken me.
Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blaw,
An' shake the green leaves aff the tree ?
0, gentle death, when wilt thou come ?
For o' my life I am wearie.
1 An exclamation of distress — Alas.
'Tis not the frost that freezes fell,
Nor blawin' snaw's inclemencie ;
'Tis not sic cauld that makes me cry :
But my love's heart 's grown eauld to me.
When we cam' in by Glasgow toun,
We were a comely sicht to see ;
My love was clad in the black velvet,
An' I mysel' in cramasie. 8
But had I wist, before I kiss'd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lock'd my heart in a case o' gold,
An' pinn'd it wi' a siller pin.
Oh, oh ! if my young babe were born,
An' set upon the nurse's knee,
An' I mysel' were dead an' gane,
An' the green grass growin' over me 1
2 Dress, arrange, adorn.
3 Crimson.
" walt, waly." In Mr. Robert Chambers' Scottish Songs, there is a Note upon " Waly, waly," from which
we give the following passage : — " This beautiful old song has hitherto been supposed to refer to some circum-
stance in the life of Queen Mary, or at least to some unfortunate love affair which happened at her Court. It is
now discovered, from a copy which has been found as forming part of a ballad in the Pepysian Library at Cam-
bridge, (published in Motherwell's Minstrelsy, 1827, under the title of " Lord Jamie Douglas,") to have been
occasioned by the affecting tale of Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of John ninth Earl of Mar, and wife of James
second Marquis of Douglas. This lady, who was married in 1670, was divorced, or at least expelled from the
Bociety of her husband, in consequence of some malignant scandals which a former and dipappointed lover, Lowrie
of Blackwood, was so base as to insinuate into the ear of the Marquis." Her father took her home, and she never
again saw her husband. Her only son died, Earl of Angus, at the battle of Steinkirk.
The air is beautiful and pathetic. It is undoubtedly ancient, though its date cannot be ascertained. The
simplicity of the original has been spoiled by several flourishes introduced into it by tasteless and ignorant
collectors. M'Gibbon, Oswald, Bremner, and others, have much to answer for in the matter of pseudo-embellish-
ment of our finest old airs. We have removed from " Waly, waly," the absurd trappings hung about its neck by
these men.