University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads

Edited by Francis James Child.

expand sectionI. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
collapse sectionV. 
expand section114. 
expand section115. 
expand section116. 
expand section117. 
expand section118. 
expand section119. 
expand section120. 
expand section121. 
expand section122. 
expand section123. 
expand section124. 
expand section125. 
expand section126. 
expand section127. 
expand section128. 
expand section129. 
expand section130. 
expand section131. 
expand section132. 
expand section133. 
expand section134. 
expand section135. 
expand section136. 
expand section137. 
expand section138. 
expand section139. 
expand section140. 
expand section141. 
expand section142. 
expand section143. 
expand section144. 
expand section145. 
expand section146. 
expand section147. 
expand section148. 
expand section149. 
expand section150. 
expand section151. 
expand section152. 
collapse section153. 
  
expand section154. 
expand section155. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVII. 
expand sectionVIII. 
expand sectionIX. 


155

The Bonnie Lass o the Hie Toun End

THE WYLIE WIFE OF THE HIE TOUN HIE—C

[_]

Communicated, February, 1873, by Mr David Louden, of Morham, Haddington, as recited by Mrs Richard Dodds, Morham, Loanhead, “aged over seventy.”

1

In Edinburgh, on a summer evening,
Our gentlemen sat drinking wine,
And every one to the window went,
To view the ladies, they went so fine.

2

They drank the wine, and they spilt the beer,
So merrily as the reel went round,
And a' the healths that was drucken there
Was to the bonnie lass o the hie toun end.

3

Up then spoke a young squire's son,
And as he spoke it all alone;
‘Oh, I would give a guinea of gold,
And so would I a pint of wine,
And I would make them their licence free
That would welcome this bonnie lassie in.’

4

The ostler's wife, on hearin this,
So nimbly down the stairs she ran,
And the first toun's-body that she met
Was the bonnie lass o the hie toun end.

5

‘Mistress, ye maun gang wi me
And get a cup o oor claret wine;
It's new come oer the ragin sea,
Awat it is baith gude and fine.’

6

‘To gang wi you I daurna stay,
My mither's wearyin for me in;
I am so beautiful and fine
I am a prey to all young men.’

7

Wi sattin slippers on her feet,
So nimbly up the stair she ran,
And wha so ready as this young squire
To welcome the bonny lassie in.

8

He['s] taen her by the milk-white hand,
He's gently led her through the room,
And aye she sighed, and aye she said,
It would be a pity to do me wrong.

9

‘Now, since you've taken your will o me,
I pray, kind sir, tell me your name;’
‘Oh yes, my dear, indeed,’ he said
‘But it's more than I ever did to one.

10

‘I am a squire and a squire's son,
My faither has fifty ploughs o land,
And I'm a man in the militrie,
And I must away and rank up my men.

11

‘And Jamie Lumsdaine is my name,
From the North Countrie, love, I really came.’

12

About a twelvemonth after that,
He sent a letter owre the main,
And muckle writin was therein,
To the bonnie lass o the hie toun end.

13

About a twelvemonth after that,
He himsel cam owre the main;
He made her Duchess o Douglas Dale,
And to him she's had a fine young son.