Songs and Verses Social and Scientific: By An old contributor to Maga [i.e. Charles Neaves]: Fourth Edition, Enlarged |
 |
O! HE WAS LANG O' COMING.
|
|
 | Songs and Verses |  |
109
O! HE WAS LANG O' COMING.
Ned Lothian took a work in hand,
To spread his fame throughout the land
And let the lieges understand
How learnèd was our Lothian.
To spread his fame throughout the land
And let the lieges understand
How learnèd was our Lothian.
But O! he was lang o' coming;
Very, very lang o' coming:
Surely he was lang o' coming;
What could hinder Lothian?
Very, very lang o' coming:
Surely he was lang o' coming;
What could hinder Lothian?
When Lothian did his plan arrange,
He looked for nothing new or strange:
But ere he finished—what a change!
How sore perplexed was Lothian!
He looked for nothing new or strange:
110
How sore perplexed was Lothian!
But then he was sae lang o' coming, &c.
What powers the Admiral possessed,
And what with Commissaries rest—
Was all most learnedly expressed
In this great work by Lothian.
And what with Commissaries rest—
Was all most learnedly expressed
In this great work by Lothian.
But why was he sae lang o' coming? &c.
How Services should be obtained
Before the Macers, he explained;
No part of this dark theme remained
Without some light from Lothian.
Before the Macers, he explained;
No part of this dark theme remained
Without some light from Lothian.
But then he was sae lang o' coming, &c.
The Admiralty Court is fled;
The Commissaries—gone to bed;
The Macers knocked upon the head;
A heavy blow to Lothian!
The Commissaries—gone to bed;
The Macers knocked upon the head;
A heavy blow to Lothian!
But what made him sae lang o' coming? &c.
Election law he grappled fast;
But when he held it at the last,
The Scotch Reform Bill had been passed;
A fearful shock to Lothian!
But when he held it at the last,
111
A fearful shock to Lothian!
But why was he sae lang o' coming? &c.
Of Sasines he had much to say;
But ere his chapter saw the day;
Infeftments all were done away;
Another loss to Lothian!
But ere his chapter saw the day;
Infeftments all were done away;
Another loss to Lothian!
But then he was sae lang o' coming, &c.
He wrote on Titles and Entails:
But little here his toil avails;
For bit by bit the fabric fails,
And nearly smothers Lothian.
But little here his toil avails;
For bit by bit the fabric fails,
And nearly smothers Lothian.
But why sae very lang o' coming? &c.
In Teinds or Tithes he deep did search:
But these, too, left him in the lurch;
The Liberals cashiered the Church,
Just out of spite to Lothian.
But these, too, left him in the lurch;
The Liberals cashiered the Church,
Just out of spite to Lothian.
But what made him sae lang o' coming? &c.
112
Yet still he worked 'gainst wind and weather,
Till Brougham one morning broke his tether,
Abolished Scotch Law altogether,
And fairly finished Lothian.
Till Brougham one morning broke his tether,
Abolished Scotch Law altogether,
And fairly finished Lothian.
But why was he sae lang o' coming?
Why sae very lang o' coming?
Surely he was lang o' coming;
So good-night to Lothian!
Why sae very lang o' coming?
Surely he was lang o' coming;
So good-night to Lothian!
Mr Edward Lothian, an excellent lawyer and an excellent man, was engaged in writing an Institute of the Law of Scotland; but having kept back his book for more than the Horatian period of gestation (it was never published), a good many changes in the law took place, which, with some anachronisms, are sought to be here represented. It should be added that no one used to enjoy the singing of the song more than the Subject of it.
| Songs and Verses | |