University of Virginia Library

Search this document 

151

THE DUKE OF ATHOLE'S NURSE—A

[_]

Cromek's Select Scotish Songs, 1810, II, 196, 194; sent, with other fragments, by Robert Burns to William Tytler, August, 1790; stanzas 2-6.

[OMITTED]

1

Where shall I gang, my ain true love?
Where shall I gang to hide me?
For weel ye ken i yere father's bowr
It wad be death to find me.’

2

‘O go you to yon tavern-house,
An there count owre your lawin,
An, if I be a woman true,
I'll meet you in the dawin.’

3

O he's gone to yon tavern-house,
An ay he counted his lawin,
An ay he drank to her guid health
Was to meet him in the dawin.

4

O he's gone to yon tavern-house,
An counted owre his lawin,
When in there cam three armed men,
To meet him in the dawin.

5

‘O woe be unto woman's wit!
It has beguiled many;
She promised to come hersel,
But she sent three men to slay me.’