410 ON CESSNOCK BANKS. ON CESSNOCK BANKS. [Improved Version.] Tune--"If he be a butcher neat and trim." Ox Cessnock banks a lassie dwells; An' she's twa sparkling, roguish een. She's sweeter than the morning dawn, She's stately like yon youthful ash, She's spotless like the flowering thorn, An' she's twa sparkling, roguish een. Her looks are like the vernal May, Her hair is like the curling mist That climbs the mountain-sides at e'en, Her forehead 's like the showery bow, UP IN THE MORNING EARLY. Her cheeks are like yon crimson gem, An' she's twa sparkling, roguish een. That sunny walls from Boreas screen; That sings on Cessnock banks unseen, But its nae her air, her form, her face, UP IN THE MORNING EARLY. CHORUS. Up in the morning's no for me, When a' the hills are covered wi' snaw, I'm sure it's winter fairly. Cauld blaws the wind frae east to west, The drift is driving sairly; Sae loud and shrill I hear the blast, I'm sure its winter fairly. 411 412 THE CAPTAIN'S LADY. The birds sit chittering in the thorn, And lang's the night frae e'en to morn, Up in the morning's no for me, Up in the morning early; When a' the hills are covered wi' snaw, THE CAPTAIN'S LADY. Tune--" O, mount and go." CHORUS. O, MOUNT and go, Mount and make you ready; O, mount and go, And be the Captain's lady. When the drums do beat, And the cannons rattle, Thou shalt sit in state, And see thy love in battle. When the vanquished foe Mount and make you ready; O, mount and go, And be the Captain's lady. OF A' THE AIRTS THE WIND CAN BLAW. 413 JOHNNY PEEP. Burns was one day at a cattle market, in a town in Cumberland, and lost sight of some of the friends who accompanied him. He entered a tavern, opened the door of a room, and looked in, where three Cumberland men were enjoying themselves. As he withdrew one of them shouted, "Come in, Johnny Peep." Burns obeyed, seated himself at the table, and soon was the life and soul of the party. It was proposed that each should write a stanza of verse, and put it, with half-a-crown, below the candlestick, with this stipulation, that the best poet was to have his half-crown returned, while the other three were to be expended to treat the party. When that of Burns was read, amid much laughter he was declared to have won the prize. HERE am I, Johnny Peep: I saw three sheep, And these three sheep saw me ; Will pay for their fleece, And so Johnny Peep gets free. OF A' THE AIRTS THE WIND CAN BLAW. Tune "Miss Admiral Gordon's Strathspey." OF a' the airts the wind can blaw, I dearly like the west, For there the bonnie lassie lives, The lassie I lo'e best: There wild woods grow, and rivers row I see her in the dewy flowers, I hear her in the tunefu' birds, There's not a bonnie flower that springs By fountain, shaw, or green, There's not a bonnie bird that sings, 'Jean Armour, 414 OF A THE AIRTS THE WIND CAN BLAW. Upon the banks o' flowing Clyde Baith sage and gay confess it sae, The gamesome lamb, that sucks its dam, She has nae faut (if sic ye ca't), The sparkling dew, o' clearest hue, In shape and air nane can compare O, blaw ye westlin winds, blaw saft What sighs and vows amang the knowes How fond to meet, how wae to part, That nane can be sae dear to me As my sweet, lovely Jean! |