Bonny lass of Calder Braes (1806)/The silly young maid

THE SILLY YOUNG MAID.

COnfin’d in the house till the age of fifteen,
Not a man. but a clown, whom my face had yet seen;
An aunt to instruct me, a formal old maid,
And I, sil y I, beliv’d all she said

My aunt in the grave, to the town, I straight flew,
And instantly fond of its pleasures I grew;
The sparks flew around me wherever I went.
But I, silly I, could not guess what they meant.

They call’d me a goddess, and sighing declar d
That the toasts of the town were not like me so fair;
They vow’d and they swore, and my pity invok’d,
And I, silly I, believ’d all they spoke.

They tickl’d my pride, but my heart it was free,
And not one of them all was a conquest to me;
‘Till young Strephon advanc’d, and quickly he taught,
What I, silly I, till that moment ne’er thought.

With good breading and sense love he did declare,
Not like the vain fops who before did appear;
His expressions were sweet and sprung from his mind,
And I, happy I with young Strephon was join d