Kate Dalrymple, and The Flowers of the Forest/Kate Dalrymple
SONGS
KATE DALRYMPLE.
In a wee cot house far ayont yon muir,Whare peeseweeps, plovers, and whaups cry dreary,There lived a braw lass for mony a lang year,Wham ne'er a lover o'er ca'd deary.
A lonely lass was Kate Dalrymple,A thrifty queen was Kate Dalrymple,Nae music except the burnies wimple,Was heard round the dwelling of Kate Dalrymple.Her face had a smack of the gruesome and grim,Which did frae the fash of a' wooers defend her,Her lang Roman nose nearly met wi' her chin,Which brang folk in mind of the auld witch of Endor.
A wiggle in her walk had Kate Dalrymple,A sneevle in her talk had Kate Dalrymple,And mony a cornelian and cairngorum pimple,Beamed on the dim face of Kate Dalrymple.She span tarry woo the hale winter through,For Kate was nae lazy but eident and thrifty,She wrought among the peats, coiled the hay, shure the corn,And supported herself by her ain hard shift aye.
But ne'er a wooer came to Kate Dalrymple,For beauty and toeher wanted Kate Dalrymple;Neglected was the queen by baith gentle and semple,A blank in the world seemed Kate Dalrymple.But mony are the ups and downs of life,And the dice box of fates turned tapsalteerie,So Kate fell heiress to a rich friend's estate.And now for a wooer she's nae cause to weary.
For the squire came a wooing to Kate Dalrymple,The priest scraping, bowing came to Kate Dalrymple,On each lover's face was seen loves smiling dimple,She's now nae mair Kate but Miss Dalrymple.Her auld cutty stool that she used at her wheel,Was flung by for her gilded sofa sae gaudy,Now she's arrayed in her silk and brocade,Ind brags о' her muff's and ruff's wi' ony lady.
But still an unco fash is to Kate Dalrymple,Was dress and party clash to Kate Dalrymple,She thought a half marrow in life mair simple,A far better match for Kate Dalrymple.Its she often thought as she sat by hersel'She could wed Willie Speediespool the sarken weaver,And now to the wabster the secret she does tell,Who for love or for interest did kindly relieve her.
He flung by his heddles for Kate Dalrymple,He burned a' his treddles for Kate Dalrymple;Though his right e'e did skellie, and his left leg did wimple,He's wedded now and bedded now to Kate Dalrymple.