■y^A Co7'respondence.
In " Bonnie Annie " the lady refuses her lover's help at a similar time, but apparently more on the ground of his inexperience :—
«' She hadna sailed far till the young thing cried ' Women ! '
'What women can do, my dear, I'll do for you.' ' O haud your tongue, foolish man, dinna talk vainly, For ye never icent what a woman driet for you.' "
Again in "Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter" we have, under
like circumstances : —
" O for a few of yon junipers To cheer my heart again, And likewise for a gude midwife. To ease me of my pain."
When the lover proffers his services the lady replies :—
" Had far away frae me, Archibald, For this will never dee. That's nae the fashion o' our land And it's nae be used by me."
In " Rose the Red and White Lily " the lady refuses small help
thus: — , ^ L- , u
" ' 'Tvvas never my mither s fashion, she says,
' Nor sail it ever be mine.
That belted knights should e'er remain.
Where ladies dreed their pine.' "
In " Prince Heathen " the coarseness of the lover in outraging the woman's feelings is shewn by the fact that he refuses female
aid to her : —
" He's taen her out upon the green, When she saw women never ane. But only him and's merry young men
Till she brought hame a bonny young son."
The reverse of this is shewn in " Burd Isabel and Earl Patrick "
when the proper course is carried out : —
" It fell ance upon a day She fell in travail pain. He has gane to the stair-head. Some ladies to call in."
But while the man himself is banished at such times, it is curious to note how his clothing may exercise a protective and beneficial
