Jocky said to Jenny.
[This was an old song even in Ramsay's days, as it was marked with a Z in the first volume of ia Miscellany. The title there given to it is "For the love of Jean," which must have some relation to another song to the same tune. "Jocky and Jenny," says Mr. Robert Chambers, "were names which, for a long period previous to the early part of the last century, acted as general titles for every Scottish pair in humble life. The male name, in particular, was then invariably used by the English as appropriate to the personified idea of a Scotsman—exactly as Sandy is used at the present day."]
Jocky said to Jenny, Jenny wilt thou wed?
Ne'er a fit, quo' Jenny, for my tocher-gude;
For my tocher-gude, I winna marry thee.
E'en 's ye like, quo' Johnnie; ye may let it be!
I ha'e gowd and gear; I ha'e land eneuch;
I ha'e seven good owsen gangin' in a pleuch;
Gangin' in a pleuch, and linkin' ower the lea:
And gin ye winna tak' me, I can let ye be.
I ha'e a gude ha' house, a barn, and a byre,
A stack afore the door; I'll mak' a rantin fire:
I'll mak' a rantin fire, and merry shall we be:
And, gin ye winna tak' me, I can let ye be.
Jenny said to Jocky, Gin ye winna tell,
Ye shall be the lad; I'll be the lass mysell:
Ye're a bonnie lad, and I'm a lassie free:
Ye're welcomer to tak' me than to let me be.
Within a mile of Edinburgh.
[This is an improved version of an old song supposed to have been written by Tom D'Urfey, towards the close of the 17th century, and entitled "'Twas within a furlong of Edinborough town." The old air is to be found in Oswald's collection: the air now in use is the composition of Mr. James Hook, father of the late Theodore Hook. The words here given are from the first volume of Johnson's Museum, 1787.]
'Twas within a mile of Edinburgh town,
In the rosy time of the year;
Sweet flowers bloom'd, and the grass was down,
And each shepherd woo'd his dear.
Bonnie Jocky, blythe and gay,
Kiss'd sweet Jenny, making hay,
The lassie blush'd, and frowning, cried, "No, no, it will not do;
I cannot, cannot, wonnot, wonnot, mannot buckle too."
Jocky was a wag that never would wed,
Though long he had followed the lass:
Contented she earned and eat her brown bread,
And merrily turn'd up the grass.
Bonnie Jocky, blythe and free,
Won her heart right merrily:
Yet still she blush'd, and frowning, cried, "No, no, it will not do;
I cannot, cannot, wonnot, wonnot, mannot buckle too."
But when he vow'd he would make her his bride,
Though his flocks and herds were not few,
She gave him her hand, and a kiss beside,
And vow'd she'd for ever be true.
Bonnie Jocky, blythe and free,
Won her heart right merrily:
At church she no more frowning cried, "No, no, it will not do;
I cannot, cannot, wonnot, wonnot, mannot buckle too."
Jocky met wi' Jenny.
[The tune of "O'er the hills and far away" is a very old Scottish melody. We find it mentioned by Pepys in the days of Charles the Second. It is also selected by Gay for one of his songs in the Beggar's Opera, "Were I laid on Greenland's coast." The song here given is, with the exception of the chorus, not properly a Scottish production, being rather a London imitaticn of Scottish song, brought out about the beginning of the last century, and published with the music in the "Pills to Purge Melancholy," (2d edition, 1709) where it is called "Jocky's Lamentation." Ramsay adopts the song in his Miscellany, with some verbal alterations.]
Jocky met with Jenny fair,
Aft by the dawning of the day;
But Jocky now is full of care,
