For though my father has plenty
Of silver, and plenishing dainty,
Yet he's unco sweir
To twine wi' his gear;
And sae we had need to be tenty.
Tutor my parents wi' caution,
Be wylie in ilka motion;
Brag weel o' your land,
And there's my leal hand,
Win them, I'll be at your devotion.
Alloa House.
[Written by Dr. Alexander Webster, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. The tune is by Oswald. Dr. Webster was born at Edinburgh in 1707, and died there in 1784, in the 51st year of his ministry.]
The spring-time returns, and clothes the green plains,
And Alloa shines more cheerful and gay,
The lark tunes his throat, and the neighbouring swains,
Sing merrily round me wherever I stray:
But Sandy nae mair returns to my view;
Nae spring-time me cheers, nae music can charm;
I He's gane! and, I fear me, for ever: adieu!
Adieu every pleasure this bosom can warm!
O All'ja house! how much art thou chang'd!
How silent, how dull to me is each grove!
Alane I here wander where ance we both rang'd,
Alas! where to please me my Sandy ance strove!
Here, Sandy, I heard the tales that you tauld,
Here list'ned too fond whenever you sung;
Am I grown less fair then, that you are turn'd cauld?
Or, foolish, believ'd a false flattering tongue?
So spoke the fair maid, when sorrow's keen pain,
And shame, her last fault'ring accents supprest;
For fate, at that moment, brought back her dear swain,
Who heard, and with rapture his Nelly addrest:
My Nelly I my fair, I come; O my love!
Nae power shall thee tear again from my arms,
And, Nelly! nae mair thy fond shepherd reprove,
Who knows thy fair worth, and adores a' thy charms.
She heard; and new joy shot thro' her saft frame;
And will you, my love! be true? she replied:
And live I to meet my fond shepherd the same?
Or dream I that Sandy will make me his bride?
O Nelly! I live to find thee still kind:
Still true to thy swain, and lovely as true:
Then adieu to a' sorrow; what soul is so blind,
As not to live happy for ever with you?
Oh, how could I venture.
[Also written by Dr. Webster to the tune of "Alloa House," and first printed, though in an incomplete form, in the Scots Magazine for November, 1747. This lyric is marked by very fervent passion, and may be thought by some to be rather strong language for a clergyman to use; but indeed, it is a curious fact that we are indebted to the cloth for many of our best love-songs. The following four lines cannot be sufficiently admired:
When I see you, I love you; when hearing, adore;
I wonder, and think you a woman no more;
Till, mad wi' admiring, I canna contain,
And, kissing your lips, you turn woman again.
"There is a tradition," says Mr. Chambers, "that Dr. Webster wrote this song in early life, in consequence of a lady of superior rank, whom he was I engaged to woo for another, condescending to betray a passion for him." The lady in question, to whom Dr. Webster was eventually married, was a daughter of Colonel Erskine of Alva, and nearly related to the Dundonald Camily.]
Oh, how could I venture to love one like thee,
And you not despise a poor conquest like me,
On lords, thy admirers, could look wi' disdain,
And knew I was naething, yet pitied my pain?
You said, while they teased you with nonsense and dress,
When real the passion, the vanity's less;
You saw through that silence which others despise,
And, while beaux were a-talking, read love in my eyes.
Oh, how shall I fauld thee, and kiss a' thy charms,
Till, fainting wi' pleasure, I die in your arms;
Through all the wild transports of ecstacy tost,
