The Book of Scottish Song/My bonnie Mary
My bonnie Mary.
[In a letter to Mrs. Dunlop, dated 17th Dec., 1788, Burns quotes this song, and "Should auld acquaintance be forgot," as old compositions, with which he is much pleased. He afterwards, in his Notes on the Museum, says, "The silver Tassie: The air is Oswald's; the first half stanza of the song is old; the rest mine." Mr. Peter Buchan gives the ballad, from which Burns borrowed the first four lines of this charming song. It commences thus:
"As I went out to take the air,
'Twas on the banks of Diveron water,
I chose a maid to be my love,
Were it my fortune for to get her."
And towards the close of the ballad occurs the verse of which Burns took advantage:
"Ye'll bring me here a pint of wine,
A server and a silver tassie,
That I may drink, before I gang,
A health to my ain bonnie lassie."
The ballad, Mr. Buchan says, was composed in the year 1636, by Alexander Lesley, Esq. of Edin on Diveronside, in honour of a certain Helen Christie. Burns wrote his song after seeing a young officer take leave of his sweetheart at the pier of Leith, and embark for foreign service.]
Go fetch to me a pint o' wine,
And fill it in a silver tassie;
That I may drink, before I go,
A service to my bonnie lassie.
The boat rocks at the pier of Leith,
Fu' loud the wind blaws frae the ferry;
The ship rides by the Berwick Law;
And I maun lea' my bonnie Mary.
The trumpets sound, the banners fiy;
The glittering spears are ranked ready;
The shouts o' war are heard afar;
The battle closes thick and bloody:
But it's not the roar of sea or shore,
Would mak' me langer wish to tarry;
Nor shouts of war, that's heard afar,
It's leaving thee, my bonnie Mary.