The Book of Scottish Song/The Cock-Laird

The Cock-Laird.

[This is a song considerably older than the days of Ramsay, although it is sometimes attributed to him. The original verses are given in Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius (1725.) One or two of these are too coarse for insertion. The present version is given from a collation of several copies. A "cock-laird" means a small proprietor.]

A cock-laird, fu' cadgie,
Wi' Jennie did meet;
He hawsed, he kiss'd her.
And ca'd her his sweet.
Wilt thou gae alang wi' me,
Jennie, Jennie?
Thou'se be my ain lemmane,
Jo Jennie, quo' he.

If I gae alang wi' thee,
Ye maunna fail
To feast me wi' caddels
And guid hackit kail.
What needs a' this vanity,
Jennie? quo' he;
Is na bannocks and dribly-beards
Guid meat for thee?

Gin I gang alang wi' you,
I maun ha'e a silk hood,
A kirtle-sark, wyliecoat,
And a silk snood,
To tie up my hair in
A cockernonie.
Hout awa', thou's gane wud, I trow,
Jennie! quo' he.

Gin ye'd ha'e me look bonnie,
And shine like the moon,
I maun ha'e katlets and patlets,
And cam'rel-heel'd shoon;
Wi' craig-claiths and lug-babs,
And rings twa or three.
Hout the deil's in your vanity,
Jennie! quo' he.

And I maun ha'e pinners,
With pearlins set roun',
A skirt o' the puady,
And a waistcoat o' brown.
Awa' wi' sic vanities,
Jennie, quo' he,
For curches and kirtles
Are fitter for thee.

My lairdship can yield me
As muckle a-year,
As haud us in pottage
And guid knockit bear
But, havin' nae tenants,
Oh, Jennie, Jennie,
To buy ought I ne'er have
A penny, quo' he.

The Borrowstown merchants
Will sell ye on tick;
For we maun ha'e braw things,
Although they should break;
When broken, frae care
The fools are set free,
When we mak' them lairds
In the Abbey, quo' she.

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