THE MILK MAIDS' REQUEST. THREE maidens a-milking did go, And the wind it blew low, They met a young swain whom they knew, They met a young swain that they knew, They asked of him If he had any skill, How to catch them a small bird or two. O yes, I have very good skill, To the merry green-wood as they went, While the gay rose above the lily bent. Ripe berries are soft to the touch, Ripe berries are soft to the touch, And the birds of a feather, They will all flock together, Let the people say little or much. From recollection;-air plaintive and pastoral. MAN the boat, all hands aboard, Billy boy, Billy boy, Each moving, thrilling word, As I steer from my adored Lovely Nancy, says thy fancy, lingers round thy darling boy. Is the maid so dear to thee, Billy boy, Billy boy? The maid is dear to me, As the bark is to the tree, Since my Nancy won my fancy, I'm her darling Billy boy. Worth and merit bids thee prove, Billy boy, Billy boy, If she's meet to be thy love, Billy boy; She's as meet to be my love, As the hand is for the glove, Since my Nancy won my fancy, I'm her darling Billy boy. . Can the maid thou would'st adore, Billy boy, Billy boy, Row or steer the boat ashore, Billy boy? She can row the boat ashore, With the paddle or the oar, Thus my Nancy won my fancy, I'm her darling Billy boy. Then a health to thine and thee, Billy boy, Billy boy, And when heaven wills again, Our return from o'er the main, May thy Nancy find thy fancy still the same, my Billy boy. In the foregoing attempt, we have taken the liberty of remodelling and pruning the intermediate stanzas of an old free traditional Ballad, bearing the same choral terminations of "Billy boy;" while the first and concluding verses are necessarily original, by way of completing the chant. The air, tradition has attached to it, is peculiarly lively and spirit-stirring; and approaches pretty near that of our own Song, "Kelvin Grove," or, as an amateur would say, to an ear-set of "Robie dun a gorach." POOR AULD MAIDENS. THREE score and ten of us, Poor auld maidens! Three score and ten of us, Poor auld maidens! Three score and ten of us, Lame, and blind, and comfortless, Without a penny in our purse, Yet we bear a willing mind, Yet we bear a willing mind, Yet we bear a willing mind, If we a young man could but find, For to kiss the lame and blind, Oh but young men are unco nice, THE AULD WIFE O' LAUDErdale. 147 Oh but young men are unco nice, Oh but young men are unco nice, But oh! gin we were young again, But oh! gin we were young again, But oh! gin we were young again, O' poor auld maidens! Noted down from the singing of a Lady, we never having met with the original in print. The modern song of "Nice Young Maidens" has doubtlessly been metaphrased from the above. The air is a tolerable one of its class, lively, and peculiar to the Ballad. THE AULD WIFE O' LAUDERDALE. IN Lauderdale there lived a wife, As canty a carline's ever was seen; 148 the Auld wife o' LAUDERDALE. She growl'd on Tammie day an' night, Else he might cast anither spale: The queer auld wife in Lauderdale; She thought that Tammie never should fail! The Youth, health, and strength are dauntless chiels, But hirplin' hostin' age comes on, An' fun and frolics maun decline: A wonder-working doctor cam' To Dunse, wha' cured the blin' an' lame; To ease her pains in Lauderdale: O doctor, doctor, tent my moan, |