5 The firsten town that they came to, He bought her hose and sheen, And bade her rue and return again, And gang nae farther wi him. 6 ‘Ye likena me at a’, bonny lad, Ye likena me at a’;’ ‘It’s sair for you likes me sae weel And me nae you at a’.’ 7 The nexten town that they came to, He bought her a braw new gown, And bade her rue and return again, And gang nae farther wi him. 8 The nexten town that they came to, He bought her a wedding ring, And bade her dry her rosy cheeks, And he would tak her wi him. 9 ‘O wae be to your bonny face, And your twa blinkin een! And wae be to your rosy cheeks! They’ve stown this heart o mine. 10 ‘There’s comfort for the comfortless, There’s honey for the bee; There’s comfort for the comfortless, There’s nane but you for me.’ * * * * * #A.# 9^1. first and: come. 11^1, 13^1. next and. _Variations in_ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 268. 5^4. Shall I. 6^1. your choose. 7^3. turn back. 7^4. gang. 11, 12. _Omitted._ 13^3. as _wanting_. 14^4. In bonny Berwick. 219 THE GARDENER #A.# Kinloch MSS, V, 47. ‘The Gardener,’ Kinloch MSS, VII, 19; Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 74. #B.# ‘The Gardener Lad,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 187. #C.# Fragment communicated by Dr Thomas Davidson. A gardener will apparel a maid from head to foot with flowers, if she will be his bride. He gets a wintry answer: the snow shall be his shirt, the wind his hat, the rain his coat. #B# 1–6 is mere jargon, foisted into this pretty ballad as a preface. #A# 7, #B# 15, #C# 3, is found, substantially, in the preceding ballad, and perhaps belonged originally to neither. Freely translated from #A# and #B# by Rosa Warrens, Schottische Volkslieder, p. 134, No 30. * * * * * A Kinloch MSS, V, 47, in the handwriting of James Beattie; from the recitation of his aunt, Miss Elizabeth Beattie. 1 The gardener stands in his bower-door, With a primrose in his hand, And by there came a leal maiden, As jimp ‘s a willow wand. And by, etc. 2 ‘O lady, can you fancy me, For to be my bride, You’ll get a’ the flowers in my garden, To be to you a weed. 3 ‘The lily white shall be your smock; Becomes your body neat; And your head shall be deckd with jelly-flower, And the primrose in your breast. 4 ‘Your gown shall be o the sweet-william, Your coat o camovine, And your apron o the salads neat, That taste baith sweet and fine. 5 ‘Your stockings shall be o the broad kail-blade, That is baith broad and long; And narrow, narrow at the coot, And broad, broad at the brawn.