_Pat._ Sooner a mother shall her fondness drap, And wrang the bairn sits smiling on her lap; The sun shall change, the moon to change shall cease, The gaits to clim,--the sheep to yield the fleece, Ere ought by me be either said or done, Shall skaith our love; I swear by all aboon. _Peg._ Then keep your aith:--But mony lads will swear, And be mansworn to twa in haff a year. Now I believe ye like me wonder well; But if a fairer face your heart shou'd steal, Your Meg forsaken, bootless might relate, How she was dauted anes by faithless Pate. _Pat._ I'm sure I canna change, ye needna fear; Tho' we're but young, I've loo'd you mony a year. I mind it well, when thou cou'd'st hardly gang, Or lisp out words, I choos'd ye frae the thrang Of a' the bairns, and led thee by the hand, Aft to the Tansy-know or Rashy-strand. Thou smiling by my side,--I took delite, To pu' the rashes green, with roots sae white, Of which, as well as my young fancy cou'd, For thee I plet the flowry belt and snood. _Peg._ When first thou gade with shepherds to the hill, And I to milk the ews first try'd my skill; To bear a leglen was nae toil to me, When at the bught at e'en I met with thee. _Pat._ When corns grew yellow, and the hether-bells Bloom'd bonny on the moor and rising fells, Nae birns, or briers, or whins e'er troubled me, Gif I cou'd find blae berries ripe for thee. _Peg._ When thou didst wrestle, run, or putt the stane, And wan the day, my heart was flightering fain: At all these sports thou still gave joy to me; For nane can wrestle, run, or putt with thee. _Pat._ Jenny sings saft the _Broom of Cowden-knows_, And Rosie lilts the _Milking of the Ews_; There's nane like Nansie, _Jenny Nettles_ sings; At turns in _Maggy Lauder_ Marion dings: But when my Peggy sings, with sweeter skill, The _Boat-man_, or the _Lass of Patie's Mill_; It is a thousand times mair sweet to me: Tho' they sing well, they canna sing like thee. _Peg._ How eith can lasses trow what they desire! And roos'd by them we love, blaws up that fire: But wha loves best, let time and carriage try; Be constant, and my love shall time defy. Be still as now, and a' my care shall be, How to contrive what pleasant is for thee. _The foregoing, with a small variation, was sung at the acting, as follows._ SANG X.--_Tune_, The Yellow-hair'd Laddie. PEGGY. _When first my dear laddie gade to the green hill, And I at ew-milking first sey'd my young skill, To bear the milk-bowie, nae pain was to me, When I at the bughting forgather'd with thee._ PATIE. _When corn-riggs wav'd yellow, and blue hether-bells Bloom'd bonny on moorland and sweet rising fells, Nae birns, briers, or breckens gave trouble to me, If I found the berries right ripen'd for thee._ PEGGY.