It is not to be doubted, but the Parliament of England would give a kind reception to the articles of the Union as passed in Scotland, when they were laid before that House, as was evident from the quick dispatch in approving of and ratifying the same; and so the Union commenced on the first of May 1707, a day never to be forgot by Scotland; a day in which the Scots were stripped of what their predecessors had gallantly maintained for many hundred years, I mean the independency and soveraignty of the kingdom, both which the Earl of Seafield so little valued, that when he, as Chancellor, signed the engrossed exemplification of the Act of Union, he returned it to the clerk, in the face of Parliament, with this dispising and contemning remark, "Now there's ane end of ane old song." "THE WEE, WEE GERMAN LAIRDIE"[30] (1714). +Source.+--_The Jacobite Songs and Ballads of Scotland from 1688 to 1746_, p. 65. Edited by Charles Mackay, LL.D. (London and Glasgow: 1861.) Wha the deil hae we gotten for a King, But a wee, wee German lairdie! An' when we gaed to bring him hame, He was delving in his kail-yairdie[31]: Sheughing[32] kail,[33] and laying leeks, But[34] the hose and but the breeks; Up his beggar duds[35] he cleeks,[36] The wee, wee German lairdie! And he's clapt down in our gudeman's chair, The wee, wee German lairdie! And he's brought fouth[37] o' foreign trash, And dibbled[38] them in his yairdie: He's pu'd the rose o' English loons, And brake the harp o' Irish clowns, But our Scots thristle will jag[39] his thumbs, The wee, wee German lairdie. Come up among the Highland hills, Thou wee, wee German lairdie. And see how Charlie's lang-kail[40] thrive, That he dibbled in his yairdie: And if a stock ye daur to pu', Or haud the yoking of a pleugh, We'll break your sceptre o'er your mou',[41] Thou wee bit German lairdie! Our hills are steep, our glens are deep, No fitting for a yairdie; And our norlan'[42] thristles winna pu', Thou wee, wee German lairdie! And we've the trenching blades o' weir,[43] Wad lib[44] ye o' your German gear, And pass ye 'neath the claymore's shear, Thou feckless[45] German lairdie! He'll ride nae mair on strae sonks,[46] For gawing[47] his German hurdies[48]; But he sits on our gude king's throne, Amang the English lordies. Auld Scotland! thou'rt owre cauld a hole For nursing siccan[49] vermin; But the very dogs o' England's court Can bark and howl in _German_! FOOTNOTES: [30] Written on the accession of King George I. [31] Literally, vegetable garden. [32] Trenching. [33] Colewort. [34] Outside. [35] Shabby clothes. [36] Grabs. [37] Abundance. [38] Planted. [39] Lacerate. [40] Unmashed cabbage. [41] Mouth. [42] Northland. [43] War. [44] Geld. [45] Incompetent. [46] Loose straw rubbish.