with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

171
When I speak of matters they grumble,
Nor are condescendmg and free,
But at my proposals ay stumble,
I wonder what ails them at me.
I've try'd them baith highland and lowland,
Where I a good bargain cud see,
But nane o' them fand I wad fall in,
Or say they wad buckle wi' me.
With jooks an' wi' scraps IVe addressed them,
Been with them baith modest and free.
But whatever way I caress'd them,
There's something still ails them at me.
O, if I kend how but to gain them,
How fond of the knack wad I be
Or what an address could obtain them,
It should be twice welcome to me.
If kissing an' clapping wad please them.
That trade I should drive till I die
But, however I study to ease them,
They've still an exception at me.
There's wratacks, an' cripples, an' cranshaks,
An' a' the wandoghts that I ken.
No sooner they speak to the wenches.
But they are ta'en far enough ben