with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

2S
And sae I thought me on a time,
Outwittens of my daddy,
To fee mysel to a lawland laird,
Wha had a bonny lady.
I wrote a letter, and thus began,
" Madam, be not offended,
I'm o'er the lugs in love wi' you,
And care not tho' ye kend it
For I get little frae the laird.
And far less frae my daddy,
And I would blythely be the man
Would strive to please my lady."
She read my letter, and she leugh,
*^ Ye needna been sae blate, man
You might hae come to me yoursel.
And tauld me o' your state, man
You might hae come to me yoursel,
Outwittens o' ony body.
And made John Gowkston of the laird,^
And kiss'd his bonny lady."
* To make John Gowkston of a laird, is, I fear, an unintelligible
phrase to a mere English reader : when he is told that the
word Gowk is Scotch for Cuckoo, a very familiar association will
supply him with the rest. Ed,