The Scottish songs - National Library of Scotland

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Even there her other works are foil'd,
By the bonnie lass o' Ballochmyle.
Oh, had she been a country maid,
And I the happy country swain,
Though shelter'd in the lowest shed
That ever rose on Scotland's plain !
Through weary winter's wind and rain.
With joy, with rapture, I would toil
And nightly to my bosom strain
The bonnie lass o' Ballochmyle.
Then pride might climb the slipp'ry steep,
Where fame and honours lofty shine ;
And thirst of gold might tempt the deep,
Or downward dig the Indian mine.
Give me the cot below the pine,
To tend the flocks, or till the soil,
And ev'ry day have joys divine,
Wi' the bonnie lass o' Ballochmyle.*
WERE NA MY HEART LIGHT I WAD
DEE.
LADY GWZZEL BAILLIE.f
Tune— Were na my heart licht.
There was anes a may, and she loo'd na men
They biggit her a bouir doun i' yon glen
* This song was written in praise of Miss Alexander of Ballochmyle.
Burns happened one fine evening to meet this young lady, when walking
through the beautiful woods of Ballochmyle, which lie at the distance of
two miles from his farm of Mossgiel, near Mauchline. Struck with a sense
of her passing beauty, he wrote this noble lyric ; which he soon after sent
to her, enclosed in a letter, as full of delicate and romantic sentiment as
itself. He was somewhat mortified to find, that either maidenly modesty,
or pride of superior station, prevented her from acknowledging the receipt
of his compliment.
f Daughter of the patriotic Patrick, first Earl of Marchmont, and wife
of George Bailie, Esq. of Jerviswood ; a lady of singular talent and strength