Air—“The lassies o the ferry.”
OCH, hey ! Johnnie lad,
Ye're no sae kind's ye soud hae been ;
Och, hey ! Johnnie, lad,
Ye didna keep your tryst yestreen :
I waited lang beside the wud,
Sae wae an wearie, a my lane ;
Och, hey ! Johnnie, lad,
Ye're no sae kind's ye soud hae been.
I lookit by the whinnie knowe,
I lookit by the firs sae green,
I lookit owre the spunkie howe,[1]
An aye I thocht ye woud hae been.
The ne'er a supper crost my Craig,
The ne'er a sleep hae clos'd my een ;
Och, hey ! Johnnie, lad,
Ye're no sae kind's ye soud hae been.
Gin ye war waitin by the wud,
Then I was waitin by the Thorn,
I thocht it was the place we set,
An waited maist till dawnin morn ;
Sae be na vext, my bonnie lassie,
Let my waitin stan for thine,
We'll awa to Craigton shaw,
And seek the joys we tint yestreen.
This song first appeared in the Glasgow Nightingale of 1806, page 74. See first Note to No. 13. The subject of the song was John Howie, weaver in Paisley (an acquaintance of the Poet), and his sweetheart, Agnes Smith, residing in the Brig o Johnstone district; and was written on the occasion of their having been mistaken in the trysting-place of one of their engagements,—the beau supposing it was the “Thorn,” and the belle the “Wood.”
That occurrence happened eighty years ago, and several places around Paisley answering the description of the “whinnie knowe,”' “the firs sae green,” and “the spunkie howe,” have now been obliterated by agricultural improvements. Some persons think the scene of the song was Craigielee, on the estate of “Sweet Ferguslie;” and others maintain it was at the Gum Hill, or the Thorn, on the road between Paisley and Johnstone, the lovers having divided the distance between their residences for the place of meeting. We incline to the latter, from the residence of the lady. In the hollow at the Gum Hill, or Burnbrae road, leading down from the Johnstone road, we have seen the little glow-worm lighting up his “e'ening spunkie,” or phosphorescent lamp, to entice the unwary into his swampy den ; and it was probably near this spot where Agnes waited. The lad would not stop the following evening at the Thorn, but proceed direct to Agnes' house, till at the window, and the two, after mutual explanations of the mishap yestreen, go to Craigton Shaw, behind Johnstone Castle,—a place then famous for making lovers' vows,—
“When the silken tow is twistingRoun this artless heart o mine ;”
and, shortly thereafter, John Howie and Agnes Smith were married—in December, 1796. Tannahill's acquaintances generally belonged to the poetical or musical class of society, and John Howie loved the martial music of the drum,—an instrument much in use at that time for recruiting in Paisley. A Sailor's Parade occurred in Greenock about the end of last century, and both Howie and Tannahill attended as musicians—the former drumming, and the latter fifing. John Howie died in 1851, aged 75 ; and Agnes Smith (Mrs. Howie) in 1853, aged 79.—Ed.
[1] Note by Ramsay.—“Dr. Jamieson, in the Supplement to his Scottish Dictionary, has stated as one of the meanings of the adjective ‘spunkie’ that it is an ‘epithet applied to a place supposed to be haunted, from the frequent appearance of the ignis fatuus;’ in support of which, he quotes the above passage as his only authority. But with great deference, the venerable lexicographer has misapprehended the meaning of the Poet, who plainly used ‘spunkie howe’ as a compound noun ‘to denote the howe of the spunkie,’—in other words, the ‘Will o the Wisp hollow.’ ”
R. A. Smith in his Scotish, Minstrelsy, 1823, Vol. III., page 108, gave a song “Hey, Hou! Johnny, lad,” author unknown, Air of the same name ; and Alexander Whitelaw, in his “Book of Scottish Song,” 1843, page 525, gives a song with the same title, and the following Note:—“This song is partly preserved by Herd in his collection, 1776; but is here given with some slight additions by Allan Cunningham. It is sung to a reel tune, originally called ‘The Lasses o the Ferry.’ Tannahill wrote a song with the same burthen and to the same tune, which is also given in this work at page 428.”—Ed.[return]
[Semple 124]