Air—“The auld wife a the glen.”
YE,'LL a hae heard tell o Rab Roryson's bonnet,
Ye'll a hae heard tell o Rab Roryson's bonnet ;
Twas nae for itsel, twas the heid that was in it,
Gart a bodies talk o Rab Roryson's bonnet.
This bonnet, that theekit his won'erfu heid,
Was his shelter in winter, in simmer his shade ;
An at kirk, or at market, or bridals, I ween,
A braw gawcier bonnet there never was seen.
Wi a roun rosie tap, like a muckle blackbide,
It was slouch'd just a kennin on either han side ;
Some maintained it was black, some maintained it was blue,
It had something o baith, as a bodie may trew.
But, in sooth, I assure you, for ocht that I saw,
Still his bonnet had naething uncommon ava ;
Tho the haill pairish talk'd o Rab Roryson's bonnet,
‘Twas a for the marvellous heid that was in it.
That heid, let it rest, it is noo in the mools,
Tho in life a the warld beside it war fools ;
Yet o what kind o wisdom his heid was possess't,
Nane e'er kent but himsel, sae there's nane that will miss't.
There are some still in life wha eternally blame, [1]
Wha on buts an on ifs rear their fabric o fame ;
Unto such I inscribe this most elegant sonnet,
Sae let them be crooned wi Rab Roryson's bonnet !
The model of this song has been said by some persons to have been the bonnet and head of kind Will MacNeil ; and others, again, assert it was the bonnet and head of John Riddle, labourer, Lochwinnoch. We have already given a description of the large head of MacNeil in the Notes to No. 62; and the great size of Riddle's head may be guessed from the following obituary notice, in the Scots Magazine for July, 1816:—“At Lochwinnoch, on 9th April, 1816, John Riddle, labourer. He knew nothing of his age but that he was nine nights old at the Windy Saturday. In his earlier years he was a man of extraordinary bodily strength, and performed many rustic feats of wrestling and pugilism worthy of more classic times. He wore a bonnet of unparalleled magnitude, the elevated or slouching attitude of which was thought by the youth of the neighbourhood to prognosticate good or bad weather.” The Windy Saturday, so named in consequence of the great hurricane which occurred on 13th January, 1739, after an eclipse of the Moon. John Riddle having been born nine nights before that event, his birth would consequently happen on 4th January, 1739, and was, therefore, in the 78th year of his age at his death.—Ed.
[1] Note by Ramsay.—"The concluding stanza, which will not be found in former editions, is taken from a letter to King, 9th May, 1809."
[Semple 110]