[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

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His bonnie wee bit doggie, sae frolicsome and glad,
Rins aye before the laddie that wears the cx'ook and plaid.
And when that he is wearied, and lies upon the grass,
What if that in his plaidie he hide a bonnie lass —
Nae doubt there's a ]3reference due to every trade.
But commen' me to the laddie that wears the crook and plaid.
And when in summer weather he is upon the hill,
He reads in books of history that learns him meikle skill
There's nae sic joyous leisure to be had at ony trade.
Save that the laddie follows that wears the crook and plaid.
What though in storm o' winter, part o' his flock should die,
My laddie is aye cheerie, and why should not I
The jjrospect o' the summer can weel mak' us glad ;
Contented is the laddie that wears the ci'ook and plaid.
King David was a shepherd, while in the prime o' youth.
And following the flocks, he ponder'd upon truth ;
And when he came to be a king, and left his former trade,
'Twas an honour to the laddie that wears the crook and plaid.
This song is attributed to Tibbie Pagan—a somewhat singular character.
In a small volume of doggrel, piublished by Isobel, we should
suppose about 1805, she gives the following account of herself:
" I was born near four miles from Nith-head,*
Where fourteen j'ears I got my bread
My learning it can soon be told,
Ten weeks, when I was seven years old,
With a good old religious wife,
Who lived a qviiet and sober life ;
Indeed, she took of me more pains
Than some does now of forty bairns.
With my attention, and her skill,
I read the Bible no that ill
And when I grew a wee thought mair,
I read when I had time to spare ;
But a' the whole tract of my time,
I found myself inclined to rhyme ;
When I see merry company,
I sing a song with mirth and glee,
And sometimes I the whisky pree,
* The water of Nith, which takes its rise in the parish of New Cumnock.