HOOLY AND FAIRLY. (FOUNDED ON AIN OLD SCOTCH SONG.) Joanna Baillie Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Baillie, Joanna, 1762-1851. Fugitive Verses. By Joanna Baillie, author of “Dramas on the Passions,“ etc. London Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXL. 1840 pp. 281-283.

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HOOLY AND FAIRLY . ( FOUNDED ON AIN OLD SCOTCH SONG . ) OH , neighbours ! what had I a-do for to marry ! My wife she drinks possets and wine o' Canary , And ca's me a niggardly , thraw-gabbit cairly , O , gin my wife wad drink hooly and fairly , Hooly and fairly , hooly and fairly , O , gin my wife wad drink hooly and fairly ! She sups wi' her kimmers on dainties enow , Aye bowing and sminning and wiping her mou ' , While I sit aside , and am helpit but sparely , O , gin my wife wad feast hooly and fairly Hooly and fairly , hooly and fairly , O , gin my wife wad feast hooly and fairly To fairs and to bridals and preachings and a' , She gangs sae light headed and buskit sae braw , In ribbons and mantuas that gar me gae barely : O , gin my wife wad spend hooly and fairly ! Hooly and fairly , hooly and fairly , O , gin my wife wad spend hooly and fairly ! I' the kirk sic commotion last Sabbath she made , Wi' babs o' red roses and breast-knots o'erlaid ! The Dominie stickit the psalm very nearly : O , gin my wife wad dress hooly and fairly ! Hooly and fairly , hooly and fairly , O , gin my wife wad dress hooly and fairly ! She's warring and flyting frae morning till e'en , And if ye gainsay her , her een glowr sae keen , Then tongue , kneeve , and cudgel she'll lay on ye sairly : O , gin my wife wad strike hooly and fairly ! Hooly and fairly , hooly and fairly , O , gin my wife wad strike hooly and fairly ! When tired wi' her cantrips , she lies in her bed , The wark a' negleckit the chaumer unred , While a' our guid neighbours are stirring sae early : O , gin my wife wad wurk timely and fairly ! Timely and fairly , timely and fairly , O , gin my wife wad wurk timely and fairly ! A word o' guid counsel or grace she'll hear none ; She bandies the Ellers , and mocks at Mess John , While back in his teeth his own text she flings rarely : O , gin my wife wad speak hooly and fairly ! Hooly and fairly , hooly and fairly , O , gin my wife wad speak hooly and fairly ! I wish I were single , I wish I were freed ; I wish I were doited , I wish I were dead , Or she in the mouls , to dement me nae mair , lay ! What does it 'vail to cry hooly and fairly ! Hooly and fairly , hooly and fairly , Wasting my breath to cry hooly and fairly !