THE AULD CARLE WAD TAK ME FAIN. Susanna Blamire Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
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. Blamire, Susanna, 1747-1794. The Poetical Works of Miss Susanna Blamire “The muse of Cumberland.” Now for the first time collected by Henry Lonsdale, M.D. with a preface, memoir, and notes by Patrick Maxwell, ... Edinburgh John Menzies, 61 Princes Street; R. Tyas, London; D. Robertson, Glasgow; and C. Thurnam, Carlisle. MDCCCXLII. 1842 pp. 228-230.

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THE AULD CARLE WAD TAK ME FAIN . THE auld carle wad tak me fain , And trou's my dad will gar me hae him ; But troth he'll find himsel mista'en , — When wrang is't duty to obey him ? I telt him but the other night How sweer I was to cross his passion ; That age and youth had different sight , And saw things in another fashion . Quo' he , now Meg , it canna be But that ye think the carle handsome ; He's younger by a year than me , And goud has for a kingdom's ransom . Come , tak advice and be his wife , 'Tis fine to be an auld man's deary ; I's warrant ye'll lead a happy life , And aye be mistress , never fear ye . My mither then laid by her wheel , And said , Dear Joe , why will ye tease her ? I ken ye lo'e our lassie weel , For a' your joy has been to please her . Nay , come now , think upo' the time , When ye were just o' the same fancy , When I was young and i' my prime , Ye cried — Ne'er tak an auld man , Nancy . Then father like a tempest rose , And swore the carle should be the man ; That wives were certain to oppose , Whatever was the husband's plan : But Monday , Miss , shall be the day ; And , hark ye , gin ye dare refuse me , One shilling never shall ye hae , Practise what arts ye like t' abuse me . To lo'e the carle that is sae auld , Alak ! it is na i' my nature ; Save but three hairs he wad be bald , And wears nae wig to look the better : The staff he's used this twenty year I saw him burn it i' the fire ; Sae young the gowk tries to appear , And fain wad mak ilk wrinkle liar . My Sandy has na muckle gear , But then he has an air sae genty ; He's aye sae canty , ye wad swear That he had goud and siller plenty . He says he cares na for my wealth ; And though we get nought frae my daddie , He'll cater for me while he's health , — Goodnight — I'm off then wi' my laddie .