The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #25493   Message #2539031
Posted By: Jim Dixon
13-Jan-09 - 03:16 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Bonny Portmore
Subject: Lyr Add: PORTMORE (1828)
From Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland (Vol. II) By Peter Buchan (Edinburgh: W. & D. Laing and J. Stevenson, et al., 1828), page 159:


PORTMORE.

O Donaldie, Donaldie, where hae you been?
A hawking and hunting, go make my bed seen;*
Gae make my bed seen, and stir up the strae,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I gae.

Let's drink and gae hame, boys, let's drink and gae hame,
If we stay ony langer we'll get a bad name;
We'll get a bad name, and fill oursell's fou,
And the lang woods o' Derry are ill to gae thro'.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild deer, and catching the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

O, bonny Portmore, ye shine where you charm
The more I think on you, the more my heart warms;
When I look from you, my heart it is sore,
When I mind upon Valiantny, and on Portmore.**

There are mony words, but few o' the best,
And he that speaks fewest, lives langest at rest;
My mind, by experience, teaches me so,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.


[*I assume "seen" means "soon"?
**I have no idea what "Valiantny" is, unless vain:vanity::valiant:valiantny.]