Battling, Roaring Willie. By the late Sir W. Elliot. 478 



Thomson says, " This old song, (slightly retouched, 1 ) may perhaps 

 be thought scarce worthy of a place here, and but for the con- 

 cluding stanza, which Burns added to it, would probably have 

 been omitted, but the pleasant humour of that stanza forms an 

 irresistible claim in favour of the song." . . . W.E.L.] 



Nor was the popularity of the song confined to the Border, for 



an English version of it is found in Halliwell's " Nursery 



Elrymes," in which the name of Willie -is changed to Jacky. 



This having been quoted by a correspondent to " Notes and 



Queries" 2 in September 1858, to a lady at Arbroath, well versed 



in the ballad literature of the district in which she was born, it 



recalled to her memory the following somewhat quaint version : — 



" Willie you'll sell youre fiddle, 



And buy some other thing : 



O Willie you'll sell youre fiddle, 



And buy some cradle or string ; 

 If I would sell my fiddle, 



The folk wad think 1 war mad ; 

 For mony a canty nicht, 

 My fiddle and 1 hae had. 

 CHOKUS. 



" rattlin,' roarin 5 Willie, 



Ver ae fn' welcome to me : 

 rattlin', roarin' Willie, 



Ver ae fu' welcome to me, 

 Yerae fu' welcome to me, 



For a' the ill they've said ; 

 For mony a canty nicht 



My Willie and I hae had. 



" Foul fa their kirks, and their sessions, 



They're ae sae fond o' mischief; 

 They'll ca' me into their sessions, 



They'll ca' me warse than a thief. 

 They'll ca' me warse than a thief, 



And they'll make me curse and ban, 

 They'll brag me ae with their laws, 



But d — 1 brake my legs gin I'll gang." ;i 



1 The word retouched is thoroughly characi eristic, as by all accounts Thom- 

 son was too fond of retouching and altering. - Second Series, v., p. 180. 



;l [I have received from the Rev. John Walker, Whalton Bectory, an al- 

 most identical version with the above, obtained by him from Mr John Stokoc, 

 South Shields, who says it was collected viva voce about Bellingham, though 

 it may be Scottish. The Rev. J. W. Ebsworth also informs me that a 

 somewhat similar version was current in the East Biding of Yorkshire 

 about the time of Her Majesty's accession in 1837. — W.E.L.] 

 2 14 



