The Galloway shepherds/The Galloway shepherds

The Galloway SHEPHERDS.

AS I lay a musing the shepherds among,
Up one of them started and sang me a song,
He sang it so sweetly which caus’d me to stay,
To the praise of the Stewartry of brave Galloway.

This country abounds with fresh water and lochs,
Dividing the same into mountains and trochs,
With pleasant fine valleys, where fishes do play,
That nourishes the Stewartry of brave Galloway.

There’s both doe and roe in our mountains so high
Skipping to and fro just as they pass by;
There’s both wool and cloath, to buy if you may,
That enriches the Stewartry of brave Galloway.

One question I then at the shepherd did spier,
What kind of inhabitants there be that live here?
What mighty fine places, I see as I stray,
And wondrous fine people in fair Galloway.

Then one of them sang more sweet than the rest,
He turn’d himself round, and thus he addrest,
We have the noble Stewarts that have lived here,
For more than the space of nine hundred year.

Dalrymples, and Gordons, and Murrays so gay,
Agnews, and M'Dougals, and likewise Park, Hay
The Adairs, and the Murdochs, and also Dunbars,
M'Gussocks & Maxwells, that were ancient in wars

The Moores live among us, & likewise the Browns
Cathcarts, and M Gleans, in different towns;
The Blairs we have here, sir, and likewise M‘Gees,
M'Jorrows, M'Frisels, and the bold M‘Mees.

We are so taught speaking from different lands,
We have almost forgot we belong to the Clans;
But Jock our flock is straying and I must not stay,
To tell you the brave names that are in Galloway.

But stay gentle shepherd I pray thee to stay,
What are these fine town, I see as I stray,
That shine in the morning, and each evening tide,
Just as you go along, close by the sea side.

Portnessick, portpatrick, and also Stranrawer,
Glenluce and Shan-whithorn, and Wigton so rare,
The brave Newton Stewart, and old Monigaff,
The Ferry-town stands a little way aff.

For ancient Kirkcudbright I cannot go by,
The town of New Galloway, and old Derry;
But Jock our flock is straying and I may not stay,
To tell you the towns that are in Galloway.

But stay gentle shepherd, was there never a King,
Who had this realm in his governing?
That came here among you a while for to stay,
To rule o’er the towns that are in Galloway.

Yes, Fergus the first, for a while had his seat,
In, or about the time of Alexander the Great,
The place call’d Lochfergus, ’tis seen to this day,
Near ancient Kirkcudbright in brave Galloway.

Our noble ancestor King Robert the Bruce,
When Southrons in this country made great abuse,
Came to Graigen-Gallie, and chac’d them away,
The stubborn bold Englilh from brave Galloway.

Some say that St. Andrew came here from abroad,
He crofs’d the wide ocean and landed in Burgh,
And built there a church, which is seen to this day,
Near ancient Kirkcudbright in brave Galloway.

For ancient Kirkcudbright I cannot forget,
There’s brave salmon-fishing for both rode and net:
The brave gen’rous Hamiltons here doth stay,
To the praise of the Stewartry of brave Galloway.

The pretty salt ocean all round us doth clap,
From the bridgend of Dumfries to the braes of Glenap,
It’s seventy long miles, and a pretty good way,
The length of the Stewartry of Galloway.

When he was done speaking, I turned and shook,
My empty porrmantau, and thenceforth I took,
My leave of the shepherds, and from them did stray,
Wishing well to the Stewartry of Galloway.