Bonny lass of Calder Braes (1806)/The silly young maid

THE SILLY YOUNG MAID.

COnfin’d in the house till the age of fifteen,
Not a man. but a clown, whom my face had yet seen;
An aunt to instruct me, a formal old maid,
And I, sil y I, beliv’d all she said

⁠My aunt in the grave, to the town, I straight flew,
And instantly fond of its pleasures I grew;
The sparks flew around me wherever I went.
But I, silly I, could not guess what they meant.

⁠They call’d me a goddess, and sighing declar d
That the toasts of the town were not like me so fair;
They vow’d and they swore, and my pity invok’d,
And I, silly I, believ’d all they spoke.

⁠They tickl’d my pride, but my heart it was free,
And not one of them all was a conquest to me;
‘Till young Strephon advanc’d, and quickly he taught,
What I, silly I, till that moment ne’er thought.

⁠With good breading and sense love he did declare,
Not like the vain fops who before did appear;
His expressions were sweet and sprung from his mind,
And I, happy I with young Strephon was join d