Alexander Wilson

“ Gin ye break this dreadfu' promise,
Never mair expect to thrive.
Marget Howe! this hour ye solemn
Swear by ev’ry thing that's good,
Ne’er again your spouse to scauld him,
While life warms your heart and blood. ”

“ WATTY and MEG;
or, The Wife Reformed.
"We dream in courtship, but awake in wedlock."
—POPE. [1]
KEEN the frosty winds were blawin',
Deep the snaw had wreathed the ploughs;
Watty, weary't a' day sawin',
Dannert down to Mungo Blew's.
5 Dryster Jock was sitting, crackie,
Wi' Patie Tamson o' the Hill—
"Come awa," quo Johnny, " Watty! ”

“ Notes The ballad "Watty and Meg" is attributed to the celebrated American ornithologist, Alexander Wilson who was born in Paisley, Scotland. Wilson left school at an early age to train as a weaver. He soon abandoned his apprenticeship to take up work as a pedlar and, inspired by the likes of Robert Burns, began to write his own poetry. After years of roving the countryside as a pedlar and working to survive, Wilson finally emigrated to America in the early 1790s. ”