"The Wee, Wee German Lairdie" (1714)

Source.—The Jacobite Songs and Ballads of Scotland from 1688 to 1746, p. 65. Edited by Charles Mackay, LL.D. (London and Glasgow: 1861.)

Wha the deil hae we gotten for a King,
But a wee, wee German lairdie!
An' when we gaed to bring him hame,
He was delving in his kail-yairdie:
Sheughing kail, and laying leeks,
But the hose and but the breeks;
Up his beggar duds he cleeks,
The wee, wee German lairdie!

And he's clapt down in our gudeman's chair,
The wee, wee German lairdie!
And he's brought fouth o' foreign trash,
And dibbled them in his yairdie:
He's pu'd the rose o' English loons,
And brake the harp o' Irish clowns,
But our Scots thristle will jag his thumbs,
The wee, wee German lairdie.

Come up among the Highland hills,
Thou wee, wee German lairdie.
And see how Charlie's lang-kail thrive,
That he dibbled in his yairdie:
And if a stock ye daur to pu',
Or haud the yoking of a pleugh,
We'll break your sceptre o'er your mou',
Thou wee bit German lairdie!

Our hills are steep, our glens are deep,
No fitting for a yairdie;
And our norlan' thristles winna pu',
Thou wee, wee German lairdie!
And we've the trenching blades o' weir,
Wad lib ye o' your German gear,
And pass ye 'neath the claymore's shear,
Thou feckless German lairdie!

He'll ride nae mair on strae sonks,
For gawing his German hurdies;
But he sits on our gude king's throne,
Amang the English lordies.
Auld Scotland! thou'rt owre cauld a hole
For nursing siccan vermin;
But the very dogs o' England's court
Can bark and howl in German!