The Book of Scottish Song/Bring a' your maut

Bring a’ your maut.

[The opening verse, at least, of this song is old, as it occurs in a manuscript of the seventeenth century, which at one time belonged to Mr. Constable, the eminent Edinburgh bookseller. The other verses are probably also of some antiquity, although they cannot be traced in any of the early collections. They are given by Mr. R. Chambers from oral tradition. "The Maltman" is the name of a song to be found in Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany, written by Ramsay himself, after an ancient ditty, but too deeply imbued with the license of old times to admit of extract here.]

⁠Bring a' your maut to me,
⁠Bring a' your maut to me;
⁠My draff ye'se get for ae pund ane,
⁠Though a' my deukies should dee.

Some say that kissing 's a sin,
⁠But I think it's nane ava,
For kissing has wonn'd in this warld,
⁠Since ever that there was twa.

O, if it wasna lawfu',
⁠Lawyers wadna allow it;
If it was na holy,
⁠Ministers wadna do it.

If it wasna modest,
⁠Maidens wadna tak' it;
If it wasna plenty,
⁠Puir folk wadna get it!

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