The Lass O' Gowrie is in Charles Street, Manchester, in an area formerly known as 'Little Ireland', although legend has it that the first landlord was Scottish and homesick, and named the pub after his favorite poem, by Lady Carolina Nairne (1766-1845), who was born in Gask, Perthshire.
The Lass O' Gowrie
'Twas on a simmer's afternoon,
A wee afore the sun gaed down, A lassie wi' a braw new goun
Cam' owre the hills to Gowrie.
The rosebud washed in simmer's shower,
Bloomed fresh within the sunny bower;
But Kitty was the fairest flower,
That e'er was seen in Gowrie -
To see her cousin she cam' there;
And oh! the scene was passing fair,
For what in Scotland can compare
Wi' the Carse o' Gowrie?
The sun was setting on the Tay,
The blue hills melting into gray,
The mavis and the blackbirds lay,
Were sweetly heard in Gowrie.
- O lang the lassie I had wooed,
And truth and constancy had vowed,
But could nae speed wi' her I lo'ed,
Until she saw fair Gowrie.
I pointed to my fither's ha'
- Yon bonnie bield ayont the shaw,
Sae loun that there nae blast could blaw:-
Wad she no bide in Gowrie?
- Her faither was baith glad and wae;
Her mither she wad naething say;
The bairnies thocht they wad get play
If Kitty gaed to Gowrie.
She whiles did smile, she whiles did greet;
The blush and tear were on her cheek;
She naething said, and hung her head,
But now she's Leddie Gowrie.
Perhaps a very rare example of a full poem on an exterior pub wall? See the next post.
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