PART I

The auld wife sat at her ivied door, (_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) A thing she had frequently done before; And her spectacles lay on her apron’d knees.

The piper he piped on the hilltop high, (_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) Till the cow said “I die,” and the goose asked “Why?” And the dog said nothing, but search’d for fleas.

The farmer he strode through the square farmyard; (_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) His last brew of ale was a trifle hard-- The connection of which the plot one sees.

The farmer’s daughter hath frank blue eyes; (_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) She hears the rooks caw in the windy skies. As she sits at her lattice and shells her peas.

The farmer’s daughter hath ripe red lips; (_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) If you try to approach her, away she skips Over tables and chairs with apparent ease.

The farmer’s daughter hath soft brown hair; (_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) And I met with a ballad, I can’t say where, Which wholly consisted of lines like these.

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