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Collier Has a Dochter 
Collier Has a Dochter
 The collier has a dochter, And oh, she's unco bonnie; A laird he was that socht her, Rich baith in lands and money.
 She wadna hae the laird, Nor wad she be a leddy; But she wad hae a collier, The colour o her daddie.
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 Montgomerie SC (1948), 152 (no. 275). "The Collier's Bonnie Lassie" as remade by Ramsay is in TTM and with music in Orpheus Caledonius (1725, 1733), I.99; whence SMM I. no. 47; see Dick, Notes (1908), 17, and endnote, 
p. 88; also his Songs, pp. 366, 421. Herd 1776, I.207 (4x8 lines), Whitelaw BSS (1875), 224, etc. The old words (as our text) are quoted by Burns--Stenhouse, Illus. 52, etc. [line 5 a laird]. Allan Cunningham Songs of Scotland (1825), III.74, has the Ramsay verses, and (75) his own recension of the old:
 The Collier has a daughter, She's black, but O she's bonnie; A laird he was that loved her, Rich both in lands and money. I'm o'er young to wed the laird, And o'er black to be a lady; But I will hae a collier lad, The colour o' my daddie.
 The collier has a daughter, I vow she's wond'rous pretty; The collier has a daughter, She's black--but O, she's witty! He shawed her gowd in gowpins, And she answered him fu' ready; The lad I love works under ground, The colour o' my daddie. 
"Such is the song which I have heard sung as the old words." 
Two sets of the air are in Dick Songs, pp. 44, 186. SS (1878) 
II.166. Tune in English works prior to Orph. Cal.: Walsh Compleat Country Dancing Master (1719), and the Extraordinary Collection of Pleasant and Merry Humours, pub. London by Daniel Wright (c. 1713). A superior set (as Coallier's daughter) in Sinkler MS., 1720 (with minor 7th throughout). A good version in Playford, Original Scotch Tunes (1700) as Collier's Lass [Glen ESM 71]. The Coallier's Daughter is in Gillespie MS. (1768), no. 33; The Collier's Daughter (strathspey) in Stewart, 43; Glen SDM I.7. Words to air include "O saw ye bonnie Leslie" and "Deluded Swain" (Burns). 
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