Give Me a Lass with a Lump of Land
X:1 T:Lass with a Lump of Land, A M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air B:William Thomson - Orpheus Caledonius, vol. 2 (1733, No. 12, p. 45) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F f>gf f e d |e2f g2g|f>g f fe d|cd/e/ f c A F| f>g f fe d|f e f g2g|f>g f fe d|cd/e/ f c A F| G>A G d2G|e e G d2G|G>A G d2G|e e G c A F | G>A G d2G|e2G d2G|G>A G d2G|e e G cA F||
GIVE ME A LASS WITH A LUMP OF LAND. English, Irish; Air and Jig (6/8 time). F Major (Thomson): G Major (Aird): D Major (Manson). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Thomson): AABB. See the related "Butcher's March (2) (The)." The air "Give Me a Lass with a Lump of Land" appears in J. Mitchell's stage production The Highland Fair, or the Union of the Clans (1731), and in the opera Calista (1731), a scandalous expose of the illicit affair of Lady Catherine, penned by an anonymous author. "Give Me a Lass with a Lump of Land" was printed in vol. 6 of John Watts' Musical Miscellany the same year, followed by William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, vol. 2 (1733). The version printed in Hamilton's Universal Tune Book, vol. 2 (1846) has parts reversed from the version published by James Aird, and is somewhat distanced.
Words to the song were printed by Thomson. The first stanza begins:
Gi’e me a Lass with a lump of Land,
And we for Life shall gang the gather;
Tho daft or wife, I’ll never demand,
Or Black or Fair it maks na whether.
I’m aff with witt, and Beauty will fade,
And Blood alane is no worth a shilling,
But she that’s Rich, her Market’s made,
For Ilka, Charm about her is Killing.
