+The Text+ of this pretty little song is taken from Kinloch's MSS.,
where it is in James Beattie's handwriting. In _Five Excellent New
Songs_, printed at Edinburgh in 1766, there is an older but much
corrupted version of this song, confused with two other songs, a 'Thyme'
song and the favourite 'I sowed the seeds of love.' It is printed as two
songs, _The New Lover's Garland_ and _The Young Maid's Answer_, both
with the following refrain:--
'Brave sailing here, my dear,
And better sailing there,
And brave sailing in my love's arms,
O if I were there!'
+The Story+ is so slight that the song can scarcely be counted as a
narrative. But it is one of the lyrical dialogues covered by the word
'ballad,' and was not ruled out by Professor Child. There seems to be a
loss of half a verse in 7, which should doubtless be two stanzas.