But Nelly's looks are blithe and sweet,
And what is best of a', [all]
Her reputation is complete,
And fair without a flaw.
She dresses aye sae clean and neat,
Both decent and genteel;
And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel. [Makes]
A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart,
But it's innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.
'Tis this in Nelly pleases me,
'Tis this enchants my soul!
For absolutely in my breast
She reigns without control.
Since there may still be readers who suppose that Burns was a mere
unsophisticated singer, without power of self-criticism, it may be as
well to insert here a passage from a Commonplace Book written in 1783,
ten years after the composition of the song.
_Criticism on the Foregoing Song_
"Lest my works should be thought below Criticism; or meet with a
Critic who, perhaps, will not look on them with so candid and
favorable an eye; I am determined to criticise them myself.
"The first distich of the first stanza is quite too much in the
flimsy strain of our ordinary street ballads; and on the other
hand, the second distich is too much in the other extreme. The
expression is a little awkward, and the sentiment too serious.
Stanza the second I am well pleased with; and I think it conveys a
fine idea of that amiable part of the Sex--the agreeables, or what
in our Scotch dialect we call a sweet sonsy Lass.
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