Dainty Davie

This was based on a story published in a 1692 anti-Presbyterian propaganda pamphlet, The Scots Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed, and focusing on a preacher, David Williamson, seven times married minister of St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh (1636 - August 1706).

Mrs Kerr hurriedly concealed Williamson in bed alongside her eighteen-year-old daughter, disguising him with her own nightcap, and went downstairs to "soften the hearts of the soldiery with liquor".

It is said that king Charles the second, hearing of Williamson's behaviour in lady Cherrytree's house, wished to see the man that discovered so much vigour while his troopers were in search of him; and in a merry way declared, that when he was in the royal oak he could not have kissed the bonniest lass in Christendom.

[5]The tune and title of Dainty Davie were soon adapted to a heavily innuendo-laden text making fun of Williamson and his predicament, and in this form became well known in Scotland.

Although popular in the repertoire of Scottish traditional music, the song has also been performed by Irish musicians, with widely-differing versions recorded by The Fureys and The Dubliners (though both use The Gardeners' March as the tune).