LII3RARV 
 
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 University of California. 
 
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Only 255 copies of this book have been 
 printed^ of zvJiicJi this is number .../^'^.. 
 
NOTES 
 ON SCOTTISH SONG 
 
 BY ROBERT BURNS 
 
 WRITTEN IN AN INTERLEAVED COPY OF 
 THE SCOTS MUSICAL MUSEUM 
 
 WITH ADDITIONS BY ROBERT RIDDELL 
 AND OTHERS 
 
 EDITED BY THE LATE 
 
 JAMES C. DICK 
 
 HENRY FROWDE 
 
 LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW 
 NEW YORK AND TORONTO 
 
 1908 
 
OXFORD: HORACE HART 
 PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The principal part (I) of the following text is a 
 verbatim copy of holograph Notes of Robert Burns in 
 an interleaved copy of the first four volumes of Johnson's 
 Scots Musical Museum, which belonged to Robert 
 Riddell of Glenriddell, the friend and neighbour of 
 Burns at Ellisland. Then follow (II) the Notes written 
 by Riddell in the same volumes. The interleaves in 
 the volumes being incomplete, I have described (III) 
 the missing leaves, with the songs which faced them in 
 the volumes, with a copy of three important notes which 
 R. C. Cromek inserted in his Reliqucs of Robcfi Burns^ 
 1808, as from the hand of Burns. Obviously these can- 
 not be verified. The last part (IV) consists of a series 
 of spurious notes, also printed by Cromek in the 
 Reliqucs. These are not in the volumes, and never 
 were there. 
 
 The object of the present small book is simply to 
 correct the misleading statements of Cromek, whose 
 work was received with acclamation, and was so suc- 
 cessful that a second edition was printed in 1809. In 
 the year 1813 it was again published as the fifth volume 
 of Currie's Works of Robert BurnSy and the Notes now 
 referred to, being a considerable and important part of 
 the volume, have remained, and have been accepted as 
 the authentic waiting of the poet. Cromek was so 
 enamoured of his success, that he reproduced all the 
 
 a 2 
 
 181582 
 
iv PREFACE 
 
 notes, with many additions, in his Select Scottish Songs, 
 1810. He begins the Preface thus :—' The following 
 Remarks from the pen of Burns appeared in the publi- 
 cation of The Rcliques\ which is untrue, for all the 
 additions were written either by himself or by his friend 
 in deception, Allan Cunningham. 
 
 The notes in Cromek's Reliques (pp. 195-306) have 
 had a free run of one hundred years. Nearly every 
 published work of the Songs of Burns during that 
 period contains more or less of the notes. Hogg and 
 Motherwell, Cunningham, Chambers, Scott- Douglas, 
 and Henley incorporated them bodily into their editions 
 of the Works of Burns, as none of these editors had 
 seen the Interleaved Museum, nor had means to correct 
 them. 
 
 While my Songs of Burns was going through the 
 press I discovered the volumes with the MS. notes in 
 the possession of Miss Oakshott, of Arundel Square, 
 Barnsbury, London, who had inherited the Hbrary of 
 a book collector, A. F. Nichols, for whom she was 
 housekeeper for many years. Nichols had bought them 
 about the year 187 1 from Mr. John Salkeld, bookseller, 
 London. He acquired them with other Burns volumes 
 as a job lot, but discovered their value and catalogued 
 the lot at £ 1 10. The Interleaved Museum was bought at 
 Sotheby's auction on October 30, 1903, by Mr. Quaritch, 
 Piccadilly, who has since sold them to Mr. George C. 
 Thomas, of Philadelphia, in whose possession they now 
 are. 
 
 The previous history of the volumes is briefly this : — 
 After Riddell's death, in 1794, they passed to Mrs. 
 Riddell, his wife, who removed to Edinburgh. She 
 gave them to Miss Eliza Bayley, of Manchester, her 
 
PREFACE V 
 
 niece, and while they were in her possession Cromek 
 examined them. How she parted with them, and how 
 they came to London, is not known. 
 
 I was permitted by Miss Oakshott, in October, 1902, 
 to take a complete copy of the Notes, with permission 
 to use them, and while in the hands of the auctioneer 
 I corrected my copy with the owner's authority. The 
 printed proofs have been generously revised by the 
 present owner of the volumes, and with his consent and 
 on my responsibility these Notes of Burns are now pub- 
 lished as a verbatim copy from the Interleaved Museum, 
 with the sole object of putting on record what Burns is 
 really responsible for writing. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface iii 
 
 Introduction : 
 
 I. Scottish Song prior to Burns . . . ix 
 
 II. Burns and his Songs xxvii 
 
 Manuscript Notes in an Interleaved Copy of the 
 First Four Volumes of the 'Scots Musical 
 Museum ' : 
 
 I. Written b}^ Robert Burns . . . . i 
 
 II. Written by Robert Riddell, or other than 
 
 Burns 60 
 
 III. List of interleaves missing with Notes 
 
 printed in Cromek's Reliqites which cannot 
 
 be verified 72 
 
 IV. Spurious Notes 74 
 
 Appendix : Historical Notes 82 
 
 First Lines of Songs 125 
 
 Titles of Tunes 130 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. SCOTTISH SONG PRIOR TO BURNS 
 
 ' How is he [Burns] great, except through the circumstance that 
 the whole songs of his predecessors lived in the mouth of the people, 
 that they were, so to speak, sung at his cradle ; that as a boy he 
 grew up amongst them, and the high excellence of these models so 
 prevailed him that he had therein a living basis on which he could 
 proceed further?' Conversations of Goethe, 1875, p. 254. 
 ' Come, the song we had last night : — 
 
 Mark it, Caesario ; it is old and plain : 
 
 The spinners and the knitters in the sun, 
 
 And the free maids that weave their thread with bones 
 
 Do use to chant it ; it is silly sooth 
 
 And dallies with the innocence of love 
 
 Like the old age.' Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Actii, Sc. 4. 
 
 Robert Burns has left an indelible mark as an original 
 writer of vernacular songs ; and he is unique as a reviver of 
 old songs. These latter, as he found them, were mere echoes (j 
 of the past, and survived only in a word, a line, a chorus or 
 a stanza, which he picked up and made into a finished song 
 to perpetuate a melody which required verses. Goethe, at 
 a time when this part of Burns' work was obscure, explained 
 how Burns was great, and before touching the main subject 
 of this introduction it will be appropriate to give a short 
 historical sketch of the progress of Scottish Song and 
 popular music prior to the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 when Burns appears in the field. The literary records of 
 Scotland are scanty. The irreparable loss of an unknown 
 number of writings was caused by strife, war, poverty, and 
 religious fervour. In the thirteenth century Edward I carried 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 into England all the national and other papers that he could 
 find. In 1666 Charles II was constrained to return them, 
 and the remains were packed in forty casks, but the ship 
 with this precious cargo foundered in the Frith of Forth, and 
 the documents were irrecoverably lost. At the Reformation 
 tlie warlike nobles seized and appropriated the monasteries 
 and religious edifices. They cared more for the sword than 
 the pen, and a vast number of neglected papers must have 
 perished by decay. The existence of about twelve poets of 
 distinction of the fifteenth century is only known from the 
 mention of their names in a poem by William Dunbar, 
 Scotland's premier poet. The works of several others are 
 represented by one or a few subscribed pieces in existing 
 manuscripts. Such are examples of the difficulty in con- 
 structing a continuous narrative of the poetry and music of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Prior to 1794 no historical criticism of any consequence 
 had been written. Dr. Beattie contributed a chapter on the 
 subject in his Essays on Poetry and Music ^ '^11^' About the 
 same time William Tytler wrote a Dissertation on the 
 Scottish Music, which was first printed at the end of Arnot's 
 History of Edinburgh, 1776. John Ramsay of Ochtertyre 
 wrote an article on Old Scottish Songs, published in The Bee 
 in 1791. In the modern sense of the term there is no 
 historical criticism in any of these essays. Very few 
 ■references are given and none to music. Indeed, it does not 
 lappear that any of the writers knew of the existence of a 
 Isingle manuscript of Scottish music, and consequently they 
 /speculated on the tunes they knew and on many of the songs 
 from internal evidence alone. Burns learnt little from their 
 \ writings, indeed Ramsay and Tytler, both personal friends, 
 got valuable information from him, and he knew more on the 
 subject than all of them put together. 
 
 The basis of what is known about the poetry of Scottish 
 song is contained in Ritson's Historical Essay prefixed to 
 Scottish Songs, 1794. Unlike Percy, Pinkerton, and other 
 garblcrs of text, he was scrupulously veracious and spent 
 
SCOTTISH SONG PRIOR TO BURNS xi 
 
 man}^ 3^ears collecting material for his essay. He exhausted 
 
 the public libraries and those of his friends, and made several J:^^ ^^ 
 
 journeys to Scotland for the purpose. Ritson's researches "^ 
 
 came too late to be of any service to Burns, who, however, 
 
 must have been gratified to find seven or eight of his songs 
 
 (which he contributed anonymously to Johnson's Museum) 
 
 reprinted in Ritson's collection. It seems the proper thing 
 
 to overlook Ritson's great service to the elucidation of Song, 
 
 to censure his infirmity of temper and to quote him without 
 
 acknowledgement, but he has contributed more to the subject v 
 
 than all others combined who followed him. 
 
 The first person connected with the muse of Scotland is 
 MerHn Caledonius, a myth and a prophet, a poet, a 
 necromancer and the possessor of other celestial and 
 infernal attributes. His prophecies in obscure alliterative 
 verse delighted the whole nation for several centuries. 
 Whether he and Merlin Ambrosius, the Prime Minister 
 and general factotum of King Arthur, were the same is not 
 very clear. The Scottish Merlin is described as a small 
 wizened man attended by a 'white lady'. His place of 
 burial is still pointed out on the banks of the Tweed, at the 
 junction of the Powsail burn close to Drummelzier. 
 
 Many centuries after Merlin came Thomas the Rymer, -^^ 
 who lived in the thirteenth century. He also was a prophet 
 and a poet, the reputed author of a ballad bearing his name, 
 which recites that Iiis queen of Elfland was dressed in 
 * grass-green silk'. Having lost his mental balance in her 
 presence he kissed her, which caused him to ' dree his 
 weird ' for seven years in Elfland. When his durance ex- 
 pired he had no wish to leave the place, but he was courteously 
 expelled, and came back to his earthly home at Earlston on 
 the river Leader. After some time the ' grass green ladye ' 
 again called ; Thomas followed her and has not yet returned. 
 He remains entrapped in a cave in the Eildon hills near 
 Melrose, not dead, but still sleeping. The story with a dash 
 of Barbarossa thrown in is radically the same as the 
 adventures of Tannhauser, the minnesinger of Germany, with 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Venus in the Venusberg, and both tales arc probably derived 
 from the same source. The Rymer and Merlin are the 
 master prophets of Scotland. 'The whole prophecies of 
 Scotland, England, Ireland, France, and Denmark prophecied 
 by Thomas Rymer, marvellous Merling, Beid, Berlington . . . 
 Edin. 1777 ' is the title of a late edition of a small chap 
 book which circulated in Scotland for nearly 150 years, and 
 was read and recited in palace and cottage. The work is 
 remarkable as the latest printed specimens of alliterative 
 poetry in the English language. The prophecies of Merlin 
 are named in Lindsay's works early in the fifteenth 
 century. 
 
 Contemporary with the Rymer Thomas is a stanza, the 
 earliest fragment of Scottish Song, on the violent death of 
 Alexander II in 1285. It bewails the loss of prosperity in 
 Scotland, where always was plenty of ' bread and ale, gamyn 
 and glee.' 
 
 One of the chronicles significantly records that ' the 
 Commonality murmured ' when Edward in 1291 proclaimed 
 himself at Norham Overlord of Scotland, which explains 
 why the English had such a loose grip of the country. At 
 the siege of Berwick in 1296, the Scots burnt two of 
 Edward's ships, and satirized his ' long shanks ' in popular 
 song. Edward disliked this humour, and renewed with fury 
 the siege of the town, which he carried with great loss to the 
 Scots (Ritson, p. 25). 
 
 Ballads on Wallace were made on the battle of Roslin 
 (1298), and are referred to in the Scotichronicon, a MS. of 
 the seventeenth century. The hero of Scotland is thus 
 referred to : — 
 
 * Now will 3'e hear a jollie jest 
 
 How Robin Hood was pope of Rome 
 And Wallace King of France.' 
 
 Lyden's Conxplaynt of Scotland, p. 226. 
 
 In a chap book of about 1750 is a ballad on the achieve- 
 ments of Wallace. 
 
SCOTTISH SONG PRIOR TO BURXS xiii 
 
 Although Edward disapproved of the Scots personal 
 description of him, it was adopted by the English for 
 a ballad. wTitten after the execution of Simon Eraser in 1306, 
 and closes with advice to the Scots ' to hang up the hatchet 
 and the knife while lasteth the life of him with the long 
 shonkes '. There are several incidents in this English 
 contemporary ballad not noticed by Burton or other 
 historians. 
 
 At the battle of Bannockburn the Scots enforced a curious 
 ransom on one of the prisoners. Edward II took with him 
 a poet laureate to Scotland to celebrate the expected victory. 
 Robert Baston, a Carmehte friar, who invented a kind of 
 rime known b}' his name, was captured and offered his 
 liberty on condition that he wrote a poem in praise of 
 the Scots. 
 
 The Scots in 1328 made a butt of the Queen, the sister of 
 Edward III, in one of their songs. At that time the 
 English officers w^ere distinguished for wearing fancy 
 clothes, and a song was circulated which ridiculed the 
 pointed beards, the ' painted hoods ', and the gay coats of the 
 mihtar}'. A copy of this song was affixed to the church 
 door of St. Peter's, in York. On the defeat of Hardclay by 
 de Soulis, Barbour refers about 1375 to a song where 
 
 he says : — 
 
 ' Young wemen when they will play 
 
 Sing it amang them ilk day.' (^The Bruce, B 11.) 
 
 Hume of Godscroft relates the death in 1353 of the Lord 
 of Liddesdale by the Earl of Douglas, ' for so saj-s the old 
 song ', that the Countess wrote love letters to Liddesdale to 
 dissuade him from that hunting. It tells likewise the 
 manner of the taking of his men and how he was carried the 
 first night to Lindin Kirk, a mile from Selkirk, and was 
 buried within the abbocie of Melrose (Ritson, p. 29). 
 
 A new era begins with James I, who was one of the most 
 accomplished men of his time. He was a Hnguist, a poet, 
 a writer of vernacular verses, a musician and a reputed 
 composer. He pla^-ed a number of musical instruments 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 well, the chief being the harp and tlie lute, on which he was 
 proficient. From an obscure description of his musical 
 attainments he is absurdly credited with the invention of 
 the Scottish musical scales. There is now in the British 
 Museum a folio manuscript treatise on music, written in 
 Scottish orthography, entitled ' The art of music collectit out 
 of all Doctorius of music beginning Quhat is mensural 
 music ' (Add. MSS. 4911). Hawkins the historian, who 
 possessed the MS., says that he knew no native of Scotland 
 except James I who could have written it. It is very little 
 known, and has never been described. 
 
 A curious poem entitled Cokelbie Sow, presumably of the 
 fifteenth century, contains a catalogue of popular songs and 
 tunes. None of the songs are known, and the tunes, if they 
 exist, cannot be identified, but the list itself suggests the 
 musical propensities of the old Scottish peasantry. The 
 poem was probably written by some volatile priest. It is 
 undeniably coarse, but the author wielded a vigorous pen in 
 the rhythm and style of Skelton. 
 
 In The Complaynt of Scotland, c. 1549, is a long and inter- 
 esting account of how the shepherds and their wives amused 
 themselves with singing and dancing. A long list of these 
 songs and dances is given, but only a few of them are known 
 in the present day. 
 
 The literar}'- curiosity Glide and Godlie Ballets, c. 1570, is a 
 metrical collection of translations of some psalms and hymns 
 with a number of religious imitations or parodies of popular 
 songs. The book contains no music, but the first lines, the 
 titles or the chorus of the songs, and sometimes the name of 
 the tune, prove the existence of many secular songs with 
 which the people were familiar in the middle of the 
 sixteenth century. No copy of the work is known earlier 
 than 1567. That the book passed through at least two 
 editions in about seven 3^ears is evidence that it was much 
 used, but whether on account of the psalms, the hymns, or 
 the ballads cannot be ascertained. 
 
 Godlie Ballattes have been often quoted with the object of 
 
SCOTTISH SONG PRIOR TO BURNS xv 
 
 ridiculing the Presbyterians. But the Scots only followed 
 the example of other European nations. Miles Coverdale 
 wrote some verj' peculiar verses on the Pope of Rome, 
 while the songs of the French Reformers were so bad they 
 had to be suppressed, and those of Italy were worse. 
 Similar imitations of secular songs were made also in 
 Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, for an account of which 
 see Mr. Cries' Life of Knox, 1840, p. 397. An edition of 
 Bossandyne's Psalm Buik, 1568, was suppressed because it 
 contained an improper song entitled Welcum Fortune. No 
 copy of this Psalm book has been recovered, and much 
 curiosity was felt to see the proscribed song. It has been 
 found in the copy of the Gude and Godlie Ballates which the 
 Scottish Text Societ}^ reprinted in 1897. 
 
 Brantome, who accompanied Mary to Scotland in 1561, 
 complains of the state of artistic music in Edinburgh. The 
 queen on the night of her arrival w^as entertained, he says, 
 'by five or six hundred ragamuffins (marants) of the town 
 playing on violins and rebecs out of tune ', and he exclaims 
 ' quelle musique ! et quel repos pour le mint ! ' On the 
 same occasion Knox is enthusiastic, and remarks 'on the 
 cumpaine of most honest men with instruments of music 
 who saluted the queen at her chamber w'indow^', from 
 which it maybe assumed that the musical taste of Knox and 
 Brantome differed. 
 
 At this time the Scots government summarily disposed of 
 the makers of ballads. ' Ane Wilson servant to the bischope ^ 
 of Dunkeld, quha nether knew the new testament nor the 
 auld, made a dispytful railing ballad against the preichouris 
 and a governour for the whilk he narrowly escaped hanging.' 
 Knox's Historie. 
 
 Considering the strong measures to put down ballad 
 writing, it is not surprising that few copies now exist. But 
 a number have been preserved, chiefly in the State Paper 
 Office. The attention of the EngHsh government and the 
 importance attached to metrical writings are sufficiently 
 suggestive. On April 19, 1567, the Scottish parliament 
 
_xvi IXTRODUCTION 
 
 passed an Act forbidding * placardes and ballads to be put up 
 in public places, ordaining that all persons who find such 
 are to destroy them, failing which they are to be punished 
 }__^ as vigourously as the writers of the ballads '. The broad- 
 sides were then hawked about the country, and the name is 
 preserved of at least one chapman, viz. John Finheavin, 
 who trafficked in the year 1570 between Edinburgh and 
 Montrose {Semple's Ballates, p. xi). Proscription could not 
 stop the writing nor the circulation of ballads, for 
 Throgmorton, the English Ambassador, exactly two months 
 after the Act was passed, enclosed to Queen Elizabeth the 
 copy of one published on July 17, 1567, 'made in metre, 
 published and sent abroad into all parts, and registered in 
 every man's heart, and uttered in every man's mouth ' 
 {Keith's History, Spottiswood Soc, ed. ii, 685). This 
 ballad has not been identified, but it may have been an 
 anonymous one without an imprint, impeaching the chief 
 actors in the murder of Darnley, beginning 'Adew all 
 glaidnes sport and play ' {Sempill Ballates, p. 14). In the 
 following year, when Bothwell and others— tried for the 
 murder — were discharged and the subordinates were 
 executed, satirical ballads were affixed to the doors of the 
 Privy Council and the Regent's house (Keith, ii. 788). In 
 that year the Regent Morton hung a schoolmaster for 
 writing a ballad on him, entitled Daff and dow nothing. Two 
 years later the wife of that same ballad writer imprecated 
 ^^y- Morton as he was being conducted to the castle in disgrace. 
 
 The two important collections of old Scottish poetr3'', the 
 Bannatyne MS., 1568, and the Maitland MS., 1586, contain a 
 few vernacular songs. Of these The Wyf of Auchtermuchty 
 and The Wooing of J ok and Jenny ^ both humorous, are the 
 best known. The Cherrie and the Slae, by Alexander Mont- 
 gomerie (which is not in the Bannaytine MS., although 
 often so stated), is directed to be sung to the tune of The 
 Banks of Helicon. 
 
 Up to the time of Queen Mary the literature of Scotland 
 maintained its place as a distinct branch of the Angleish 
 
SCOTTISH SONG PRIOR TO BURNS 
 
 xvu 
 
 language. The brilliant period of Scottish poetry closed / 
 with Sir David Lindsay of the Mount. Knox was the first 
 notable author who wrote in the language of the South, and 
 his History of the Reformation marks an epoch in Scottish 
 literature. 
 
 The poets of the reign of James I, of whom the chief \ 
 were Drummond of Hawthornden, Sir Robert Aytoun, \ 
 Sir William Alexander, and Alexander Hume, wrote 
 sonnets, madrigals, and other conventional poetry in j 
 Engi/s/i, and idiomatic Scottish is altogether absent from 
 their works. Descriptions of the climate, the clouds, the 
 bloom of the heather or the whin, and the idiosyncrasies 
 of the nation, are not in the language of the country, and 
 convey no special meaning applicable to Scotland. 
 
 Speaking and thinking in one language and writing in 
 another, Scottish authors lost ready and easy expres- 
 sion ; and Sydney Smith's proverbial accusation, that it 
 required a surgical operation to get a joke into a Scotch- 
 man's head, was true in one sense, but otherwise entirely 
 wrong. The written and unwritten vernacular songs, and 
 the chap book tales, prove that humour and satire were 
 the predominant features of the native Scots. These fugitive 
 but precious scraps tell how the people felt and acted, and 
 though rude, uncultivated, and coarse many of them are, they 
 depict the passions and the foibles of the nation in a manner 
 not found elsewhere. 
 
 In the year 1600, before James left Scotland, he sen- 
 tenced the writer of a pasquil ' to have his tongue cuttit out 
 at the rute ' and afterwards to be hung. The tongue-cutting 
 was revoked, but the unfortunate libeUist was hung as usual 
 (Dom. Annals, i. 321). Shakespeare, in Much Ado about 
 Nothing, compares wooing to a Scotch jig—' hot and hasty 
 as a Scotch jig ' (Act ii. Sc. i.). Dryden, speaking of Chaucer's 
 Tales, said that, although the voice of the author is not 
 deemed harmonious to a modern audience, there is a rude 
 sweetness of a Scotch tune in it which is natural and 
 pleasing, though not perfect (Danney, p. 19). In the 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Scowrrrs of Shadwell, c. 1670, one of the characters says : 
 ' And for music ... it may be a Scotch song more hideous 
 and barbarous than an Irish cronan' (Ddiwnty's Dissertation). 
 One of the earliest English imitations of a Scots song is two 
 or three lines in Richard Browe's comedy, The Northern 
 Lass, 1632, as follows: — 
 
 * A bonny bird I had 
 And I wo' not go to't 
 Nor I mun not go to't.' 
 
 In D'Urfey's last collected edition of Wit and Mirth, or 
 Pills to purge Melancholy, 1719-20, there are about eighty 
 Anglo-Scottish songs. They are either original, or English 
 parodies on Scottish songs set to music, some to original 
 melodies by professional musicians, and others to ' a Scotch 
 tune ', ' a pretty Scotch ayre ', or other similar title. One of 
 the earliest English songs on the Scots was written about 
 1640. A copy is in Antidote against Melancholy, i66t, p. 29, 
 entitled Blew Cap for Me, the refrain of which is ' If ever 
 I have a man, blew cap for me '. It stands almost alone in 
 flattering the nation. 
 
 Until the beginning of this century no Scottish musical 
 manuscripts were known to exist. The principal collections 
 since discovered of the seventeenth century, all without 
 words, are the Stiloch MS., 1627, Skene's MS., c. 1640, 
 Mure's MS., early in the same century, with a few others. 
 They are not only valuable as music, but as evidence of 
 songs, most of which are no longer extant. Many of the 
 titles evidently belong to songs prior to the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 War and poverty were the normal condition of Scotland 
 for centuries, and the small number of broadsides and pieces 
 of fugitive literature which remain has raised doubts as to 
 whether Scotland was not largely indebted to England for 
 many of its songs and melodies. The English ballad editors 
 of recent years have done thorough work in excavating the 
 immense ballad quarry of the seventeenth centurj' ; and, 
 
SCOTTISH SOXG PRIOR TO BURXS xix 
 
 finding in English broadsides and collections expressions 
 
 and burdens common to both countries, they have assumed 
 
 and stated in more or less precise terms that the vernacular 
 
 songs of Scotland have been borrowed from Anglican 
 
 sources. This is not the place to discuss the subject,^ but 
 
 I have formed the following conclusions : — (i) That many 
 
 songs and melodies were common to both countries, ar.d 
 
 that each reciprocally contributed to the mass, the precise 
 
 nature of which has not yet been ascertained. England had 
 
 printed songs and tunes when Scotland had nothing of the 
 
 kind. The first miscellaneous collection of ostensible Scottish 
 
 verse was only published in 1706, and the first published 
 
 collection of Scottish music was printed in London in 1700. 
 
 (2) That there could not be references and parodies or 
 
 imitations of Scottish music and poetry in England unless 
 
 there had been originals. (3) That the ' hot and hasty 
 
 Scotch jig' of Shakespeare, the Scotch tune comparison 
 
 of Chaucer's tales, the ' strange musick ' of Pepys, the 
 
 numerous Anglo- Scottish songs in English books for 'pretty 
 
 Scotch tunes ', with the titles of tunes and remains of songs 
 
 in Scottish books from the thirteenth centurj', are without 
 
 meaning unless on the assumption that song and music 
 
 were conspicuously before the writers who referred to them. 
 
 Those songs named in manuscripts and elsewhere, which 
 
 have been preserved, prove that many more existed in some 
 
 form. Songs referred to in history, in chronicles, in sermons, 
 
 in music books, and in English publications, denounced in 
 
 presbyteries, anathematised by ecclesiastics, and prohibited 
 
 by Acts of Parliament, are circumstantial evidence that many 
 
 existed which are now lost. The vernacular writers of the 
 
 seventeenth century are represented b}^ Robert Semple of 
 
 Belltrees, the author of the humorous poem Saiiiiy Bn'ggs, 
 
 in what is now known as the standard Scottish rime, by 
 
 his Bohemian son Francis Semple, the reputed author of the 
 
 ^ In Chapter XI o( Scoih's/i Vernacular Literature, byT. F. Henderson, 
 is a sound contribution on traditional ballads and songs, but the author 
 has not made so much use of the tune titles as he might have done. 
 
 b2 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 songs Mns;nrir Laitdn- and The Blythcsome Bridal, and by 
 William Hamilton, of Gilbcrtfield, the author of Bouuy Heck 
 and a popular paraphrase of Harry the Minstrel's Wallace. 
 In the last year of the century the first ostensible collection 
 of Scottish music of any kind was issued by Henry Playford, 
 in London, under the title of Original Scotch Tunes full of 
 the Highland Humour, &^c. (1700), a small volume for the 
 violin, of which only one copy is known. 
 
 Of the subject under discussion, the printing of song-books 
 and music, and a recrudescence of dancing in Scotland, were 
 the chief traits in the eighteenth century. The impulse of 
 the revival of the vernacular cannot be understood without 
 taking politics into account. The union of the countries in 
 1704 was distinctly unpopular in Scotland ; the people 
 brooded on the past, and looked with suspicion on linking 
 their old autonomous state with a 'predominant partner'. 
 The}'' took offence on small provocation. An increased 
 taxation of beer barrels, collected by English excisemen, 
 indirectly caused the Porteous and other riots. The Low- 
 landers were not Jacobites, but they gave no assistance to 
 ,the Government in putting down the rebellions. In the 
 ' Edinburgh theatre, in 1745, some English officers caused 
 a riot by unwisely calling on the orchestra to play the 
 English tune Culloden. Some of the most violent, sarcastic 
 Jacobite songs were written by patriots who did not care 
 two straws for the cause. Even Burns in his prime, though 
 distant forty years from the last rebellion, wrote from his 
 heart songs which his head faintly excused. Sir Walter 
 Scott astonished the House of Commons by his perfervid 
 defence of one-pound bank notes. All these things arose 
 from a strong sense of nationalit}'', which caused the country 
 to break out instinctively into song. 
 
 The first publication of miscellaneous Scottish verse is 
 Watson's Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots 
 Poems, 1706-11. It contains some artificial verse of the 
 scholastic Scottish poets, with a selection of vernacular folk 
 poetry. Much of the copy was obtained from broadsides of 
 
SCOTTISH SONG PRIOR TO BURXS xxi 
 
 the seventeenth centurj'', and, as Maidment observed, it is a 
 pit}^ the editor did not print more of the vernacular ballads 
 and songs which then existed. It was from Watson's 
 collection that D'Urfey got his cop}^ of The Blythesome 
 Bridal, in the Pills, containing very curious errors owing 
 to the printer s ignorance of the Scottish language. 
 
 The Tea-Tahle Miscellany, begun in 1724, was the first real 
 collection of songs. Allan Ramsaj;. the editor and part- 
 author, was on familiar terms with the litterati of Edinburgh, 
 who frequented his shop and contributed to the collection. 
 Ramsay marked the old songs with a Z or O, but he does 
 not say how he obtained them. Doubtless he could have 
 increased the number, but, as the title of his book indi- 
 cates, A Choice Collection of Scots and English Songs, he 
 included a considerable number of English songs to suit 
 the taste of his readers. The collection had an extra- 
 ordinary sale, and five editions were called for in four 
 years. The whole work consists of four volumes, the first 
 published in 1724, the second in 1725, the third in 1727, and 
 the last in 1740. The latest edition in the eighteenth century 
 was the eighteenth, in 1792. Ramsay had startled the 
 Scottish public in 1724 with The Evergreen, a selection of 
 old Scottish poetry. It excited the curiosity of the cultured 
 classes, and eventually led to the public discovery of the 
 Bannatyne MS., from which Ramsay obtained his material 
 for the work, and to the foundation of the Bannatyne Club, 
 the first and the best of Scottish literary societies for the 
 publication of old authors. The Charmer in 1749, and a 
 second edition in two volumes in 1752, added to the list of 
 vernacular songs ; but, like Ramsay, the editor, I. Gair, 
 looked to England for support, and many English song^/ 
 are in the collection. In 1769 Ancient and Modern Scots 
 Songs appeared, and in 1776 a second enlarged edition in 
 two volumes, with a slightly different title, Ancient and 
 Modern Scottish Songs. It is probably unique as the only 
 song book without music published in Scotland in the 
 eighteenth century which professedly contains only Scottish 
 
 v/ 
 
 / 
 
xxu 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 V 
 
 songs. David Herd, tlic compiler, an antiquarian well 
 known in Edinburgh as Gnystccl, had for some years been 
 collecting the waifs and strays of vernacular verse. His 
 MS. is now in the British Museum, and it contains a few 
 fragmentary ballads and songs still unpublished. It passed 
 throush the hands of several editors of ballads— Sir Walter 
 Scott, the Ettrick Shepherd, and W. Stenhouse, for 
 example— and was lately examined by the editors of the 
 Centenary Burns, who showed that Burns, knew the MS,, 
 which he probably saw when he was in Edinburgh. Herd's 
 collection is undoubtedly the most important of Scottish song 
 books without music, and the three collections named are 
 t^^pical of the continuous stream which issued from the 
 press in England and Scotland. The original single ballad 
 broadsides of the sixteenth century grew into chap book 
 garlands of eight pages, vended by the packmen and the 
 hawker, and culminated in the three thick volumes of the 
 Universal Songster, containing upwards of five thousand 
 miscellaneous songs of the three countries, with illustrations 
 b}^ George and Robert Cruikshank. 
 
 The miscellaneous printed collections of Scottish music, 
 which originated in the eighteenth century, can be divided 
 into three groups :—(i) Songs; (2) Instrumental Tunes or 
 Airs ; and (3) Dances. The music of all primitive peoples 
 was used indiscriminately for both the song and the dance, 
 and for the present purpose it is immaterial which came 
 first. It does not follow that because a tune is first found 
 in an instrumental music book that it was not originally a 
 melody which accompanied some previous verses. The 
 titles of Scottish instrumental tunes prove the contrary, and 
 hundreds of these tunes are evidently melodies which all 
 song writers before and after Burns utilized. 
 
 The first group of Scottish musical publications was a 
 small quantity until 1787, when the first volume of Johnson's 
 Museum was issued. The premier collection of songs was 
 the Orpheus Caledonius, published in London, 1725-26. The 
 compiler, William Thomson, was a professional vocalist. 
 
SCOTTISH SOXG PRIOR TO BURNS xxiii 
 
 resident in London, who, as ' Dan Thomson's boy ', took 
 part in the Edinburgh St. Ceciha Festival of 1695. He had 
 sung before the Queen, to whom he dedicated his folio 
 voluroe'of fifty songs, which he increased by another fifty 
 in the second edition of his work in two octavo volumes 
 in 1733. The music in the Orpheus is free from the florid 
 interpolations of the subsequent tune books, and on that 
 account is particularly interesting. The next publication 
 was a venture by Allan Ramsa}--, about 1726, to compete with 
 the Orpheus. Ramsay was annoyed with Thomson, who 
 pilfered words from the Tea-Table Miscellany for his tunes ; 
 but the Musick for Allan Ramsay's Collection of Scots Songs 
 was a failure, and only the first six volumes was issued. 
 
 With the exception of reprints of Bremner's Songs and 
 other folio sheets, no other collection can be named than 
 The Musical Miscellany, Perth, 1786, which is remarkable as 
 the first pocket song book with music published in Scotland, 
 and also as that from which Burns obtained the hitherto 
 undiscovered original of his song O, open the Door. The 
 editor of the collection, an A. Smith, dedicated it formally to 
 the Provost, Bailies and Town Council of Perth, a recog- 
 nition of civic dignitaries not possible in the present da}'. 
 In the following year (1787) the first volume of the Scots 
 Musical Museum was published. Of the song books in 
 England containing Scottish melodies which followed the 
 Musetan, it is unnecessary here to speak, except to name 
 one of the most sumptuous Enghsh collections, The Musical 
 Entertainer, 1737, in two large folio volumes, engraved 
 throughout on steel, with an illustration, ornamental scroll- 
 work, music, and verses on each page. 
 
 The earliest of the second group of Scottish music books 
 was about 1730, when Adam Craig, an old violin player, 
 published in Edinburgh a Collection of Scots Tunes. This was 
 followed by numerous others of the same kind, as music for 
 particular instruments, such as the violin, the flute, the 
 hautbo}', the harpsichord, and (after the year 1780) the 
 pianoforte. The most important is the Caledonian Packet 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 Companion, edited hy I. Oswald, a professional musician, 
 resident in London, who sent out the first volume in 1740. 
 Eight volumes were finished in 1756, but the work in twelve 
 numbers or volumes, containing about 500 tunes, was not 
 completed until considerably later. In 1746 William 
 Mc Gibbon began to issue Books of Scots Tunes, and the 
 whole collection with additions is a volume of 120 pages, 
 about 1762. In 1781 a Presbyterian Parish Minister, 
 Patrick McDonald, published a scholarly collection of 
 Highland Vocal Airs. Between 1782 and 1788 a Selection of 
 Scotch, English, Irish, and Foreign Airs in three volumes was 
 published, and other three volumes followed. These 
 represent the numerous collections of instrumental music 
 furnished for the delectation of the Scottish people last 
 century. 
 
 The third group, comprising dance books, as a branch of 
 aesthetics is exceedingly interesting. For a long period of 
 time the Scots have been famed for an intense love of 
 dancing. The precise nature of penny weddings in the 
 seventeenth century is obscure, but in the eighteenth they 
 were often merely rustic balls, at which each one present 
 contributed a small sum to pay the cost of the music and the 
 incidental expenses. The violin has been the social musical 
 instrument in Scotland for very many years, and the players 
 have been very numerous in town and country. They never 
 had the honour of holding civic appointments like the pipers, 
 for the authorities held the fiddlers in contempt, but they 
 were always in demand for social music. At balls, the 
 fiddler was seated on a table in a corner of the room, and 
 a free supply of liquor was part of his fee. Allan, the 
 Scottish painter, has represented a ball room with a portrait 
 of Niel Gow, the ' famous fiddler frae the North ', seated as 
 described. The Scots loved dancing for its own sake, not, 
 as in other countries generally, as a means of social inter- 
 course. The peasantry after a hard day's work would walk 
 many miles to a 'penny wedding', dance till daylight, and 
 return only in time for work. The rage for dancing in the 
 
SCOTTISH SONG PRIOR TO BURNS xxv 
 
 eighteenth century in Edinburgh, for example, is scarcely 
 realized. The most fashionable assemblies were governed 
 b}^ a female t3Tant, who ruthlessly forbade entrance to all 
 but the cream of society. The Duchess of Gordon, in 
 Burns' time, acted in this capacity. All ranks and conditions 
 had their coteries and assemblies, and professional teachers 
 abounded. Captain Topham, an English officer, describes 
 how he buried himself in a corner of a ball room to escape 
 the violent exercise of Scottish dancing. In his letter of 
 April 20, 1775, he states that the ladies sit entirely un- 
 moved at the air of an English country dance, but the 
 moment a reel tune is played they start up as if they had 
 been bitten by a tarantula, and a corpulent lady ' shall 
 bounce off her seat and frisk, and fly about the room'. He 
 also states that everybod}^ dances except the ministers, and 
 that he has seen ' a learned professor forgetting all his 
 gravity, and dance to the best of his abilities '. He compares 
 the French peasant to the Scottish ploughman, who 
 refreshes himself with a fatiguing dance. 
 
 The music sellers amply supplied Scottish dance music 
 in the latter half of the century. The first printed dance 
 book, Bremner's Collection of Scots Reels or Country-dances, 
 published in Edinburgh in 1757, was followed by a con- 
 tinuous stream, and the earliest mention of ' Strathspey ' is 
 on the title page of Dow's Thirty-seven New Reells and 
 Strathspeys, &^c., c. 1775. The Reel of Aves is named 
 in the seventeenth century, and the Strathspey obtained its 
 title from the Spey district, where it was mostly danced. 
 The names are synonymous : the reel has equal notes in 
 the bar, and is danced quicker than the Strathspey, which 
 has the peculiar jerky movement in the music known as the 
 Scotch snap, so much imitated in the Italian opera of last 
 centur3^ 
 
 Such was the atmosphere Burns was born and bred in ; 
 he inherited his countrymen's love of dancing and singing. 
 A rem.arkable class of song writers which may be properly 
 noticed here preceded and followed Burns. The songs of 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 Scotland are supposed to bclongto the soil, but they certainly 
 are not all of it ; with the anonymous there are kings, peers, 
 priests, parsons, presbyters on the roll of the vernacular 
 song writers of Scotland, as well as farmers, ploughmen, 
 shoemakers, fiddlers, milkmaids and alewives, down to the 
 outcast of society, whom Burns named as the author of 
 ' O'er the Muir amang the heather '. Whether or not 
 James IV wrote The Gaberlunzie Man, the universal belief 
 that he might have done so is sufficient for the purpose. 
 A considerable number of the most admired vernacular 
 songs of the eighteenth century were written by ladies of 
 rank, and it would be difficult to imagine authors of the 
 same class in England, such as the Baroness Nairn of 
 The land o' the leal-, Lady Grizzle Baillie of Were na my 
 heart licht I wad die ; Lady Wardlaw of Gilderoy : 
 Mrs. Grant of Carron of Roy's Wife ; Mrs. Cockburn of 
 77?^ flowers o' the forest ; Miss Jane Elliot of Vve heard 
 a lilting, and others. The democratic spirit has always been 
 more strongly developed in the North than in England, and 
 these song writers are evidence of the sympathy which ran 
 through the whole social scale of Scotland. 
 
II. BURNS AND HIS SONGS 
 
 One of the most considerable British men of the eighteenth V 
 century. — Carlyle, Burns : Edinburgh Review^ 1828. 
 
 Why is he great, but from this, that his own songs at once found 
 susceptible ears among his compatriots ; that sung by reapers and 
 sheaf-binders, they at once greeted him in the field, and that his 
 boon companions sang them to welcome him at the alehouse ? 
 
 The life of Burns is so well known that it would be 
 superfluous to repeat here anything not strictly applicable 
 to his musical ability as an expert and an authority on 
 Scottish Song. Burns was born in 1759, or two years after 
 the first printed collection of Scottish dance music, and 
 seven years before Percj^'s Reliqites of Ancient Poetry was 
 published. He died in 1796, and his life was circumscribed 
 by the last half of the eighteenth century, which was the 
 classical age of the revival of popular poetr}', as it was also 
 the period when every class of society in Scotland vigorously 
 danceddBurns established the folk music of Scotland as well^ 
 as Its vernacular poetry. His literary fecundity was all the 
 more phenomenal when it is remembered that he wrote his- 
 "songs for specific melodies previously selected and studied^ 
 He had to consider their musical as well as their literal', 
 interpretation, and oftentimes he was puzzled to findj 
 suitable words and rhymes to fit the music of some favourite) 
 melodies. Seven-eighths of his songs were written during 
 the last nine years of his life, when he was an unsuccessful 
 farmer and a gauger, riding often two hundred miles a week / 
 in the discharge of his duty. His best version of the ^ 
 Banks o' Doon, evolved and written in an uncomfortable 
 country inn, distracted b}' callers, is typical of the conditions 
 under which he wrote many of his best songs and letters. 
 Considering his circumstances with the amount of the 
 original literary work that he produced, it may truly be said 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 with Carlyle that he was the most considerable British poet 
 of his century. 
 
 Currie and Lockhart said nothing about Burns' musical 
 character, in fact, they implied that he had no musical gift, 
 and they left the public with the impression that he was 
 almost deaf to musical sounds. Whether the excellence of 
 Burns' songs is in any way due to a sense of music need not 
 /•. at present be discussed ; the fact remains that he had an 
 acute ear for music and was extremely sensitive to musical 
 sound. How did the misconception arise, and why was it 
 perpetuated ? When Currie was collecting material for the 
 life and works of Burns, he obtained a letter written by 
 Burns' schoolmaster, containing reminiscences of the poet 
 when he was a boy. The following is an extract from 
 Murdoch's letter on the education of Burns and his brother 
 Gilbert :— 
 
 ' I attempted to teach them a little church-music. Here they were 
 left far behind by all the rest of the school. Robert's ear was 
 particularly dull, and his voice untunable. It was long before 
 I could get them to distinguish one tune from another.' (Currie, 
 Works, 1800, i, 91.) 
 
 Currie apparently accepted this description of Murdoch's 
 pupils without further inquiry, although he had before him 
 all Burns' letters to George Thomson, containing the most 
 absolute proof of Burns' musical perception and critical 
 knowledge of Scottish music, and he made no attempt to 
 reconcile Burns' manhood with his musical dullness at the 
 age of seven years. The truth is that Currie disregarded 
 the musical character of Burns' songs altogether, and even 
 mutilated the most important musical letter to Thomson as 
 if of no consequence. Murdoch in the same paragraph as 
 that above quoted added ' that if any person who knew the 
 two boys had been asked which of them was the most 
 likely to court the Muses, he would surely never have 
 guessed that Robert had a propensity of that kind.' This 
 is one of the many examples showing how futile it is to 
 
BURXS AND HIS SONGS xxix 
 
 forecast the future. Burns is now famed throughout the 
 civiHzed world as one of the best song writers that ever 
 lived, while the belief in his want of tune, described at the 
 same time, has remained for more than a hundred years after 
 his death, in face of convincing proof to the contrary. Tacitly 
 acquiescing that Burns had a defective ear, Currie and 
 Lockhart led the public astray, and Tom Moore expressed 
 the general opinion. He was puzzled to account for the 
 phenomenal musical nature of Burns' songs, but accepted 
 the common judgement, and unconsciously gave currency to 
 the error in these words : — 
 
 ' Robert Burns was wholly unskilled in music, yet the rare art of 
 adapting words successfully^ to notes, of wedding verse in congenial 
 union with melody, which were it not for his example, I should say 
 none but a poet versed in the sister art ought to attempt, has yet by 
 him with the aid of a music to which my own country's strains are 
 alone comparable, exercised with so workmanly a hand, as w^ell as 
 with a variety of passion, playfulness, and power, as no song writer, 
 perhaps, but himself has ever yet displayed.' (Moore, Works, 
 1841, V. 21.) 
 
 The first to question the tonal dullness of Burns was 
 G. F. Graham, the author of the article ' Music ' in the 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica and the editor of Wood's Songs of 
 Scotland. He made inquiries about the j-ear 1842, and 
 a friend who knew Burns' sister elicited the information that 1 ^ 
 Burns played the violin and practised on it for several years, 
 that he knew musical notation, that he copied tunes and that 
 he could read them, that his favourite music was slow \f 
 pathetic airs, and as he never acquired rapid execution he 
 was not able to play quick dances. Graham was quahfied/ 
 to investigate evidence of this kind, and although he intended 
 to follow up the subject, he does not appear to have made 
 any further inquiries. Burns' violin has disappeared, but 
 the evidence of his sister is conclusive. Only two instances 
 occur in Burns' works that he was interested in the violin. 
 In the original manuscript of the Epistle to Davie, he w 
 addresses David Sillar as a 'brother fiddler and a brother 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION 
 
 poet'. Again, on April 22, 1791, he sent an anonymous 
 letter to Sharpc of Hoddam, in which he says ' I am a 
 fiddler and a poet, and you, I am told, play 'oin exquisite 
 violin,' &c. At this time he was busy writing songs for the 
 Scots Musical Museum, and the letter partly explains why 
 he was competent to send copies of traditional and published 
 tunes to Johnson. 
 
 He gave away the Sonatas of Stephen Clarke, which were 
 presented to him. The only opportunity he had of hearing 
 artistic concerted music was in Edinburgh, at the house of his 
 friend, the Rev. Dr. Lawrie of Newmilnes, whose daughter 
 was an accomplished pianist. In Edinburgh, where 
 Miss Lawrie was visiting, Burns often called to hear her 
 play, and at this time he probably heard a performance of 
 Handel's The Messiah, the pathos of which he mentions in 
 one of his letters. That is about all which can be affirmed 
 of Burns' education in artistic music. 
 
 For abstract classical music he had no taste, and he was 
 not educated to appreciate the performance of intricate 
 compositions. Chambers' description of Burns as a vocalist 
 is incorrect. He had a harsh, not an unmusical voice, which 
 V is quite a different thing. He was conscious of the defect, 
 and he exclaims in a letter to Hill, March 2, 1790, 
 'Heaven knows we are no singers!' Rough, or even 
 incorrect intonation, may be due either to an unmusical ear, 
 of which Sir Walter Scott was an example, or to some 
 physical defect in the vocal chords, of which Burns was an 
 example, and it is a superficial and vulgar idea to assert that 
 a person who cannot sing is unmusical without taking other 
 things into account. If it is true, then the greatest song 
 composer that ever lived was not a musician. Franz 
 Schubert, whose life and career resembled that of Burns 
 in many ways, had an unpleasant voice, and his companions 
 preferred that he would not sing his own superb songs. 
 Chambers was evidently unconscious of the higher sense of 
 the musical faculty, and he probably would have compared 
 Burns unfavourably with a witless young lady at the 
 
BURNS AND HIS SONGS xxxi 
 
 pianoforte who has a bravura composition at her finger 
 tips, or to a warbhng drawing-room tenor singer who does 
 not know the meaning of the words he sings. 
 
 Burns kept a commonplace book in which he entered 
 some of his earh^ songs and his reflections on Scottish 
 poetry and music. His first song there, as he states, was for 
 the favourite reel tune of the girl whom he celebrated 
 (see Song No. i, post). At the close of his manuscript, where 
 he refers to a tune which he composed when he was 
 suffering from a pressure of misfortunes, he says, ' "Twas at 
 this same time I set about composing an air in the old ^ 
 Scotch style. I am not musical scholar enough to prick 
 down my tune properly, so it can never see the light, and 
 perhaps 'tis no great matter' [Com. Book, 1872, 53). So 
 far as is known he never again tried to compose an original / 
 air, a course which need not be regretted in sight of the 
 wealth of Scottish music which lay around with unprinted 
 verses. ^-^ 
 
 Burns learnt the rudiments of music in his youth at the 
 Kirk practisings of sacred music. These meetings were 
 decayed survivals of the ' Sang Schools ' of the sixteenth and 
 seventeeth centuries, where the elements of music were 
 theoretically and practicall}' taught in Scotland as a branch 
 of education at the public expense. The Act of Pariiament, 
 1579, under which they were established, declares that they 
 were to be erected to expand the S3"stem already carried on 
 at the colleges ; it further requested the provost, baillies, &c., 
 *to sett up ane sang scill with ane master sufficient and able 
 for instruction of the youth in the Science of Musik.' 
 Eveny" important borough in Scotland had its school with 
 cultured music masters, of whom two at least became 
 bishops. These national institutions fell into decay about 
 the beginning of the eighteenth century ; that of Aberdeen 
 lasted to the year 1749. After their extinction the musical 
 training in Scotland did not entirely cease, but was conducted 
 under another and less scientific form. Where the Kirk 
 precentor was active and enthusiastic, meetings at regular 
 
xxxii ly TR OD UCTION 
 
 intervals were held in the parish school or elsewhere more 
 convenient, for elementary instruction in music and the 
 practice of psalm tunes used in the Presbyterian service, 
 and in such manner Burns was initiated into the art which 
 enabled him to pursue the subject further (Currie, Works, 
 1800, i. 11). 
 
 In his seventeenth year he attended a dancing school 
 ' to give his manners a brush ', and by so doing offended his 
 father. The Tarbolton Club, founded later, combined 
 dancing with the intellectual diversions of debate. Burns 
 was reputed one of the lightest and most active dancers of 
 his time, and his accurate sense of rhythm was one of his 
 accomplishments. It has been assumed that he was 
 deficient in the sense. Burns knew what rime, measure, 
 and accent were, and often purposely neglected them. The 
 following extract is to the point. He says : — 
 
 ' There is a certain irregularity in the Old Scotch Songs, a redun- 
 dancy of syllables with respect to that exactness of accent and 
 measure that the English Poetry requires, but which glides in, most 
 melodiously with the respective tunes to which they are set ... . 
 This particularly is the case with all those airs which end with 
 a hypermetrical syllable. There is a degree of wild irregularity hx 
 many of the compositions and fragments which are daily sung to 
 them by my compeers, the common people— a certain happy arrange- 
 ment of Old Scotch Syllables, and yet very frequently nothing not 
 even like rhyme or sameness of jingle at the end of the lines.' 
 {Com. Book, p. 48,) 
 
 He says that he tried to imitate this rhythmical irregularity 
 in Montgomeries Peggy, the first stanza of which is : — 
 
 * Altho' my bed were in yon muir 
 Amang the heather, in my plaidie 
 Yet happy, happy would I be 
 Had I my dear Montgomery's Peggy.' 
 
 Other examples of a similar kind can readily be found in 
 his songs, but a further entry in his Commonplace Book 
 attests his attitude towards rime, where he says that 
 ' it might be possible for a Scotch poet, with a nice judicious 
 
BURXS AXD HIS SOXGS xxxiii 
 
 ear, to set compositions to many of our most favourite 
 airs, independent of rhj-me altogether' {Com. Book, 
 p. 49). 
 
 The Scots Musical Museum conveyed to the world the 
 largest number of Burns' characteristic songs in the com- 
 plete or musical form in which he wished them to appear. 
 Indeedj^it is the only place where the songs can be found 
 in the complete form as he intended them to be printed. 
 His connexion with the Museum was not merely an incident_^ 
 but an important part of his biography. Excepting the first \. 
 volume, issued before he knew Johnson, the proprietor, and 
 the songs in the last volume, published six years after his 1 
 death, the whole of the literary and musical contributions 
 were submitted to him for revisal and correction, and 
 printed with his approval. In this remark I include his 
 songs in the posthumous fifth volume, which were engravedi 
 and practicall}^ ready for pubncation at the time of hi^ 
 death. 
 
 Burns' literary connexion with the Museum has been 
 several times described, but no special attention has been^ 
 directed to his musical interest in it. From the middle of 
 1787 to September, 1792, he scarcely did anything else than 
 for this musical collection. The next and last four 3'ears of 
 his life were divided between the Museum and Thomson's 
 projected Scofish Airs, and to the altered conditions under^ 
 which he wTote his songs for Thomson is due the long series 
 of letters chiefly remarkable for a description of his musical 
 taste and his strong predilections for Scottish music. Burns 
 really became famous as a song writer only through the 
 two music books for which he contributed so largely. In 
 the last authorized edition of his works, 1794, only twelve 
 songs are printed, at a time when he had contributed 250 
 specially for Johnson and Thomson. Be the reason what it 
 may, all his songs in the Scots Musical Museum were either 
 completely anonymous, or the authorship was concealed by 
 various initials, which Burns only partly revealed privately 
 to correspondents. 
 
 c 
 
V 
 
 xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Scots Musical Museum contains six hundred songs, 
 words and music, in six volumes of one hundred songs 
 each. The preface to the first volume, published in 1787, 
 before Burns took an active part in the work, intimates that 
 it was under the direction of 'a number of gentlemen of 
 taste, who have been pleased to encourage, assist, and adorn 
 the whole literary part of the performance'. Among these 
 gentlemen were Drs. Beattie and Blacklock, and W. Eraser 
 Tytler, the historian ; but in the subsequent volumes only 
 Dr. Blacklock remained to furnish songs under the favour of 
 'Burns. The first volume includes numerous English or 
 Anglo-English songs and melodies, and many reprints of 
 Scottish songs, with some originals, but the specific Scottish 
 flavour, which Burns afterwards impressed on the collection, 
 was wanting, and but for his assistance the collection would 
 have been no better than its predecessors. Burns effected 
 a complete change in the character of the work, and he 
 was the spirit which moved it, and even the technical 
 musical editor and the composer of the figured bass of the 
 tunes had to take a second place to Burns in the selection 
 and arrangement of the airs for insertion. 
 
 Burns first met Johnson in the spring of 1787, after the 
 first volume was published, and he soon settled in Edinburgh 
 for several months, apparently for no other purpose than to 
 render the voluntary assistance to Johnson which he had 
 promised. His intense industry at this time was remark- 
 able, and the numerous references to the Museum in his 
 letters show that the work was constantly in his mind. He 
 told the venerable author of Tullochgormn that he was abso- 
 lutely crazed about the Museum,, and hoped Skinner would 
 allow him to print some of his songs ^ (Works, iv. 294). At 
 this time Burns stayed more than three months in the house 
 of William Cruikshank, a master of the High School, Edin- 
 burgh, whose young daughter was a precocious musician. 
 
 ^ Unless otherwise stated the references here and in the succeeding 
 pne;es are to Scott-Douglas' Works of Robert Burns, Edinburgh : 
 William Patterson,. 1877-1879. 8vo, 6 vols. 
 
; 
 
 BURNS AND HIS SONGS xxxv 
 
 She often played to him the airs for which he was writing\ 
 verses, and he passed many hours hstening to the rh3^thm 
 and accent of the music, in order that he might correct his 
 verses and properly adapt them to the airs. Professor 
 Walker, referring to the end of October, 1787, said : — 
 
 ' I called for him at the house of a friend, whose daughter, although 
 not more than twelve, was a considerable proficient in music. 
 1 found him seated at the harpsichord, listening with the keenest 
 interest to his own verses, which she sang and accompanied, and; 
 adjusting them to the music by repeated trials of the effect. In this' 
 occupation he was so totally absorbed that it was difficult to draw^ 
 his attention from it for a moment.' {Works, iv. 292.) 
 
 The result was a large contribution of songs and ballads 
 written specially for the Museum for particular melodies, 
 about forty songs published in the second volume with a 
 preface, in February, 1788. The preface, also by Burns, 
 apologizes for the English songs in the first volume, and 
 closes by announcing that materials are nearly ready for 
 the third volume. 
 
 On November 15, 1789, he wrote to Johnson, informing 
 him that he saw that there would probably be four volumes 
 of his collection, and sent him a flaming preface for the/ 
 third volume, which made its appearance on February 2,/ 
 1790, where the poet is emphatic that the Museum 'is not 
 a publication merely to catch the eye of fashion, and the 
 editor has nothing to hope or fear from the herd of readers'.] 
 Burns contributed four traditional airs and nearly one half 
 of the songs in this volume. 
 
 The fourth volume, containing nearly fifty of his songs, 
 appeared in the middle of August, 1792. At this time he 
 was engaged in correcting for the press an edition of his 
 poems. At this period Clarke began to make professional 
 visits in Dumfries, and assisted Burns in selecting his tunes 
 and copying the notation of traditional airs. In the only 
 remaining letter to Johnson between the publication of the 
 third and fourth volumes, he sent a new copy of the music of 
 his song Craigiebuni, as he was extremely anxious to have 
 
 c 2 
 
^^xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 the song printed without delay with a correct copy of the 
 tune. 
 
 The correspondence relating to the fifth volume is more 
 copious and instructive. In October, 1793, he asks Johnson : 
 *Why did you not send me those tunes and verses that 
 Clarke and you cannot make out? Let me have them as 
 soon as possible!' {Works, vi. 92). Whatever may have 
 been the obscurity in the tunes here referred to, this 
 peremptory request is that of one in authority, and able 
 to explain musical manuscripts. Early in 1794 he forwarded 
 forty-one songs, and a few months later Johnson informed 
 him that the engraving of the fifth volume was begun. 
 Some time in 1795 he enclosed four new songs, and advised 
 Johnson that he had more than a dozen not quite finished, 
 at the same time requesting a copy of the tune Hazel Green, 
 so that he could write words for it. Burns died about six 
 months before the fifth volume was pubhshed, but it was 
 far advanced in the press, if not actually completed, at the 
 time of his death, and it is probable that he knew the whole 
 contents. With the loss of its editor the Museum languished. 
 and it took Johnson more than six years to complete the 
 posthumous last volume, although nearly one third of the 
 songs in it are the work of Burns. 
 
 The songs for the Museum are among the best that Burns 
 wrote. He was entirely unfettered in his choice of airs and 
 subjects, and his genius had free scope to revel in the kind 
 of realistic human lyrics which had enthralled his country- 
 men for generations past. 
 
 The greater part of Johnson's manuscripts, up to the last 
 volume, are in the British Museum. All those of the sixth 
 volume are missing, but most of these are in the hands 
 of private collectors, and only a few are now unknown. 
 The manuscripts have been several times examined and 
 described, but the poet's autograph notes, explaining where 
 the airs are to be found and how the music of his songs is to 
 be printed, have been almost ignored. A short selection of 
 extracts will enable the reader to form a judgement on the 
 
BURXS AND HIS SOXGS xxxvii 
 
 rest. The verses of one are written on ruled music paper. 
 He directs in another how the music of the chorus is to 
 be printed with the first or lowest part of the tune, and that 
 each verse must be repeated twice to go through the high or 
 second part. In a third he informs the pubhsher where the 
 particular set of the tune is to be found. He directs how, 
 in the music of An' O my Eppie, it is necessary to repeat 
 the tune. After the chorus, which begins €0,' the Yoives, he 
 copies the opening bar of the music to show how it should 
 be printed. He is dissatisfied with the arrangement of the 
 music of another, and encloses a better. For the tune 
 / hae been at Crookieden, he refers Johnson to ' Oswald's 
 Book sixth, first tune'. On the same sheet of Turn again, 
 thou fair Eliza, he has written a long and particular descrip- 
 tion of how some of the notes of the tune in McDonald's 
 Highland Airs are to be altered to suit the verses. He 
 enclosed the music of /'// ay cd' in by yon town with the 
 verses, and sa3's, ' This tune is evidently the old air We'll 
 gang nae mair to yon town, and I suspect it is not the best 
 set of the air; but in Bowie's and other collections the old 
 tune is to be found, and you can correct it bj- these copies.' 
 He requests Johnson to be sure to insert The tears I shed 
 must ever fall in the fourth volume, a song chiefly the work 
 of a Miss Cranstoun ; and then he describes that the first 
 part of the tune is sung twice— in the last line of the stanza 
 four sjdlables are repeated over again to answer the notes. 
 It would be tedious to expand these memoranda, and suffi- 
 cient has been said to show the care Burns took to have the 
 melodies printed in the manner in which they presented 
 themselves to his mind at the time of writing songs for 
 them. On the manuscript of Althd my back be at the wa' 
 the complete notation of the tune is copied with directions 
 where it is to be found in print. 
 
 Burns contributed at least 235 songs to the Mitseian, 
 as well as others not his own, and it is worth}' of remark 
 that during his life he is only mentioned in the Index 
 (and in two songs in the first volume) as the author of 
 
XXX\lll 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 about twelve songs. Nowhere in the text docs his name 
 appear, and his identity was concealed b}^ different initials, 
 and in most cases without a sign of anj'' kind. A postscript 
 to the preface of the posthumous fifth volume first informed 
 the public that ' there arc a number marked B and R, which 
 the editor is certain are Burns' compositions,' from which it 
 is evident that even Johnson was not aware of the extent of 
 Burns' original work. When the sixth and last volume was 
 published in 1803, a new general title-page for the whole 
 collection was engraved, and at the same time the words, 
 'Written for this work by Robert Burns,' were inserted 
 at the head of a considerable number of the songs. These 
 posthumous additions in the text of the later issues of the 
 second to the fifth volumes have always been quoted as 
 if they were there by Burns' authority, which is not the 
 case. 
 
 Less than a month after the fourth volume of the Museum 
 was published, George Thomson, a government clerk in 
 Edinburgh, an amateur violinist and vocalist, and furnished 
 with an introduction, applied to Burns for assistance in a 
 vocal collection that he proposed to publish. He wished 
 to improve the poetry of Scotland, and invited Burns to 
 - _ help him with twenty-five songs for particular melodies, 
 * which Thomson would choose. He explained that dis- 
 tinguished musicians would be engaged to compose new 
 and appropriate accompaniments for the airs, and that the 
 collection would be issued in handsome style to do credit 
 to the songs of Scotland. He wanted the new verses 
 written in English, or 'a sprinkling of Scotch might be 
 allowed ', and the vernacular was to be avoided as much 
 as possible, because, as he said, ' English becoming every 
 year more and more the language of Scotland ', or, as he 
 expressed himself on another occasion, ' Young people are 
 positively taught to consider it vulgar.' He did not neglect 
 the commercial side of the scheme, and imperatively told 
 one of his poets 'we must accommodate our verses to the 
 tastes of our readers '. On this principle he scrupled to print 
 
BURiXS AXD HIS SONGS xxxix 
 
 Coniin ihro' the rye, as ' Young ladies might not like to sing 
 about kissing', and all through the long negotiations with 
 poets and musicians his correcting pen was guided b}- the 
 principles of trade and how his patrons would appreciate 
 his work. The scheme and the arrangement proposed to 
 Burns was entirely different from that for the Museum. He 
 was the declared apostle of vernacular Scottish poetry, and 
 preferred to wTite in it ; and what was of equal importance 
 to him, he was free to choose his melodies. Now he was to 
 have airs provided for him for which he was to write verses. 
 He foresaw many aesthetic differences between Thomson 
 and himself, but he immediatel}" accepted the proposal with 
 enthusiasm, but preser\-ed his independence b}' evading 
 the vague suggestion of remuneration, and telling Thomson 
 in an early stage of the correspondence that his songs 
 would be either priceless or worthless, and that they might 
 be either accepted or rejected, as he pleased, without offence. 
 ' I have long ago,' he saj^s, ' made up my mind as to my own 
 reputation in the business of authorship, and have nothing 
 to be pleased or offended at in your adoption or rejecting of 
 m}' verses ' {Works, vi. 221). Burns soon broke through the 
 arrangement by sending many songs for his favourite airs 
 not included in the original prospectus, upon which Thomson 
 resolved to include in his collection ' every Scotch air and 
 song worth singing'. How he went to work to rewrite the 
 whole Scottish anthology has been recently given to the 
 world in Thomson the friend of Burns} which is as amusing 
 as a comedy. The entire volume describes the negotiations 
 with poets and musicians, how Thomson engaged them, 
 paid them, instructed them, lectured them, corrected the 
 rhythm and language of their poetrj'', altered their music, 
 and quarrelled with them. Byron, Scott, Hogg. Campbell, 
 Joanna Baillie, Dr. Wolcot, and many others were impressed 
 into the corps to write verses, but one after another— some 
 
 ^ I am indebted to George Thomson, the friend of Bums, by 
 J. C. Kaddon. London, 1898, for the interesting correspondence so 
 freely quoted here ; but why the friend of Burns? 
 
 1/ 
 
xl INTRODUCTION 
 
 after onl}'' one trial — confessed how difficult it was to invent 
 for particular airs, and their inability to continue to con- 
 tribute. Burns was the onl}' one of the group of distinguished 
 men who died in harness of Thomson, and the wonder is, 
 not that he wrote so few dull songs for him, but that he sent 
 him so many brilliant ones. That he damaged his reputation 
 is evident from a few of his English songs, some of which 
 are as feeble as the Damon and Delia class in any Select 
 Songster oii\\G eighteenth century. 
 
 ^ Byron declined to write ' bad songs ', which ' would only 
 disgrace beautiful music ' after Burns and Moore, ' whom it 
 were difficult to imitate and impossible to equal.' The 
 irrepressible and irresponsible Ettrick Shepherd fitted 
 Jhomson to a hair as he said. He ' dashed a song down 
 on the slate ' while he w^as engaged at his dinner, and told 
 Thomson that ' if any of the stanzas did not please him he 
 could alter, or he could take all the choruses and amal- 
 gamate them into one '. Of a new song he had written for 
 the air Highland Laddie, Hogg thought he 'introduced Bony 
 and Blucher very happily ', but Thomson was not satisfied 
 that the song was complete, and requested Hogg ' to hitch 
 the Duke into the beginning of the stanza '. Lockhart, with 
 proper gravity, apologized for his ignorance of music, and 
 declined ; but Thomson persisted, and at last got several 
 sonss, which the author considered so bad that he would not 
 permit his name to be attached to them. Joanna Baillie was 
 more impatient, and objected to Thomson tinkering her 
 work. The literal editor criticized her Maid of Llanvellyn^ 
 and complained that she invented lakes in Wales, where- 
 upon the authoress informed him that if there were no lakes 
 it was so much the worse for Wales, and refused to alter 
 what she had written. She humorously told Thomson that 
 he might consider the lover to be a Cumberland man, and 
 that would put the song all right. When the poets of 
 distinction one by one retired, Thomson was obliged to go 
 to the minor gods of Parnassus to fill his poetical wallet. 
 One of the conceited mediocrities wrote to Thomson that 
 
a^ 
 
 BURNS AND HIS SONGS xli 
 
 he was ' sure both our names would go down to posterity 
 associated, as will yours and Burns'. 
 
 The evidence from the Thomson-Burns letters plainly \ 
 shows that Burns consistently wrote all songs for particular 
 melodies with the tune swimming in his brain. This is what 
 he had been doing for the previous four years for the 
 Museum ; it was no late afterthought, for before he was 
 known to the world at all he made the following entry in 
 his first Commonplace Book :—' These old Scottish airs are 
 so nobly sentimental that, when one would compose for 
 them, to soitf/i the tune, as our Scotch phrase is, over and \,>^ 
 
 over, is the readiest waj' to catch the inspiration, and raise ,{^^ v/^ 
 the bard into that glorious enthusiasm so strongly character- j / 
 istic of our old Scotch poetry ' (C. B., 1782, 52). A number of ' 
 years later, when Thomson asked him to write for the air . 
 Laddie lie near me, he declined on the following grounds : — jf_^ 
 ' I do not know the air ; and until I am complete master of aj 
 tune in my own singing (such as it is), I never can composej 
 for it. My 'way is : I consider the poetic sentiment corre- 
 spondent to my idea of the musical expression ; then choose 
 my theme ; then begin my stanza . . . humming every now j 
 and then the air with the verses I have framed' {Works, 
 vi. 274). Thomson overcame his scruples, and persuaded 
 him to write verses for the air which Burns described as not 
 worthy of his pen, and later withdrew the song. He pro- 
 bably disUked the air from which the song was written, and 
 never tried to assimilate it. He treated in the same way the 
 tune Caidd Kail, which was a great favourite of Thomson. 
 The first song for the tune he almost immediately suppressed, 
 and the second he said was not much better, and it shared 
 the same fate. These ineffective songs would always be 
 associated in his mind with the melodies which he disliked, 
 and probably accounts for their suppression. When he 
 relates his voluntary method of writing, it is invariably some 
 favourite melody that inspires the song. In a letter to Peggy 
 Chalmers he sa3'S that he is determined to pay a poetic com- 
 phment to her friend if he could ' hit upon some glorious 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Scotcli air' [Works, iv. 297). Again, once having written 
 a satisfactory song for a melody for Thomson's collection, he 
 is done with it. The vernacular Meg 0' the Mill was volun- 
 taril}' sent to Thomson, who thought it unsuitable, and asked 
 for a second version. The reply was that the poet was quite 
 Ipleased with what he had written, and he could not make 
 lanother for the same air [Works, vi. 291). He is more the 
 musician than the poet in remarking that it is better to have 
 mediocre verses for a favourite air than none at all. He was 
 nduced to write for the amateur compositions of his musical 
 friends as he did for some of Thomson's favourite tunes. 
 Here is the Glen was written for a poor air composed by a 
 lady friend. Thomson suggested another melody, which 
 Burns disapproved, and to console the publisher he said to 
 him that the measure of the air was so common he could 
 find five hundred English songs for his proposed melody. 
 With the verses of O saw ye bonie Lesley, he explains to 
 Thomson how the music should be divided to fit the verses, 
 and, to make his meaning quite clear, he copies the notation 
 of the first line of the music to show how the air should be 
 printed. This scrap of music is now among the Dalhousie 
 MSS. in Brechin Castle. He was not quite satisfied with 
 the music of O for ane and twenty Tarn, which had been 
 printed in the Museum with his verses, and he thought he 
 might induce Thomson to reprint the verses with the tune 
 corrected. He recommended him to hear some old fiddler 
 play the air, which he was sure would please {Works, vi. 313). 
 The advice was thrown away on Thomson, who perversely 
 set the song to the tune Up in the morning early, and not to 
 its own proper melody. Burns styled Robin Adair ' a 
 cramped, out-of-the-way measure, to which it is difficult to 
 write verses ' ; but he was successful in When larks on dewy 
 wing, and overcame in ' English ' the peculiarity of the 
 measure. In describing the simplicity of the air When 
 she cam ben she bobbit, he quotes the first stanza, and then 
 goes on, ' Let the harmony of the bass at the stops be full 
 and thin, and dropping through the rest of the air, and you 
 
BUR.XS AND HIS SOXGS xl 
 
 111 
 
 will give the tune a noble and striking eftect ' {Works, vi. 
 310). This is admirable, and nothing could be in better 
 taste. The repetition of an air on the pianoforte, with full 
 harmonics as an accompaniment of a simple song, is bar- 
 barous. The air in question, which Burns took particular 
 pains to describe, will be found in the notes to song No. 266. 
 His genius in the choice of a melody is illustrated in Hey 
 tiitti taiti for his song Scots wha hae. The melody was buried 
 in instrumental collections, and quite unnoticed except for 
 the verses of an unprinted Jacobite bacchanalian. A tradition 
 that Hey tittti taiti was plaj-ed at Bannockburn was sufficient 
 to draw Burns' attention to it. Thomson, and the committee 
 which assisted him in his collection, considered the air puerile 
 and quite unworth\^ of the Ode. After much suggested 
 tinkering. Burns was prevailed upon to reconstruct the song 
 by changing the metre, so that the verses might be adapted 
 to a dillerent melody. Professional musicians disagreed 
 from Burns as to the merits of his tune, so he altered the 
 verses to suit another, which he did not approve. The new 
 version was published posthumously, but when the public 
 discovered what had been done, it called for the original 
 version to be set to its own tune. Thomson then reprinted 
 the song with its original tune, and recanted his previous 
 opinion. 
 
 The trouble Burns took to write for particular airs is 
 emphasized when he stated to Thomson that he had been 
 tr\'ing to suit verses to Here's a health to them that's awa, 
 and of his favourite melody Rothiennirchtts, for which he 
 previously had written his charming song Lassie ivP the lint- 
 Tx'hite locks. He told his correspondent a few da3'S before his 
 death that the measure of the strathspey was so difficult, he 
 thought he had not infused much genius into Fairest maid on 
 D'vonbanks. The Thomson letters are full of musical obser- 
 vations, but the above extracts may be considered sufficient 
 for the present purpose. 
 
 Burns obtained the melodies of his songs chiefly froih' 
 instrumental tunes which he edited for vocal performance. 
 
xHv INTRODUCTION 
 
 In other words, he had to restore the airs to their primitive 
 state by cutting out the florid interpolations of the instru- 
 Jiiental editors. Very few of the tunes of Burns' songs had 
 
 Ibeen printed with words until they were set to his verses. 
 Old songs had perished ; others, for various reasons, had 
 never been published, and the tunes would have disappeared 
 with them had they not been preserved in the instrumental 
 collections under the titles of the songs. Previous to the 
 issue of the first volume of the Scots Musical Museum in 
 1787, not more than one hundred and thirty different 
 Scottish melodies had been printed with verses. The basis 
 of every Scottish song-book was the one hundred melodies 
 and verses published in the Orpheus Caledonius in 1733. \ 
 Every subsequent song-book copied selections from it, 
 with some new additions, which collectively did not 
 exceed the number named. The meaning of the numerous 
 remarks on the melodies in Burns' correspondence with 
 Johnson and Thomson will be understood from this ex- 
 planation. 
 
 The musical library of Burns has disappeared, as have 
 also nearly all his many manuscript copies of tunes for- 
 warded to Thomson, and particularly to Johnson. I have ' 
 seen only one of his music books. He possessed copies of 
 the chief Scottish collections of the eighteenth century, 
 including the Orpheus Caledonius, Bremner's Songs, 1759, 
 the Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786, and Ritson's Scottish 
 Songs, 1794. Of the instrumental works, he refers in his 
 letters and elsewhere to the Scots Tunes by Oswald, 
 - McGibbon, Bremner, Aird, Dow, and McDonald's High- 
 land Airs, and the dance music of the Reels, published by 
 Bremner, McGlashan, Gumming, Gow, Bowie, John Riddell, 
 and others. 
 
 I have examined his copy of the Caledonian Pocket 
 Companion, which he presented to Nathaniel Gow, and his 
 pencil notes on many of the tunes are evidence that he 
 studied the whole contents of that extensive collection. He 
 refers to this book in his writings. For example, he informs 
 
BURNS AND HIS SONGS xlv 
 
 Johnson that he had reconstructed his earl}^ song iXozv 
 wesilin winds, originally written for the tune / had a horse, 
 and that it should be set to Port Gordon (bound in the 
 Companion), because the other melody had been previously 
 printed in the Museum. One of his two songs on Peggy 
 Chalmers, he tells her, was to be set to a reel of Neil Gow's, 
 and the other to an old Highland air out of Daniel Dow's 
 Ancient Scottish Music {Works, iv. 305). For the tune of his 
 song O let me in this ae night, he refers Thomson to the 
 Caledonian Pocket Companion for a better copy than Johnson 
 had used with the old verses in the Museum {Works, vi. 258). 
 He eulogizes the setting of Well gang nae mair to yon 
 town in Bowie's Reels, and informs Thomson that his song 
 for it is to be sung in slow time {Works, vi. 3361. He wrote 
 to Mrs. Rose, of Kilrowock, whom he had met in his tour 
 in the Highlands, that he was assisting a collection of songs 
 to their proper tunes, in which every air worth preser\'ing 
 would be included, among them a few Highland airs, such 
 as Morag {Works, v. 347). The proper tune of the first and 
 best version of The banks o' Doon has not until now been 
 printed with the verses. How the popular version of that 
 celebrated lyric was written has not been clearly ascertained, 
 but it may be that the redundant foot in the second and 
 fourth lines of the stanza was added to fit the well-known 
 melody, which Burns described as having been composed 
 by one of his friends experimenting on the black notes of 
 the harpsichord. When sending the original version to 
 Alexander Cunningham, he tells him that it is intended to 
 be sung to a strathspey or reel entitled Ballendalloch'' s Reel 
 in Cumming's Collection, and in Bremner's Reels as 
 Cambdelmore, and that it takes three stanzas of the song to 
 go through the tune {Works, v. 358). 
 
 I define Burns as a musical editor, when he refers hi^ 
 publishers to the source of the melodies, when he explains 
 how they are to be printed, when he sends copies of; 
 traditional melodies, and when he corrects the printed . 
 proofs of melodies. Adapting the air of a song from an 
 
V 
 
 xlvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 instrumental copy requires patience and judgement to 
 eliminate redundant and non-essential passing notes. As 
 we have seen, a large proportion of Burns' songs were 
 written for instrumental airs which had to be edited. Burns' 
 readiness to assimilate the airs of his country, and the ease 
 with which he invented verses from a mere title, indicates 
 an uncommon talent. As an example, he enclosed to 
 Sharpe of Hoddam a song that he had written for an air 
 which Hoddam had composed. The character of the song 
 was suggested to Burns by the title of the air, and he 
 enthusiastically says ' if I was charmed with the tune, I was 
 in raptures with the title you have given it, and taking up 
 the idea, have spun it into the three stanzas of the enclosed ' 
 {Wor/cs, V. 366). Neither the tune, nor the title, nor Burns' 
 song have been preserved. As has been shown, scarcely 
 one of the other poets who WTote for Thomson knew any- 
 thing of music at all, and none was capable of giving an 
 ; intelligible account of any melody. Burns stated what was 
 Vquite true, that he knew more of the songs and airs of 
 I Scotland than any other man living, not only those printed, 
 but the unprinted, also the waifs and strays, the wreck of 
 Iformer tunes, which floated in the atmosphere and were 
 'circulated by the voice of the people, but which had never 
 reached the printing press : those brief lyrics, or mere 
 'snatches of verse expressing the weakness and strength 
 lof domestic and social life, its loves and sorrows, its 
 matrimonial and connubial relations with a pathos, and above 
 all with a humour, are so entirely natural, that the songs 
 of Scotland are known over the world as a literature unique 
 ( of its kind. David Herd was the first to preserve and 
 > print a few of these relics, and what he as a mere collector 
 began, the poetic genius of Burns finished and completed 
 Ijvith music. The following are a few of Burns' songs which 
 he wrote for airs which never appeared in a vocal collection 
 until printed with his verses. Old anonymous songs had 
 been associated with some of those airs that for various 
 reasons had become obsolete or had perished except the 
 
BURNS AND HIS SONGS xlvii 
 
 titles in instrumental collections ; some songs, though pre- 
 served, had not been printed with music : the rest of the 
 tunes were dance music, originally set to verse by Burns : — 
 Invercaidd's Reel; McPhevson^s Rant; The Braes d 
 Balgauther ; The tailor'' s march; Duncan Gray ; Hey tiitti 
 taiti ; The Black Watch ; Tm ower Lass an' I come near thee ; 
 Johnie Cope; The Campbells are coming; Miss Admiral 
 Gordon's Strathspey {Of a' the airts) ; I hae a wife o' my ain' ; 
 An ye had been where I hae been ; Sir John Malcolm ; The 
 Sutor's daughter; Rothiemurche's Rant [Lassie wi' the lint- 
 white locks) ; Whistle o'er the lave dt ; Rattlin' roarin' Willie ; 
 Ye' II ay be welcome back again; The vceary pund o' tow ; and 
 so on. These are some of the airs named in song books 
 without music, and sung by the people, or the familiar, 
 favourite tunes, reels, and strathspeys of the poet for which 
 he wrote. 
 
 As a collector of viva voce or traditional melodies Burns 
 has scarcely been noticed, except in the Illustrations of 
 Stenhouse, and the public has probably taken less interest 
 in his preservation of melodies than anything else which he 
 did. His writings contain many notes on the subject, 
 and in the Thomson letters and the Interleaved Museum 
 when referring to it, he mentions the sources from which he 
 obtained the tunes. While on the Highland tour he noted 
 some for which he immediately wrote verses. In his 
 expeditions through the south of Scotland his social nature 
 brought him into contact with all classes of society, and he 
 particularly observed any tune which was not in the printed 
 collections. His wife was a good natural singer of Scottish 
 songs, and from her voice Burns got many specimens of 
 fugitive music. One Kirsty Flint, a masculine woman with 
 a loud voice, was pleased to show off her powers as a 
 vocalist. Burns often visited her to take note of uncommon 
 airs which she sang. Professor Gillespie, from personal 
 recollection, related that Burns used to tie his horse to the 
 handle of her cottage door and sat by the fire side while 
 she sang with ' a pipe of the most overpowering pitch '. In 
 
xlviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 the hope of inducing Thomson to publish some of the airs 
 which he recovered, he informed him that he had still 
 several manuscript Scots airs picked up mostly from the 
 singing of country' lasses, an origin which did not recom- 
 mend their insertion in Scoltish Airs. At the same time he 
 enclosed 'a fine air' entitled Jacky Hume's lament. On 
 another occasion a * beautiful little air' from Mrs. Burns' 
 voice for his song There zvas a lass and s/ie was fair, which 
 unfortunately Thomson printed with a different air, and the 
 original has perished, although Burns begged that it should 
 be printed in the next volume. Ca' the yowcs is one of the 
 most exquisite of the simple melodies of Scotland recovered 
 from oblivion. Burns discovered it in the singing of 
 a Presbyterian minister, from whose voice Clarke noted 
 the melody. He wrote the verses As I look'd o'er yon castle 
 wa' for Cumnock Psalms, a traditional tune which he 
 recovered while it was doing service for an unprintable 
 song. His verses of The posie were written to perpetuate 
 the melody of a poor ballad which his wife used to sing. 
 He obtained from a gentleman ' an East Indian air ', which 
 he had utilized in his song The aidd man. Burns was 
 probably imposed upon in this case, as the melody is not 
 unlike one of the Chevy C/iase tunes. The old melody 
 De'U iak the wars is not a Scottish air, but it was long known 
 and acclimatized in Scotland. To induce Thomson to print 
 his set of the air, which he considered better than any that 
 was printed, Burns sent it with the verses Sleefst thou or 
 wak''st thou, and apologized by saying that the song had 
 English enough for it to be understood. He sent to Johnson 
 the song and the tune of A Waukrife mimiie, which ' he 
 Jieard in Nithsdale and nowhere else '. He collected, as he 
 
 ; said, the ballad of Hughie Graham from oral tradition in 
 Ayrshire, when he was a bo}^, but he forgot the tune and 
 could not reproduce it when wanted. The following is 
 a selection out of about forty fugitive airs which he collected 
 and for which he wrote songs :—Laggan burn; Scroggam ; 
 
 \ Mai If s meek, Mally's sweet; Leezie Lindsay ; Lady Mary 
 
BURNS AND HIS SONGS xlix 
 
 Anne ; Aften Water ; Charlie he's my darling ; Gin my love 
 li^ere yon red rose ; Kellyhiirn braes, the air of Last May 
 a draw wooer; The Highland widoiu's lament ; How lang 
 and dreary is the night ; Gudewife count the lawin, a variation 
 o^ Hey tiitti taiti ; Kemmire'son and aw a' Willie; Tarn Glen 
 and The brown dairy maid. His book of manuscript airs, 
 like most of the other musical relics, has disappeared. The 
 music of an unpublished air, The German lairdie, and one or 
 two detached sheets, are about all the written specimens of 
 music which can be found. He forwarded to Johnson and 
 Thomson a considerable number of tunes during the course of 
 his correspondence with them, and we can only surmise 
 that both destroyed the m.anuscript music sheets when they 
 were finished with them. 
 
 At this distance of time it is not easy to determine 
 whether Burns had sufficient technical knowledge and 
 experience of music to enable him to write the notation of 
 melodies which he heard. Burns has stated more than 
 once that Stephen Clarke wrote for him the music of 
 several traditional airs, but whether from the voice of the 
 original singer, or secondhand through Burns himself, is not 
 known. It may be taken for certain that Clarke revised the 
 proofs in the Museum, but I think it unlikel}^ that he noted 
 all Burns' traditional tunes. Burns resided in Dumfries 
 and the district for the most part of the time he was closely 
 associated with Johnson, and Clarke, who lived in Edinburgh 
 and only saw him occasionally, could not be at his elbow all 
 over the country at the time he heard the numerous airs 
 sung. It is not easy for the ordinary musical amateur to 
 write a melody when he hears it, but it can be carried in 
 the memory and be recorded at leisure with the aid of an 
 instrument, and there was nothing to prevent Burns from 
 sketching on paper with the assistance of his violin any 
 simple air which he had previously heard sung or played. 
 With a retentive memory and an acute ear for minute 
 gradations of musical sound, combined with a passionate 
 love of old tunes, his penetrative genius would enable him 
 
 d 
 
1 INTRODUCTION 
 
 to do readily what would be laborious for an ordinary 
 amateur, and I see no reason why his remark ' I took down 
 the tune from the voice of a girl ', or some other uncon- 
 ditional assertion, should not be accepted literally. 
 X Burns has embodied the whole cycle of Scottish Song, 
 both as a writer of original songs and as, for want of a better 
 definition, a reconstructor of the songs of the past. Modern 
 critics have made man}'' curious comments on what Burns 
 himself designated generally 'Mr. Burns' old words' in 
 the MS. Lists, and they appear to be under the impression 
 that a recent editor made a new discovery, which is 
 calculated to dim the lustre of Burns' fame and detract from 
 his literary reputation. This is all very amusing ; but the 
 repetition of what Burns himself has said, or what he never 
 attempted to conceal, is not likely to affect his memory very 
 much. He never in any way, publicly or privately, claimed 
 more of these ' old words ' than were his, and he did not 
 publish them in authorized editions. The numerous 
 anonymous songs in the Museum or e}sewhere have 
 gradually been inserted in Burns' works by successive 
 editors, who found evidence in manuscripts that he wrote 
 them from a line, a title, or a chorus of some previously 
 existing fragment. He took little trouble to record his part 
 in them. What he has said of it tends rather to efface him- 
 self As a national poet Burns is unique. He has done 
 for Scottish Song what Shakespeare did in a fragmentary 
 
 . way for English Song in the snatches of exquisite verse 
 
 i scattered through his dramas. 
 
 The Burns tunes are chiefl}^ anonymous, originating from 
 the beginning of the sixteenth up to the close of the 
 eighteenth century. They illustrate Scottish music from 
 the wild erratic airs peculiar to the country, framed on 
 scales and movements so regardless of the scholastic rules 
 of musical composition that no satisfactory accompaniments 
 have yet been written for them as a whole. The following 
 apologetic note, written to the dilettante Thomson, defines 
 Burns' musical taste and his enthusiasm for Scottish airs in 
 
BURNS AND HIS SONGS li 
 
 such a manner as to make it interesting to the student of 
 folk-music. He saj's : — \ 
 
 ' I am sensible that my taste in music must be inelegant and \ 
 
 vulgar, because people of undisputed and cultivated taste can find no \ 
 
 merit in any of my favourite tunes. Many of our strathspej's ancient j 
 
 and modern give me most exquisite enjoyment where you and other/ j 
 judges would probably be showing signs of disgust.' {IVorks, vi.) / 
 
 Burns was probably not aware that the enjoyment of folk- 
 music exists alongside of that of the highest forms of the 
 musical art. Shakespeare loved the music of ' the old and 
 plain song' as well as the madrigal compositions of his 
 learned friend John Dowland ; Browning has somewhere 
 said that music has had more influence on the human race 
 than all the other arts combined, and he enjoyed the intricate 
 music of the string quartett ; Brahms, Germany's recent 
 greatest musician, wove My heart's in the highlands into one 
 of his sonatas, and could not get the melody out of his head 
 while he was composing. Was Burns in the guise of 
 humility obliquely conveying to Thomson his opinion that 
 the editor had no sympath}^ with Scottish music and 
 satirizing him as unfit to edit a collection of Scottish music ? 
 Early in the correspondence he cautions Thomson in these 
 words : ' Whatever Mr. Pleyel does, let him not alter one 
 iota of the original Scots airs. Let our national airs preserve 
 their native features.' The anticipation of Burns was not 
 altogether groundless, and Thomson altered the music of 
 many of the songs as he altered everything else in his 
 Scottish Airs. For example, he corrupted Galla Water, one 
 of the simplest and most interesting Scottish tunes, by 
 adding a fifth line to the stanza and closing the air on the 
 key note instead of the fifth. He manipulated Ay waiikin O 
 in precisel}' the same way. 
 
 It is generally believed that few changes are made in 
 popular melodies in transmission through course of time. 
 That is not correct by any means, as one can find who 
 listens to a melody sung in the streets. Every ragged 
 Apollo has some originality and invention of a kind to 
 
lii INTRODUCTION 
 
 interpolate something new into liis performance. Written 
 and printed copies of the same tune vary considerably, and 
 in small points scarcely two copies are exactly alike. 
 
 In dance books the vivacity necessary to mark the steps 
 has caused running alterations. Traditional melodies are 
 insensibly altered in the same way as language. The 
 features are modified sometimes to a considerable extent, 
 but not entirely changed. Tunes are subject to the 
 individual tastes of editors, who, in the desire to improve, 
 introduce new variations. 
 
 The Scottish musical scales are unique and peculiar to the 
 countr}^ and many fruitless attempts have been made to 
 explain their origin. I can find no trace of resemblance in 
 the early music of other European countries, except in 
 a few Scandinavian melodies not sufficiently numerous or 
 striking on w^hich to base any family resemblance. The 
 melodies of France, Germany, and Holland give no clue 
 whatever, and I have failed to discover any racial affinity in 
 these countries. The alliance with France and the 
 continued intercourse of two centuries might be supposed 
 to have affected the music, but there is no trace of that 
 friendship in the music of Scotland. 
 
 tf^ I have endeavoured to prove that Burns had a phenomenal 
 appreciation of melody and was as familiar with the music 
 of Scotland as he was with its poetry ; he had an elementary 
 knowledge of music, as much as enabled him to compose 
 an original melody, though worthless, as he said ; he knew 
 intimately several hundred different airs, not in a vague and 
 misty way, but familiarly as regards time, tune, and rhythm, 
 so that he could distinguish one from another, and point out 
 minute variations in different copies that he knew ; he wrote 
 nearly all his songs for particular melodies, some of which 
 were dance, tunes never before adapted to, or associated with 
 poetry ; he explained in detail to his publishers and others 
 how dance music and other tunes which he selected should 
 be applied to his songs ; he criticized music he had heard or 
 which he knew in an original manner; he spent hours 
 
BURNS AND HIS SONGS liii 
 
 listening to the singing and playing of unfamiliar music, 
 so that he might learn the swing and cadence of the 
 melodies, and form an impression of their import, in order 
 that he might write suitable verses for them ; he discovered 
 many traditional melodies in his excursions through Scotland, i 
 
 and was the means of getting the notation printed, thus ^ 
 
 preserving a considerable collection of folk music which 
 otherwise would have perished ; finally, Scotland is as 
 much indebted to him for the perpetuation of its music as) 
 it is for its Ij'rics. 
 
NOTES OX SCOTTISH SONG 
 
BURNS MS. 
 
 MANUSCRIPT NOTES IN AN INTERLEAVED 
 
 COPY OF THE FIRST FOUR VOLUMES 
 
 OF THE SCOTS MUSICAL MUSEUM 
 
 TJie numbers, titles, and first lines luitliin brackets refer to the 
 engraved songs in the Collection. 
 
 I. WRITTEN BY ROBERT BURNS 
 Volume I 
 
 [No. I. The Highland Queen. 
 
 No more my song shall be, ye sivaius, 
 Of purling streams, or floivry plains ; 
 More pleasing beauties now inspire, 
 And Phoebus tunes the warbling lyre ; 
 Divinely aided thus I mean 
 To celebrate my Highland Queen, &c.] 
 
 'The Highland Queen, music and poetry, was com- 
 posed by a Mr. M^Vicar, purser of the Solbay man of 
 war. This I had from Dr. Blacklock. — R. B.* 
 
 [No. 4. Bess the gawkie. 
 
 Blyth young Bess to Jean did say. 
 Will ye gang to yon sunny brae, 
 Where flocks do feed and herds do stray, 
 And sport awhile wi' Jamie I &c.j 
 
 'This song shews that the Scotish Muses did not all 
 leave us when we lost Ramsay and Oswald, as I have 
 
 B 
 
2 BURNS MS. 
 
 good reason to believe tliat the verses and music are 
 both posterior to the days of these two gentlemen. It is 
 a beautiful song and in the genuine Scots taste. We 
 have few pastoral compositions, I mean, which are the 
 pastoral of Nature, that are equal to this. — R. B.' 
 
 [No. 5. 0/if open the door, Lord Gregory^ 
 Oh, open and let me in ; 
 The rain rains on my scarlet robes, 
 The dew drops o'er my chin, (S:c.] 
 
 'It is somewhat singular, that in Lanark, Renfrew, 
 Ayr, Wigton, Kirkcudbright, and Dumfries-shires, there 
 is scarcel}^ one old song or tune which, from the title, 
 *S:c., can be guessed to belong to, or be the production 
 of these countries. This, I conjecture, is one of these 
 very few ; as the ballad, which is a long one, is called 
 both by tradition and in printed collections, The Lass 
 o Lochroyan, which I take to be Lochroyan in Gallo- 
 way.— R. B.' 
 
 [No. 6. The Banks of the Tweed. 
 
 To the soft murmuring stream I will sing of my love, 
 How delighted am I when abroad I can rove. 
 To indulge a fond passion for Jockey my dear ; 
 When he's absent I sigh, but how blith when he 's near, &:c. ] 
 
 ' This song is one of the many attempts that English 
 composers have made to imitate the Scotish manner, 
 and which I shall, in these strictures, beg leave to dis- 
 tinguish by the appellation of Anglo-Scotish productions. 
 The music is pretty good, but the verses are just above 
 contempt. — R. B.* 
 
BURNS MS. 3 
 
 [No. 7. The beds of sweet Roses. 
 
 As I was a-walking one morning in May, 
 The little birds were singing delightful and gay, 
 Where I and my true love did often sport and play 
 Down among the beds of sweet roses, &c.] 
 
 ' This song, as far as I know, for the first time appears 
 here in print. When I was a boy it was a very popular 
 song in Ayrshire. I remember to have heard those 
 fanatics, the Buchanites, sing some of their nonsensical 
 rhymes, which they dignify with the name of hymns, to 
 this air.— R. B.' 
 
 [No. 8. Roslin Castle. 
 
 'Twas in that season of the Year 
 When all things gay and sweet appear ; 
 That Colin with the morning ray, 
 Arose and sung his rural lay, &:c.] 
 
 'These beautiful verses were the production of a 
 Richard Hewit, a young man that Dr. Blacklock, to 
 whom I am indebted for the anecdote, kept for some 
 years as an amanuensis. I do not know who is the 
 author of the 2nd song to the tune. Tytler, in his 
 amusing history of Scots music, gives the air to Oswald ; 
 but in Oswald's own collection of Scots tunes, where he 
 affixes an asterisk to those he himself composed, Oswald 
 does not make the least claim to the tune. — R. B.' 
 
 [No. 9. ^ Saw ye Johnnie cummin' ?' quo' she, 
 ' Saw ye Johnnie cummin' ? 
 O saw ye Johnnie cummin'?' quo' she; 
 * Saw ye Johnnie cummin' ? 
 B 2 
 
4 BURNS MS. 
 
 Ill' Ill's blue bound on his head, 
 And his doggie 7'unnin ?' quo' she; 
 * And his doggie 7'nnnin' F' &c.] 
 
 * This song for genuine humor in the verses, and 
 lively originality in the air, is unparalleled. 1 take it to 
 be very old. — R. B.' 
 
 [No. II. 
 
 Saw ye nac my Peggy, Sazv ye nae my Peggy, 
 Saw ye nae my Peggy, Coming o'er the lea : 
 
 Sure a finer creature, Ne'er was form'd by Nature ; 
 So compleat each feature, So divine is she, &c.] 
 
 'This charming song is much older, and indeed 
 superior, to Ramsay's verses, The Toast, as he calls 
 them. There is another set of the words much older 
 still, and which I take to be the original one, but though 
 it has a very great deal of merit it is not quite ladies' 
 reading. — R. B.' 
 
 [No. 13. The fiozvers of Edinburgh. 
 
 My love was once a bonny lad, 
 He was the flower of all his kin ; 
 
 The absence of his bonny face 
 Has rent my tender heart in tivain, <Sjc.] 
 
 'This song is one of the many effusions of Scots 
 jacobitism. The title, Flowers of Edinr., has no manner 
 of connection with the present verses, so I suspect 
 there has been an older set of words, of which the 
 title is all that remains. 
 
 * By the bye, it is singular enough that the Scotish 
 
BURNS MS. 5 
 
 Muses were all Jacobites. I have paid more attention 
 to every description of Scots songs than perhaps any 
 body living has done, and I do not recollect one single 
 stanza, or even the title of the most trifling Scots air, 
 which has the least panegyrical reference to the families 
 of Nassau or Brunswick ; while there are hundreds 
 satirizing them. This may be thought no panegyric on 
 the Scots Poets, but I mean it as such. For myself, 
 I would always take it as a compliment to have it said, 
 that my heart ran before my head. And surely the 
 gallant though unfortunate house of Stewart, the kings 
 of our fathers for so many heroic ages, is a theme much 
 more interesting than an obscure beef-witted insolent 
 race of foreigners whom a conjuncture of circumstances 
 kickt up into power and consequence.' 
 
 [No. 14. Jamie Gay. 
 
 As Jamie Gay gang'd biyth his way 
 
 Along the banks of Tweed 
 A bonny lass as ever zuas 
 
 Came tripping o'er the mead, &c.] 
 
 'Jamie Gay is another and a tolerable Anglo-Scotish 
 piece. — R. B.' 
 
 [No. 15. My dear Jockey. 
 
 My laddie is gane far away o'er the plain 
 
 While in sorrow behind I am forc'd to remain, 
 
 Thd blue bells and violets the hedges adorn 
 
 Thd trees are in blossom, and sweet blows the thorn, *S:c.] 
 
 'Another Anglo-Scotish production.' 
 
6 BL'RXS iMS. 
 
 [No. 1 6. Fy f gar rub licr o'er wi' strac. 
 
 And gin yc meet a bomiy lassie 
 Gie her a kiss and let her gae ; 
 
 But if ye meet a dirty hussy, 
 
 Fy ! gar rub her der ivi' strae, &c.] 
 
 'The first four lines of this song evidently have be- 
 longed to a set of words much older than Ramsay's. 
 As music is the language of nature : and poetry, par- 
 ticularly songs, are always less or more localised (if 
 I maybe allowed the verb) by some of the modifications 
 of time and place, this is the reason why so many of 
 our Scots airs have outlived their original, and perhaps 
 many subsequent sets of verses : except a single name, 
 or phrase, or sometimes one or two lines, simply to 
 distinguish the tunes by/ 
 
 [No. 17. TJie lass of Livingston. 
 
 Paind with her slighting Jamie's love 
 Bell dropt a tear — Bell dropt a tear ; 
 
 The gods descended from above 
 
 Well pleas' d to hear, Well pleas' d to hear; &c.] 
 
 'The original set of verses to this tune is still extant, 
 and have a very great deal of poetic merit but are not 
 quite ladies' reading/ 
 
 [No. 18. The last time I came o'er the moor 
 I left my love behind me ; 
 Ye poid'7's ! what pain do I endure 
 When soft ideas mind me I (Scc.J 
 
 ' Ramsa}^ found the first line of this song, which had 
 been preserved as the title of the charming air, and 
 
BURNS MS. 7 
 
 then composed the rest of the verses to suit that hne. 
 This has ahvays a finer effect than composing Enghsh 
 words, or words with an idea foreign to the spirit of the 
 old title. Where old titles of songs convey any idea at 
 all, it will generally be found to be quite in the spirit of 
 the air.' 
 
 [No. 19. The happy marriage. 
 
 How blest has my time been ! ivhat joys have I known 
 Since wedlock's soft bondage made Jessy my own ; 
 So joyfid my heart is, so easy my chain, 
 That freedom is tasteless, and rovmg a pain, &:c.] 
 
 ' Another, but very pretty, Anglo-Scotish piece.' 
 
 [No. 20. The lass of Peaty s mill. 
 
 So bonny, blyth, and gay, 
 In spite of all my skill, 
 
 Hath stole my heart away, &c.] 
 
 'In Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, this 
 song is localised (a verb I must use for want of another 
 to express my idea) somewhere in the North of Scotland, 
 and likewise is claimed by Ayrshire. The following 
 anecdote I had from the present Sir \N\\V^ Cun- 
 ningham of Robertland, who had it from the last 
 John Earl of Loudon. The then Earl of Loudon and 
 father to Earl John before mentioned, had Ramsay at 
 Loudon, and one day walking together by the Banks of 
 Irvine water, near New-Mills, at a place yet called 
 Patie's Mill, they were struck with the appearance of 
 a beautiful country girl. His lordship observed that 
 
8 BURNS MS. 
 
 she would be a fine theme for a song. Allan lagged 
 behind in returning to Loudon Castle, and at dinner 
 produced this identical song. — Rob^ Burns.* 
 
 [No. 21. The Highland laddie. 
 
 The Laivla)id lads think they are fine ; 
 
 But O ! they're vain and wondrous gawdy I 
 Hoiv much unlike that gracefu' mien, 
 
 And manly looks of my Highland laddie, &c.] 
 
 ' The first and indeed the most beautiful set of this 
 tune was formerly, and in some places is still known by 
 the name of As I cam der the Cairney Mount, which 
 is the first line of an excellent, but somewhat licentious 
 song still sung to the tune.' 
 
 [No. 23. The Turnimspike. Tune : Clout the Caldron. 
 
 Hersell be Highland shentlemen, 
 Be auld as Pothwell brig, man ; 
 
 And mony alterations seen 
 
 Amang te Lawland ivhig, man, &c.] 
 
 ' There [is] a stanza of this excellent song for local 
 humour, omitted in this set, where I have placed the 
 ^sterisms ^ : — 
 
 They tak the horse then by te head. 
 And dere tey mak her stan', man ; 
 
 Me tell tem, me hae seen te day, 
 Tey no had sic comman', man.* 
 
 ^ Between the ninth and tenth stanzas. 
 
BURXS MS. 9 
 
 [Xo. 25. Aiild Imig syne (Ramsay's verses). 
 
 Should mild acquaintance be forgot ? 
 
 Tho' they return with scars, 
 These are the noble hero's lot 
 
 Obtain d in glorious ivars, (Sec] 
 
 ' The original and by much the best set of the words 
 of this song is as follows : — 
 
 Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 
 And never brought to mind ? 
 Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 
 And days o' lang syne? 
 Chorus. And for auld lang syne, my jo, 
 For auld lang syne, 
 We'll tak a cup 0' kindness yet. 
 For aidd lang syne. 
 
 And surely ye'U be your pint-stowp ! 
 
 And surely I'll be mine ! 
 And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet, 
 
 For auld lang syne. 
 
 And for, &c. 
 
 We twa hae run about the braes, 
 
 And pu'd the gowans fine; 
 But we've wander'd mony a weary foot 
 
 Sin auld lang syne. 
 
 And for, &c. 
 
 We twa hae paidl'd i' the burn, 
 
 Frae mornin' sun till dine ; 
 But seas between us braid hae roar'd 
 
 Sin auld lang syne. 
 
 And for, &c. 
 
lo BURNS MS. 
 
 And there 's a liand my trusty fiere ! 
 
 And gie 's a hand o' thine ! 
 And we'll tak a right gude-vvilly vvaught, 
 
 For auld lang syne. 
 
 Ami /or, &c.' ^ 
 
 [No. 27. T/ir gentle sivain. Tune : Johnnys gray 
 
 breeks. 
 
 Now smiling spring again appears 
 With all the beauties of her train ; 
 
 Love soon of her arrival hears 
 
 And flies to wound the gentle swain, &c.] 
 
 ' To sing such a beautiful air to such damned verses, 
 is downright sodomy of Common Sense ! The Scots 
 verses indeed are tolerable.' 
 
 [No. 28. He stole my tender heart away. 
 
 The fields were green, the hills were gay, 
 And birds were singiitg on each spray. 
 When Colin met me in the grove 
 And told me tender tales of love, <S:c.] 
 
 'This is an Anglo-Scotish production but by no 
 means a bad one.' 
 
 [No. 32. Fairest of the fair. 
 
 O Nannie, wilt thou gang wt' me, 
 Nor sigh to leave the flaunting town ; 
 
 Can silent glens have charms for thee, 
 The lowly cot, and russet gown ? &c.] 
 
 ' On the blank leaf at the end of the volume Riddell has written 
 the following Note : ' In the third part of James Watson's Scots 
 Poems printed at Edin*" in 17 11 is a set of words different, to the 
 tune of Auld lang syne.^ 
 
BURNS MS. II 
 
 'It is too barefaced to take Dr. Piercy's charming song, 
 and by the means of transposing a few English words 
 into Scots, to offer to pass it for a Scots song.— I was 
 not acquainted with the editor untill the ist volume was 
 nearly finished, else, had I known in time, I would have 
 prevented such an impudent absurdity.' 
 / 
 
 [No. 33. The blathrie dt. 
 
 When I think on this wmicCs pelf, 
 And the little wee share I have o't to myself, 
 
 And how the lass that wants it is by the lads forgot, 
 May the shame fa' the gear and the blathrie dt, &c.] 
 
 'The following is a set of this Song which was the 
 earliest song I remember to have got by heart. When 
 a child, an old woman sung it to me, and I pickt it up, 
 every word, at first hearing. 
 
 O, Willie weel I mind, I lent you my hand 
 To sing you a song which you did me command ; 
 But my memory's so bad, I had almost forgot 
 That you called it the gear and the blathrie o't. 
 
 I'll not sing about confusion, delusion, or pride, 
 I'll sing about a laddie was for a virtuous bride : 
 For virtue is an ornament that time will never rot. 
 And preferable to gear and the blathrie o't. 
 
 Tho' my lassie hae nae scarlets or silks to put on. 
 We envy not the greatest that sits upon the throne ; 
 I wad rather hae my lassie, tho' she cam in her smock, 
 Than a princess wi' the gear and the blathrie o't. 
 
 Tho' we hae nae horses or minzie at command. 
 We will toil on our foot, and we'll work wi' our hand ; 
 
12 BURNS AfS. 
 
 And when wearied wilhout rest, we'll find it sweet in 
 
 an}'' spot, 
 And we'll value not the gear and the blathrie o't. 
 
 1 1" we hae ony babies, we'll count them as lent ; 
 Ilae we less, hae we mair, we will ay be content; 
 For they say they hae mair pleasure that wins but a 
 
 groat 
 Than the miser wi' his gear and the blathrie o't. 
 
 I'll not meddle wi' th' affairs o' the kirk or the queen. 
 They're nae matters for a sang, let them sink, let them 
 
 swim. 
 On your kirk I'll near encroach, but I'll hald it still 
 
 remote, 
 Sae tak this for the gear and the blathrie o't.' 
 
 [No. 34. Lucky Nancy. Tune: Dainty Davie. 
 
 While fops in saft Italian verse 
 Ilk fair ane's een and breast rehearse. 
 While sangs abound and sense is scarce 
 These lines I have indited, &c.] 
 
 * The original verses of Dainty Davie and the anecdote 
 which gave rise to them, are still extant, and were their 
 delicacy equal to their wit and humour, they would merit 
 a place in any collection.' 
 
 [No. 35. May-Eve, or Kate of Aberdeen. 
 
 The silver moon's enamotir'd beams 
 
 Steal softly through the night, 
 To wanton in the winding streams, 
 
 And kiss reflected light, (S:c.] 
 
BURXS MS. 13 
 
 ' Kafe of Aberdeen, is, I believe, the work of poor 
 Cunningham the player; of whom the following anec- 
 dote, though told before, deserves a recital. A fat 
 dignitary of the Church coming past Cunningham one 
 Sunday as the poor poet was busy plying a fishing-rod 
 in some stream near Durham, his native country, his 
 reverence reprimanded Cunningham very severely for 
 such an occupation on such a day. The poor poet, 
 with that inoffensive gentleness of manners which was 
 his peculiar characteristic, replied, that he hoped God 
 and his reverence would forgive his seeming profanity 
 of that sacred day, '' as he had no dinner to eat, but 
 what lay in the bottom of that pool." This, Mr. Woods, 
 the player who knew Cunningham well, and esteemed 
 him much, assured me was true. R. B.' 
 
 [No. 36. Tweed Side. 
 
 JPliat beauties does Flora disclose! 
 
 How sweet are her smiles upon Tweed ; 
 Yet Mary's still sweeter than those. 
 
 Both Nature and fancy exceed, &:c.] 
 
 'In Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, he tells us that 
 about thirty of the songs in that publication were the 
 works of some young gentlemen of his acquaintance ; 
 which songs are marked with the letters D. C, &c. Old 
 Mr. Tytler of Woodhouselee, the worthy and able 
 defender of the beauteous Queen of Scots, told me that 
 the songs marked C. in the Tea-Table were the com- 
 position of a Mr. Crawford, of the house of Achnames, 
 who was afterwards unfortunately drowned coming from 
 France. As Tytler was most intimately acquainted with 
 Allan Ramsay, I think the anecdote may be depended on. 
 
14 BURNS MS. 
 
 Of consequence, the beautiful song of Tweed-side is 
 Mr. Crawford's, and indeed does great honour to his 
 poetical talents. He was a Robert Crawford ; the Mary 
 he celebrates, was a Mary Stewart, of the Castle-milk 
 family, afterwards married to a Mr. John Ritchie.'^ 
 
 [No. 37. Alary' s dream. 
 
 The moon had climh'd the highest hill 
 Which rises o'er the source of Dee, 
 
 Ami from the eastern summit shed 
 
 Her silver light on tow'r and tree, &:c.] 
 
 - 'The Poet was a Mr. Alexander Lowe, who likewise 
 wrote another beautiful song, called Pompey's Ghost. 
 I have seen a poetic epistle from him in North America, 
 where he now is, or lately was, to a lady in Scotland. 
 By the strain of the verses, it appeared that they 
 alluded to some love disappointment.' 
 
 [No. 40. The Maid that tends the goats. By M r. Dudgeon. 
 
 Up amang yon cliffy rocks. 
 Sweetly rings the 7^ising echo, 
 To the maid that tends the goats, 
 Lilting o'er her native notes, &c.J 
 
 'This Dudgeon is a respectable farmer's son in 
 Berwickshire.' 
 
 ^ The rest in the Reliqurs is not in the MSS. 
 
 ^ This note in Cromek's Reliques, i8o8, is preceded by what 
 follows in another hand. 'The Mary here alluded to is generally 
 supposed to be Miss Mary Macghie, daughter to the Laird of Airds 
 in Galloway.' 
 
BURNS MS, 15 
 
 [No. 41. / wish my love were in a mire. 
 
 Blest as tK immortal gods is he, 
 The Youth who fondly sits by thee, 
 And hears and sees thee all the while 
 So softly speak, and sweetly smile, &c.] 
 
 ' I never heard more of the old words of this old song 
 than the title.' 
 
 [No. 43. Allan Water. 
 
 What tiumbers shall the muse repeat! 
 
 What praise be formed to praise my Annie t 
 On her ten thousand graces wait 
 
 Each swain admires and owns she's bonny, <S:c.] 
 
 ' This Allan Water, which the composer of the music 
 has honoured with the name of the air, I have been told 
 is Allan Water, in Strathallan.' 
 
 [No. 44. There's nae luck about the house. 
 
 And are ye sure the news is true? 
 
 And are ye sure he 's weel? 
 Is this a time to tawk of wark ? 
 
 Mak haste! set by your wheel! »Scc.] 
 
 'This is one of the most beautiful songs in the Scots, 
 or any other language. The two lines : — 
 
 '' And will I see his face again ! 
 And will I hear him speak ? " 
 
 as well as the two preceding ones, are unequalled almost 
 by anything I ever heard or read : and the lines, 
 
 "The present moment is our ain 
 The neist ^ve never saw " 
 
i6 BURNS MS. 
 
 arc worthy of the first poet. It is long posterior to 
 Ramsay's days. About the year 1771 or '72, it came 
 iirst on the streets as a ballad; and I suppose the 
 composition of the song was not much anterior to that 
 ])criod.' 
 
 I No. 45. Tarry woo\ 
 
 Tarry ivoo O, tarry woo' ; Tarry woo is ill to spin ; 
 ( ard it well, O Card it zvell, Card it well ere ye bei^in. 
 IVhen 'tis carded, row'd and spun, Then the work is 
 
 Jiaflens done; 
 But when woven, drest and clean, It may be clcading 
 
 for a queen, &c.] 
 
 'This is a very pretty song ; but I fancy that the first 
 half stanza, as well as the tune itself, are much older 
 than the rest of the words.' 
 
 I No. 46. The maid in Bedlam. 
 
 One morning very early, one morning in Spring, 
 
 I heard a maid in Bedlam, who mournfully did sing, Szc. 
 
 To the foregoing tune 
 
 As down 071 Banna's Banks I stray' d one evening in May 
 The little birds, in blythest notes, made vocal ev'ry Spray, 
 
 &c.] 
 
 'The song oiGramachree^7\.?> composed by a Mr. Poe, 
 a counsellor at law in Dublin. This anecdote I had 
 from a gentleman who knew the lady, the " Molly " that 
 is the subject of the song, and to whom Mr. Poe sent 
 the first manuscript of his most beautiful verses. I do 
 
BURXS MS. 
 
 17 
 
 not remember any single line that has more true pathos 
 than : 
 
 " How can she break that honest heart, that wears her 
 
 in its core " 
 but as the song is Irish, it had nothing to do in this 
 collection.' 
 
 [No. 47. The Collier's bojiny lassie. 
 
 The collier has a daughter, and O ! she 's zuojider bonny / 
 A laird he was that sought her, rich baith in lands and 
 money, &c.] 
 
 'The first half stanza is much older than the days of 
 Ramsay. The old words began thus : — 
 
 The Collier has a dochter, and, O, she 's wonder bony ! 
 A laird he was that sought her, rich baith in lands and 
 
 money. 
 She wadna hae a laird, nor wad she be a lady ; 
 But she wad hae a collier, the color o' her daddie.* 
 
 [No. 49. My ain kind deary, O. 
 
 Will ye gang o'er the lee-rigg, my ain kind deary O ! 
 And cuddle there sae kindly wi' me, my kind deary O ! «Scc.] 
 
 'The old words of this song are omitted here, though 
 much more beautiful than these inserted ; which were 
 mostly composed b}^ poor Ferguson, in one of his 
 merry humors. The old words began thus: — 
 
 I'll rowe thee o'er the lea-rig, 
 
 My ain kind dearie, O, 
 I'll rowe o'er the lea-rig. 
 
 My ain kind dearie, O, 
 c 
 
i8 BURNS MS. 
 
 Altlio' the night were ne'er sae vvat, 
 And I were ne'er sae weary, O, 
 
 I'll rowe thee o'er the lea-rig, 
 My ain kind dearie, O.* 
 
 [No. 51. Blink o'er the bttrn, sweet Betiie. 
 
 Leave kindred and friends, sweet Betty, 
 Leave kindred and friends for me! 
 
 Assured thy servant is steady 
 
 To love, to honour, and thee, »Sjc.] 
 
 ' The old words, all that I remember : — 
 
 Blink over the burn sweet Betty, 
 
 It is a cauld winter night; 
 It rains, it hails, it thunders. 
 
 The moon she gies nae light : 
 It's a' for the sake o' sweet Betty, 
 
 That ever I tint my way ; 
 Sweet, let me lie beyond thee 
 
 Until it be break o' day. 
 
 O, Betty will bake my bread, 
 
 And Betty will brew my ale 
 And Betty w'ill be my love. 
 
 When I come over the dale : 
 Blink over the burn, sweet Betty, 
 
 Blink over the burn to me. 
 And while I hae life dear lassie, 
 
 My ain sweet Betty thou's be.' 
 
 [No. 59. Sae merry as we twa hae been. 
 
 A lass that was laden' d with care, 
 Sat heavily under yon thorn. 
 
BURNS MS. 19 
 
 / listened awhile for to hear 
 
 When thus she began for to mourns (Sec] 
 
 'This song is beautiful. The chorus in particular 
 is truly pathetic. I never could learn anything of its 
 author/ 
 
 [No. 68. The bonny brucket lassie 
 
 She's blue beneath the een ; 
 She was the fairest lassie 
 
 That danc'd on the green, &c.] 
 
 ' The two first lines of this song are all of it that is 
 old. The rest was done by a Mr. Tytler, commonly 
 known by the appellation of Balloon Tytler, from his 
 projecting a balloon. He was bred a printer, I believe, 
 and composed a great part of the Encyclopedia Britan- 
 nica at half a guinea a week.' 
 
 [No. 69. The Broom of Cowdenknows. 
 
 When summer comes the swains on Tweed 
 
 Sing their successful loves, 
 Around the ewes and lambkins feed. 
 
 And music fills the groves, &c.] 
 
 ' This song is the composition of Mr. Crawford men- 
 tioned at [No. 36.'] 
 
 [No. 75. The banks of Forth. 
 
 Ye sylvan powers that ride the plain, 
 Where sweetly winding Fortha glides, 
 
 Coitduct me to these banks again. 
 
 Since there my charming Mary bides, &c.] 
 
 'This air is Oswald's.' 
 
 c 2 
 
20 BURNS MS. 
 
 [No. 80. T/ir bush aboon Traquair. 
 
 Hear Die, ye nymphs, and every swain, 
 
 ril tell hoiv Peggy grieves me ; 
 Thd thus I languish, and complain, 
 
 Alas! she ne'er believes me, &:c.] 
 
 'This, another beautiful song of Mr. Crawford's com- 
 position. In the neighbourhood of Traquair, tradition 
 still shews the old "bush"; which, when I saw it in the 
 year '87, was composed of eight or nine ragged birches. 
 The Earl of Traquair has planted a clump of trees near 
 by, which he calls The new bush' ^ 
 
 [No. 82. My deary , if thou die. 
 
 Love never more shall give me pain. 
 
 My fancy *s fixed on thee, 
 Nor ever maid my heart shall gain, 
 
 My Peggy, if thou die, &c.] 
 
 ' Another beautiful song of Crawford's.' 
 
 [No. 83. She rose and let me in. 
 
 The night her silent sable wore, 
 
 And gloomy were the skies, 
 Of glittering stars appeared no more 
 
 Than those in Nelly's eyes, &c.] 
 
 ' The old set of this Song, which is still to be found 
 in printed collections, is much prettier than this ; but 
 somebody, I believe it was Ramsay, took it into his 
 
 ■ After Burns, Riddellhas written : — ' At this place, says tradition, 
 a son of Murray of Philliphaugh was wont to meet a daughter of 
 Stewart of Traquair. Lest this subject of ancient song should be 
 lost the late Lord Traquair caused plant a clump of firs on or near 
 the poetic spot.' 
 
BURNS MS. 21 
 
 head to clear it of some seeming indelicacies, and made 
 it at once more chaste and more dull.' 
 
 [No. 85. Go to the Ew-biights, Marion. 
 
 Will ye go to the Ew-Biights, Marion^ 
 
 And wear in the sheep wi' me? 
 The sun shines sweet, my Marion^ 
 But nac half sae sweet as thee, <S:c.] 
 ' I am not sure if this old and charming air be of the 
 South, as is commonly said, or of the North of Scot- 
 land. There is a song apparently as ancient as Ewe- 
 biights Marion, which sings to the same tune, and is 
 evidently of the North. It begins thus :— 
 
 The lord o' Gordon had three dochters, 
 
 Mary, Marget, and Jean, 
 They wad na stay at bonie Castle Gordon 
 But awa to Aberdeen.' 
 
 [No. 86. Lewis Gordon. 
 
 Oh! send Lewis Gordon Jiame, 
 And the lad I winna name ; 
 Thd his back be at the wa* 
 Here's to him that's far awa\ &c.] 
 ' This air is a proof how one of our Scots tunes comes 
 to be composed out of another. I have one of the 
 earliest copies of the song, and it has prefixed 
 
 Time of Tarry Woo. 
 Of which tune, a different set has insensibly varied 
 into a different air. To a Scots critic, the pathos 
 of the line "Tho' his back be at the wa'" must be 
 very striking. It needs not a Jacobite prejudice to be 
 affected with this song.' 
 
22 BURNS MS, 
 
 [No. 89. Oh 0)20 C/irio. 
 
 Oh f zuas not I a zveary wii^hl! 
 
 Oh ono chri O! Oh ono chri Of 
 Maid, ivifc, a)id ividozv in one night, 
 
 Oh! onochri onochri O! &:c.] 
 
 ' Dr. Blacklock informed me that this song was com- 
 posed on the infamous massacre of Glencoe.' ^ 
 
 [No. 91. ril never leave thee. 
 
 One day I heard Mary say^ 
 
 How shall I leave thee! 
 Stay, dearest Adonis, stay, 
 
 Why wilt thoii grieve me? &:c.] 
 
 'This is another of Crawford's songs, but I do not 
 think in his happiest manner. What an absurdity to 
 join such names as Adonis and Mary together ! ' 
 
 [No. 93. Corn riggs. 
 
 My Patie is a lover gay, 
 
 His mind is never muddy. 
 His breath is sweeter than new hay, 
 
 His face is fair and ruddy, &c.] 
 
 * There must have been an old song under this title, 
 the chorus of it is all that remains : — 
 
 O corn rigs and rye rigs, 
 
 O corn rigs is bonie ; 
 Whare e'er ye meet a bonie lass, 
 
 Preen up her apron, Johnie.' 
 
 ' The rest of the leaf has been cut out, except two words, ' Every 
 friend,' which some other than Burns has written. 
 
BURNS MS. 23 
 
 [No. 96. The mucking of Gcordic's hyar. 
 
 As I went over yon meadow 
 
 And carelessly passed along 
 I listen d with pleasure to Jenny, 
 
 While mournfully singing this song : 
 
 The mucking of Geordie's byar, &c.] 
 
 ' The chorus of this song is old ; the rest is the work 
 of Balloon Tytler mentioned [No. 68].' 
 
 [No. 97. Bide ye yet. 
 
 Gin I had a wee house, and a canty wee fire, 
 A bonny wee wifie to praise and admire^ 
 
 A bonny wee yardy aside a wee burn : 
 
 Farewell to the bodies that yammer and mourn, &c.] 
 
 'There is a beautiful song to this tune beginning :— 
 " Alas ! my son, you little know " 
 which is the composition of a Miss Jenny Graham of 
 Dumfries.' 
 
 Volume II 
 
 [No. 102. Trancnt-muir. 
 
 The Chevalier being void of fear, 
 Did march up Brislie brae, man, 
 
 And thro' Tranent, e'er he did stent 
 As fast as he could gae, man, &c.] 
 
 'The preceding song "Tranent-muir," was composed 
 by a Mr. Skirvan, a very worthy respectable farmer 
 near Haddington. I have heard the anecdote often, 
 that Lieut. Smith, whom he mentions in the ninth 
 stanza, came to Haddington after the publication of the 
 
24 BURXS MS. 
 
 song, and sent a challenge to Skirvan to meet him at 
 Haddington, and answer for the unworthy manner in 
 which he had noticed him in his song. — ''Gang awa 
 back," said the honest farmer, "and tell Mr. Smith that 
 I hae na leisure to come to Haddington; but tell him 
 to come here, and I'll tak a look o' him, and if I think 
 I'm fit to fecht him, I'll fccht him; and if no— I'll do as 
 he did— I'll rin awa.'" 
 
 [No. 103. To the weaver'' s gin ye go. 
 
 My heart was ance as blyfJie and free 
 
 As simmer days were lang, 
 But a bonic, westlin weaver lad 
 
 Has gart me change my sang, Src] 
 
 'The chorus of this song is old, the rest of it is mine. 
 Here, once for all, let me apologise for many silly com- 
 positions of mine in this work. Many beautiful airs 
 wanted words ; in the hurry of other avocations, if I 
 could string a parcel of rhymes together any thing near 
 tolerable, I was fain to let them pass. He must be 
 an excellent poet indeed, whose every performance is 
 excellent. R. B.' 
 
 [No. 104. Strephon and Lydia. Tune: The Gordon's 
 has the guiding dt. 
 
 All lovely on the sultry beach 
 
 Expiring Strephon lay, 
 No hand the cordial draught to reach, 
 
 Nor chear the gloomy way, &c.] 
 
 ' The following account of this song I had from 
 Dr. Blacklock. The Strephon and Lydia mentioned 
 in the song were perhaps the loveliest couple of their 
 
BURNS MS. 25 
 
 time. The gentleman was commonly known by the 
 name of Beau Gibson. The lady was the "gentle Jean" 
 celebrated somewhere in Mr. Hamilton of Bangour's 
 poems. Having frequently met at public places, they 
 had formed a reciprocal attachment, which their friends 
 thought dangerous, as their resources were by no means 
 adequate to their tastes and habits of life. To elude 
 the bad consequences of such a connexion, Strephon 
 was sent abroad with a commission, and perished in 
 Admiral Vernon's expedition to Carthagena. The 
 author of the song w^as William Wallace Esq. of Cairn- 
 hill, in Ayrshire.' 
 
 [No. 107. I'm o'er young to many yet. 
 
 I am my mammy's ae bairn, 
 
 Wi' unco folk I weary, Sir, 
 And lying in a man's bed 
 
 I'm fiey'd it mak me irie, Sir, &:c.] 
 
 'The chorus of this song is old — the rest of it, such 
 as it is, is mine.' 
 
 [No. III. My jo, Janet. 
 
 O sweet Sir, for your conrtesie, 
 When ye come by the Bass, then 
 
 For the love ye bear to me. 
 
 Buy me a keeking-glass, then, (Sec] 
 
 'Johnson, the publisher, with a foolish delicacy, 
 refused to insert the last stanza of this humorous 
 ballad :— 
 
 My spinnin-wheel is auld and stiff 
 The rock it winna stan', Sir, 
 
26 BURNS MS. 
 
 To keep the temper-pin in tifT, 
 
 Employs right aft my han', Sir 
 Mak the best o't that ye can 
 
 Janet, Janet; 
 But like it never wale a man 
 
 My jo, Janet.' ^ 
 
 [No. 113. T/ic birks of Ahcrfcldy. Tune: Birks of 
 
 Ahergeldie, 
 
 Bonny lassie, will yc go, zvill ye go, will ye go, 
 Bonny lassie, will ye go to the birks of Aberfeldy, &c.] 
 
 ' I composed these stanzas standing under the falls of 
 Aberfeldy, at, or near, Moness.' 
 
 [No. 120. Fife and d the lands about it. 
 
 Allan by his grief excited, 
 
 Long the victim of despair ; 
 Thus deplored his passion slighted, 
 
 Thus addressed the scornful fair, &c.] 
 
 'This song is Dr. Blacklock's. He, as well as I, often 
 gave Johnson verses, trifling enough perhaps, but they 
 served as a vehicle to the music* 
 
 [No. 121. Were na my heart light I wad die. 
 
 There was ance a May, and she loe^d na men ; 
 She biggit her bonny bow'r down in yon glen ; 
 But now she cries dool and a well-a-dayl 
 Come down the green gate, and come here away, &c.] 
 
 ^ Added by Riddell : — 'French the fiddler played me a set of 
 variations to this tune, composed by Mr. Dalr^'mple of Orangeficld, 
 which I liked much. — R. R.' 
 
BURNS MS. 27 
 
 'Lord Hailes, in the notes to his collection of Ancient 
 Scots poems, says that this song was the composition 
 of a Lady Grissel Baillie, daughter of the first Earl of 
 Marchmont, and wife of George Baillie of Jerviswood.' 
 
 [No. 126. The Young Man's dream. 
 
 One night I dream' d I lay most easy, 
 
 By a murmuring river's side, 
 Where lovely banks were spread with daisies, 
 And the streams did smoothly glide, &c.] 
 ' This song is the composition of Balloon Tytler/ 
 
 [No. 132. Strathallan' s Lament. 
 
 Thickest night, surround my dwelling! 
 
 Howling tempests, o'er me ravel 
 Turbid torrents, wintry swelling. 
 Roaring by my lonely cave, &c.] 
 * This air is the composition of one of the worthiest 
 and best hearted men living— Allan Masterton, school- 
 master in Edin^. As he and I were both sprouts of 
 Jacobitism, we agreed to dedicate the words and air 
 to that cause. 
 
 To tell the matter of fact, except when my passions 
 were heated by some accidental cause, my Jacobitism 
 was merely by way of, Vive la bagatelle.' 
 
 [No. 133^ What words, dear Nancy, will prevail. 
 What tender accents move thee! 
 How shall I speak the soft detail. 
 
 And shew how much I love thee! (S:c.] 
 
 ' This song by Blacklock/ 
 
28 BURNS MS. 
 
 [No. 140. Cp in tJic Diorning early. 
 
 Cauld blazvs the ivind frae east to west, 
 
 The drift is driving sairly. 
 Sac loud and shill's I hear the blast, 
 
 I'm sure its winter fairly, &c.] 
 
 *The chorus of this is old ; the two stanzas are mine.' 
 
 [No. 141. The tears of Scotland. 
 
 Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn, 
 
 Thy banish' d peace, thy laurels torn ! 
 
 Thy sons, for valour long renowned, 
 
 Lie slaughtered on their native ground, &c.] 
 
 'Dr. Blacklock told me that Smollet, who was at 
 bottom a great Jacobite, composed these beautiful and 
 pathetic verses on the infamous depredations of the 
 Duke of Cumberland after the battle of Culloden.' ^ 
 
 [No. 146. 
 
 / dreamed I lay where flowers zvere springing, 
 
 Gaily in the sunny beam; 
 Listening to the wild birds singing 
 
 By a falling, chrystal stream, &c.] 
 
 ' These two stanzas I composed when I was seventeen, 
 and are among the eldest of my printed pieces.' 
 
 ^ Riddell continues the subject on the reverse page as follows : — 
 ' The Tears of Scotland [tune] was composed by Mr. Oswald. It 
 was intended as Lamentations for the Civil Wars in Scotland in 
 the year 1745 and the cruelties exercised in the Highlands by the 
 victorious army in 1746. The excesses that were then committed 
 tarnished the glory of William Duke of Cumberland. But it is time 
 a vail was drawn over that unhappy affair. For many worthy indi- 
 viduals suffered : yet the salutary operations of the British Parliament 
 1747 arc most conspicuous now in 1792.' 
 
BURNS MS. 29 
 
 [No. 151. Tune: Gallashiels. 
 
 Ah ! the poor shepherd's mournful fate, 
 
 When doom'd to love, and dooni'd to languish, 
 
 To bear the scornfid fair one's hate, 
 Nor dare disclose his anguish! &c.] 
 
 ' The old title " Sour plums o' Gallashiels " probably 
 saw the beginning of a song to this air, which is now 
 
 lost.' 1 
 
 [No. 157. The banks of the Devon. Tune: Bhannerach 
 
 dhon na chri. 
 
 How pleasant the banks of the clear-winding Devon, 
 With green-spreading bushes and flow' rs blooming fair! 
 
 But the bonniest flow'r on- the banks of the Devon 
 Was once a sweet bud on the braes of the Ayr, (Sec] 
 
 'These verses were composed on a charming girl, 
 a Miss Charlotte Hamilton, who is now married to 
 Jas McKitrick Adair, Esquire, Physician. She is sister 
 to my worthy friend Gavin Hamilton, of Mauchline ; 
 and was born on the banks of Ayr, but was, at the time 
 I wrote those lines, residing at Herveyston, in Clack- 
 mannan Shire, on the romantic banks of the little river 
 Devon. I first heard the air from a lady in Inverness, 
 and got the notes taken down for this work.' 
 
 [No. 158. Waly, waly. 
 
 O waly, waly, up yon bank. 
 
 And waly, waly down yon brae, 
 
 1 Preceding which, Riddell has written : ' The tune of Gallashiels 
 was composed about the beginning of the present century by the 
 Laird of Gallashiel's piper.' 
 
30 
 
 BURNS MS. 
 
 A)id ivaly by yon river side, 
 
 lllicre I ajid my love ivont to gae, «S:c.] 
 
 ' In the west country I have heard a different edition 
 of the 2nd Stanza. Instead of the four Hnes beginning 
 with "When cockle shells" &c.; the other way ran 
 thus : — 
 
 O, wherefore need I busk my head, 
 Or wherefore need I kame my hair 
 
 Sin my fause luve has me forsook, 
 And says he'll never luve me main' ^ 
 
 [No. 1 60. Duncan Gray. 
 
 Weary fa you, 'Duncan Gray, Ha, ha the girdin dt 
 IVac gae by you, Duncan Gray, ha! ha tJie girdin 
 o't, &c.] 
 
 ' Dr. Blacklock informed me that he had often heard 
 the tradition that this air was composed by a carman in 
 Glasgow.* 
 
 ^ After which Riddell copies the music of Waly, JValy as ' altered 
 by Glenriddeir [i.e. himself]. Aground bass is below the following, 
 in the MS. :— 
 
 
 :^=N 
 
 
BURXS MS. 
 
 31 
 
 [No. 161. 
 
 Diujibarfoft's drums beat honny, O ! 
 When they mind me of my dear Johnny O ! 
 How happy am I when my soldier is by, 
 While he kisses and blesses his Annie, O, &c.] 
 
 'This is the last of the West Highland airs; and 
 from it, over the whole tract of country to the confines 
 of Tweedside, there is hardly a tune or song that one 
 can say has taken its origin from an}' place or transac- 
 tion in that part of Scotland. The oldest Ayr Shire reel 
 is Stcwarton lasses, which was made by the father of the 
 present Sir Walter Montgomery Cunningham, alias 
 Lord Lyle ; since which period there has indeed been 
 local music in that country in great plenty. Johnnie 
 Faa is the only old song which I could ever trace as 
 belonging to the extensive county of Ayr.' 
 
 [No. 162. Cauld kail in Aberdeen. 
 
 There 's caidd kail in Aberdeen, 
 
 And castocks in Stra' bogie ; 
 Gin I hae but a bonny lass. 
 
 Ye' re welcome to your cogie, &c.] 
 
 ' This song is by the Duke of Gordon. The old 
 verses are : — 
 
 There 's cauld kail in Aberdeen, 
 
 And castocks in Strathbogie ; 
 
 When ilka lad maun hae his lass, 
 
 Then fye, gie me my coggie. 
 
 Chorus : My Coggie, Sirs, my coggie. Sirs, 
 I canna want my coggie ; 
 I wadna gie my three-girr'd cap 
 For e'er a quine on Bogie. 
 
32 B[:RNS MS. 
 
 There 's Johnie Smith has got a wife 
 That scrimps him o' his coggie, 
 
 If she were mine, upon my Hfe 
 I wad douk her in a bogie. 
 
 My coggiCy Sirs, &€.' 
 
 [No. 163. For lake 0/ gold she's left me, O! 
 
 And of all that's dear bereft me, 01 
 She me forsook, for a great Duke, 
 And to endless care has left me, O/] 
 
 'The country girls in Ayr Shire instead of the line : — 
 " She me forsook for a great Duke " ; say '' For Athol's 
 Duke she's me forsook ", which I take to be the original 
 reading.' * 
 
 [No. 166. Tune: Here's a health to my true love, &c. 
 
 To me what are riches encumb red with care ? 
 To me what is pomp's insignificant glaive ? 
 No minion of fortune, no pageant of state, 
 Shall ever induce me to envy his fate, <S:c.] 
 
 'This song is Dr. Blacklock's. He told me that 
 tradition gives the air to our James 4th of Scotland.' 
 
 ' Riddell precedes this note with the following : — 'This tune was 
 composed by the late Dr. Austin, physician at Edinburgh. He had 
 courted a lady to whom he was shortly to have been married ; but 
 the Duke of Athole having seen her, became so much in love with 
 her, that he made proposals of marriage which was (sic) accepted of 
 and she jilted the D'', who cut to the heart sung this plaintive 
 ballad.' 
 
BURNS MS. 33 
 
 [No. 170. Hey tiifti taiti. 
 
 Landlady, count the lawin, 
 The day is near the daw in ; 
 Ye re a' blind drunk, boys, 
 And Fm but jolly fou, &c.] 
 
 ' I have met the tradition universally over Scotland, 
 and particularly about Stirling, in the neighbourhood 
 of the scene, that this air was Robert Bruce' s march at 
 the battle of Bannockburn.' 
 
 [No. 173. Tune: McGrigor 0/ R ore's lament. 
 
 Raving winds around her blowing. 
 Yellow leaves the woodlands strowing 
 By a river hoarsely roaring, 
 Isabella stray' d deploring, &c.] 
 
 ' I composed these verses on Miss Isabella M^Leod 
 of Raza, alluding to her feelings on the death of her 
 sister, and the still more melancholy death of her sister's 
 husband, the late Earl of Loudon, who shot himself 
 out of sheer heart-break at some mortifications he 
 suffered, owing to the deranged state of his finances.' 
 
 [No. 174. Tune: \\th of October. 
 
 Ye Gods! was Strephon's picture blest. 
 With the fair heav'n of Chloe's breast! 
 Move softer, thou fond Jlutfring lieart. 
 Oil gently throb, — too fierce thou art, &c.] 
 
 'The title of this air shews that it alludes to the 
 famous King Crispian, the patron of the honorable 
 
 D 
 
34 BURNS MS. 
 
 Corporation of Shoemakers. Saint Crispian's da}' falls 
 oil the fourteenth of October, old style, as the old 
 proverb tells : — 
 
 ' On the fourteenth of October 
 Was ne'er a sutor sober ! ' 
 
 [No. 176. Tune: Miss Hamilton's delight. 
 
 Since 7'obb'd of all that charmed my view. 
 
 Of all my soul e'er fancied fair. 
 Ye smiling native scenes, adieu, 
 
 With each delightful object there, &c.] 
 
 'The old name of this air is, "The blossom o' the 
 raspberry." The song is D^ Blacklock's.' 
 
 [No. 178. Young Damon. Tune: Highland lamentation. 
 
 Amidst a rosy bank of flowers, 
 
 Young Damon mourn' d his forlorn fate, 
 
 In sighs he spent his languid hours 
 
 And breath' d his woes in lonely state, »S:c.] 
 
 * This air is by Oswald.' 
 
 [No. 179. Tune: Druimion dubh. 
 
 Musing on the roaring ocean. 
 Which divides my love and me ; 
 
 Wearying Heav'n in warm devotion, 
 For his weal where'er he be, &c.] 
 
 ' I composed these verses out of compliment to a 
 Mrs M^Lachlan, whose husband is an officer in the 
 East-Indies.* 
 
BURNS MS. 
 
 35 
 
 [No. 1 80. Blythe was she. 
 
 B/yl/ie, blythe and merry was she, 
 
 Blythe was she but and ben : 
 Blythe by the banks of Earn, 
 
 And blythe in Glenturit glen, &c.] 
 
 * I composed these verses while I stayed at Ochtertyre 
 with Sir W^^ Murray. The lady, who was also at 
 Ochtertyre at the same time, was the well-known toast, 
 Miss Euphemia Murray of Lentrose, who was called, 
 and very justly, The Flower of Strathmore.' 
 
 [No. 181. Johnny Faa, or the Gypste Laddie. 
 
 The gypsies came to our Lord^s yett, 
 
 And vow but they sang sweetly ; 
 They sang sae sweet, and sae compleat, 
 
 That down came the fair lady, &c.] 
 
 ' The people in Ayrshire begin this song : — 
 The gypsies cam to my Lord Cassili's yet. 
 
 They have a great many more stanzas in this song 
 than I ever yet saw in any printed copy. The Castle 
 is still remaining at Maybole where his lordship shut 
 up his wayward spouse and kept her for life.* 
 
 [No. 182. To daunton me. 
 
 The blude red rose at Yule may blaw, 
 
 The simmer lillies bloom in snaw, 
 
 The frost may freeze the deepest sea, 
 
 But an auld man shall never daunton me, &c.] 
 
 ' The two following old stanzas to this tune have some 
 merit : — 
 
 To daunton me, to daunton me, 
 O ken ye what it is that'll daunton me? 
 D 2 
 
36 BURNS MS. 
 
 There's eighty eight and eighty nine, 
 And a' that 1 hae borne sinsyne, 
 There 's cess and press and Presbytrie, 
 I think it will do meikle for to daunton me. 
 
 But to wanton me, to wanton me, 
 
 ken ye what it is that wad wanton me — 
 To see gude corn upon the rigs, 
 
 And banishment amang the Whigs, 
 And right restor'd where right sud be, 
 
 1 think it wad do meikle for to wanton me.* 
 
 [No. 184. Absence. A song in the manner of Shen- 
 
 stone. 
 
 Ye rivers so limpid and clear. 
 
 Who rejlectf as in cadence you flow, 
 
 All the beauties that vary the year, 
 
 All the flow'rs on your margins that grow, &c.] 
 
 'This song and air both by D^ Blacklock.' 
 
 [No. 185. 
 
 / had a horse, and I had nae mair, 
 
 I gat him frae my daddy ; 
 My purse was lights and my heart was sair. 
 
 But my wit it was fu* ready, &c.] 
 
 ' This story was founded on fact. A John Hunter, 
 ancestor to a very respectable farming family who live 
 in a place in the parish, I think, of Galston called 
 Barr-mill, was the luckless hero that "had a horse and 
 had nae mair". For some little youthful follies he 
 found it necessary to make a retreat to the West-High- 
 lands where "he fee'd himself to a Highland laird", for 
 
BURNS MS. 37 
 
 that is the expression on all the oral editions of the 
 song I ever heard. The present M^ Hunter, who 
 told me the anecdote, is great grand-child to our hero.' 
 
 [No. 1 86. By a Lady. Tune : Banks of Spey. 
 
 Talk not of love, it gives me pain, 
 
 For love has been my foe ; 
 He bound me with an iron chain, 
 
 And plung'd me deep in woe, &c.] 
 
 ' This song by Clarinda.* 
 
 [No. i88. 
 
 Up and warn a' Willie, warn, warn a' ; 
 To hear my canty Highland sang, 
 Relate the thing I saw, Willie, &c.] 
 
 'This edition of the song I got from Tom Niel of 
 facetious fame in Edin^. The expression Up and warn 
 a' Willie alludes to the crantara or warning of a high- 
 land clan to arms. Not understanding this, the Low- 
 landers in the West, and South, say, Up and waiir 
 them a\ &c.' 
 
 [No. 189. A rosebud by my early walk, 
 A-down a corn enclosed bawk, 
 Sae gently bent its thorny stalk. 
 All on a dewy morning, &c.] 
 
 'This song I composed on Miss Jeany Cruikshank, 
 only child to my worthy friend M^^ W»^ Cruikshank, 
 of the High School, Edin^. The air is by a David 
 Sillar, quondam Merchant, and now Schoolmaster in 
 
33 BURNS MS. 
 
 Irvine. He is the Davie to whom I address my printed 
 poetical epistle in the measure of the Cherry and the 
 Slae: 
 
 [No. 190. To a blackbird. By a Lady. Tune: Scots 
 
 Queen. 
 
 Go on, sweet bird, and soothe my care, 
 Thy tuneful notes will hush despair ; 
 
 Thy plaintive warblings, void of art, 
 
 Thrill sweetly thrd my aching heart, &c.] 
 
 'This song by Clarinda.' 
 
 [No. 191. Hooly and fairly. 
 
 what had I ado for to marry ; 
 
 My wife she drinks naithing but sack and canary. 
 
 1 to her friends complained right early : 
 
 O gin my wife would drink hooly and fairly, &c.] 
 
 'It is remark — worthy the song Hooly and fairly, in 
 all the old editions of it, is called The drunken wife 
 d Galloway, which localises it to that country.' * 
 
 ^ Here Riddell gives the verses of a political song of twenty-eight 
 
 lines on Lord North, written by Robert Sinclair, Advocate, in 1779, 
 
 W'hich begins : — 
 
 Would he tax but the rich folks I should not much care, 
 But he 's taxed the poor who have little to spare, 
 Who toil for their mouthful both late and early ; 
 Oh ! that Lord North would tax Hooly and fairly. 
 
 Hooly and fairly, &c. 
 To make the Americans pay for their Tea, 
 He 's taen snuff and tobacco frae you and frae me ; 
 Which famines the nose of an old canker d carley ; 
 Oh ! that Lord North would tax Hooly and fairly. 
 
 [The rest, consisting of five stanzas, but wanting the above second 
 
 stanza, is in The Charmer, Edin. 1782, ii. 341.] 
 
BURNS MS. 39 
 
 [No. 194. Rattlin, roarin Willie. 
 
 O! ratilin, roarin Willie^ O lie held to the fair, 
 Art for to sell his fiddle, And buy some other ware ; 
 But parting wV his fiddle, The saiit tear Hint his e'e ; 
 And rattlin, roarin PVillie, Ye' re welcome hame to 
 me, (Sec] 
 
 *The last stanza of this song is mine and out of com- 
 pliment to one of the worthiest fellows in the world, 
 Willm Dunbar, Esq : Writer to the Signet, Edin^, and 
 Colonel of the Crochallan Corps, a club of wits who 
 took that title at the time of raising the fencible regi- 
 ments.' 
 
 [No. 195. Tune: A^. Gows lamentation for Abercairney. 
 
 Where braving angry winter's storms 
 
 The lofty Ochils rise, 
 Far in their shade, my Peggy's charms 
 
 First blest my wondWing eyes, &c.] 
 
 ' This song I composed on one of the most accom- 
 plished of women. Miss Peggy Chalmers that was, now 
 M^^ Lewis Hay, of Forbes & Co'^ bank, Edin^.' 
 
 [No. 196. Tibbie, I hae seen the day. Tune : Inver- 
 
 calds reel. 
 
 O Tibbie, I hae seen the day Ye would na been sae shy ; 
 For laik 0' gear ye lightly me, But trowth, I care na 
 by, &c.] 
 
 'This song I composed about the age of seventeen.' 
 
40 BURNS MS. 
 
 [No. 197. Nancy's ghost. Tune : Bonie Kate of 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Where waving pines salute the skies, 
 And silver streams meandering flow, 
 
 Where verdant mountains gently rise, 
 Thus Sandy sung his tale of woe, &c.] 
 
 'This song by D^^ Blacklock.' 
 
 [No. 198. Clarinda, mistress of my soul, 
 
 The measured time is run! cS:c.] 
 
 'This air is by Schetki in Edin^. The verses are 
 mine.' 
 
 Volume III 
 [No. 201. Tune: Marquis of Huntly's reel. 
 
 Tune your fiddles, tune them sweetly. 
 Play the Marquis Reel discreetly. 
 Here we are a band compleatly 
 Fitted to be jolly, &c.] 
 
 'This song was composed by the Rev^^ John Skinner, 
 nonjurer clergyman at Linshart, near Peterhead. He 
 is likewise the author of Ttdlochgorum, Eivie wi' the 
 crooked horn, John d Badenyond &zc. and what is of 
 still more consequence, he is one of the worthiest of 
 mankind. He is the author of an ecclesiastical History 
 of Scotland. 
 
 The air is by M^ Marshall butler to the Duke of 
 Gordon ; the first composer of strathspeys of the age. 
 I have been told by somebody who had it of Marshall 
 himself, that he took the idea of his three most cele- 
 
BURNS MS. , 41 
 
 brated pieces, The Marquis of Huntley's Reel, His 
 Farewell and Miss Admiral Gordon's Reel, from the 
 old air, The German Lairdie.' 
 
 [No. 203. Gt7l M or ice. 
 
 Gill Morice was an earle's son, 
 
 His name it waxed wide, 
 It was na for his great riches^ 
 
 Nor yet his mickie pride ; 
 But it was for a lady gay 
 
 That lived on Carron side, «S:c.] 
 
 ^ ' In addition to the observations on Gil Moris, I add, 
 that of the songs which Capt. Riddel mentions, Kenneth 
 and Duncan are juvenile compositions of M^ M'^Kenzie 
 the Man of FeeHng. McKenzie's father shewed them 
 in MSS. to Dr Blacklock, as the productions of his 
 son, from which the D^^ rightly prognosticated that the 
 young poet would make in his more advanced years 
 
 ^ The following note by Riddell, which precedes that of Burns in 
 the MS., explains itself :—' This plaintive ballad ought to have been 
 called Child Maurice, and not Gill Morice. In its present dress it has 
 gained immortal honor from M"" Home's taking from it the ground- 
 work of his fine tragedy of Douglas. But I am of opinion that the 
 present ballad is a modern composition ; perhaps not much above the 
 age of the middle of the last century ; at least I should be glad to see or 
 hear of a copy of the present words prior to 1650. That it was taken 
 from an old ballad, called Child Maurice, now lost. I am inclined to 
 believe, but the present one may be classed with Hardycaniitc, Kenneth, 
 Duncan, The Laird of Woodhouslee , Lord Livingston, Binnorie, The 
 Death of Menteith, and many other modern productions, which have 
 been swallowed by many readers, as antient fragments of old poems. 
 This beautiful plaintive tune was composed by Mr. M^Gibbon, the 
 selector of a Collection of Scots Tunes,'' In Cromek's Reliques the 
 above note is marked ' R. R.', presumably intended for Robert 
 Riddell. 
 
42 BURNS MS. 
 
 a respectable figure in the world of letters. This I had 
 from Blacklock.' 
 
 [No. 205. Tune: Scots recluse. 
 
 Wlien I upon iliy bosom lean, 
 
 And fondly clasp thee a' my ain, 
 I glory in the sacred ties 
 
 That made ns ane, luha ance were twain, &c.] 
 
 ' This song was the work of a very worthy, facetious 
 old fellow, John Lapraik, late of Dalfram, near Muir- 
 kirk ; which little property he was obliged to sell in 
 consequence of some connexion as security for some 
 persons concerned in that villanous bubble, The Ayr 
 Bank. He has often told me that he composed this 
 song one day when his wife had been fretting o'er their 
 misfortunes.* 
 
 [No. 208. Jenny was fair and unkind. Tune: Scots 
 
 Jenny. 
 
 When west winds did blow, with a soft gentle breeze, 
 And sweet blooming verdure did clothe all the trees, &c.] 
 
 'This song by Lapraik.* 
 
 [No. 209. Tune: Highlander's Lament, 
 
 My Harry was a gallant gay, 
 
 Fu' stately strade he on the plain; 
 
 But now he*s banished far awa' 
 ril never see him back again; &c.] 
 
 'The oldest title I ever heard to this air, was The 
 Highland Watch's farewell to Ireland. The chorus I 
 pickt up from an old woman in Dunblane ; the rest of 
 the song is mine.' 
 
BURXS MS. 43 
 
 [No. 211. Leader Hanghs and Yarrow. 
 
 The morn was fair, saft was the air, 
 All nature's sweets were springing, 
 The buds did bow with silver dew, 
 
 Ten thousand birds were singing, &c.] 
 ' There is in several collections, the old song o( Leader 
 hatiehs and Yarrow. It seems to have been the work 
 of one of our itinerant minstrels, as he calls himself, at 
 the conclusion of his song " Minstrel Burn." ' 
 
 [No. 212. 
 
 The taylor fell thro' the bed, thimble an' a\ 
 
 The taylor fell thro' the bed, thimble an' a' ; 
 
 The blankets were thin and the sheets they were sma' , 
 
 The taylor fell thro' the bed, thimble an a', &c.] 
 
 ' This air is the march of the Corporation of Tailors. 
 The 2^ and 4^^ stanzas are mine.' 
 
 [No. 215. Beware 0' bonie Ann. 
 
 Ye gallants bright, I red you right 
 
 Beware 0' bonie Ann; 
 Her comely face sae fu' 0' grace, 
 Your heart she will trepan, &c.] 
 ' I composed this song out of compliment to Miss Ann 
 Masterton, the daughter of my friend Allan Masterton 
 the author of the air of Strathallan' s Lament, and two 
 or three others in this work.' 
 
 [No. 216. This is no mine ain house. 
 O this is no mine ain house, 
 
 I ken by the rigging o't, 
 Since with my love Tve changed vows, 
 
 I dinna like the bigging at, «S:c.] 
 
44 BURNS MS. 
 
 'The first half stanza is old, the rest is Ramsay's. 
 The old words are : — 
 
 O, this is no my ain house, 
 
 My ain house, my ain house ; 
 This is no my ain house, 
 
 I ken by the biggin o't. 
 
 There 's bread and cheese are my door cheeks, 
 Are my door-cheeks, are my door-cheeks ; 
 
 There 's bread and cheese are my door-cheeks 
 And pan-cakes the riggin o't. 
 
 This is no my ain wean, 
 
 My ain wean, my ain wean ; 
 This is no my ain wean, 
 
 I ken by the greetie o't. 
 
 I'll tak the curchie aff my head, 
 
 Aff my head, aff my head ; 
 I'll tak the curchie aff my head 
 
 And row'd about the feetie o't. 
 
 The tune is an old Highland air, called Slman triiish 
 willtghan.' 
 
 [No. 218. Laddie lie near me. 
 
 Hark! the loud tempest shakes Earth to its center, 
 How mad were the task on a journey to venture ; &c.] 
 
 ' This song by Blacklock.' 
 
 [No. 220. The gardener wV his paidle. 
 
 When rosy May comes in wi' flowers, 
 To deck her gay, green spreading bowers ; 
 Then busy, busy are his hours, 
 
 The gard'ner wi' his paidle, &c.] 
 
BURNS MS. 45 
 
 ' This air is the gardiner's march. The title of the 
 song only is old, the rest is mine.' 
 
 [No. 228. The black eagle. 
 
 Hark! Yonder eagle lonely wails, 
 
 His faithful bosom grief assails : 
 
 Last night I heard him in my dream, 
 
 When death and woe were all the theme, &c.] 
 
 * This song is by D^ Fordyce, whose merits as a prose 
 writer are well known.' 
 
 [No. 229. 
 
 famie come try me, famie come try me, 
 
 If thou woidd win my love, famie come try me ; &c.] 
 
 ' This air is Oswald's ; the song mine.' 
 
 [No. 231. My bony Mary. j) ^ ?3 
 
 Go, fetch to me a pint d wine, ' 
 
 A nd fill it in a silver tassie ; 
 That I may drink before I go 
 A service to my bonie lassie, &c.] 
 
 'This air is Oswald's; the first half stanza of the 
 song is old, the rest mine.* 
 
 [No. 232. 
 
 The lazy mist hangs from the brow of the hill, 
 Concealing the course of the dark winding rill ; 
 How languid the scenes, late so sprightly, appear. 
 As Autumn to Winter resigns the pale year, (Sec] 
 
 * This song is mine.' 
 
46 BURNS MS. 
 
 [No. 234. Joluiie Cope. 
 
 Sir John Cope trode the nortJi rigid far, 
 Yet ne'er a rebel he cain naur ; 
 Until he landed at Dunbar 
 
 Right early in a mornings &c.] 
 
 ^ ' The air was the tune of an old song, of which I have 
 heard some verses, but now only remember the title, 
 which was : — 
 
 Will ye go to the coals in the morning.* 
 
 [No. 235. / love my Jean. Tune : Miss Admiral 
 Gordo7i's Strathspey. 
 
 Of a* the airts the wind can blaw, 
 
 I dearly like the West, 
 For there the bony lassie lives, 
 
 The lassie I loe best: 
 There's wildwoods grow, and rivers row, 
 
 And mony a hill between; 
 But day and night my fancy's flight 
 Is ever wi' my Jean, &c.] 
 'This air is by Marshall; the song I composed out 
 of compliment to M^s Burns. N. B. It was during the 
 honeymoon/ 
 
 [No. 246. 
 
 Cease, cease my dear friend to explore 
 
 From whence and how piercing my smart, &c.] 
 
 'The Song is by D^ Blacklock ; and I believe, but 
 am not quite certain, that the air is his too.' 
 
 ^ This note of Burns's is preceded by the following in the hand- 
 writing of Riddell : ' This satirical song was composed to com- 
 memorate General Cope's defeat at Preston Pans, in 1745, when he 
 marched against the Clanns.' 
 
BURXS MS. 47 
 
 [No. 247. Auld Robin Gray. 
 
 When the sheep are in the fauld and the ky at hame, 
 And a' the warld to sleep are gane, 
 The waes of my heart fa' in shozv'rs frae my e'e, 
 When my giideman lyes sound by me, &c.] 
 
 ' This air was formerly called The bridegroom greets 
 when the sun gangs down.' 
 
 [No. 250. Tak your auld cloak about ye. 
 
 In winter when the rain rained cauld, 
 
 And frost and snaw on ilka hill, 
 And Boreas with his blasts sae bauld. 
 
 Was threafning «' our ky to kill ; &:c.] 
 
 'A part of this old song according to the English set 
 of it, is quoted in Shakespear.' 
 
 [No. 255. Tune : My love is lost to me. 
 
 O were I on Parnassus hill, 
 
 Or had 0' Helicon my fill, 
 That I might catch poetic skill. 
 
 To sing how dear I love thee, &c.] 
 
 ' This air is Oswald's : the song I made out of com- 
 pliment to M^^ Burns.' 
 
 [No. 257. The Captive ribband. Tune : A galic air. 
 
 Dear Myra, the captive ribband's mine, 
 ' Twas all my faithful love coidd gain ; 
 
 And woidd you ask me to resign, 
 
 The sole reward that crowns my pain, &c.] 
 
 ' This air is called Robie donna Gorach* 
 
48 BURNS MS. 
 
 [No. 258. Tunc : A galic air. 
 
 There *s a youth in this city^ it were a great pity 
 That he from our lasses should wander aiva\ 
 
 For he's bony and brazv, weel favour d ivitJi a\ 
 And his hair has a natural buckle and a\ &:c.] 
 
 'This air is claimed by Niel Gow who calls it his 
 lament for his brother. The first half stanza of the 
 song is old ; the rest is mine.' 
 
 [No. 259. Tune: Faille na miosg. 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here ; 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands a chasing the deer, 
 A chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go, &c.] 
 
 * The first half-stanza of this song is old ; the rest is 
 mine.* 
 
 [No. 260. Jolut Anderson, my jo, John, 
 When we were first acquent ; 
 Your locks were like the raven. 
 Your bony brow was brent ; &c.] 
 
 'This song is mine.' ^ 
 
 ^ The following notes are by Riddell : — ' M^ Tytler in his Disser- 
 tation on the Scottish Music says : " It is a common tradition that 
 the wits at the time of the Reformation burlesqued and sung as profane 
 ballads several of the hymns used in the Romish Church and performed 
 upon the organ in the Cathedral churches— among them were John 
 come kiss me now. Kind Robin he's me and John Anderson my joe, &c, 
 A collection of these pieces was printed at Edinburgh about 1590 
 by Andro Hart in old Saxon or black letter under the title of *'A 
 Compendious book of Godlie Ballads." R. R/— and at the end of the 
 volume the subject is continued :— ' M"" M'^Kenzie in his Lives of Scots 
 Writers says :'' In the reign of Alexander 2^ the church music in 
 
BURXS MS. 49 
 
 [No. 264. 
 
 Ca' the ewes to the knoix's, 
 
 Ca' them whare the heather grows, 
 
 Ca' them whare the bwiiie rows, 
 My homiie dearie. 
 
 As I gaed down the water-side, »Scc.] 
 
 'This beautiful song is in the true old Scotch taste, 
 yet I do not know that ever either air or words, were 
 in print before.' 
 
 [No. 269. The bridal o't. Tune : Lucy Campbel. 
 
 They say that Jockey 'II speed weel o't, 
 They say that Jockey 7/ speed weel dt, 
 
 For he grows brawer ilka day, 
 I hope we 'II hae a bridal dt, &c.] 
 
 'This song is the work of a J\lr. Alex^ Ross, late 
 schoolmaster at Lochlee ; and author of a beautiful 
 Scots poem, called The Fortunate Shepherdess.' 
 
 [No. 275. Todlen hame. 
 
 J/f^hen I have a saxpence imder my thum, 
 Then Pll get credit in ilka town : 
 But ay when Fm poor they bid me gae by ; 
 O! poverty parts good company, &c.] 
 
 Scotland was crude and barbarous : r\P Simon Taylor, a friar of St. 
 Dominic, the greatest master of music in his da}', in a few years brought 
 it to great perfection in Scotland. In the reign of James the First, David 
 Steel wrote in verse the life of Robert the Third, in which are (said 
 to be) several things of moment recorded. It was never printed. 
 Andrew Winton a chanon regular, born in the reign of Robert the 
 Second wrote the Chronicle Original of Scotland. Sir James Balfour 
 gave a copy to the Advocates Library, W James Kirkton's copy of this 
 is reckoned the most perfect, particularly anent the female Pope.' 
 
 E 
 
 /^ 
 
 OF -HE -^ 
 
 V E R s ri > 1 
 
50 BURNS MS. 
 
 ' This is perhaps the first bottle song that ever was 
 composed.' 
 
 [No. 276. The braes 0' Ballochmyle. 
 
 The Catrinc woods were yellow seen. 
 The flowWs decayed on Catrine lee, 
 
 Nae laverock sang on hillock green, 
 But Nature sickened on the e'e, &c.] 
 
 'This air is the composition of my friend Allan 
 Masterton^ in Edin^. I composed the verses on the 
 amiable and excellent family of Whiteford's leaving 
 Ballochmyle, when Sir John's misfortunes had obliged 
 him to sell the estate.' 
 
 [No. 277. The rantin dog, the daddie o't. Tune : East 
 
 nook 0' Fife. 
 
 O! wha my habie-clouts will buy, 
 O! wha will tent me when I cry, 
 Wha will kiss me where I lie. 
 
 The rantin dog, the daddie dt, &c.] 
 
 ' I composed this song pretty early in life and sent it 
 to a young girl, a very particular acquaintance of mine, 
 who was at that time under a cloud.' 
 
 [No. 278. The shepherd's preference. 
 
 In May, when the daisies appear on the green, 
 
 And flow' rs in the field and the forest are seen, <S:c.] 
 
 ' This song is Blacklock's. I don't know how it came 
 
 by the name, but the oldest appellation of the air, 
 
 was Whistle and Til come to you my lad. It has little 
 
 affinity to the tune commonly known by that name.' 
 
BURNS MS. 51 
 
 [No. 285. John d Badenyond. 
 
 When first I came to be a man of to^enty years or so, 
 I thought myself a handsome youth, and fain the world 
 woidd know, &c.] 
 
 ' This excellent song is the composition of my worthy 
 friend old Skinner, at Linshart.' 
 
 [No. 288. A waiikrife minnie. 
 
 Whare are ye gaun, my honie lass, 
 Whare are ye gaun, my hiney ? 
 She answer d me right saucily, 
 An errand for my minnie, (Sec] 
 
 ' I pickt up this old song and tune from a country girl 
 in Nithsdale. I never met with it elsewhere in Scot- 
 land.' 
 
 [No. 289. Tullochgorum. 
 
 Come gie's a sang, Montgomery cry'd. 
 
 And lay your disputes all aside ; 
 What nonsence is' t for folks to chide. 
 
 For what's been done before them, (Sec] 
 
 'This, first of songs, is the masterpiece of my old 
 friend Skinner. He was passing the day at the town 
 of Cullen, I think it was, in a friend's house whose 
 name was Montgomery. M^s Montgomery observing 
 en passant, that the beautiful reel of Tullochgorum 
 wanted words, she begged them of M^ Skinner, who 
 gratified her wishes, and the wishes of every lover 
 of Scotish Song, in this most excellent ballad. These 
 particulars I had from the author's son, Bishop Skinner, 
 at Aberdeen.' 
 
 E 2 
 
52 BURNS MS. 
 
 [No. 290. For a' that aii a' tJiat. 
 
 TJio' ivouicii's Jiiiiids like ivinicr winds 
 
 May sJiift and turn and a' that, 
 The noblest breast adores them inaist, 
 
 A consequence I draw that, &c.J 
 
 ^ This song is mine, all except the chorus.* 
 
 [No. 291. 
 
 O! Willie brew'd a peck d maiit, 
 And Rob and Allan cam to see ; 
 
 Three blyther hearts, that lee lang night. 
 Ye wad na found in Christendie, &c.] 
 
 'This air is Masterton's ; the song mine. The occa- 
 sion of it was this.— Mr W^^ Nicol, of the High School, 
 Edin^, during the autumn vacation being at Moffat, 
 honest Allan, who was at that time on a visit to 
 Dalswinton, and I went to pay Nicol a visit. We 
 had such a joyous meeting that M^ Masterton and 
 I each in our own way should celebrate the 
 business.* 
 
 [No. 293. The ewie wi' the crooked horn. 
 
 O! were I able to rehearse 
 
 My ewie's praise in proper verse 
 
 Vd sound it out as loud and fierce 
 
 As ever piper's drone could blaw, &c.] 
 
 'Another excellent song of old Skinner's. 
 
BURNS MS. 53 
 
 Volume IV 
 
 [No. 301. Craigie-btirn Wood. 
 
 Sweet closes the evening on Craigie-burn-cjood, 
 
 And blythely awaukens the morrow ; 
 But the pride of the spring in the Craigie-burn-wood, 
 
 Can yield me nothing but sorrow, &c.] 
 
 ' It is remarkable of this air, that it is the confine of 
 that country where the greatest part of our Lowland 
 music, (so far as from the title, words, &c., we can 
 localize it) has been composed. From Craigie-burn, 
 near Moffat, until one reaches the West Highlands, we 
 have scarcely one slow air of any antiquity. 
 
 The song was composed on a passion which a 
 M^ Gillespie, a particular friend of mine, had for 
 a Miss Lorimer, afterwards a M^^^ Whelpdale. The 
 young lady was born at Craigie-burn wood. The chorus 
 is part of an old foolish ballad.' 
 
 [No. 302. Tune : Carron side. 
 
 Frae the friends and land I love, 
 
 Driv'n by fortune's felly spite, 
 Frae my best belov'd I rove, 
 
 Never mair to taste delight, (Sec] 
 
 ' I added the four last lines by way of giving a turn 
 to the theme of the poem, such as it is.* 
 
 [No. 303. Hiighie Graham. 
 
 Our lords are to the mountains gane, 
 
 A-hunting 0' the fallow deer. 
 And they hae grippet Hughie Graham 
 
 For stealing d the Bishop's mare, &c.] 
 
54 BURNS MS. 
 
 'There are several editions of this ballad. This, 
 here inserted, is from oral tradition in A3'rshire, where, 
 when 1 was a boy, it was a popular song. It, originally, 
 had a simple old tune which 1 have forgotten.' 
 
 [No. 308. 
 
 A Southland Jenny that was rigJit bonie, 
 She had for a suitor a Norland Johnie, 
 But he was sicken a bashful wooer 
 That he coidd scarcely speak unto her, &c.] 
 
 ' This is a popular Ayrshire song, though the notes 
 were never taken down before. It, as well as many 
 of the ballad tunes in this collection, was written from 
 M" Burns's voice.' 
 
 [No. 312. My tocher'' s the jewel. 
 
 O! meikle thinks my love d my beauty, 
 And meikle thinks my love 0' my kin ; 
 
 Bid little thinks my love, I ken braivlie, 
 
 My tocher's the jewel has charms for him, &c.] 
 
 ' This tune is claimed by Nathi Gow. It is notoriously 
 taken from The muckin 0' Geordie's byre. It is also to 
 be found, long prior to Nathi Gow's aera, in Aird's 
 Selection of Airs and Ma?'ches, the first edition, under 
 the name of The highway to Edin''.' 
 
 [No. 313. Then guidwife count the lawin. 
 
 Gane is the day, and mirk's the night, 
 But we 'II ne'er stray for faute o' light, 
 For ale and bt^andy's stars and moon, 
 And blude-red wine's the rysin sun, &c.] 
 
BURNS MS, 55 
 
 'The chorus of this is part of an old song, one stanza 
 of which I recollect : — 
 
 Every day my wife tells me 
 That ale and brandy will ruin me ; 
 But if gude liquor be my dead, 
 This shall be written on my head, 
 O gude w'ife count, »S:c/ 
 
 [No. 315. There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame. 
 
 By yon castle wa' at the close of the day, 
 
 I heard a man sing tho' his head it was grey, 
 
 And as he was singing the tears down came, 
 
 There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame, (S:c.] 
 
 * This tune is sometimes called There 's few gude fellows 
 when Willie's awa' ) but I never have been able to meet 
 with anything else of the song than the title.' 
 
 [No. 321. 
 / do confess thou art sae fair, 
 
 I wad been o'er the lugs in hive', 
 Had I na found the slightest prayer 
 
 That lips could speak thy heart could move, &:c.] 
 
 'This song is altered from a poem by Sir Robert 
 Ayton, private Secretary to Mary and Anne, queens of 
 Scotland. The poem is to be found in James Watson's 
 Collection of Scots Poems, the earliest collection printed 
 in Scotland. I think that I have improved the simplicity 
 of the sentiments, by giving them a Scots dress.' 
 
 [No. 323. The soger laddie. 
 
 My soger laddie is over the sea, 
 
 And lie' II bring gold and money to me; 
 
56 BURNS MS. 
 
 And iu/icii he comes /laiiie, he'll make me a lady, 
 My blessings gang wV my soger laddie, &c.] 
 
 ' The first verse of this is old : the rest is by Ramsay. 
 The tune seems to be the same with a slow air called 
 Jacky Hume's Lament ; or, The hollin buss ; or Ken ye 
 what Meg d the Mill has gotten' 
 
 [No. 324. 0/ luhere wad bonie Annie ly, 
 Alane nae mair ye mauna ly ; 
 Wad ye a goodman try ; 
 
 Is that the thing ye' re lacking? &c.] 
 
 'The old name of this tune is : Whare'll our gudeman 
 lie. A silly old stanza of it runs thus : — 
 
 O, whare'll our gudeman lie, 
 Gudeman lie, gudeman lie, 
 O, whare '11 our gudeman lie. 
 Till he shute o'er the simmer? 
 Up amang the hen-bawks, 
 The hen-bawks, the hen-bawks, 
 Up amang the hen-bawks 
 Amang the rotten timmer.' 
 
 [No. 326. 
 
 As I cam down by yon castle wa\ 
 
 And in by yon garden green ; 
 O there I spied a bony, bony lass, 
 
 But the flower borders were us between, (S:c.] 
 * This is a very popular Ayrshire song.' 
 
 [No. 327. Lord Ronald, my son. 
 
 O where hae ye been. Lord Ronald, my son ? 
 O where hae ye been, Lord Ronald, my son ? 
 
BURXS MS. 57 
 
 / hae been wt' my sweetheart, mother make my bed soon, 
 For Fm weary wi' the hunting and fain wad lie down, &c.] 
 
 'This air, a very favourite one in Ayrshire, is 
 evidently the original of Lochaber. In this manner, 
 most of our finest more modern airs have had their 
 origin. Some early minstrel, or musical shepherd, 
 composed the simple artless original air, which being 
 pickt up by the more learned modern musician took 
 the improved form it bears.' 
 
 [No. 328. O'er the moor amang the heather. 
 
 Comin thro' the craigs 0' Kyle, 
 Amang the bonie blooming heather, 
 
 There I met a bonie lassie 
 
 Keeping a' her yowes the-gether, &c.] 
 
 'This song is the composition of a Jean Glover, a 
 girl who was not only a whore, but also a thief; and in 
 one or other character has visited most of the Correction 
 Houses in the West. She was born, I believe, in 
 Kilmarnock. I took down the song from her singing 
 as she was strolling through the country, with a slight- 
 of-hand blackguard.' 
 
 [No. 330. To the Rose bud. 
 
 All hail to thee, thou bawmy bud, 
 
 Thou charming child d simmer, hail! 
 
 Uk fragrant thorn and lofty wood 
 
 Does nod thy welcome to the vale, &c.] 
 
 'This song is the composition of a — Thomson, a 
 joiner in the neighbourhood of Belfast. The tune is 
 by Oswald, altered, evidently, iromjockie's gray breeks.' 
 
58 BURNS MS. 
 
 [No. 331. 
 
 Yo)i ivild mossy mountains, sac lofty and wide, 
 
 That mirsc in tJicir bosom the youth 0' the Clyde, &c.] 
 
 ' This tune is by Oswald. The song alludes to a part 
 of my private history, which it is of no consequence to 
 the world to know.' 
 
 [No. 333. // is na, Jean, thy bonie face, 
 Nor shape that I admire, 
 AltJio' thy beauty and thy grace 
 Might weel awauk desire, &c.] 
 
 'These were originally English verses : — I gave them 
 their Scots dress.* ^ 
 
 [No. 336. Eppie M'Nab. 
 
 O ! saw ye my dearie, my Eppie M'^Nab, 
 O ! saw ye my dearie, my Eppie M^Nab ? 
 She '5 dowit in the yard, she 's kissin the laird, 
 She winna come hame to her ain Jock Rab, &c.] 
 
 'The old song with this title, has more wit than 
 decency/ 
 
 [No. 337. IVha is that at my bower-door ? 
 O wha is it but Findlay : 
 Then gae your gate ye'se nae be here! 
 ^Indeed maun // qud Findlay, &c.] 
 
 ' This tune is also known by the name of, Lass an I 
 come near thee.'' ^ 
 
 ^ All the interleaf, except that on which is written the above words, 
 has been cut off and is missing. 
 
 '■^ In Cromek, Reliques, p. 301, 'The words are mine' are not in the 
 manuscript. 
 
BURXS MS. 59 
 
 [No. 338. 
 
 Thou art gane awa, thou art gane awa, 
 Thou art gane awa, frae me Mary ; Szc] 
 'This tune is the same with, Hand azua frae me, 
 
 Donald' 
 
 [No. 340. 
 
 The tears I shed must ever fall, 
 
 I mourn not for an absent swain; &c.] 
 ' The song composed by a Miss Cranston. It wanted 
 four Unes to make all the stanzas suit the music, which 
 I added, and are the four first of the last stanza.' 
 
 [No. 341. The bonny wee thing. 
 
 Bonie wee thing, canie we thing. 
 
 Lovely wee thing was thou mine; 
 I wad wear thee in my bosom. 
 Lest, my jewel, I should tine, &c.] 
 'Composed on my little idol, "The charming, lovely 
 Davies." ' 
 
 [No. 345. The tither morn. 
 
 The tither morn when I forlorn, 
 
 Aneath an aik sat moaning, 
 I did na trow Fd see my jo 
 
 Beside me gain the gloaming, &c.] 
 
 ' This tune is originally from the Highlands. I have 
 heard a Gaelic song to it, which I^ was told was very 
 clever, but not by any means a lady's song.' ' 
 1 This is the last Note of Burns. 
 
RIDDELUS MS. 
 
 II. WRITTEN BY ROBERT RIDDELL, OR 
 OTHER THAN BURNS 
 
 Volume I 
 
 [No. 39. Water parted from the Sea, &c.] 
 
 'This song tho' excellent in its kind ought not to have 
 been here. It was inserted by a blunder of Johnson. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 58. The blithsome bridal. 
 
 Come, fy ! let us a ' to the Wedding, &€.] 
 
 ' I find the Blithsome Bridal in James Watson's Collection 
 0/ Scots Points, printed at Edinburgh in 1706. This collection, 
 the publisher says, is the first of its nature which has been 
 published in our own native Scots Dialect. It is now 
 extremely scarce.' 
 
 [No. 63. The flowers of the Forest. 
 
 Adieu ye strea7ns that smoothly glide 
 Through mazy windings o'er the plain, (Sic] 
 
 * The floivers of the forest is an old tune — the present name 
 was given to a sett of words, a lament for the number of 
 Scotchmen slain at the battle of Flodden. Whether this 
 fine plaintive dirge is older, or later, than that unfortunate 
 battle I cannot say. [Then follows twenty lines of the well- 
 known song * I've heard a lilting at the ewes milking,' Slc] 
 I have transcribed a set of words which M'" Pinkerton in his 
 notes on Scotish Tragic Ballads calls the gold of antiquity. — 
 But alas ! man is prone to err ! M*" Plumber of Sunderland 
 
RIDDELUS MS. 6i 
 
 Hall told me he knew the lady who actually composed these 
 words to Thefloix'ers of the forest. 
 
 :' 1 
 
 [No. 67. John Hafs bonny lassie. 
 
 By smooth winding Tay, a swain was reclining, &c.] 
 
 'John Hay's bonny lassie was the daughter of John Hay, 
 Earl or Marquis of Tweeddale and late Countess Dowager 
 of Roxburgh. She died at Broomlands, near Kelso, some 
 time between the years 1720 and 1740.' 
 
 [No. 73. Mary Scot. 
 
 Happy's the love which meets return, &c.] 
 
 ' M'" Robertson in his Statistical account of the parish of 
 Selkirk, says, that Mary Scot, the Flower of Yarrow, was 
 descended from the Dryhope, and married into the Harden 
 family. Her daughter was married to a predecessor of the 
 present Sir Francis Elliot of Stobbs and of the late Lord 
 Heathfield. 
 
 There is a circumstance in their contract of marriage that 
 merits attention, as it strongly marks the predatory spirit 
 of the times. The father-in-law agrees to keep his daughter, 
 for some time after the marriage ; for which the son-in-law 
 binds himself to give him the profits of the first xMichaelmas- 
 moon ! ' 
 
 [No. 74. Down the burn, Davie. 
 
 When trees did bud and fields were green, &c.] 
 'I have been informed by my father- that the tune of 
 Down the burn, Davie, was the composition of David Maigh, 
 
 1 At the end of the first volume the following Note is also by 
 Riddell : • In the first vol. of Wotherspoon's Collection of Scottish Songs 
 [1776] is one called Flodden Field io this tune, and the Rev^ Robert 
 Lambe of Norham in Northumberland is the editor of a curious poem 
 on the battle of Flodden field with learned notes in 1774. 8vo.' 
 
 2 Cromek printed this note with the words 'by my father" omitted. 
 
62 RIDD ELL'S MS. 
 
 keeper of the blood slough hounds belonging to the Laird 
 of Riddell in Tvveeddale. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 76. O, saw ye my father? or saw ye my mother^ &c.] 
 
 (The following rude stanza by an unknown hand is at the 
 bottom of the printed page). [Ed.] 
 
 'When being thus deceived, she sighed, she pray'd, she 
 raved, 
 
 O had I my Johnie in my arms 
 The boniest gray cock that ever crew at noon 
 
 Should rob him of his charms.' 
 
 [No. 90. Low down in theibroom. 
 
 My Daddy is a cankcfd carle, &;c.] 
 'The lucubrations of D — nd — s in 1792; '^ 
 
 [No. 92. Braes of Ballenden. 
 
 Beneath a green shade, &:c.] 
 
 'This song [tune] is the composition of M^ Oswald, and the 
 words are by D"^ Blacklock. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 94. My apron, dearie. 
 
 My sheep I've forsaken and left my sheep hook, &c.] 
 
 ' This song was composed by the late Sir Gilbert Elliot 
 of Minto, Bart. He had a fine taste for music, and performed 
 a little upon the German Flute. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 95. Lochaber. 
 
 Farewell to Lochaber, and farewell, my Jean, (S:c.] 
 
 ' The words here given to Lochaber were composed by an 
 unfortunate fugitive on account of being concerned in the 
 affair of 1715. R. R.' 
 
 ^ Only a small portion of the interleaf remains. 
 
RID DELL'S MS. 63 
 
 Volume II 
 
 [No. 114. ^rPherson's farewell. 
 
 Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong, &C.] 
 
 * M<=Pherson, a daring robber, in the beginning of this 
 centur}' was condemned to be hanged at, the Assizes at 
 Inverness. He is said, when under sentence of death, to 
 have composed this tune, which he called his own lament, 
 or farewell. R. R. Gow, with his wonted impudence, has 
 published a variation of this fine tune as his own composition, 
 which he calls, The Princess Augusta.'' 
 
 [No, 116. The maid of Sehna. 
 
 In the hall I lay in night, iSic] 
 
 'This air began to be admired at Edin^ about the 3'ear 
 1770. The words are a little altered from the original in the 
 Poems of Ossian and I am doubtful whether the tune has 
 an}' pretentions to antiquity. That very valuable collection 
 of Highland and Western Island music published by the Rev^ 
 M^ M'-Donald of Kilmore which is ancient and undoubted 
 oldest Scottish Music existing, is different from this air, 
 which breathes more of an Itahan, than an old Ergadian 
 composition. R. R. Smce I wrote the above, I have met with 
 a collection of Strathspeys &c. by John Bowie at Perth. In 
 the end of the collection are three airs (said) by Fingal and 
 the following note precedes them:— The following pieces 
 of ancient music were furnished to the editors b}^ a gentleman 
 of note in the Highlands of Scotland, were composed originally 
 for the Harp and which were handed down to him by his 
 ancestors who learned them from the celebrated harper 
 Rory Dall, who flourished in the Highlands in the reign of 
 Queen Ann. This air there called The maid of Selma seems 
 to be taken from these ancient Fingallian ones.' 
 
64 RIDDELL'S MS. 
 
 [No, 119. Soiii^' of Sclma. 
 
 It is nii^/if, I am alone, &c.] 
 
 * Here is another Fingallian air— said to be — but the 
 moment a tune suffers the smallest alteration, it loses its 
 prominent features, its costume, its every thing. Music like 
 a fine painting, can admit of no alteration no retouching by 
 any other hand, after it has come from that of the original 
 composer. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 128. O Bessy Bell, and Mary Gray, &c.] 
 
 'The ladies who were the subject of this song were the 
 daughters of the Laird of Kinvaid and the Laird of Lednoch. 
 A pestilence that raged in 1666 determined them to retire 
 from the danger. They selected a romantic and sequestered 
 spot on the side of Brauchie Burn, where they biggit their 
 bower. Here they lived for some time, and without jealousy 
 received the visits of a lover who could not fix on either, till 
 catching the pestilence they both died and were both interred 
 in the lands of Lednoch at Dronach Haugh. This song was 
 composed by their common lover: — 
 
 The Bessies twa are jimp and sma', 
 Their cheeks are red as a cherrie, 
 If out they gang the lads a' rann 
 
 Wi' them for to mak merry. 
 For Bessy Bell does a' excell 
 
 And geer she has right plenty, 
 But 'tither Bess tho' her tougher's less 
 Is far mair blythe and canty. 
 
 For weel I ween 'twas ere yestreen 
 
 Her pauky een sae sparkled, 
 On ilka side baith far and wide 
 
 The lads they sigh'd and startled. 
 But Bessy Bell kens weel hersell 
 
 That wooers she has nae scanty, 
 They're sae thrang when its mirk 
 They wad e'en theik a kirk 
 
 Gin she but looks pleased and canty. 
 
RIDDELUS MS. 65 
 
 The swankies shew these lovers twa 
 
 The best o' their guid havens 
 Where'er they gang, there in a thrang 
 
 To tell their rants and ravings.' 
 
 'Turn over to next blank leaf [Riddell] ; which is 
 missing [Ed.]. 
 
 [Xo. 133. IV/iaf will I do gin luy hoggie die, &c.] 
 
 'The first time I heard this tune was in the year 1772. 
 D'" Walker, who was then Minister at Moffat and is now 
 (1791) Professor of Natural History in the University of 
 Edinburgh was present, and told the following anecdote 
 concerning it. He said that some gentlemen riding a few 
 3'ears ago, through Liddesdale, stopped at a hamlet con- 
 sisting of a few houses, called Moss Plat; when they were 
 struck with this tune, which an old woman, spinning on 
 a rock at her door, sung. All she could tell concerning it 
 was, that she was taught it when a child, and it was called 
 What ivill I do gin my hoggie dies. No person (except a few 
 females at Moss Plat) knew this fine old tune; which in all 
 probability would have been lost, had not one of the gentlemen 
 had a fiute and took it down. R. R.' ^ 
 
 [No. 155. Where Helen lies. 
 
 O, that I were where Helen lies, &c.] 
 
 Riddell begins by relating the well-known tale of the 
 ballad, and closes as follows : ' A tombstone marks their 
 grave, upon it is cut a cross and sword with Hie jacet Adam 
 Fleming. In Vol. XI of my MS. collections is another set 
 of this song with the music to it. R. R.' 
 
 ^ This Note is manufactured in the Reliques, p. 241, to make it 
 appear that Burns wrote it, although Riddell has written and signed 
 it. Cromek dared not to say that Burns could have known Dr. Walker 
 so early as 1772. 
 
 F 
 
66 RIDDELL'S MS. 
 
 [No. 177. The bonny Earl of Murray. 
 
 Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, &c.] 
 
 'That beast of a king James the Sixth, being jealous of an 
 attachment betwixt his Queen Anne of Denmark and this 
 Earl of Murray the handsomest man of his time, prevailed 
 with the Marquis of Huntl}^ his enemy to murder him, and 
 by a writing under his own hand, promised to save him 
 harmless. Burnet' 
 
 [No. 199. Cronilefs lilt. 
 
 Since all thy vows, false maid, «S:c.] 
 
 * In the latter end of the 16*^ Century, the Chisholms were 
 proprietors of the estate of Cromleks (now possessed by the 
 Drummonds). The eldest son of that family was very much 
 attached to a daughter of Sterling of Ardoch, commonly 
 known by the name of Fair Helen of Ardoch. 
 
 At that time the opportunities of meeting betwixt the 
 sexes were more rare, consequently more sought after than 
 now; and the Scottish ladies, far from priding themselves 
 on extensive literature, were thought sufficient!}' book- 
 learned if the}' could make out the Scriptures in their mother 
 tongue. Writing was entirely out of the line of female 
 education. At that period too, most of our young men of 
 family sought a fortune, or found a grave, in France. 
 Cromlus, when he went abroad to the war, was obliged to 
 leave the management of his correspondence with his 
 mistress to a lay brother of the monastery of Dumblain, 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Cromleck, and near 
 Ardoch. This man, unfortunately, was deeply sensible 
 of Helen's charms. He artfully prepossessed her with 
 stories to his disadvantage ; and by misinterpreting or 
 keeping up the letters and messages intrusted to his care, 
 he entirely irritated both. All connection was broken off 
 betwixt them : Helen was inconsolable, and Cromleck has 
 left behind him, in the ballad called Cromlech's Lilt, a proof of 
 the elegance of his genius, as well as the steadiness of his 
 
RIDDELUS MS. 67 
 
 love. When the artful monk thought that time had sufficiently 
 softened Helen's sorrow, he proposed himself as a lover : 
 Helen was obdurate; but at last, overcome by the per- 
 suasions of her brother, with whom she lived, and who, 
 having a family of thirty-one children, was probably very 
 well pleased to get her off his hands ; she submitted, rather 
 than consented to the ceremony ; but there her compliance 
 ended ; and, when forcibly put into bed, she started quite 
 frantic from it, screaming out, that after three gentle taps 
 on the wainscot, at the bed-head, she heard Cromleck's voice, 
 crying Helen / Helen, mind me. Cromleck soon after coming 
 home, the treachery of the confident was discovered, her 
 marriage disannulled— and Helen became Lady Cromleks. 
 
 N.B.— Marg: Murray, mother to these thirty one children, 
 was daughter to Murray of Strewen, one of the seventeen 
 sons of Tullybardine, and whose youngest son, commonly 
 called the Tutor of Ardoch, died in the year 1715, aged 11 1 
 
 3'ears. 
 
 For the foregoing account of this plaintive Dirge called 
 Cromlet's Lilt, 1 am indebted to Alexander Fraser Tytler Esq. 
 of Woodhouslee, Advocate. R. R.' ^ 
 
 Volume III 
 
 [No. 2o5. Colonel Gardener. Tune : SawntVs Pipe. 
 
 'Tzvas at the hour of dark midnight, &c.] 
 
 'The life of the gallant Colonel Gardener who fell at the 
 battle of Preston Pans is in print. He was slain by Farquhar 
 M'Gillevrey, then servant to the Duke of Perth, who I was 
 told came behind his back and cut him down with a clymore. 
 This man, Farquhar M^Gillevrey I have seen ; he was Baron 
 officer to the Earl of Nithsdale and had a house near Terr- 
 eagles. He was a papist, and abhorred by the country people 
 with whom Col: Gardener was a popular character. R. R.' 
 
 ^ This is the second and last of the two Notes in the Reliques which 
 Cromek has marked as by Riddell. but the Note is not verbatim. 
 
 F 2 
 
63 RID DELL'S MS. 
 
 [Xo. 207. Tihhic Dunbar. Tunc : Jolnuiy AFGill. 
 
 O liu'lt t/iou go zvr tue, sweet Tibbie Dunbar, (S:c.] 
 'This tunc is said to be the composition of John M'Gill, 
 fiddler in Girvan ; wlio called it after his own name.' 
 
 [No. 2TO. The Llif^liland Character. 
 
 In t/ic garb of old Gaul, ivith the fire of old Rome, (See] 
 
 'This tune was the composition of Gen. Reid and called by 
 him TJic Highland, or 42*^ Regiment's March. The words are 
 b}'- ' Sir Harry Erskine.' 
 
 [No. 226. The Gabcrlunzie man. 
 
 The paivky auld carl came o'er the lea, &;c.] 
 
 ' The Gaberlunzie man is supposed to commemorate an 
 intrigue of James the V^^ M^' Callander of Craigforth, pub- 
 lished some years ago, an edition oi Christ's kirk on the Green, 
 and The Gaberlunzie man, with notes critical and historical. 
 James the V^^ is said to have been fond ofGosford,in Aberlady 
 Parish, and that it was suspected by his contemporaries, that 
 in his frequent excursions to that part of the country he had 
 other purposes in view besides golfing and archery. Three 
 favourite ladies, Sandilands, Weir, and Oliphant ; (one of 
 them resided atGosford,and the others in the neighbourhood), 
 were occasionally visited by their royal and gallant admirer, 
 which occasioned the following satirical advice to his Majesty 
 from Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, Lord Lyon : — 
 
 Sow not your seed on Sandylands, 
 Spend not 3'our strength in Weir ; 
 
 And ride not on an Elephant 
 
 For spoiling o' j^our gear. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 252. Donald and Flora. 
 
 When merry hearts were gay, &c.] 
 
 ' This is one of those fine Gallick tunes, preserved from 
 time immemorial in the Hebrides ; they seem to be the 
 
 * These two words in italic are in Burns's handwritinjr. 
 
RIDD ELL'S MS. 69 
 
 ground-work of many of our finest pastoral Scots tunes, 
 which with me is a strong argument for the Scots Musick 
 being the composition of our ancient Bards, before they left 
 off the use of the harp. M"^ M> Donald of Kilmore has pub- 
 lished a number of those ancient airs. The words of this 
 sonor were written to commemorate the unfortunate expe- 
 dition of General Burgoyne, in America, in 1777.' 
 
 [No. 263. Awa\ Whigs, awa\ &c.] 
 
 ' Colville's Scottish Hiidibras is well worth reading. It gives 
 a very ludicrous picture of the Covenanters. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 266. The jolly beggar. 
 
 There was a jolly beggar, and a-beggi7ig he was bound, &c.] 
 
 'According to tradition the words of this song were made 
 to Commemorate an intrigue that King James the Fifth had 
 with a young lady. I have heard a daughter of several 
 families named, but never could see good reason for exactly 
 fixing upon the identical one. It has been said that both this 
 and the Gaberlunzie man were his own compositions, as well 
 as the first canto of Christ's kirk on the green. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 271. A mother's lament for the death of her son. Tune : 
 Finlayston House. 
 
 Fate gave the word, the arrow sped, &c.] 
 
 'This most beautiful tune is (I think) the happiest com- 
 position of that bard-born genius John Riddell (of the family 
 of Glencarnock) at Ayr. The Vv'ords equal the Tune, and 
 were composed by M^ Burns, to commemorate the much 
 lamented and very premature death of James Ferguson Esq. 
 jun^ of Craig Darroch. He was a young man of the greatest 
 hopes, and every year returned home from the University of 
 Glasgow laden with prizes fairly won and with the most flat- 
 tering letters from the different Professors he attended, to 
 his poor father. But alas ! all sublunary joys are fleeting, 
 
70 RIDDELL'S MS. 
 
 he was suddcnl}'' taken ofT when in the high road to fame, 
 honor and riches, and left a most disconsolate family to lament 
 his loss. R.R.' 
 
 [No. 272. T/if Uliilc Cockade. 
 
 My love luas bom in Aberdeen, &c.] 
 
 'In the 3'ear 1745 the rebel army wore white cockades in 
 tlieir hats and bonnets — on that account this Jacobite air got 
 the name of T/ie IVhite Cockade.^ 
 
 [No. 292. Killiecvankie. 
 
 IVhare hae ye been sae braw, lad I &;c,] 
 
 ' The battle of Killiecrankie was the last stand made by the 
 Clanns for James, after his abdication. Here the gallant 
 Lord Dundee fell in the moment of victory, and with him 
 fell the hopes of the party. General M Kay, when he found 
 the Highlanders did not pursue his flying army, said " Dundee 
 nmst be killed or he never would have overlooked this 
 advantage." A great stone marks the spot where Dundee 
 fell' 
 
 [No. 296. Tarn Glen. 
 
 My heart is a breaking, dear Tittie, &c.] 
 
 'This droll and expressive description of the feelings of 
 a love-sick country girl is the composition of my much 
 esteemed friend M^ Burns to the old tune oi Mall Roe. In 
 this conception he has given the full force that the Scottish 
 language (in compositions of this sort) admits of 
 
 I cannot help here observing that this ballad, Tam O Shan- 
 ter, The Cottars Saturday Night, Hallowe'en, The Whistle, 
 and many others, are more descriptive of Caledonia and 
 Scottish manners than any other compositions whatever. 
 R. R.' 
 
RID DELL'S MS. 71 
 
 \'OLUME IV 
 
 [No. 325. Galloway Tarn. 
 
 O, Gallozi'ay Tani came here to luoo, &.C.] 
 
 ' I have seen an interlude (acted at a wedding) to this tune, 
 called T/ie wooing of the maiden. These entertainments are 
 now much worn out in this part of Scotland. Two are still 
 retained in Nithsdale, viz. : — '^JUly pure aiild Glenae, and this 
 one The Wooing of the Maiden. R. R.' 
 
 [Xo. 332. Bonie laddie^ Highland laddie. 
 
 I hae been at Crookieden, &c.] 
 
 ' This Jacobite song was written as a satj^re on William 
 Augustus Duke of Cumberland.' [The rest of the interleaf 
 has been cut off and is missing. Ed,] 
 
 [Xo. 347. Rory DalPs Port 
 
 Ae fond kiss, and then we sever, &c.] 
 
 ' Ror}' Dall was a famous harper and composer in the 
 Highlands. Many of his compositions are handed down and 
 among the rest this Tune, of which I have seen a set for the 
 harp with all the variations and runnings so well adapted for 
 that ancient instrument. R. R.' 
 
 [No. 364. NithsdalVs welcome hame. 
 
 The noble MaxweVs and their powers, «S:c.j 
 
 ' The house of Terreagles had long been deserted b}' the 
 famil}' of Nithsdale when in 1787 M"* Constable determined 
 to rebuild that ancient house and family seat. In 1788 I com- 
 posed this tune, and imparting to my friend ]\F Burns the 
 name I meant to give it, he composed for the Tune the words 
 here inserted. R. R.' 
 
 1 Qy. 'Silly.' 
 
72 MISSLXC INTERLEAVES 
 
 III. LIST OF INTERLEAVES MISSING WITH 
 
 NOTES PRINTED IN CROMEK'S RELIQUES 
 
 WHICH CANNOT BE VERIFIED 
 
 Seventeen Interleaves which faced the following songs 
 have been cut out or are now missing. Those Songs marked 
 * were written for, or contributed by Burns to, the Scots 
 Mitsical Muscian. The three Notes on Nos. 117, 224. and 284, 
 jjrinted by Cromek, obviously cannot be verified. There is 
 no record for the rest of the missing interleaves. 
 No. 77. * Green grows the rashes, O, &c. 
 No. 78. * Young Peggy blooms our boniest lass, &c. 
 
 No. 102. Tranent-muir. [The leaf was probably spoiled and 
 destro3''ed, for the Note on this song was inserted by Burns 
 on the following interleaf, for which see supra, p. 23.] 
 
 No. 117. * The Highland lassie, O. 
 
 Nae gentle dames, thd ne'er sae fair, &c. 
 
 ' This was a composition of mine in very early life, before 
 I was known at all in the world. My Highland lassie was 
 a warm-hearted, charming young creature as ever blessed 
 a man with generous love. After a pretty long tract of the 
 most ardent reciprocal attachment, we met by appointment, 
 on the second Sunday of May, in a sequestered spot by the 
 Banks of Ayr, where we spent the day in taking a farewell, 
 before she should embark for the West Highlands, to arrange 
 matters among her friends for our projected change of life. 
 At the close of Autumn following she crossed the sea to meet 
 me at Greenock, where she had scarce landed when she was 
 seized with a malignant fever, which hurried my dear girl to 
 the grave in a few days, before I could even hear of her ill- 
 ness' (Cromek's Reliques, p. 237). 
 
 No. 118. ^The Northern lass. 
 
 Thd' cruel fate should bid us part, &c. 
 
 No. 129. *Stay, my charmer, can you leave me? Sec. 
 
MISSIXG INTERLEAVES 73 
 
 No. 130. Lady BothweWs lament. 
 
 Balovu, my boy, lie still and sleep, &c. 
 
 No. 154. Thro" the wood, laddie. 
 
 O Sandy, why leaves thou thy Nelly to mourn, &c. 
 
 No. 202. Gladsnmir. 
 
 As over Gladsmuirs bloodstain' d field, S:c. 
 
 No. 223. "" On a bank of flowers, S^c. 
 
 No. 224. ""The day returns, my bosom burns, &c. Tune: 
 Seventh of November. 
 'I composed this song out of compliment to one of the 
 happiest and worthiest married couples in the world, Robert 
 Riddel. Esq. of Glenriddel, and his lady. At their fire-side 
 I have enjoyed more pleasant evenings than at all the houses 
 of fashionable people in this country put together ; and to 
 their kindness and hospitality I am indebted for many of the 
 happiest hours of my life ' {Reliques, p. 269). 
 
 No. 279. *3/y Mary dear, departed shade. 
 Thou ling'ring star, &c. 
 
 No. 280. Hardy Knute ; or, The Battle of Largs. 
 Stately slept he east the wa\ &c. 
 
 No. 281. ""Eppie Adair. 
 
 An O, my Eppie, my jewel, my Eppie &c. 
 
 No. 282. *The battle of Sherra-moor. 
 
 O cam ye here the fight to shun, <S:c. 
 
 No. 283. * Sandy and fockie. 
 
 Twa bony lads were Sandy and Jockie, &c. 
 
 No. 284. *77/^ bonie banks of Ayr. 
 
 The gloomy night is gathering fast, &c. 
 ' I composed this Song as I convoyed my chest so far on 
 the road to Greenock, where I was to embark in a few days 
 for Jamaica.— I meant it as my farewell Dirge to my native 
 land' {Reliques, p. 279). 
 No. 294. "^The blue-eyed lassie. 
 
 I gaed a waefu gate, yestreen, &c. 
 
74 MISSING INTERLEAVES 
 
 N o. 295 . * T/ic banks of Nith. 
 
 The TImmes flows proudly to the sea, tSic. 
 No. 298. On the restoration of the forfeited estates, 1784, 
 
 As o'er the highland hills I hie'd, &c. 
 No. 299. * The Campbells are coining Sec. 
 No. 304. BIy goddess Woman. 
 
 O mighty Nature s handy warks, &c. 
 No. 305. *John come kiss me now, &c. 
 No. 306. Tve been courting at a lass, &c. 
 No. 307. Peas Strae. 
 
 The country swain that haunts the plain, &c. 
 No. 310. O laddie I maun loe thee, &c. 
 No. 311. Let me in this ae night, &c. 
 No. 317. The bonie lad thafsfar awa\ 
 
 O how can I be blytJie and glad, &c. 
 No. 318. The auld goodman. 
 
 Late in an evening forth I went, S:c. 
 No. 357. Hey, how, Johnie lad, &;c. 
 No. 358. Logie o' Buchan, &c. 
 
 IV. SPURIOUS NOTES. 
 
 Notes printed in Cromek's Rcliqaes, 1808, which are not 
 in the Interleaved Museum. The Nos. are the songs in the 
 Scots Musical Museum to which the notes refer. The three 
 songs without Nos. are not in the printed Collection at all, 
 and that of No. 448 is in the fifth volume of the Museum. 
 
 [No. 23.] ' Clout the Caldron. A tradition is mentioned in 
 the Bee, that the second Bishop Chisholm, of Dunblane, used 
 to say, that if he were going to be hanged, nothing would 
 soothe his mind so much by the way, as to hear Clout the 
 caldron played.' 
 
SPURIOUS XOTES 75 
 
 ' I have met with another tradition, that the old song to this 
 tune :— " Hae ye ony pots or pans, Or onie brol^en chanlers " 
 was composed on one of the Kenmure family, in the Cavalier 
 times ; and alluded to an amour he had, while under hiding, 
 in the disguise of an itinerant tinker. The air is also known 
 by the name of "The blacksmith and his apron," which from 
 the rhythm seems to have been a line of some old song to the 
 tune' {Rel. p. 199'. 
 
 [No. 17.] ' The lass d Livision. The old song, in three 
 eight Hne stanzas, is well known, and has merit as to wit and 
 humour ; but it is rather unfit for insertion. It begins :— 
 
 The bonie lass o' Liviston, 
 
 Her name 3'e ken, her name ye ken, 
 
 And she has written in her contract, 
 To lie her lane, to lie her lane, &c., (S:c.' 
 
 {^Rel. p. 204.) 
 
 [No. 27.] ' Jockies gray breeks. Though this has certainly 
 ever^^ evidence of being a Scottish air, yet there is a well- 
 known tune and song in the North of Ireland, called The 
 Weaver and his shuttle O, which though sung much quicker, 
 is everj^ note the very tune ' {Rel. p. 205). 
 
 [No. 21.] ' Highland laddie. As this was a favorite theme 
 with our later Scottish muses, there are several airs and songs 
 of that name. That which I take to be the oldest, is to be 
 found in the Musical Museum beginning, " I hae been at 
 Crookieden." One reason for my thinking so is, that Oswald 
 has it in his collection by the name of, The auld Highland 
 laddie. It is also known by the name of Jinglan Johnie, which 
 is a well-knowm song of four or five stanzas, and seems to 
 be an earlier song than Jacobite times. As a proof of this, 
 it is little known to the peasantry by the name of Highland 
 Laddie ; while ever}- body knows Jinglan Johnie. The song 
 
 begins 
 
 Jinglan John, the meickle man 
 He met w^i' a lass was blythe and bonie. 
 
^6 SPURIOUS NOTES 
 
 Another Ilii^/ilatid Laddie is also in the Museum, Vol. V, 
 which I take to be Ramsay's original, as he has borrowed 
 the chorus "O my bonie Highland lad, &c." It consists 
 of three stanzas, besides the chorus ; and has humor in 
 its composition — it is an excellent but somewhat licentious 
 song. It begins : — 
 
 As I cam o'er Cairne3^-Mount, 
 
 And down amang the blooming heather, &:c. 
 
 This air, and the common Highland Laddie, seem only to 
 be different sets. 
 
 Another Highland Laddie, also in the Museum, Vol. V, is 
 the tune of several Jacobite fragments. One of these old 
 songs to it, only exists, as far as I know, in these four 
 lines : — 
 
 Whare hae j'^e been a' day, 
 
 Bonie laddie. Highland laddie? 
 Down the back o' Bell's brae, 
 Courtin Maggie, courtin Maggie. 
 Another of this name is Dr. Arne's beautiful air, called the 
 New Highland Laddie''^ [Rel. p. 207). 
 
 [No. 373.] ' TJie Posie. It appears evident to me that 
 Oswald composed his Roslin Castle on the modulation of 
 this air. In the second part of Oswald's, in the three first 
 bars, he has either hit on a wonderful similarity to, or else 
 he has entirely borrowed the three first bars of the old air ; 
 and the close of both tunes is almost exactly the same. The 
 old verses to which it was sung, when I took down the notes 
 from a country girl's voice, had no great merit. The follow- 
 ing is a specimen : — 
 
 There was a pretty may and a milkin she went ; 
 Wi' her red rosy cheeks, and her coal-black hair: 
 
 ' ' The following observation was found in a memorandum book 
 belonging to the poet : — 
 
 The Highlanders' Prayer, at Sheriff-Muir. 
 
 'O L — d, be thou with us; but, if thou be not with us, be not 
 against us ; but leave it between the red coats and us ! ' — (Cromek's 
 footnote.) 
 
SPURIOUS NOTES 77 
 
 And she has met a young man a-comin o'er the bent, 
 With a double and adieu to thee fair may. 
 
 O where are ye goin, my ain pretty may, 
 
 Wi' thy red rosy cheeks, and thy coal-black hair? 
 
 Unto the yowes a milkin, kind sir, she says, 
 With a double and adieu to thee fair may. 
 
 What if I gang alang wi' thee, my ain pretty may, 
 Wi' thy red rosy cheeks, and thy coal-black hair; 
 
 Wad I be aught the warse o' that, kind sir, she says, 
 With a double and adieu to thee fair may, &c., &c.' 
 
 {Rel. p. 214.) 
 
 [No. 87.] ' Waiikin o' the Faitld. There are two stanzas 
 still sung to this tune, which I take to be the original song 
 whence Ramsay composed his beautiful song of that name 
 in the Gentle Shepherd. It begins :— 
 
 O will ye speak at our town, 
 As ye come frae the fauld ; &c. 
 
 I regret that, as in many of our old songs, the delicacy 
 of this old fragment is not equal to its wit and humor' 
 {Rel. p. 232). 
 
 [No. 183.] ' Polwarlh on the Green. The author of Pol- 
 warth on the Green, is Capt. John Drummond M'Grigor, 
 of the family of Bochaldie' {Rel. p. 234). 
 
 ' The Shepherd's Complaint. The words by a Mr. R. Scott, 
 from the town or neighbourhood of Biggar ' [Rel. p. 236). 
 
 [No. 242.] 'Mill, Mill O. The original, or at least a 
 song evidently prior to Ramsay's, is still extant. It runs 
 thus : — 
 
 Chorus. The mill, mill O, and the kill, kill O, 
 And the coggin d Peggfs wheel O, 
 The sack and the sieve, and a' she did leave, 
 And danc'd the miller's reel O. 
 
78 SPURIOUS NOTES 
 
 As I cam down yon waterside, 
 
 And by yon shellin-hill O, 
 
 There I spied a bonie, bonie lass, 
 
 And a lass that I lov'd right wecl O. 
 
 » 
 
 {Re/, p. 244.) 
 ' IFf ran and //icy ran. The author of "We ran and they 
 ran " was a Rev. M"" Murdoch M'Lcnnan, minister at Crathie, 
 Dee-side ' {Re/, p. 245). 
 
 [No. 58.] *■ Kirk wad let me be. Tradition in the western 
 parts of Scotland tells, that this old song, of which there are 
 still three stanzas extant, once saved a covenanting clergy- 
 man out of a scrape. It was a little prior to the revolution, 
 a period when being a Scots covenanter was being a felon, 
 that one of their clergy, who was at that very time hunted 
 by the merciless soldiery, fell in, by accident, with a party 
 of the military. The soldiers were not exactly acquainted 
 with the person of the reverend gentleman of whom they 
 were in search ; but, from some suspicious circumstances, 
 they fancied that they had got one of that cloth and oppro- 
 brious persuasion among them in the person of this stranger. 
 " Mass John," to extricate himself, assumed a freedom of 
 manners, very unlike the gloomy strictness of his sect ; and 
 among other convivial exhibitions, sung, (and some traditions 
 say, composed on the spur of the occasion,) " Kirk wad let 
 me be," with such effect, that the soldiers swore he was a 
 
 d d honest fellow, and that it was impossible he could 
 
 belong to those hellish conventicles ; and so gave him his 
 liberty. 
 
 The first stanza of this song, a little altered, is a favorite 
 kind of dramatic interlude acted at country weddmgs, in the 
 south-west parts of the kingdom. A young fellow is dressed 
 up like an old beggar ; a peruke, commonly made of carded 
 tow, represents hoary locks ; an old bonnet ; a ragged plaid, 
 or surtout, bound with a straw rope for a girdle ; a pair of 
 old shoes, with straw-ropes twisted round his ancles, as is 
 done by shepherds in snowy weather : his face they disguise 
 
SPURIOUS NOTES 79 
 
 as like wretched old age as they can : in this plight he is 
 brought into the wedding-house, frequently to the astonish- 
 ment of strangers who are not in the secret, and begins to 
 sing: — 
 
 O, I am a silly auld man, 
 My name it is auld Glenae,^ &c. 
 He is asked to drink, and by and by to dance, which, after 
 some uncouth excuses he is prevailed on to do, the fiddler 
 playing the tune, which here is commonly called Aiiid Glenae; 
 in short, he is all the time so plied with liquor that he is 
 understood to get intoxicated, and with all the ridiculous 
 gesticulations of an old drunken beggar, he dances and 
 staggers until he falls on the floor ; yet still in all his riot, 
 nay in his rolling and tumbling on the floor, with some or 
 other drunken motion of his body, he beats time to the 
 music, till at last he is supposed to be carried out dead 
 drunk ' {Rei. p. 252). 
 
 [No. 448.] ' T/ie Bonie Lass made the Bed to me. " The 
 Bonie Lass made the Bed to me," was composed on an 
 amour of Charles II. when sculking in the North, about 
 Aberdeen, in the time of the usurpation. He formed ime 
 petite affaire wath a daughter of the House of Port-letham, 
 who was the " lass that made the bed to him " : two verses 
 of it are: — 
 
 I kiss'd her lips sae ros}' red. 
 
 While the tear stood blinkin in her e"e ; 
 I said my lassie dinna cry 
 
 For ye ay shall mak the bed to me. 
 
 She took her mither's winding sheet, 
 
 And o't she made a sark to me ; 
 Blythe and merry may she be, 
 
 The lass that made the bed to me ' {Rel. p. 256). 
 
 ^ ' Glenae, on the small river Ae, in Annandale ; the seat and 
 designation of an ancient branch, and the present representative, 
 of the gallant but unfortunate Dalziels of Carnwath. This is the 
 Author's note.' !^ReI. p. 253.) 
 
8o Sn'RIOUS NOTES 
 
 I No 25.] ^ Aiild hnii^- svuc. Ranisa}' here, as usual with 
 liim, has taken the idea of the song, and the first hnc, froiii 
 the old fragment, which may be seen in the Museum^ Vol. V ' 
 (AW. p. 282). 
 
 [No. 34.] * Daintie Davie. This song, tradition says, and 
 
 the composition itself confirms it, was composed on the 
 
 Rev. David Williamson's begetting the daughter of Lady 
 
 Cherrytrees with child, while a part}-- of dragoons were 
 
 searching her house to apprehend him for being an adherent 
 
 to the solemn league and covenant. The pious woman had 
 
 put a lady's night-cap on him, and had laid him a-bed with 
 
 her own daughter, and passed him to the soldiery as a lady, 
 
 her daughter's bedfellow. A mutilated stanza or two are to 
 
 be found in Herd's collection, but the original song consists 
 
 of five or six stanzas, and were their delicacy equal to their 
 
 wit and humour, they would merit a place in any collection. 
 
 The first stanza is : — 
 
 Being pursued by the dragoons, 
 
 Within my bed he was laid down ; 
 
 And weel I wat he w^as worth his room, 
 
 For he was my daintie Davie. 
 
 Ramsay's song, Luckie Nansie, though he calls it an old 
 
 song with additions, seems to be all his own, except the 
 
 chorus : — 
 
 I was a telling you, 
 
 Luckie Nansie, luckie Nansie, 
 
 Auld springs wad ding the new. 
 
 But 3^e wad never trow me. 
 
 Which I should conjecture to be part of a song, prior to tlie 
 
 affair of Williamson ' {Rel. p. 304). 
 
 ' Bob o' Dumblane. Ramsay, as usual, has modernised 
 
 this song. The original, which I learned on the spot, from 
 
 my old hostess in the principal inn there, is : — 
 
 Lassie, lend me your braw hemp heckle, 
 
 And I'll lend you my thripplin-kame ; 
 
 My heckle is broken, it canna be gotten, 
 
 And we'll gae dance the bob o' Dumblane. 
 
SPURIOUS NOTES 8i 
 
 Twa gaed to the wood, to the wood, to the wood, 
 Twa gaed to the wood — three came hame ; 
 
 An' it be na weel bobbit, weel bobbit, weel bobbit, 
 An' it be na weel bobbit, we'll bob it again. 
 
 I insert this song to introduce the following anecdote which 
 I have heard well authenticated. In the evening of the day 
 of the battle of Dumblane (Sheriff IMuir) when the action 
 was over, a Scots officer in Argyle's army, observed to His 
 Grace, that he was afraid the rebels would give out to the 
 world that f/iey had gotten the victory. "Weel, Weel," 
 returned his Grace, alluding to the foregoing ballad, ''if 
 they think it be nae weel bobbit, we'll bob it again " ' 
 {Reliques, p. 305). 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Neaply all the Songs referred to below can be seen in Select Scoiish 
 Songs, London, 1810, by R. H. Cromek, who published the 
 collection substantially as an Appendix to his Rcliqties of Robert 
 Bums, with additional Notes, as ' Remarks from the pen of 
 Burns', which are nearly all spurious. 
 
 For further information on Burns's Songs and their tunes reference 
 can be made to Dick's Songs of Robert Burns, witli the melodies 
 for which they were written, London, Frowde, 1903. 
 
 Page 1. The Highland Queen. The verse and air are in the 
 Edinburgh Magazine, April, 1758 ; the verse alone in Yair"s Charmer, 
 1765, and elsewhere ; the verse and air in the Perth Musical Miscellany, 
 1786. The second song for the tune in the Scots Musical Museum 
 was original!}^ published in Wilson's St. Cecilia, Edin. 1779, and 
 in the sixth volume of the Museum the verses were reprinted with 
 another air entitled The Highland King. 
 
 Page 1. Bess the gawkie was written by the Rev. James Muir- 
 head (1740-1808^. Burns, subsequent to the date of his note, came 
 into close conflict with the reverend gentleman, who did not relish 
 the poet's satiric compliments concerning the parliamentary elections 
 of 1795. Muirhead did not take the censure lying down, and Burns 
 was at first staggered when he was styled a s3'cophant, a traitor. 
 a liar, a calumniator, a rhymster, and a ganger. Muirhead is referred 
 to m Burns's The Trogger : — 
 
 ' Here 's armorial bearings frae the manse o' Urr, 
 The crest, an auld crab apple rotten at the core.' 
 Thus Muirhead was accused of inventing armorial bearings. Bess 
 the gawkie is in Herd's Ancient and Modern Scots Songs. 1769- The 
 original tune in the Museum is probably not much older than 1787. 
 
 Page 2. Lord Gregory, in four stanzas, is derived from The bonny 
 lass of Lochroyan in twenty-nine stanzas, printed in Herd's Scottish 
 Songs, 1776. The tune is original. For the song which Burns 
 wrote for George Thomson on the same subject see Dick's Burns 
 (London, Frowde, 1903), Y^. 398. 
 
 Page 2. The banks of the Tweed was composed by James Hook 
 (1746-1827), a most prolific composer of songs with the gift of 
 melody : it caught the public of Scotland through an Italian vocalist 
 with the full name of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci ^c. 1 736-1804), 
 
APPEXDIX 83 
 
 alias Senisino. who came, about May, 1758, with a yoting and pretty 
 Irish wife, from Ireland to Edinburgh, where he remained some time 
 as a professional musician. His wife eloped, and some time after he 
 returned to London and eclipsed himself and other vocalists, but his 
 unbounded vanity and extravagance compelled him to fly from his 
 creditors. The verses of The banks of the Tiveed are in the Scots 
 Nightittgale, 1779, and both verse and air are in Corri's Scots Songs, 
 1783- 
 Page 3. The beds of sweet Roses. The founder of the Buchanites 
 was Elspeth Buchan ;i738-i79i ■>, a ridiculous fanatic who perambu- 
 lated A\-rshire and Dumfriesshire ; and finally founded a small com- 
 munistic coIon\' near Thornhill. She informed her followers that if 
 she appeared to die they were not to be discouraged, for she would 
 return and conduct them to the New Jerusalem. The tune, a popular 
 street melody, was communicated ^.according to Stenhouse) by 
 Stephen Clarke, the musical director of Johnson's Miisettni. The 
 verses considerably varied, and. to a different air, are in Stewart's Vocal 
 Magazine, 1798, vol. ii. It was sung in Fielding's Virgin Unmasked. 
 
 Page 3. Roslin Castle. Richard Hewitt subsequently becamie 
 Secretary to Lord Milton, Lord Justice Clerk, and died of a perturbed 
 brain in 1764. The beautiful tune was published in M'-'Gibbon's 
 Scots Tunes, 1746, entitled House of G lams \ and the title Roslaue 
 Castle first emerges in Oswald's Companion, 1752, book iv. Verse 
 and air are in Bremner's ThiHy Scots Songs, 1757, 2nd series, 
 entitled Roslin Castle. See Dick's Burns, p. 477. 
 
 Page 3. ' Saw ye Johnnie cummin'.' The words are in Yair's 
 Charmer, 1749, and with the tune, in a Collection of Scotch Songs 
 issued by J. Walsh about the same time. This characteristic song, 
 siill well known, requires no further notice. See Dick's Burns, 
 p. -/o^. The tune was also known as ' Fee him father, fee him.' 
 
 Page 4. ' Saw ye nae my Peggy.' Cromek has a long Note in his 
 Reiiques which is not in the manuscript. It. however, refers to the 
 antecedents of the song, Sait' ye my Ma^gi^, which he obtained partly 
 from the Merry Muses. These lines, or something similar, belonged 
 to the seventeenth century, and began ' Kilt thy coat, Maggie, and 
 come thy way to me '. This, and another song, Httlie the bed will fa', 
 are named in an account of the wretched persecution and execution 
 of ignorant and poor women for witchery in the year 1659. The 
 tune, Satv ye my Peggie, in a manuscript of 1694 ; and a song. Saw 
 ye not my Maggie, to the tune, is in the Opera of The Boarding School, 
 about 1733. With Ramsay's vv^ords the music is in the Orpheus 
 Caledoniiis. 1725. The tune, Kilt thy coat, Maggie, in the Skene MS., 
 c. 1630, is obviously the air which the Devil is said to have played to 
 the witches. 
 
 Page 4. The flowers of Edinburgh. The tune first appears in 
 1742, with the title My love's bonny when she smiles on me, and 
 in 1751 it is entitled The flowers of Edinburgh. The verses, as in 
 the Museum, with the air, are in The Muses Delight^ Liverpool, 1754. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 APPENDIX 
 
 No verses of a Jacobite character have been discovered, but the fact 
 of the title havinp been changed between 1742 and 1751 makes a song 
 of the kind probable. 
 
 Page 5. Jamie Gay is in Herd's Scots Soni^s, 1769, and said to be 
 in the London Sotigstcr, 1767. The Perth MNSt'rr/ Mt'sce/Zauy, 1786, 
 contains verse and air. Jamie Gay delighted the frequenters of the 
 London Gardens. The tune is the composition of George Berg 
 ^c. 1728-1780% 'made in Germany,' and resident in London, who 
 wrote much music, including a prize glee. 
 
 Page 5. My dear Jockey. This English imitation also appeared in 
 Scotland in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and was sung 
 in public by Miss Jarratt about 1778. The verse and air, both 
 anonymous, are in Horsfield's Vocal Music, 1775; and afterwards in 
 (.orri's Scots Songs, 1783. The composition is that of a professional 
 musician. 
 
 Page 6. Fy ! gar rub her o'er wi' strae. Burns was correct in 
 surmising the existence of an earlier song, for although a different 
 tune, the title Rub her doiun with straw is in Playford's Dancing 
 Master, 1701. That in the Museum is in the Orpheus Caledonius, 
 1725, with Ramsay's verses. The original song may therefore belong 
 to the seventeenth century. Cromek reconstructed and made addi- 
 tions to this Note. 
 
 Page 6. The lass of Livingston. Here again Cromek has garbled 
 the Note {supra, p. 7/). The part of the ' old ' song which he quotes 
 incorrectly is the first, second, fifth and sixth lines of the first stanza 
 of a song in the Merry Muses which begins : — 
 'The bonny lass o' Liviston, 
 
 Her name ye ken, her name ye ken ; 
 And ay the welcomer ye'll be 
 The farther ben, the farther ben.' 
 
 The verses in the Museutn were taken from Ramsay's Songs, 1720; 
 the tune is in Blaikie^s MS., 1692, and, as its title New hilland laddie 
 implies, it is one of the many airs of the kind in vogue from the latter 
 part of the seventeenth century up to the present day. Ramsay's 
 verses and the air are in the Orpheus Caledoniiis, 1725. 
 
 Page 6. 'The last time I came o'er the moor.* The tune is in 
 the Skene MS., c. 1630, with the title Alas ! yat I came o'er the moor. 
 Burns did not know this, or he might have altered his subsequent 
 i-ong, appropriated to Mrs, Maria Riddell, beginning ' Farewell, thou 
 stream that winding flows ', for which, with the Note, see Dick's 
 Burns, p. j6y. The verses in the Museum are from Ramsay's Tea 
 Table Miscellany, and the tune from the Orpheus Caledonius, 1725. 
 
 Page 7. The happy marriage. The author was Edward Moore 
 (died in 1757), who wrote The Gamester; and the verses are in 
 Yair's Charmer, 1749. In the Bullfinch, c. 1763. Dr. Arne is cited as 
 the composer, and in The Brent is 'set by Dr. Boyce'. The air in 
 the Museum, is by the one or the other composer. The other air can 
 
APPENDIX 85 
 
 be seen in the Muses Delight, 1754, as 'sung by Mr. Lowe', and in 
 Ritson's English Songs, 1783, vol. iii. 
 
 Page 7. The lass of Peaty's mill. Words in Ramsay's Songs. 
 1720, and, with the tune, in Orpheus Caledonius, 1725. 
 
 Page 8. The Highland laddie. Cromek {supra, p. 7;) occupies 
 two pages with the few lines which Burns wrote, and refers to the 
 fifth volume of the Museum, which had not come into existence until 
 after Burns died. The verses of the song. As I came o er the Cairney 
 mount, were afterwards dres-ed from the Merry Muses. The second 
 song on the page of the Museum, opposite the Note of Burns, is that 
 of Ramsay-s beginning 'The lawland maids gang trig and fine', 
 which is set to an air by Dr. Arne as No. 23. The other various 
 Highland laddie airs, dispersed in collections of Scottish music, can 
 be seen in a group in Glen's Early Scottish Melodies, 1900, p. 241. 
 
 Page 8. The Turnimspike. The Note in Cromek under the title 
 Clmtthe Caldron [supra, p. 7^ ; is not in the manuscript ; and the story 
 of the Kenmure family being the source of the • old song to this tune , 
 with the alternative title The blacksmith and his apron, is unknown. 
 The English tune, The Blacksmith, or, as it is better known in Scotland, 
 Greenslecves, a most popular air, has no resemblance to Clout the 
 caldron. Cromek, however, inserted in Reliques, p. 206, the Note 
 verbatim, so that he has two Notes for the same tune under different 
 titles. The original song is English ; and as The Tinker, in seventeen 
 stanzas, is in Merry Drollery, London, 1661, and closes as follows :— 
 ' From all such tinkers of the trade, 
 God keep my wife, I pray, 
 That comes to clout the caldron so ; 
 ni swinge him if I may.' 
 The verses of The Turnimspike zx& in Herd's Scottish Sojtgs. 1776, and 
 the tune with words from Ramsay's Miscellany is in Orpheus Caledomus, 
 
 1733- 
 Page 9. Auld lang syne. This holograph of Burns in the Inter- 
 leaved Museum was quite unknown until published m 1903. Cromek 
 for some mysterious reason printed '.supra, p. So' what was not in the 
 manuscript, and omitted what was there. The Note is written 
 opposite Ramsay's verses, beginning as quoted in the text. The tune 
 is in Playford's Original Scotch Tunes, 1700, and is that for whi .h 
 Burns's celebrated verses were written, and originally published, in 
 the fifth volume of the Museum. A long description of the source ot 
 the song, and the two airs oi Auld lang syne, can be seen in Dick s 
 Burns, 1903, pp. 433-40- 
 
 Page 10. The gentle swain. Cromek has again two Notes on 
 the same sons under different titles. That on p. 20s supra, p. 7;) is 
 spurious, which cites an undiscovered tune. The iveaver and his 
 shuttle, O. The verses denounced by Burns, with the tnne Johnnys 
 gray breeks (first printed in 1742;, is in the Perth Musical Miscellany, 
 1786. See Dick's Burns, p. j-jj- 
 
86 APPENDIX 
 
 Pacce 10. He stole my tender heart away was 'sung by 
 Mrs. Wcichsall at Vaiixhall ' about 1775. Tlic tunc is the composi- 
 tion of Toniasso Ciiordani, one of an Itaban famil}^ which came 
 to London about 1762 to play Comic Opera. Tomasso todk a theatre 
 in DubHn in 1779, and ruined himself in five years. Scotland is not 
 the only country wliich appropriated the air, for I find it in the 
 P'rench Clc du Coi'cau, under the title Lison dointait chins un hocage. 
 
 Page 10. Fairr-st of the fair. Dr. Percy was editor of the cele- 
 brated Riliqiics of A>icicnt Poetry, 1765, and he probably started his 
 song on the model of one of Ramsays stanzas, ' O Kat\', wiltu gang 
 wi' me.' The tune in the Muscuui, to Percy's words, is anonymous, 
 but they are best known by the composition of Thomas Carter 
 (1735-1804), an improvident musician born in Dublin, who is perhaps 
 best remembered by the tune. 
 
 Page 11. The blathrie o*t. Kelly in Sottish Proverbs, 1721, 
 cites Shame fa the gear and the bladry o't as the tune of an old song 
 spoken when a handsome young woman marries a wealthy old man. 
 A version of the song is in Yair's Charmer, 1751, and the tune is in 
 Oswald s Scots Times, 1740. 
 
 Page 12. Lucky Nancy. Tune Dainty Davie. The Note in 
 Cromek \snpra, p. So) is not in the manuscript. The anecdote 
 referred to b}' Burns is probably incorrect, in so far as concerns the 
 Rev. David Williamson having been the original Dainty Davie. 
 Elsewhere I have given reasons for thinking that he obtained the 
 sobriquet from the tune which is Playford's Dancing Master, 1680. 
 It bears the title lVatson''s Scots Measure in M^Gibbon's Scots Tnnrs, 
 1746. The traditional verses are in Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, 
 beginning as follows : — 
 
 * O, Iceze me on your curly pow, 
 Dainty Davie, dainty Davie; 
 Leeze me on your curly pow. 
 Mine ain dainty Davie. 
 It was in and through the window broads, 
 
 And a' the tirlie wirlie's o't ; 
 The sweetest kiss that e'er I got 
 Was frae my dainty Davie.' &c. 
 
 The Reverend David died in 1706. The verses in the Museum are 
 in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724, as an old song with additions. Burns 
 wrote There was a lad was born in Kyle for the lune. See Dick's 
 Burns, p. 4 J J. 
 
 Page 12. May-Eve, or Kate of Aberdeen. Cunningham, the 
 author, was born in Dublin (1729-1773) : lived in London, Edinburgh, 
 and later in Newcastle, where he died, and was buried in St. John's 
 churchyard there. The song was much sung at Vauxhall. The tune 
 in the Museum is the composition of Jonathan Battishill (1738-1801J. 
 The verses are in The Scots IVightingale, 1779; and the London 
 Songster, 1767. 
 
APPENDIX 87 
 
 Page 13. Tweed Side. Some discussion has taken place as to the 
 identity and the Christian name of the author, but it was Robert and 
 not Wi'.Ham. Burns obtained the information from Dr. Blacklock 
 through Ramsay of Ochtertj-re, whose letter may be seen in Currie 's 
 Works of Bums, 1800, ii. loj and 120. The verses are in Ramsa3''s 
 Miscellany, 1724. The tune is in Leydetis MS., 1692. entitled Tundc 
 Side, and the older verses for the tune in Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, 
 are stated to have been written by Lord Yester (1645-1713;, which 
 begin and end : — 
 
 ' When Meggy and me were acquaint, 
 I carried my noddle fu hie, 
 Nae lintwhite on all the gay plain, 
 Nor gowdspink sae bonny as she. 
 
 Her heart it was frozen and cauld, 
 
 Her pride had my ruin decreed ; 
 Therefore I will wander abroad, 
 
 And lay my banes far frae the Tweed.' 
 
 The verses quoted in Cromek's Reliqnes are not in the manuscript. 
 
 Page 14. Mary's dream. Alexander Lowe (1750-1798), some- 
 times called John Lowe, was the son of a gardener, and born at 
 Kenmure, Galloway. He was a weaver by trade ; he taught the 
 violin and church music, became a divinity student, wrote a tragedy-, 
 and after a chequered career died in Virginia, America. The 
 additional words in the footnote were obtained from Allan Cunning- 
 ham, who fabricated in the Scottish vernacular an Old may of Mary's 
 dreatn, and printed it in that book of literary forgeries, Cromek's 
 Remains of Nithsdale, ifc, Song, 18 10. Arcades ambo ! In the 
 Museum is a second tune, by a professional musician, to Lowe's song. 
 
 Page 14. The Maid that tends the goats. Burns in his Border 
 tour, 1787, met WilHam Dudgeon [c. i753-i8i3\ and thus describes 
 him: 'A poet at times — a worthy, remarkable character — natural 
 penetration, a great deal of information, some genius, and extreme 
 modest}'.' Both words and music of the song are in Calnope, London, 
 1788. The excellent tune has the same title in McDonald's Highland 
 Airs, 1784. 
 
 Page 15. I wish my love were in a mire. The old song is still 
 unknown. The later verses, ' Blest as the immortal gods is he,' in the 
 Museum are the work of Ambrose Phillips, whom Henry Carey 
 satirized in Namby-Pamby, published in 1726, and who obtained the 
 nickname of Namby-Pamby Phillips, which stuck to him. In Carey's 
 farce is appended ' A Learned Dissertation on Dumpling ; its Dignity, 
 and Excellence, with a word upon Pudding, &c.', to which is added 
 ' Namby Pamby, A Panygeric on the new versification, addressed to 
 
 A P , Esq.' The verses were printed in The Hive, 1724, 
 
 vol. ii, and Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724, and both verse and tune are 
 in the Orpheus Caledoniiis, 1725. The tune is said to be in Crockatt's 
 
88 APPENDIX 
 
 MS., 1709. The old song / ivis/i my love zvcrc tit a mire belongs to 
 tlic seventeenth century. See Dicks Burns, p. jS2. 
 
 Page 15. Allan "Water, another song of Robert Craw'brd's in 
 Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724. The tune is in two MSS. of 1692 and 
 1694 respectively, and with Crawford's words in the Orpheus Cale- 
 donms, 1733. See Dick's Burns, p. 400. 
 
 Page 15. There's nae luck about the house has had a run of 
 popularity to the present day. Jean Adams (i7io-i765\ a school- 
 mistress in Crawfordsdyke, Greenock, who died in the hospital 
 there, has the best claim to the authorship. It was first printed in 
 . a miscellaneous collection, in Herd's Scots Songs, i^6g, and with an 
 original air in the Museum in 1787. A different tune. There's nae 
 luck about the house, is in Aird's Airs, 1782, vol. i, but the Museum 
 air holds the field. 
 
 Page 16. Tarry woo'. This delightful pastoral is in Ramsay's 
 Miscellany, 1740, and the tune in M'^^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1746. The 
 earlier verses referred to are not known. See p. 90 infra. 
 
 Page 16. The maid in Bedlam. The song referred to by Burns 
 is that beginning 'As down on Banna's banks I strayed', the second 
 of the three in the Museunt for the tune of Gramachree. It is in 
 Vocal Music, 1775, and entitled 'a favourite Irish air'. The oldest 
 song for the tune, entitled JVillyego to Flanders, was printed in Herd's 
 Scottish Songs, 1776, the music having previously appeared in Oswald's 
 Companion, 1743. 
 
 Page 17. The collier's bonny lassie. Ramsay's song is in his 
 Miscellany, 1725. Burns was correct about an old song, for the tune is 
 in a manuscript of 1692, and, as The Collier's lass, in Original Scotch 
 Tunes, 1700. It is still popular. See Dick's Burns, pp. j66 and 421. 
 
 Page 17. My ain kind deary, O. The tune is in Bremner's Reels, 
 1760, and as The lee-rig, in Oswald's Companion, 1756. Fergusson's 
 verses are in Sibbald's Charmer, 1782, vol. ii. The * old words' 
 comprise four lines and a chorus in the Merry Muses. See Dick's 
 Burns, p .^97. 
 
 Page 18. Blink o'er the burn, sweet Bettie. An English song 
 Come over the bourne, Besse, is of Henry "VIII's time, and as a parody 
 in the following reign. The first four lines of a similar song is 
 quoted in King Lear, Act iii. Sc. 6. The stanzas quoted in 
 the text, which Burns remembered, are in a Black-letter ballad, 
 entitled, 'John's earnest request; or Betty's compassionate love 
 extended to him in time of distress. To a pleasant new Tune much in 
 request.' Thus docs tradition carry along the popular song ! The 
 tune in the Museum was originally published in the Orpheus Cale- 
 donius, 1725, with the words from Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724. 
 
 Page 18. Sae merry as we twa hae been. The chorus of the 
 song which Burns admired is : — 
 
APPENDIX 89 
 
 'Sae merry as we twa hae been, 
 Sae merry as we twa hae been. 
 
 My heart it is hke for to break 
 When I think on the days we hae seen.' 
 The verses in the Miiseutn were taken from Herd's Scots Songs, 1769. 
 The original tune in the Skene MS., c. 1630, entitled Sa uiirrie as we 
 hae bein, evidently had words. 
 
 Page 19. The bonny bracket lassie. 'Balloon' T3-tler was 
 a remarkable person and an enfant perdu. He was author, editor, 
 politician, printer, and inventor. He took refuge from his creditors 
 in the sanctuary of Holyrood, where he set up a printing press and 
 set up the type of his books without a manuscript. He finally went 
 to America, and died in Salem, Massachusetts. The old song of 
 The bonny briickct lassie is lost, but the tune, Dauney sa3'^s, is in the 
 Leyden MS., 1692. It is in Sinklers MS., 1710, without title ; and 
 in Oswald's Curious Collection of Scots Ttuies. 1740. The song which 
 Burns wrote about September, 1793, for the tune, has never been 
 printed, nor is the manuscript known. 
 
 Page 19. ' "When summer comes ' is the second song in the 
 Museum for the well-known tune of The broom of Coivdeiiknoztes, 
 which is in Pla^'ford's London Dancing Master, 1652, entitled Broom., 
 the bonny broom, and numerous Scottish collections of the eighteenth 
 century. Ramsay of Ochtertyre ;i 736-1814;;, the friend of Burns, 
 relates that Spittal of Leuchat about 1689, crossing the Alps, heard 
 a woman dressed in a tartan plaid sing the Broom of Cowdenknowes. 
 Her husband was a trooper in the Pope's guard. 
 
 Page 19. The banks of Forth, beginning 'Ye sylvan powers 
 
 that rule the plain ', is in Yair's Charmer. 1749, and the tune composed 
 by James Oswald is in his Curious Collection of Scots Tunes, 1740. 
 
 Pige 20. The bush, aboon Traquair. This well-known song is 
 in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724, signed C ; and, with the tune, in 
 Orpheus Caledonius, 1725. It is one of the airs sung in The Gentle 
 Shepherd. 
 
 Page 20. My deary, if thou die. The tune is in Blaikie's MS., 
 1692, and in Ramsa3''s Musick, 1726, and, with the words, in the 
 Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. 
 
 Page 20. She rose and let me in. The verses are in Ramsay's 
 Miscellany, 1725. The original song which Ramsay simply amended , 
 with the music, is in Playford's Choyce Ayres, 1685. Both Francis 
 Semple of Belltrees and Sir James Ayton are credited with the 
 authorship, but neither of the respective advocates have made good 
 the claim. The English tune, different from the Scottish, is in 
 D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, 17 19, i. J24. The Scottish tune, 
 that in the Museum, is in Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. See Dick's 
 Burns, p. jjj. 
 
 Page 21. Go to the Ew-bughts, Marion is in Ramsay's Miscellany, 
 1724, and, with the tune, in Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. Burns does 
 
90 APPENDIX 
 
 not mention that he wrote in 1786 'Will ye go to the Indies, my 
 Mary' for the tune The ballad to which he refers in the Note was 
 printed by Ritson in thirty-three four-line stanzas, in his Scotish 
 SoHi^^s, 1794, from a stall copy. In the fifth volume of the Museum, 
 1796, Johnson inserted fifteen stanzas from Ritson's set to an original 
 melody. See Dick's Burns, p. jyi. 
 
 Page 21. Lewis Gordon, a Jacobite of 1715, younger brother to 
 the then Duke of Gordon, commanded a regiment for the Chevalier 
 'and acquitted himself with great judgement'. He declared for 
 Prince Charles in 1745 and died an exile in 1754. ^iie reputed 
 author of Lczvis Gordon was the Rev. Alexander Geddes (1737-1802), 
 the learned Romish priest with whom Burns was on familiar terms. 
 He made a translation of the Bible which pleased neither the Pope 
 nor the Kirk. For this and other 'heresies' the ecclesiastical 
 hierarchy suspended him from his duties, and his book was put in the 
 Index. The earliest print of Lewis Gordon is in the Scots Nightingale, 
 second edition, 1779, entitled The Charming Highlandman, and the 
 tune entitled Tarry woo' is in M*^Gibbon's Scots Tunes^ 1746. In 
 Ritson's Scotish Songs, 1794, the tune has the same title. 
 
 Page 22. Oh ! one Chrio. There is a considerable resemblance 
 in this fragment to the ballad 'The famous flower of serving-men', 
 a ballad published about 1650, which is in Old Ballads, 1723, i. 216. 
 Two of the stanzas are as follows : — 
 
 ' And then my love built me a bower, 
 
 Bedeck'd with many a fragrant flower : 
 
 A braver bower you ne'er did see. 
 
 Than my true love did build for me. 
 
 But there came thieves late in the night, 
 
 They robb'd my bower and slew my knight ; 
 
 And after that my knight was slain, 
 
 I could no longer there remain,' &c. 
 The tune in the Museum is in Oswald's Curious Collection of Scots 
 Tunes, 1740, and marked an ' Irish air' in Corri's Scots Songs, 1783. 
 
 Page 22. PU never leave thee. The words in Ramsay's Miscel- 
 lany, 1725, and, with the tune, in Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. 
 
 Page 22. Corn riggs. Words in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725, and, 
 with the tune, in Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. In Playford's Choycg 
 Ayres, 1681, to a song ' Sawney was tall', the tune is entitled a Nor- 
 thern song. As Sawney ivill ne'' er be my love again it is set to political 
 verses, ' Tony was small but of noble race,' in i&o Loyal Songs, 1685. 
 To controvert the English origin it may be stated that from a tune, 
 New Cornrigges in Blaikies MS., 1692, it is evident that there existed 
 in Scotland some other tune of the name. From Burns's quotation 
 there was some earlier song than Ramsay's copy. See Dick's 
 Burns, p. jj2. 
 
 Page 23. The mucking of Geordie's byar. The older verses 
 are in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725, and, with the tune entitled My 
 
APPENDIX 91 
 
 daddy's a delver of dykes, in Orpheus Calcdouiiis, 1725, The tune first 
 gets the title The nmckiti' 0/ Geordie's byre \u ^VG'ibhous Scots Tjines, 
 1742. The fragment of this early song is still known. See Dick's 
 Burns, p. j6p. 
 
 Page 23. Bide ye yet. The verses are in Herd's Scottish Songs, 
 1776, and, with the tune, in Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786. An 
 imperfect version of Jenny Graham's song, ' Alas ! my son, you little 
 know.' is in Herd's Scots Songs, 1769. It is complete in The 
 Charmer. 1782. and. with the tune Bide ye yet, in Ritson's Scotish 
 Songs. 1794. Miss Graham was one of those Scottish gentlewomen 
 of the eighteenth century who spoke and wrote the vernacular. 
 Some particulars of her life can be seen in Stenhouse's Illustrations^ 
 1854, pp. "^141 and ^408. 
 
 Page 23. Tranent-muir. Adam Skirving (17 19-1803' was educated 
 at Preston Kirk in East Lothian, and lived most of his days at the farm 
 of Gorleton. He was an enthusiastic hunter, curler, and golfer, and 
 is said to have been at the battle of Prestonpans or Tranent-muir, on 
 September 22. 1745, where his pockets were picked by some of the 
 breechless soldiers. The ballad was originally issued as a broadside, 
 entitled "The battle of Preston to the tune Killiecranky', and the 
 ludicrous description of Cope's army immediatel}' made it popular. 
 It is printed in Yair's Charmer, 1751. The tune Killiecranky is 
 a seventeenth-century melody belonging to the battle at Killiecrankie, 
 where Claverhouse was killed, in 1689. and is in Atkinson's MS., 
 1694, and Original Scotch Tunes. 1700. See Dick's Burns, p. 4S4. 
 
 Page 24. To the weaver's gin ye go. Some editors have connected 
 Jean Armour with this song, without much evidence. The capital 
 tune of much variety is in Aird's Airs, 1782, vol. ii, and the title is 
 cited in a broadside of the middle of the eighteenth century. See 
 Dick's Burns, p jj6. 
 
 Page 24. Streph.cn and Lydia. These original verses are said tp 
 have been written by William Wallace of Cairnhill (c. 1712-1763}. an 
 advocate who \vas admitted to the bar in 1734. The tune The 
 Gordons has the guidi}ig oV is in no collection prior to the Museian. 
 In a prospective list of songs for the third volume of the Museum 
 Burns quotes the title of the tune, which he certainly knew. 
 
 Page 25. I'm o'er young to marry yet. The modern version in 
 popular editions of the song is now much different from Burns's 
 words, and the tune also has been altered. The verses are original in 
 the Museum. The tune is in Bremner's Reels, 1758. See Dick's 
 Burns, p. 4 TO. 
 
 Page 25. My jo, Janet. This is the model on which Burns framed 
 his humorous My spouse, Na}icy. and for the same tune. My jo, 
 Janet is a dr}' humorous dialogue between a vain j'^oung wife and 
 a parsimonious old husband. The subject is the same as that of an 
 English broadside of the seventeenth century. Jenny, Jenny, or the 
 false-hearted knight, whose popular tune served many ballads of the 
 period. The Scottish tune is entitled The old man in the Straloch 
 
92 APPENDIX 
 
 MS., 1627, and as Long er onie old man, in the Skene MS., c. 1630, 
 The music is also in Oswald's Companion, 1751, book iii. See Dick's 
 Burns, p. 42"]. 
 
 Page 20. The birks of Aberfeldy was originally published in 
 the Museum to an old tune, The birks of Abcrgcldy, for a seventeenth- 
 century ballad. Burns borrowed the first stanza. The second part 
 of the ballad began * Bessy is my bed made ', and a parody of it is in 
 the Merry Muses, and probably connected with the Primrose family. 
 As A Scotch nyrc the tune is in Playford's Dancing Master, 1690, and 
 as The berks of Abergclde it is in Uriginal Scotch Tunes, 1700. See 
 Dick's Bums, p. jS(^. 
 
 Page 26. Fife and a' the lands about it. Thomas Blacklock, D.D. 
 (i-]2i-iigi). will always be remembered as the first literary person 
 who took Burns b}- the hand, and it was by his advice that the poet 
 came to Edinburgh to republish his Works. Blacklock was a con- 
 siderable contributor to the Scots Musical Museum, and Burns, if he 
 rarely was effusive on Blacklocks work, never forgot what he owed to 
 him. The song is original, but the tune is much older, and English. 
 It is in Playford's Banquet of AJu^ic, 1692, as Fairest Jenny, I mun 
 love thee; and again in D'Urfey's Pills, 1719, vol. iii. Its earliest 
 appearance as ' Scotch ', in the Gentleman's Magazine, January 1691- 
 1692, is a parody. Jockey aitd Jenny, a Scotch song 'set by 
 Mr. Akeroj'de', a Yorkshireman, who was a prolific composer during 
 the latter half of the eighteenth century. 
 
 Page 26. Were na my heart light I wad die. This very fine 
 song, the work of Lady Grizzel Baillie (1665-1746), is in the Orplieus 
 Caledonius, 1725 — words and music. The tune is an excellent 
 specimen of the pentatonic scale, and much less known than it ought 
 to be. I do not remember seeing it in any other of the numerous 
 eighteenth-century collections of Scottish music than that just named, 
 until it appears in the Museum. Ramsay put the verses in his 
 Miscellany. 1740. For a sketch of Lady Grizzel's life, see Tytler's 
 Songstresses of Scotland, 1871, vol. i. 
 
 Page 27. The Young Man's dream. The manuscript of Tytler's 
 song is in the British Museum. Burns was instrumental in selecting 
 the tune, which was originally printed in the Museum with the 
 w^ords. 
 
 Page 27. Strathallan's Lament. James Drummond, Viscount 
 Strathallan, son of William Viscount Strathallan, was with his father 
 at the battle of Culloden. After that disaster Strathallan fled to the 
 hills, escaped to France, and died in exile. Burns in his first High- 
 land tour passed through Strathallan on August 28, 1787, and wrote 
 his song when he returned to Edinburgh. Allan Masterton, who 
 composed the air, was one of the 'three merry boys', and we shall 
 come across him again by and by. Both verse and air are originals. 
 See Dick's Burns, p. ^yo. 
 
 Page 27. 'What words, dear Nancy.' These are a second set of 
 
APPENDIX 93 
 
 words for the tune What wtll I do gin my hoggte die. for which see 
 supra, p. 6j. 
 
 Page 28. Up in the morning early. The model of Burns's song 
 is in the Herd MS., but the subject is difterent, as the two stanzas 
 following will show : — 
 
 ' But we young lads that hae lassies to prie 
 And gets but a smack of them rareh', 
 Tak care that Geordy swine does not see, 
 Noe matter you do not rise early. 
 
 Then up the creepy you maun steal. 
 
 And pray to Mass John for to spare ye ; 
 But he'll look at ye as ye were the deil, 
 
 In the twilight, or morning early.' 
 
 The tune, first known as Stingo, or the Oyl of Barley, is in Play ford's 
 Dancing Master, London, 1651. and retained that title to about i6gi, 
 when it was changed ' to the old Scots ballad Cold and Raw\ The 
 earliest record in Scotland is in ^PGibbon's Scots Times, 1755, as TJp 
 in the morning early. For further particulars see Glen's Early Scottish 
 Melodies, 1900. p. 28 ; and Dick's Burns. 1903, p. 4S0. 
 
 Page 28. The tears of Scotland. The verses are in the Muses 
 Delighty Liverpool, 1754. and the tune, the composition of James 
 Oswald, in his Companion. I'S^i book iv. Tobias George Smollett 
 (1721-1771), the distinguished novelist, poet, and historian, was 
 derided by the critics for making Strap, the barber's assistant, in 
 Roderick Random, converse in Latin. To preserve the memory' of 
 past manners, I record a somewhat similar case of a Scot which came 
 under my own observation, nearly forty years ago, in the dispensing 
 room of an ordinary practitioner of medicine in the North of London. 
 A man of dubious personal appearance, in a shiny dress and shoes 
 down at the heel, was conversing in Latin with the doctor, who after- 
 wards told me that he and this man alwa\-s spoke on business in 
 Latin when any one else was present. This assistant mended bottles 
 and did odd jobs in the laboratory. 
 
 Page 28. 'I dream'd I lay.' Burns supplied the tune for the 
 Museum, and it looks like a variation of that of the Young mans 
 dream, No. 126 [supra, p. 2/^. See Dick's Burns, p. 4JJ. 
 
 Page 29. 'Ah! the poor shepherd's mournful fate.' These 
 verses b}^ Hamilton of Bangour '1704-1754" are in his Poems, 1746; 
 in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724, and The Charmer, 1751. The tune 
 \vith Hamilton's words is in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1725 ; and with 
 the title Sour plumbs in Gallashiels in Craig's Scots Tunes, 1730. The 
 original song is still unknown. 
 
 Page 29. The banks of the Devon. Burns wrote the verses in 
 1787. Charlotte Hamilton at the time was with her cousin, Peggy 
 Chalmers, with whom Burns was more fascinated than with Miss Hamil- 
 ton, and to whom he afterwards addressed some of his finest letters. 
 
94 APPENDIX 
 
 Dr. Blarklock said that Burns ofTered her marriage. She married 
 Lewis Hay, a partner in Coutts & Co., bankers, and died in Switzer- 
 land in 1844. J'le tune, a Celtic air, is in M'^Donald's Highland Airs, 
 1784. See Dick's Bunts, p. jjS. 
 
 Pae:e 29. "Waly, waly. The original verses belong to the early 
 part of the seventeenth century. It is referred to in a later portion 
 of ]Voo(Vs MS. of 1566, and it is the subject of a ballad which can be 
 seen in Child's Ballads, 1890, No. 204. The sweet verses in the 
 Mtiseiini arc in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725, and, with the tune, in 
 Orpheus Cnlcdonins, 1725. RiddeU's 'altered' copy in the text is 
 not an improvement on the original air. 
 
 Page 30. Duncan Gray. Burns does not state that he contributed 
 this song to the Museum, which, in his handwriting, is in the British 
 Museum. It is more decorous than that in the Merry Muses, which 
 doubtless is one of the shebeen kind current in the seventeenth 
 century. A set of the verses is in Herd's MS. They are the model 
 of Burns's ' Duncan Gray cam here to woo '. The tune is in Oswald's 
 Cal. Pocket Companion, 1751, book iii. See Dick's Burns, p. ^12. 
 
 Page 31. Dumbarton's drums. Burns was deceived in assuming 
 that this song refers to the locality, and particularly to the rocky 
 fortress which dominates the Clyde. The original of what is now 
 the Royal Scots Regiment was the Scots Regiment of Douglas, 
 consisting of 1,200 Scots bound to the King of France for all service, 
 except against the King of Great Britain. In 1653 Louis XIV 
 appointed Lord George Douglas, son of the first Marquess of Douglas, 
 to the command. Lord George came to England in 1669, and in 
 1675 was created first Earl of Dumbarton, which date may be taken 
 as that of the very good verses in the Museu)>t. Earl 0/ Dumbarton 
 was a landless and empty title, and his lordship's sword was the only 
 instrument of subsistence. He died in France, March 20. 1692. The 
 tune in its original form, entitled I serve a ivorthie lady, is in the Skejie 
 MS., c. 1630. In Apollo's Banquet, 1670, it is cited ' A Scotch tune ', and 
 so on, until it is first printed in Ramsay's Musick, c. 1726, as Dtmi- 
 barton'' s drums, and in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. The verses 
 are in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724, and I have no doubt they were 
 originally published much earlier as a broadside. 
 
 Page 31. Cauld kail in Aberdeen. The peculiarity of this song, 
 of which there are so many versions, is that it was known for at 
 least sixty years before the tune was printed. It is cited in Ramsay's 
 Miscellany, 1725. but the music originally was printed in the Museum, 
 1788, with the Duke of Gordon's verses which Burns communicated. 
 That the Museum tune is the old air I do not doubt; for (i) George 
 Thomson and Burns had a long correspondence about a new song for 
 the tune, and both refer to it as a well-known air ; and ,2) there are 
 verses in the precise rhythm and measure as old as the beginning 
 of the eighteenth century. Maidment, in Scotish Songs, 1859, 'has 
 The Cald kail of Aberdeen, and in the Advocates' Library is a broad- 
 side which belonged to James Anderson, the eminent antiquary, who 
 
APPENDIX 95 
 
 died in 1724. Another Catdd Kail, beginning ' The lasses about 
 Bocie gight', is in Herd's 5co/s Songs. 1769; and the latest in the 
 centurj^ is that by William Reid ;i764-i83i; in Select Poetry, c. 1800. 
 See Dick's Burns, p. JS4. 
 
 Page 32. •' For lake of gold she 's left me, O.' Riddell's state- 
 ment is erroneous: for the 'tune' is in Blaikie's MS., 1692. and in 
 Oswald's Companion, 1751, book iii, both with the title of the first 
 line of the song, which proves that a song existed previous to 
 Dr. Adam Austin's verses, who must have written them after June 7, 
 1749; when Miss Jean Drummond was married to the Duke of 
 Athol. The song of Dr. Austin (i726?-i774' is in Yair's Charmer, 
 1751, and for the first time with the tune in Bremner's Scots Songs, 
 ^151- 
 
 Page 32. Here 's a health to my tvne love. Words and music 
 are original in the Museum. That James I'V was the composer is 
 a fiction. No air of such phraseology was invented so early as the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 Page 33. Hey tutti taiti is the tune of Scots wha hae. The verses 
 in the Museum. ' Landlady, count the lawin,' were written by Burns 
 for the tune which first appears in Oswald's Companion, 1751. 
 book iii. Although apparently older, there is no evidence for the 
 assumption that it existed in the thirteenth century. See Dick's 
 Burns, 1903, pp. 4JI, 44S. 
 
 Page 33. M'^Grigor of Kora's lament. Burns was intimate with 
 Miss Isabella M=Leod, who was one of the first friends he made in 
 Edinburgh. The family was singularly unfortunate : Flora became 
 the beautiful Countess of Loudon, and died in 1780; her husband 
 shot himself in 1786 ; the father died the same year and his brother 
 John in 1787. The chief of Raasay, brother of Isabella, died in 
 1801, in financial trouble, and his son and grandson struggled un- 
 successfully to redeem the estates, which had been in the family for 
 four hundred years. The tune is a pure Celtic air, remarkable for its 
 beauty and its unusual cadence. It was originally published in 
 M'^Donald's Highland Airs, 1784, and in Corn's Scots Songs. See 
 Dick's Burns, p. 4'j8. 
 
 Page 33. Time: 14th of October. The song is by Hamilton 
 of Bangour, who could not free himself from the lyrical convention 
 of the age. The Strephons and Delias and Adonis are paramount in 
 the eighteenth century. This song is in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724, 
 and in Hamilton's Poems, 1749. The tune in Orpheus Caledonius, 
 1733, has no specific title, but as St. Crispins trade tune The 14th 
 of October it is in M^'Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1746, and Oswald's 
 Companion, 1751, book iii. 
 
 Page 34. Tune : Miss Hamilton's delight. This, like many of 
 Blacklock's songs in the Museum, is signed D. ^ The words are in 
 the Scots Nightingale, 1779. The tune in Oswald's Companion, 1752, 
 book iv, is entitled The blossom of the raspberry. In M'^Gibbon's 
 
96 APPENDIX 
 
 Scots Tunes, published by Bremner in 1768, it is entitled Miss Hamil- 
 ton'' s delight. 
 
 Page 34. Young Damon, by Robert Fergusson, is in the Scots 
 Nti^htiugalc, 1779, and the tune marked as Oswald's is in his 
 Companioyi, 1751, book iii, entitled Highland lamentation. 
 
 Page 34. 'Musing on the roaring ocean.' This is the only 
 sea-song of Burns. It is reminiscent of a fragment in the Herd MS. 
 The Celtic air Dniinion diihh was taken from M'^Donald's -<4/;-s, 1784. 
 Another and diflTcrent Irish melody, corrupted to Drinien duff, is in 
 Oswald's Cotnpanio)!, c. 11^6, book viii. See Dick's Bums, p. j62. 
 
 Page 35. Blythe was she. Euphemia Murray married Smythe of 
 Mcthven Castle, who afterwards was one of the Judges of the Court 
 of Session. Burns's song was modelled on the brilliant vernacular 
 bacchanalian Atjdro and his cutty gun, which is the original or a 
 parody of verses in the Merry Muses. ' Andro ' was printed in 
 Ramsay's Miscellany, 1740, and in Yair's Charmer, 1765, beginning 
 with the chorus : — 
 
 <Blyth, blyth. blyth was she, 
 Blyth was she but and ben ; 
 And weel she lo'ed a Hawick gill, 
 And leugh to see a tappit hen.' 
 The 'Hawick gill' was double the size of any other measure of the 
 name, and the 'tappit hen' was the spherical bottle which held the 
 potent aqua vitae. The tune Andro and his cutty gun is in Oswald's 
 Cojnpanlon. 1754, book vi, and verse and air are in the Perth Musical 
 Miscellany, 1786. See Dick's Burns, p. j6i. 
 
 Page 35. Johnny Faa, or the Gypsie Laddie. The original is 
 a historical or mythical ballad, published as a broadside, without 
 place or date, about 1720, entitled The gypsy laddie, and supposed to 
 have been printed at Newcastle. It relates how seven gypsies 
 appeared at the ' Earl of Castle's house ' and carried ofT the Countess. 
 Their fate is described in the last verse : — 
 
 'There was seven gypsies in a gang, 
 
 And they was brisk and bonny, 
 And they're to be hanged all in a row, 
 For the Earl of Castle's lady.' 
 In Ramsay's version in his Miscellany, 1740, the 'seven' are raised 
 to ' fifteen ' gypsies, but there is no mention of any locality or name, 
 and it closes as follows : — 
 
 *And we were fifteen well-made men, 
 Altho' we were na bonny ; 
 And we were a' put down for ane, 
 A fair young wanton lady.' 
 With some slight variations this version was several times reprinted, 
 and that of Burns brings back from tradition Lord Cassilis as he 
 appeared in the original broadside. The last line in Ramsay becomes 
 
APPENDIX 97 
 
 here 'The Earl of Cassilis' lad}'', and so the said earl and his wife 
 have remained. It is difficult to find musical records of our ballad 
 literature, but the tune Ladie Cassilles lilt, one of the oldest, is in the 
 Skene MS., c. 1630, and it is the foundation of Johnny Faa, first 
 printed in Barsanti's Scots Titties, 1742, evidently gathered from 
 tradition, as the Skene MS. was then unknown. In its turn the title 
 Johnny Faa was played out, and the tune is now known as Waes me 
 for Prince Charlie, from a modern Jacobite song. The legend is that 
 John, sixth Earl of Cassilis, a sour Presbyterian, married Jean, 
 daughter of the first Earl of Haddington, During the absence of the 
 husband, while attending the assembly of Divines in 1643, his wife 
 was willingly abducted by Johnie Faa and his gypsies. The Earl 
 captured the band and hung them all but one, who is supposed to 
 relate the story. Their heads were carved in stone on the tower of 
 Maybole Castle, where the countess was confined. If we could be 
 sure that the tune Ladie Cassilles lilt referred to the legend it might be 
 said that the hanging of the gypsies took place in the year 1624, 
 when Johnie Faa and seven others were executed by the government 
 for remaining in the country after having been warned to leave it. 
 Otherwise the date of the tune will not fit the absence of the Earl in 
 1643. From what Burns has said, which is confirmed by Kirkpatrick 
 Sharpe, an old tradition in Ayrshire existed, which was connected 
 with the ancient house of Kennedy. 
 
 Page 35. To daunton me. The manuscript of these verses in 
 Burns's hand is in the British Museum, and the two stanzas are the 
 first in 'Loyal Songs printed in the year 1750'. The third and 
 concluding stanza is as follows : — 
 
 'But to wanton me, but to wanton me, 
 And ken ye what maist would wanton me ? 
 
 To see K[ing] J[ames] at Edinb'rough Cross, 
 With fifty thousand foot and horse, 
 And the U[surper] forc'd to flee, 
 O I this is what maist would wanton me.' 
 The tune is in Atkinsons MS., 1694, and printed in Oswald's Curious 
 Collection of Scots Tunes, 1740. See Dick's Burns, p. ^11. 
 
 Page 36. Absence is in ih^ Edinburgh Magazine, Februar}-, 1774, 
 and in the Scots Nightingale, 1779. The tune, a poor specimen, is in 
 the Museum as an original. 
 
 Page 36. * I had a horse, and I had nae mair.' The verses are in 
 Herd's Scots So}tgs, 1769. The tune was traditional prior to the Museum, 
 1788. Burns knew the tune well before 1785, for in that year he 
 wrote for it ' Now breezy win's and slaughtering guns '. See Dick's 
 Burns, pp. JJ4, J74. 
 
 Page 37. Tune : Banks of Spey. Burns wrote the second 
 stanza of this song, beginning 'Your friendship much can make me 
 blest '. The tune is in APGibbon's Scots Tunes, 1755. See Dick's 
 Burns, p. jyj. 
 
 Page 37. ' Up and warn a', "Willie.* Burns made considerable 
 
 H 
 
98 APPENDIX 
 
 alterations in this sonp;, and his manuscript is now in the British 
 Museum. The verses belong to the rebellion of 1715, but the original 
 in The Cliantio; i']S2, and signed * B. G.', differ considerably — both 
 verbally and metrically — from that in the Museum. Tom Niel was 
 a precentor in the Old Kirk of Edinburgh. He is represented in 
 Kay's Portraits singing one of his favourite songs. He died in 
 Edinburgh, December, 1800. The tune Up and JVaitr is in Walsh's 
 Caleihuiiaii Con ittrv Dances, and in Oswald's Companion, 1751, book 
 iii. See Dick's Bums, p. ^6/. 
 
 Page 37. *A rosebud by my early walk.' 'The rosebud' was 
 a precocious musician, and for her years a remarkable player on the 
 harpsichord. Burns wrote many of his songs for the Museum in the 
 house of Cruikshank, where he stayed for some time after his High- 
 land tour. He tested and corrected his songs, fitting his verses to 
 the musical rhythm and sense of the tunes from the playing of the 
 Rosebud, with whom he spent much time. The air of David Sillar is 
 an unvocal composition. See Dick's Bums, p. J62. 
 
 Page 38. To a blackbird. Burns wrote the four lines of this song 
 beginning ' For thee is laughing nature gay '. For the tune The Scots 
 OuecH he instructed Johnson to print ' the two first and the two last 
 stanzas ' of his poem, The Lament. This was not done. The tune 
 is in Oswald's Companion, c. 1759, book xii. See Dick's Burns, 
 P- 314- 
 
 Page 38. Hooly and fairly. The verses are in T]ie Charmer, 
 1 751, vol. li, and also in both Herd's collections of 1769 and 1776, 
 all entitled The drunken wife o' Galloway. The tune with another set 
 of verses is in Bremner's Scots Songs, 1757, entitled Hooly aitd fairly. 
 This tune is a good example how in the course of time folk-music is 
 modified and partially changes form ; how it acquires a new title and 
 assumes a disguise which covers up its track. I take it that the 
 origin of Hooly and fairly \s the tune To horse, brave boys of Neivmarket, 
 to horse m D'Urfey's P///s to Purge Melancholy, 17 19, i. p-ii-^ ; with some 
 alterations it becomes T^a^VA I defie thee'in Oswald's Companion, c. 1753, 
 V. p. J2 ; somewhat varied again it is Hooly and fairly in Bremner's 
 Songs. 1757 ; in Oswald's Companion, 1759, book x, it becomes 77?^ 
 drunken ivifc of Galloivay, which is the title of the original song in 
 The Charmer of 1751. 
 
 Page 39. Rattlin, roarin Willie. Dunbar was president, or 
 colonel, as Burns styles him, of the Crochallan club, which met in 
 Dauny Douglass tavern, Edinburgh. The stanza which Burns wrote 
 is as follows : — 
 
 'As I cam by Crochallan, I cannily keekit ben; 
 
 Rattlin, roarin Willie, Was sitting at yon boord-en' ; 
 
 Sitting at yon boord-en', And amang guid companie ; 
 
 Rattlin, roarin Willie, Ye're welcome hame to me.' 
 The original Willy was a noted Border reiver, whom tradition says 
 did business on the Hawick and Langholm districts. The tune in 
 Atkinson's MS., 1694, was a great favourite, and often printed. It 
 was sung to one of the songs in the opera of The Boarding School, 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 99 
 
 published by Watts. London, 1733. It is cited in Ramsay's Mis- 
 cellany, 1725. See Dick's Bums, p. 441. 
 
 Page 39. ' "Where braving angry winter's storms.' Peggy 
 Chalmers is referred to on page cjj. Niel Gow's tune is in his 
 collection o{ Strathspeys, 1784. See Dick's Bums, p. j6o. 
 
 Page 39. Tibbie, I hae seen the day is interesting as a forecast 
 of the excellence of Burns in lyrical poetry. The tune Ijivercald' s 
 Reel, a good specimen of the particular dance music of Scotland, is 
 in Stewart's Reels, 1762. See Dick's Burns, p. JJ2. 
 
 Page 40. Nancy's ghost. Original verses in the Museum. The 
 tune is cited in iSo Loyal Songs. 1685. entitled ' A loyal Scotch song 
 sung to the tune Bonny Kate of Edinburgh'' , and with the music 
 the 'Scotch song sung to the King at Windsor' in D"Urfey's Pills, 
 1 7 19, vol. ii. The tune is also in M'Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1742, and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Page 40. 'Clarinda, mistress of my soul.' Another of Burns's 
 songs for Mrs. M^Lehose. Written for the original tune of a profes- 
 sional musician. See Dick's Burns, p. J7<S'. 
 
 Page 40. Tune: Marquis of Huntly's Eeel. The Rev. John 
 Skinner 1721-1807". the Episcopalian minister of Longside, Aber- 
 deenshire, lived in a cottage at Linshart, ' passing rich on forty pounds 
 a year.' His ecclesiastical works are now forgotten, and he is 
 remembered only by his songs, which his son, Bishop Skinner, of 
 Aberdeen, published under the title Fugitive pieces of poetry^ Edin- 
 burgh, 1809. Burns copied the words of this song for the Museum. 
 The tune is in William Marshall's Strathspeys. 1781. The German 
 lairdie referred to by Burns is a different air, which can be seen, as 
 obtained from a manuscript of Burns, printed in Dick's Songs of 
 Burns, 1903, P' Jj6. It has no relation to the tune of The tvee wee 
 German lairdie, a more modern Jacobite song. 
 
 Page 41. Gill Morice. This ballad (the foundation of Home's 
 tragedy of Douglas, performed for the first time in 1756^ first appeared 
 as a broadside, printed in Glasgow in 1755. Several traditional 
 versions have since been recovered and published by Motherwell 
 and Jamieson. The earliest is a fragment found in Percys MS. 
 \c. 1666]. No copy of the broadside is known, and the earliest publi- 
 cation is now to be seen in Bremner's Thirty Scots Songs, Edinburgh 
 [1757], with the original tune. As literary men generally know little 
 about music, and care as much for it, no surprise need be felt at 
 Dr. Child's ignorance of the copy in Bremner's Scots Songs, although 
 it must be stated that many collections of music are noted in Child's 
 Ballads. In Percy's copy of the ballad in bis Rcliqucs, 1765, there 
 are sixteen interpolated lines which are not in Bremner's copy, which 
 I assume to be a literal reprint from the broadside of 1755. Rid- 
 delFs note in what he says is nearl}' correct. He is in error, 
 however, in sajung that M'^Gibbon, who died in 1756, was the com- 
 poser of the tune, for although it is in M^Gibbon's Scots Tunes it is 
 the edition which Bremner issued in 1682 'with additions'. The 
 
 H 2 
 
loo APPENDIX 
 
 hal'ad in the Museum contains only fifty-six lines of the original i68 
 lines as in Brcmner. 
 
 Page 42. Tune : Scots recluse. Burns copied and amended this 
 song of Lapraik (1727 1807) and sent it to the Museum, and his 
 manuscript is in the British Museum. But it is a curious circumstance 
 that a song in a different metre, with considerable variations but 
 substantially the same, was printed in The Weekly Magazine or 
 Editiburgh Amusement, Oct. 14, 1773, dated nth Oct. and signed 
 'A Happ3' husband'. It is in five six-line metre stanzas, while 
 Burns's copy is in eight-line stanzas. The original is a finer piece of 
 literary work, and apparentl}^ by one more skilled than Lapraik"s 
 rustic muse. A corresponding stanza of the two versions is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Magazine 1773. 
 ' Have I a wish ? — 'tis all for thee, 
 Hast thou a wish ? — 'tis all for me, 
 
 So soft our moments move ; 
 What numbers look with ardent gaze, 
 Well pleased to see our happ}^ days, 
 And bid us live — and love ! ' 
 
 Lapraik's version from his Poems. 
 
 'Have I a wish? 'tis all for thee; 
 
 I know thy wish is me to please, 
 Our moments pass so smooth away, 
 
 That numbers on us look and gaze. 
 
 Well pleased to see our happy days, 
 They bid us live and still love on ; 
 And if some cares shall chance to rise, 
 
 Thy bosom still shall be my home.' 
 
 With a few verbal alterations the Magazine version is in Sibbald's 
 Charmer, 1782. ii. p. 2og. The Ayr Bank, or Douglas Heron & Co., to 
 which Burns refers as the occasion of the song, suspended payment 
 in June, 1772, and the date of the Magazine copy easily fits that event 
 of the previous year, when Lapraik would be forty-six years oM. 
 The merits of the case cannot be discussed here, and although the 
 weight of the evidence is against Lapraik I have only to add that the 
 song is included in his Poems on Several Occasions, Kilmarnock, 1788, 
 where in the Preface he states that while in jail through the Bank 
 failure his ' poems were composed to amuse his solitude, and with no 
 design of publication'. See Ballads and Songs 0/ Ayrshire, 1847, 
 second series, p. 67. The tune Scots Recluse is the composition of 
 James Oswald m his Curious Collection of Scots Tunes, 1740. 
 
 Page 42. Jenny was fair and unkind, was also communicated to 
 the Museum by Burns. It is in Lapraik's Poems, 1788, with three 
 addiiional stanzas. 1 he tune Scots Jenny is the composition of 
 Oswald in his collection of Curious Scots Tunes, 1742. 
 
 Page 42. ' My Harry was a gallant gay' is the work of Burns. 
 
APPENDIX loi 
 
 The tune Highlanders lament is in Stewart's Reels, 1762, with the 
 title The highland watch's farewell to Ireland. The regiment was 
 in Ireland between 1749 and 1756. and the appearance of the tune 
 was within a few years after its departure. See Dick's Burns, 
 p. 467, 
 
 Page 43. Leader haughs and Yarrow. The verses are in 
 Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725, and the tune in the Orpheus Caledonitts, 
 1733. with the well-known set of verses 'When Phoebus bright the 
 azure skies', &cc., also in Ramsaj''s Miscellany, which originally 
 appeared as a broadside entitled 'A Delectable new Ballad intituled 
 Leader haughs and Yarrow to its own proper Tune ', published about 
 1690 in fifteen four-line stanzas. Of ' Minstrel' Burn, the author, 
 little is known. 
 
 Page 43. 'The taylor fell thro' the bed.' The tune is in 
 Atkinsons MS., 1694, entitled Beware of the ripells. the song of which 
 is in the Merry Muses. The tune is also in Oswald's Companion, 
 1759, vol. xi, and Aird's Airs, 1782, vol. i, as The tailor's march. 
 It has an affinity to / love my love in secret, which is the antetype of 
 the more modern Logie o' Biichan. See Dick's Burns, p. 4og. 
 
 Page 43. Beware o' bonie Ann was written in 1788 or early in 
 1789 while Burns was in Edinburgh. The tune is an original by 
 Allan Masterton. See Dick's Burns, p. ^64. 
 
 Page 43. 'This is no mine ain house.' The verses are in 
 Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725. The tune Shitan truish willighan, or 
 Deil stick the minister, belongs to the seventeenth century. A man 
 was tried in Stirling for derision of a minister, by inciting a piper to 
 play Dcil stick the minister, ' the name of ane spring.' The tune is in 
 Original Scotch Tunes, 1700, but very incorrectly printed. The 
 proper air of This is no mine ain house is different ; which can be 
 seen in Dick's Burns, p. go. 
 
 Page 44. Laddie, lie near me. The words ' Hark ! the loud 
 thunder' are original in the Museum. The tune Laddie, lie near me 
 is in Oswald's Companion, 1760, book xii. An English ballad of the 
 seventeenth century with the same title is only a distant relation of 
 the Scottish tune, for which Burns contributed old words to the 
 Museum, and also wrote a song to order of George Thomson, for 
 which see Dick's Burns, p. j8j. 
 
 Page 44. The gardener wi' his paidle. The origmal publication 
 of the verses was in the Museum, and the tune The gardeners march 
 is in Aird's Airs, 1782, vol. i. To accommodate George Thomson, 
 Burns altered very much this song, which begins 'When rosy May 
 comes in wi' flow'rs ', &c. See Dick's Burns, p. jgo. 
 
 Page 45. The black eagle. Printed in the Poems, 1786, of 
 Dr. James Fordyce (i72o?-i796), with a note, 'Intended for a 
 pathetic air of that name [The black Eagle] in Oswald's Collection of 
 Scotch tunes.' Glen discovered the air in Blaikies MS.. 1692, under 
 the title of Women's work will never be done, which is different from 
 
I02 APPENDIX 
 
 the Enp:lisli tune witli a somewhat similar title. The Scottish tune is 
 variously known as The highivay to Edinhitrgh in Oswald's Companion, 
 1751, book iii ; as The black egle in the same collection, book v, and 
 as The hoiDiy black eagle in M*'Gibbon's Scots Tttnes, 1755. 
 
 Page 45. 'Jamie, come try nae.' This air of Oswald's is in his 
 Collection of Curious Scots Tunes, 1742, and in his Companion, 
 book ii, c. 1745. See Dick's Burns, p. jgo. 
 
 Page 45. My bony Mary. I have not discovered the original 
 first half-stanza except it be that on the frontispiece to the second 
 volume of Morison's Scotish Ballads, 1790, which represents a soldier 
 parting from his sweetheart with one foot on shore and the other in 
 the rowboat, into which he is stepping. Underneath the engraving 
 are the words : — 
 
 'The loudest of thunder o'er louder waves roar, 
 That's naething like leaving my love on the shore.' 
 
 Although the air of Oswald's is a fairly good one it is not nearly 
 good enough for Burns's splendid verses. The stolen Kiss is its title in 
 Universal Harmony^ 1745 ; in Oswald's Companion, 1752, book iv, 
 it is entitled The secret Kiss. For want of an appropriate tune this 
 song of Burns is neglected. See Dick's Burns, p. 402. 
 
 Page 45. 'The lazy mist' is an Irish air, the words for which 
 Burns described to Dr. Blacklock as 'a melancholy song'. The 
 tune is in Oswald's Companion , c. 1759, book xii. See Dick's Burns, 
 p. 479. 
 
 Page 46. Johnie Cope. Cromek by garbling this Note has 
 caused infinite trouble; for editors were deceived as to the part 
 which Burns took in this song. Now when the Notes of Riddell and 
 Burns are separated it is easy to understand that the poet contributed 
 Johnie Cope to the Museum ; and the MS. List of Burns for the Third 
 Volume of Johnson's Museum, wherein he writes against Jolinie Cope 
 '■ Mr. Burns's old words', settles the point. It is the earliest version 
 printed in a miscellaneous Collection of Songs — the MuseimT, vol. iii, 
 published February, 1790. That to which Burns refers, 'Will ye go 
 to the coals in the morning,' was published by Ritson in his Scotish 
 Songs, 1794. ii. p. ^4 footnote, with another version in his text. See 
 Dick's Bums, 1903, p. 4^17. The tune is in Oswald's Companion, 
 1759, book xi ; in McLean's Scots Tunes, c. 1772; and Aird's Airs, 
 T782, vol. ii. 
 
 Page 46. I love my Jean. 'Of a' the airts' is justly placed in 
 the front rank of the songs of Burns. The verses are often incorrectly 
 printed, and I quote the remainder of the song below from Burns's 
 MS. in the British Museum. The first stanza is on page 46 supra. 
 
 ' I see her in the dewy flowers, 
 I see her sweet and fair ; 
 I hear her in the tunefu' birds, 
 I hear her charm the air : 
 
APPENDIX 103 
 
 There's not a bonie flower that springs 
 
 By fountain, shaw, or green ; 
 There 's not a bonie bird that sings, 
 
 But minds me o' my Jean.' 
 
 The tune Miss Admiral Gordott's Strathspey, the composition of 
 William Marshall, is in his Collection of Reels, 1781. See Dick's 
 Burns, p.jJJ. 
 
 Page 46. ' Cease, cease my dear friend to explore.' Stenhouse 
 states that Johnson of the Museum told him that Blacklock composed 
 the air. 
 
 Page 47. Auld Robin Gray. Lady Anne Lindsay (i75o-i825\ 
 eldest daughter of James, Earl of Balcarres, and afterwards Lady Anne 
 Barnard, wife of Andrew Barnard, Government Secretary at the 
 Cape of Good Hope, wrote this esteemed ballad of genius some time 
 between the years 1770 and 1772. It owed its origin to a favourite 
 air which had improper verses, of which only two lines are now 
 known : — 
 
 ' But Oh ! quo' he, it comes o'er soon, 
 The bridgroom grat when the sun gaed down.' 
 
 To perpetuate the air Lady Anne celebrated Robin Gray, a shepherd 
 on the Balcarres estate, by heaping on his head a series of mis- 
 fortunes ; because when a child he had arrested her and her sister 
 on the way to the house of an indulgent neighbour. The verses 
 appeared as an original in Herd's Scottis/i Sotii^s, 1776, ii. p. ip6 ; and 
 those in the Museum are copied from Herd. Kirkpatrick Sharpe 
 states erroneously that the ballad was first printed in Herbert Croft's 
 novel of Love and Madness in 1780; and Ritson that it is in the last 
 edition of that novel, 1786, p. ij. A version very much altered is in 
 Sibbald's CJtarmer, 1782, ii. p. ^7, where Lady A, Lindsay is marked 
 as the authoress. 
 
 The tune The bridegroom greets when the sun goes down, for which 
 the ballad was written, is not in any collection with that title. Its 
 first appearance was with the title and words of Auld Robin Gray in 
 Stewart's Collection of Thirty Scots Songs, 1781, and later in the 
 Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786. Again as Auld Robin Gray the tune 
 is in Aird's Airs, 1788, iii. No. 582. Before this time it was printed 
 with a new modern air preceded by the old air for the opening stanza 
 in Corri's Scots Songs about 1783, i. p. 7. This modern artistic air was 
 claimed in the year 1812 by the Reverend William Leeves. an 
 Episcopalian clergyman, who asserted that he composed it about 
 1770 when he first saw the ballad of Auld Robin Gray. This is very 
 perplexing, for the fact has to be got over that Corri in 1783 printed 
 it nearly thirty years before the claim was made. Leeves published 
 the air in his Six Sacred Airs or Hymns, and brings forward the 
 evidence of ' his friend Mr. Hammersley was well acquainted with 
 this ballad before its surreptitious appearance in print ; and the still 
 more convincing testimony of a respectable relation now residing in 
 Bath [12 June, 1812] who was on a visit to the author's family at 
 
104 APPENDIX 
 
 Richmond when the words were received and the first manuscript 
 (of the music) was produced '. Stcnhouse's Illustrations, 1853, 2ji. 
 I may add that both the old air and the new are in ElHot's Calliope, 
 \~,QQ,j6S, and I remark that the claimant must have been singularly 
 indolent in not asserting himself at a time when he might have been 
 cross-examined to some purpose, as he might have satisfactorily 
 explained where the cop3' printed in 1783 was obtained. 
 
 Page 47. Tak your auld cloak about ye was first printed in 
 Ramsay's Miscellany , 1725, and with an additional stanza in Percy's 
 Reliques, 1765, which also included the stanza sung by lago in 
 Othello, Act ii. sc. 3. It is a variation of Ramsay's fourth stanza, as 
 follows : — 
 
 ' King Stephen was a worthy Peere, 
 His breeches cost him but a Crowne, 
 He held them Sixpence all to deere, 
 With that he cal'd the Taylor lovvne; 
 He was a wight of high renowne ; 
 And thouse but of low degree : 
 
 Itts pride that putts the Country downe ; 
 Then take thine old Cloake about thee.' 
 In the Percy MS. , c. 1660, the stanza begins ' King Harry was a verry 
 good K — '. The additional stanza in th.& Percy MS., not in Ramsay, is 
 the following : — 
 
 'O Bell, my wife, why dost thou flyte? 
 Thou kens my cloake is very thin : 
 It is soe sore overworne 
 
 A crick thereon cannot runn. 
 I'll go find the court therein, 
 I'll no longer lend or borrow ; 
 I'll go find the court within, 
 For I'll have a new cloake about me.' 
 Percy made considerable alterations in the song from the text in 
 his old MS. The tune is in Oswald's Companion, book ii, about 
 1745, and Bremner printed verse and air in his Thirty Scots Songs, 
 1757- 
 Page 47. * O were I on Parnassus* hill.* This is another of the 
 honeymoon series for James Oswald's tune, My love is lost to me, in 
 his Companion, book v, about 1753. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. J77. 
 
 Page 47. The Captive ribband. For upwards of sixty years 
 this song has been included in the Works of Bums, but for the 
 following reasons it was excluded from Dick's Songs of Robert Burns, 
 1903. In the list of Songs for the third volume of the Scots Musical 
 Museum in the holograph of Burns, this entry appears : ' The Captive 
 ribland. Dr. B[lacklock] gave the words.' In the short note in the 
 Interleaved Museum Burns does not claim the song. The tune Robie 
 donna gorach is in Dow's Ancient Scots Music, about 1775. Stenhouse 
 was the first who erroneously claimed for Burns the authorship of 
 The Captive ribband. There is no manuscript of the song known, 
 
APPENDIX T05 
 
 although it is possible and probable that Burns sent the copy to the 
 Museum to be published. 
 
 Page 48. ' There 's a youth in this city.' No song of the kind 
 prior to Burns is known. The formidable full title of the tune is 
 Niel Gow's lament for the death of his brother Donald, the music of 
 which is in his second Collection of Reels, 1788. See Dick's Burns, 
 1903, p. 414, 
 
 Page 48. Tune : Failte na miosg. ' My heart 's in the High- 
 lands.' The song The Strong walls of Derry, from which Burns 
 borrowed the first half stanza, is in Stenhouse's Illustrations, 1853, 
 p. '^Ji4. The tune Failte tia miosg, or The Musket Salute, is in 
 Oswald's Curious Collection of Scots Tunes, 1740. See Dick's Burns, 
 1903, p. 4JJ. 
 
 Page 48. John Anderson, my jo. The short note of Burns, as 
 well as the supplementary long addition by Riddell, was omitted in 
 the Reliques. This exquisite domestic lyric was suggested by an 
 earlier licentious song of which Burns borrowed only the title. It is 
 in The Masque, c. 1770, and a relative is in the Merry Muses. The 
 whole song of Burns consists of sixteen lines, which faced him as he 
 wrote his Note in the Interleaved Museum. A year after his death, 
 or in 1797, The Scots Magazine printed a version of six additional 
 double stanzas, entitled, 'John Anderson, my jo — improved by 
 Robert Burns,' which was an imposture. The tune John Anderson, 
 my JO is in the Skene aMS., c. 1630 : the earliest example of the music. 
 Of the tradition mentioned by Bishop Percy, and afterwards by 
 W. Tytler, that the tune is one which was parodied from the Romish 
 Church, there is no historical evidence. The tune is in the Watts's 
 Musical Miscellany, 1731, vol. vi. For an exhaustive account of the 
 song see Dick's Songs of Burns, 1903, p. 424. 
 
 Page 49. ' Ca' the ewes to the knows.' Burns contributed both 
 verse and air to the Museum, neither of which were previously known 
 to the world. About 1787 the Rev. Mr. Clunie sang the song to 
 Burns, who. when he sent it to the Museum, added the last two 
 stanzas, and out of the first stanza made the first two stanzas. In 
 the manuscript in the British Museum, Burns has noted two bars of 
 the tune. See Dick's Burns, 1903, pP'jSp,j^o, Nos. 114 and iiS. 
 
 Page 49. The bridal o't. Alexander Ross (1700-1783) was 
 author of IVoo'd and married and a\ and The rock and the tuee pickle 
 tow. Burns sent The bridal o't, with directions for the tune, to the 
 Museum. The earliest title of the music is Acharnae's Reel, in 
 Cumming's Strathspeys, 1780. In the same j'ear. in M'^Glashan's 
 Strathspeys, it is entitled Louisa Campbell's Delight, and in Gow's 
 Collection it is Lucy Campbell. 
 
 Page 49. Todlen hame is in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725, and with 
 the original tune in Orpheus Caledonius, 1733, which is not the air to 
 which the words are set in the Aluseuyn. This modern air is known 
 under various titles, that of My ain fireside being the most popular. 
 
io6 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Todlcn hanie, with the modern air, is in the Perth Musical Miscellany ^ 
 1786. 
 
 Page 50. The braes o' Ballochmyle. Sir John Whiteford was 
 a partner in the Ayr Bank, which suspended payment in 1772. Burns 
 knew Ballochmyle well. The tune of Masterton is a passable com- 
 position, but the conscious musical amateurs of that time could not 
 surmount the psalm-tune type. See Dick's Bums, 1903, p. Jj6. 
 
 Page 50. The rantin dog, the daddy o't. A copy of this song is 
 in the Merry Muses. Burns wrote the verses for the tune Whar'll 
 bonie Annie lie, but it was printed in the Museum with the tune East 
 nook of Fife, as follows : — 
 
APPENDIX 107 
 
 The tune entitled She grip' d at the greatest on 7 is in Oswald's Com- 
 panion, book iv, 1752 ; and as the East nenk of Fife in M^Gibbon's 
 Scots Tunes, 1755. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. ^jj. 
 
 Page 50. The shepherd's preference. There is no tune with 
 this title before the Mitsettni. There is only a slight trace of Whistle, 
 and I'll come to yon, my lad m it. Blacklock was the composer, for 
 in a memorandum Burns wrote, ' Mr. Johnson has the words set to 
 the tune by Dr. Black ,' 
 
 Page 51. John o' Badenyond. This, by the author of Tulloch- 
 gorum. is. wnth the tune, in Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786. The tune 
 alone is in ^PGlashan's Reels, 1 786. and there is a Celtic air resembling 
 it in i\PDonald's Highland Airs, 1784. The words alone are in the 
 Scots Nightingale, 1779, p. 2jo. 
 
 Page 51. A waukrife minnie. The manuscript of Burns is not 
 known, but he states that he communicated both verse and air to the 
 Musennt. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 414. 
 
 Page 51. Tullochgorum. The author of Tidlochgorum possessed 
 the two essential qualifications for writing songs — humour and pathos 
 — and the admiration of Burns for Skinner has not lost its lustre, 
 after more than a century of wear. In writing to him on October 25, 
 1787, Burns says, 'The world may think slightingly of the craft of 
 song-making if they please ; but as Job saj'S — '•' O that mine adver- 
 sary had written a book ! " — let them try.* The tune, as TidlocJi gorm, 
 is in Bremner's Reels, 1757. Skinners verses were printed in the 
 Scots Weekly Magazine. April. 1776, and, with the tune, in the Perth 
 Mtisical Miscellany, 1786. 
 
 Page 52. For a' that an' a' that. This is not Burns's well- 
 known democratic song, 'A man 's a man for a' that,' which was not 
 written until some years later, but a re-written song out of his The 
 JoUy Beggars. The following stanza, referring to his wife, is not in 
 the Museum : — 
 
 * But there is ane aboon the lave 
 Has wit, and sense, an' a' that ; 
 A bonie lass, I like her best. 
 
 And wha a crime dare ca' that?' 
 
 The earliest verses before 1745 marked for the tune For a' that are in 
 the scarce collection of Loyal Songs, 1750, which begin : — 
 
 'Tho' Geordie reigns in James' stead 
 I'm grieved, j-et scorn to shaw that: 
 I'll ne'er look down, nor hang my head 
 On rebel Whig for a' that,' &c. 
 
 The tune, as Lady Macintosh's Rant, was printed in 1754, and it is 
 also in Bremner's Reels, 1759, entitled Lady Mcintosh's reel. See 
 Dick's Burns, 1903, pp. 447 and 4-74. 
 
 Page 52. "Willie brew'd a peck o' maut. The festive meeting 
 took place in the autumn of 1789. The verses and Masterton's 
 
io8 APPENDIX 
 
 original tune were first printed in the Museum, 1790. Like the 
 author and composer of the Marseillaise Hyntii, Allan Mastcrton has 
 enjoyed posthumous fame from one piece of genius. See Dick's Burns, 
 1903, p. 4^0. 
 
 Page 52. The ewie wi* the crooked horn. The words and 
 music originally appeared on an engraved sheet, and for the first time 
 in a collection in Johnson's Museuttt. The tune is in Cumming's 
 Strnf/ispcys, 1780, entitled Carrons Rccll, and M''Glashan's Reels, 1786, 
 entitled The crooked horn ewe ; which latter date may be taken as the 
 original issue of the song. 
 
 Page 53. Craigie-burn "Wood. The words were written to 
 celebrate Jean Lorimer, who afterwards became the Chloris of Burns. 
 The tune, collected by Burns from tradition, was originally published 
 with the verses in the Museum : it is an excellent specimen of folk- 
 music. The poet in 1794 suppressed the chorus, and. with other 
 alterations, sent a copy to George Thomson for his Scotish Airs. 
 Sec Dick's Burns, 1903, p. jSi. 
 
 Page 53. ' Frae the friends and land I love.' No previous song 
 of the kind has been discovered. Burns's manuscript is in the British 
 Museum, and the tune, Carron Side, is in Oswald's Curious Collection 
 of Scots Tunes. 1740 ; and in his Companion, c. 1756, book viii. See 
 Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 4'/j. 
 
 Page 53. Hughie Graham. The ' several editions ' of the ballad 
 were most likely derived from a broadside in the Pep3's collection, 
 printed by P. Brooksby, about 1660. Another copy is in D'Urfey's 
 Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1720, vol. vi. Both are entitled The life 
 and death of Sir Hugh of the Grime. Burns contributed Hughie 
 Graham to the Museum, and made some considerable variations in 
 that which he received from tradition. The tune in the Museum, is 
 Druimion dubh, not the same melody set to Burns's song ' Musing on 
 the roaring ocean ', but an Irish air which is in Oswald's Companion, 
 book viii. 12, c. 1756. Burns's holograph copy of the ballad is in 
 the British Museum. See T)\z\^?> Burns, 1903, p. ^po. 
 
 Page 54. *A Southland Jenny.' With an original tune Burns 
 sent this to the Mtiseum after making verbal alterations in the 
 original, which he obtained from Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725. The 
 manuscript is in the British Museum. 
 
 Page 54. My tocher's the jewel. The last four lines are old, the 
 rest is by Burns, The tune is in Oswald's Companion, 1751, book iii, 
 as a jig variation of The highway to Edinburgh, otherwise The black 
 eagle [supra, p. 101), but the jig variation can scarcely be recog- 
 nized in the stem. As Lord Elcho^s favourite it is in Gow's Second 
 Collection, 1788. Burns was correct in accusing Nathaniel Gow of 
 improperly claiming the air. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 414. 
 
 Page 54. Then guidwife count the lawin. Another of the 
 poet's songs, the manuscript of which is in the British Museum. 
 The melody was furnished by Burns. The middle stanza of the song 
 
APPENDIX 109 
 
 contains a line giving the -proper reading of a hitherto obscure and 
 corrupted proverb. 'For ilka man that's drunk's a lord' is not 
 identical with ' as drunk as a lord'. See Dick's Burns, p. 44J. 
 
 Page 55. There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame. 
 
 Burns has somewhere said that when political fires are burnt out and 
 cannot light brands, songs on the subject become the lawful prey of 
 poets. This and other Jacobite songs were written by the poet for 
 tunes the titles of which suggested them. In Oswald's Curious 
 Collection of Scots Tunes, 1740, the first appearance, the tune is 
 entitled There are few good fellows when J amicus awa\ See Dick's 
 Burns, 1903. p. ^ 7-2- 
 Page 55. 'I do confess thou art sae fair.' This song of 
 Sir Robert Aytoun (1570-1638), which Burns certainly did not 
 improve, is anonymous in Watson's Scots Poems, 171 1, entitled 
 Unconsiancy in love. With an air by Henry Lawes, it is in Playford's 
 Select Avres and Dialogues, 1659. The tune in the Museum is The 
 Cuckoo, printed about 1770 ; afterwards it became Come ashore jolly 
 tars, but it is better known in the present day as Jacky Tar. See 
 Dick's Burns, 1903, p. J96. 
 
 Page 55. The soger laddie. The verses are from Ramsay's Mis- 
 cellany, 1725. The tune is in Atkinson's MS., 1694, and down through 
 the eighteenth century was variously known as Northland laddie, Sailor 
 laddie, or Sodger laddie. As My Soger laddie it is with Ramsay's 
 words in Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. The ivincs Jacky Hume' s lament 
 or The hollin buss are not known, and that of Ken ye what Meg 0' the 
 Mill has gotten is not the same as The soger laddie. See Dick's Burns, 
 1903, p. 446. 
 
 Page 56. ' O ! ^Where wad bonie Annie ly.' The old name of the 
 tune is in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724, from which the words were 
 taken for the Museum. The tune is in Atkinson s MS., 1694, entitled 
 Rood house rant ; later it obtained the name Red house, and as Where 
 would bonnie Annie lie in Watts's Musical Miscellany, 1731, vol. v. 
 With the words of a popular Cumberland hunting song D'ye ken John 
 Peel it is known all over the north of England. See Dick's Burns^ 
 1903, p.j/i. 
 
 Page 56. 'As I cam down by yon castle wa'.' Words and 
 music were communicated by Burns to the Museum. It is connected 
 with a fragment in Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, ii. p. 6. The manu- 
 script of Burns is in the British Museum. See Dick's Burns, 1903, 
 p. 4gi. 
 
 Page 56. Lord Ronald, my son is among the Burns manuscripts 
 in the British Museum. 1 he air was also communicated by Burns lor 
 the Museum. Lochaber is derived either from the tune of Lord 
 Ronald, or vice versa. For Lochaber, see infra, p. 114. and Dick s 
 Burns, p. 4gi. 
 
 Page 57. O'er the moor amang the heather. Except for what 
 Burns has said on this beautiful song, absolutely nothing else is 
 
I TO APPENDIX 
 
 known, except that the tunc with tlie title is in Bremncr's Reels, 
 1760, at the time when Jean Glover, the assumed writer of the song;, 
 was only two years of age ! Therefore a song of some sort existed 
 in 1760, of which there is now no trace, I have long thought that 
 Burns himself did much more than edit this fine song. See Dick's 
 Burns, 1903, p. joi. 
 
 Page 57. To the Kose bud. Cromek in his Reliqiies styles the 
 author's name ' Johnson ' instead of '■ Thomson ', who is entirely 
 unknown. The tune was also printed originally in the Museui-n. 
 The manuscript of the verses, but not in Burns's hand, is in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 Page 58. * Yon wild mossy mountains.' So far as it is known, 
 the one important episode in the life of Burns on which he was 
 reserved and almost silent was that of Highland Mary ; and here 
 apparently is another. A farmer of Covington, in Clydesdale, 
 Archibald Prentice, at whose house Burns stayed on his first journey 
 to Edinburgh, it appears, kept a diary, and on the 2nd of May, 1787, 
 Burns visited him from Edinburgh. Now it is certain that he wrote 
 a letter to Dr. Blair from Edinburgh on the 3rd of May, informing 
 the Doctor that he was leaving for a Border town next day. As 
 a matter of fact he left on the 5th of May, via Dunse and Coldstream, 
 not anywhere near Covington. There is nothing but conjecture about 
 the mysterious visit to Clydesdale on the 2nd of May, if it ever took 
 place, or could have taken place. Covington is many miles from the 
 .source of the Clyde, and the wild mossy mountains which ' rear the 
 infant Clyde ' are not visible from the place where he is supposed to 
 have been, and only by a wide poetical licence can they be allowed. 
 Oswald's tune, Phoebe, for which the song was written, is in the 
 Universal Harmony, 1745, and Oswald's Companion, 1752, book iv. 
 See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. jjj. 
 
 Page 58. 'It is na, Jean, thy bonie face.' Another song in 
 honour of his wife. The English model has not been discovered. 
 The tune. The Maid's Complaint, is Oswald's, printed in his Curious 
 Collection of Scots Tunes, 1740. See D'ick^s Burns, 1903, p. J7<5. 
 
 Page 58. Eppie M'Nab. A fragment is in the Herd MS., the 
 rest is by Burns. The tune is marked for verses in the Merry Muses, 
 celebrating Muirland Meg, another rustic randy. The music entitled 
 Apple McNab is in Oswald's Collection of Curious S^ots Tunes, 1742. 
 See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. jp./. 
 
 Page 58. ' "Wha is that at my bower-door ? * The style and con- 
 struction of this humorous song by Burns are excellent. The 
 dialogue of question and rejoinder is brief and concise without any 
 superfluity. The manuscript, from the hand of Burns, is in the 
 Briu'sh Museum, and a copy is in the Merry Muses. The tune Lass, 
 if I come near thee is in Aird's Airs, 1782, vol. i. See Dick's Burns, 
 1903, p. ^ij. 
 
 Page 59. ' Thou art gane awa.* The words are a parody on 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 III 
 
 verses in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725, for the tune Had away from me, 
 Donald. Both words and air are in Corri's Scots Songs, 1783, vol. ii. 
 This tune is in Playford's Dancing Master, 1690, entitled Welcome 
 home, old Rowley; also in Orpheus Caledonius, 1733, entitled Had 
 awayfrae me. Donald. It is also as Hold away from, me, Donald \x\. 
 Blaikies MS., 1692. The song in Ramsay's Miscellany is signed ' Q ', 
 as an old song with additions. 
 
 Page 59. ' The tears I shed must ever fall.* The lines which 
 Burns wrote are : — 
 
 ' No cold approach, no alter'd mien, 
 
 Just what would make suspicion start ; 
 No pause, the dire extremes between : 
 He made me blest— and broke my heart.' 
 The egregious Cromek has altered Burns's note as follows :— ' This 
 song of genius, composed by a Miss Cranston ', &c., &c. Miss Helen 
 Darcy Cranston (i 765-1838) was married on 26th July, 1790, as 
 second wife to Dugald Stewart ;i753-i828), Professor of Mathe- 
 matics in the University of Edinburgh, who was a warm friend and 
 adviser of Burns. The peculiarity of the note of Burns is, that he 
 refers to the author as a Miss Cranston, at the time she was married to 
 Professor Stewart, with whom he had been particularly intimate in 
 Edinburgh. Three months after Miss Cranston was married. Burns, 
 by letter, introduced Captain Grose to Professor Stewart, her 
 husband. The note in the Interleaved Museum could not have been 
 written before August, 1792, as the fourth volume of the Museum 
 was not published before that month. Therefore, it is unlikely that 
 the Miss Cranston whom Burns names was Mrs. Stewart, as is 
 generally believed. The tune for Janthy the lovely is the composition 
 of John Barrett, an English pupil of Dr. Blow. ' Janthia the lovely, 
 the joy of her swain,' &c., is in D'Urfey's Pills, 17 19, vol. v, with 
 Barrett's music. See Dick's Burns, p. 4S2. 
 
 Page 59. The bonny wee thing. Burns met Miss Deborah 
 Davies at Glenriddell House. She was small in stature, with 
 a beautiful face. She had been engaged to a Captain Delaney, who 
 went abroad on foreign service, and his letters to her shortly ceased, 
 which affected her health. The tune, in a rudimentary form, is Wo 
 betyd thy wearie bodie, in Straloch's MS., c. 1627. It is entitled T/?^ 
 bonnie wi thing in Oswald's Companion, 1758, vol. ix. See Dick's 
 Burns, 1903, p, j6/. 
 
 Page 59. The tither morn. These verses, 'by a Scots gentleman,' 
 are in an undated edition of The Goldfinch ; and in another edition, 
 dated 1782 ; also in The Scots Nightingale, 1779, and The British 
 Songster, 1786. Burns knew the song in one or more of those collec- 
 tions, and he informed Johnson that it was printed. In very many 
 editions of Burns's Poems, The tither morn is incorrectly included as 
 his work. Burns collected the tune in the Highlands and sent it to 
 Johnson, who printed it for the first time in the Museum, with the 
 words of The titlur morn. The first measure is that of The minstrel 
 boy, and the second that of Saw ye Johnic cummin. The last line of 
 
112 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 both measures is the close or cadence of I/crc^s Ins licalth in water ox 
 The job of journey uork. 
 
 RIDDELL'S MS. 
 
 Page 00. ' "Water parted from the sea.' Tenducci, the Italian 
 vocalist referred to on page 82, introduced the song into Scotland, 
 previous to which he had sung it in London, in the opera oi Artaxerxes, 
 by Dr, Arne, who composed the music. The words are in The 
 Bullfinch, c. 1763. and The Brent, 1765. The music was reprinted in 
 Aird's Airs^ 1788, vol. iii. 
 
 Page 60. The blithsome bridal. Cromek, in Reliques, has 
 printed this note as by Burns. The verses are attributed to Francis 
 Semple, of Belltrees, who died before 1685, and they have been 
 continuoush'^ popular for two centuries. D'Urfey printed a curious 
 copy in his Pills, 1720, vol. vi. "p. jjo. The tune and words of the song 
 are in Orpheus Caledonins, 1725. The music, however, appears to 
 have had an earlier title, The Kirk ivad Irt me be, from verses in 
 Ramsay's Songs, 1720. In the Roxburgh Ballads is a broadside of 
 the seventeenth century, entitled The bride^s song, to be sung to 
 The Kirk wad let me be. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 4jy. 
 
 Page 60. The flowers of the forest. The old air, The fioivers of 
 the forest, is in the Skene MS., c. 1630. The modern air, and that 
 now always published, is derived from the old air, extensively 
 corrupted and embellished. The original is not often seen, and the 
 following is a copy from the Skene MS., with a verse of the well- 
 known modern song. 
 
 :1V=1^ 
 
 :a=t=r 
 
 •S= 
 
 i; 
 
 p=i 
 
 :=1-= 
 
 I've heard them lilt 
 
 mg 
 
 at the ewes milk - ing, 
 
 fe^31^ 
 
 tEEEE 
 
 :^;t^ 
 
 :*=*- 
 
 Las - sies a' lilt - ing be - fore the break of day ; 
 
 
 m 
 
 But now there's a moan - ing on ii - ka green loan-ing That 
 
 — Ii — ==*==^ — 
 
 braw 
 
 fo - res - ters are 
 
 MS—J^^r. 
 
 wede 
 
 a - way. 
 
 This air might be the text of a long critical essay on the vitality 
 of folk-music and its transmission viva voce. It must suffice here 
 
APPENDIX 113 
 
 to make a few suggestive remarks. The above tune was unknown 
 to the public until 1838, when specimens from the Skene MSS. were 
 translated and printed. The MSS. were presented to the Advocates' 
 Library about 1818, and ma}' have been examined by some one 
 sufficiently expert to read the notation of the lute. To none other 
 could the contents of the MSS. be intelligible. Where, therefore, 
 could the modern air, constructed from the old air with florid 
 embellishments by some professional musician, be procured as 
 published in Oswald's Companion^ c. i-iol, book ix. 18. and 
 M<^Gibbon's Scots Tunes, 1768, except from tradition? Sir Walter 
 Scott, a competent authority on old songs, said that the following 
 two lines are old : 
 
 ' I've heard a lilting at the ewe milking, 
 
 The flowers of the forest are a' wede away.' 
 
 This fragment doubtless represents the song, which perpetuated 
 the melody. Three different songs, all written by ladies, are now 
 sung to the air. (i) 'Adieu, ye streams that smoothly glide,' is in 
 the Scots Musical Museum with the modem air. It was written by 
 Miss Anne Home (1742-1821', who became the wife of Dr. John 
 Hunter, the celebrated anatomist ; and was first printed in The 
 Charmer. 1765, i. p. ^6/ and The Lark, 1765, p. 10. '2) 'I've seen the 
 smiling of fortune beguihng,' also in The Lark, 1765. p. J7, and in 
 The Charmer, 1765, i. p.j^/, was written by Miss C. Rutherford U710- 
 I794\ who married Patrick Cockburn, youngest son of Lord Chief 
 Justice Clerk, Adam Cockburn of Ormiston. (3^_ ' I've heard of 
 a lilting at the ewes milking.' said to have been written about 1755, 
 and passed off as an old ballad by Miss Jane Elliot (1727-1805;, 
 sister of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, also a writer of songs. It is 
 printed in Herd's Scots Songs, 1769, p. jj8. The best known of the 
 three songs is the second, which is in every good collection of songs. 
 
 Page 61. John Hay's bonny lassie. This Note, by Riddell, is 
 alwaj's quoted as from Burns, sometimes with peculiar results. 
 Jolin Hay's bonnie lassie was published by Allan Ramsay in his 
 Poems. 1720, the year in which the Dowager Countess of Roxburgh 
 is said to have died. How a Countess Dowager could be represented 
 as 'fresh as the Spring, and sweet as Aurora', and that the im- 
 passioned lover should exclaim, ' I'm all in a fire, dear maid, to 
 caress ye ', requires some explanation. The tune of John Hay's 
 bonny lassie is in Orpheus Cakdonius, 1725, in Allan Ramsay's Music, 
 c. 1726, and in Craig's Scots Tunes, 1730. 
 
 Page 61. Mary Scot. This Note is also in the Reliques as from 
 Burns. The song is in Ramsay's Poems, 1720. The tune was in 
 extensive use during the whole of the eighteenth century, and seems 
 to have originated in England, where it was published in Apollo's 
 Banquet, 1687, with the title Long Cold Nights. Words and tune 
 are in the Orpheus Caledoiu'us, 1725. 
 
 Page 61. Down the burn, Davie. Cromek deliberately garbled 
 
 I 
 
114 APPENDIX 
 
 this note of Riddcll's with the intention to mislead. He omitted the 
 words * by my father ', in order to avoid suspicion. The father of 
 Burns knew more about sermons than songs, and the public might 
 have been startled to learn that he gave any attention to 'profane' 
 airs ; so Cromek avoided awkward questions by suppressing the three 
 words. The tune Doivn the bum, Davie is in the Orpheus Caledonius, 
 1725. It is somewhat varied in the Muscunt with the verses from 
 Ramsay's Miscellany, 1724. See Dick's 5«;-«5, 1903, p. 400. 
 
 Page 62. 'O saw ye my father.' This fine old song derives no 
 additional value from the unrhythmical stanza which some one has 
 written at the bottom of the printed page of the Interleaved Museum. 
 In Herds Scots Songs, 1769, are the original verses in four stanzas. 
 In the edition of 1776 are the seven stanzas as in the Mjtseunt. Verse 
 and air are in Stewart's Scots Songs, 1772. See Dick's Burns, 
 1903, p. j86. 
 
 Page 62. 'Low down in the broom.' The tune alone is in the 
 Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1755, and, with the words, in Bremner's 
 Scots Songs, 1757. The song is still well known. 
 
 Page 62. Braes of Ballenden. The verses are in Dr. Blacklock's 
 Works, 1756, and in Herd's Scots Songs, 1769, The tune for which 
 the words were written is in Oswald's Curious Collection of Scots 
 Tunes, 1740, and in his Companion, book v ; but Oswald lays no 
 claim to be the composer. 
 
 Page 62. My apron, deary. Sir Gilbert Elliot (1722-1777), the 
 author of the verses 'My sheep I've forsaken', was the brother 
 of Jane Elliot, who wrote 'I've heard a lilting', one of the songs for 
 the air The /lowers of the forest. Sir Gilbert was a member of Parlia- 
 ment for many years, and afterwards was one of the Lords of the 
 Admiralty. His tastts were literary and musical ; this is one of his 
 best songs, which can be seen in Yair's Charmer, 1749, for the tune, 
 My apron, deary, originally published in Orpheus Caledonius, 1725, 
 with old words now discarded. Allan Ramsay marks a song for 
 the tune in his Miscellany, 1724. 
 
 Page 62. Lochaber. This Note is not in the Reliques. Riddell's 
 statement that the song was written by a fugitive is not correct. It 
 is the work of Allan Ramsay, and is in his Miscellany, 1724 ; also in 
 his Works, 1800 [new ed. 1877]. The Index of the Scots Musical 
 Museum cites him as the author. The tune is in Blaikie's MS., 
 1692, entitled King James'' March to Ireland. Since 1733, when 
 Ramsay's song was published, with the air, in Orpheus Cciledonius, 
 it has retained the title Lochaber. It is the tune which Burns thought 
 was framed out of Lord Ronald. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 4^1. 
 
 Page 63. M^Pherson's farewell. This Note is in the Reliques, 
 but no indication that Riddell wrote it. James M'^Pherson, a mixture 
 of the Celt and gipsy, was the head of a gang of bandits, who 
 exploited the north of Scotland in the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. He was captured and tried before the sheriff of Banffshire, 
 
APPENDIX 115 
 
 on November 7, 1700, and with another of the gang was hung next 
 day. As Burns describes : 
 
 ' Sae rantingly, sae wantonly, 
 
 Sae dauntingly gaed he ; 
 He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round 
 Below the gallows tree.' 
 A short time after his execution his memory was embalmed in 
 a ballad, with a stirring title, McPhersoti's Rant ; or the last words 
 of James McPherson, murderer. To its own proper tune. From the 
 imperfect copy in Herd's 5co/5 5o«^s, 1769, Burns found the model 
 of his wild stormful song, which he wrote for the Museum. It is one 
 of those which has made him famous. His holograph of the verses 
 is in the British Museum. The tune is in Sinklers MS., 1710, 
 entitled McFarsence's testament, and in Oswald's Companion, 1755, 
 book vii. as McPhcrsoris farewell. The charge against Gow of having 
 printed the tune as his own, under a different title, is correct. See 
 Dick's Burns, 1903, p. ^7;. 
 
 Page 63. The maid of Selma. The Note is not in the Reliqiies. 
 The verses are an adaptation from Ossian, and the tune is modern 
 and peculiar. The first part resembles the opening of Oswald's 
 Ludes lament, in his Companion, book ix. c. 1757. But the Museum 
 obtained both verse and air from Corri's Scots Songs, 1783, or 
 Stewart's Scots Songs, 1772. 
 
 Page 64. Song of Selma. This, another Celtic air, is in Stewart's 
 Scots Songs, 1772, and Corri's Scots Songs, 1783. The verses are from 
 Ossian. 
 
 Page 64. O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray. The tradition detailed 
 in the note by Riddell was supplied by Major Barry, the owner of 
 Lednoch, to the Edinburgh Society of Antiquaries ; previous to which 
 Barry had communicated the same to James Cant, who printed in 
 1774 an edition of The Muses Threnodie. All the information comes 
 from this source ; upon which Professor Child remarks that the 
 pestilence referred to took place in 1645. The verses were published 
 by Ramsay in his Poems, 1720; the only old portion being the first 
 four lines : 
 
 'O Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, 
 They are twa bonny lasses ; 
 They bigg'd a bower on yon burn-brae, 
 And theek'd it o'er wi' rashes.' 
 The song was immensely popular in the eighteenth century, for 
 before Ramsay's time a skit on the birth of the Chevalier St. George 
 was issued, beginning, ' Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, Those famous 
 bonny lasses,' &c. The literature of the song does not go farther back 
 than the eighteenth century, but the music and the title are earlier. 
 The title is in the Guthrie MS., c. 1690, but the lute music of this 
 manuscript has not yet been deciphered. It is named Bess-Bell in 
 Original Scots Tunes, 1700; and in Orpheus Caledonius, 1725, Bessy 
 Bell. Although there are many versions of the poetry, I have not 
 seen elsewhere the doggerel which Riddell has copied in the Inter- 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 APPENDIX 
 
 leaved Muscat)!, and it is new to the present jreneration. The verses 
 arc incomplete, for the next leaf of the hticrhavcd Museum on which 
 the poetry is said to be continued is missing. 
 
 Page 65. 'What will I do gin my hoggie die.' Cromek is 
 exhibited here in his worst case, and nothing can extenuate his folly. 
 He knew that if he printed verbatim the note of Riddell, to pass it 
 olf as written by Burns, he would be challenged for an anachronism ; 
 so he altered and manipulated the text, in order to avoid suspicion 
 and awkward questions. As published in the Rcltqucs this note reads 
 as follows : ' Dr. Walker, who was minister at Moffat in 1772. and is 
 now (1791') Professor of Natural History in the University of Edin- 
 burgh, told the following anecdote concerning this air. "He said 
 that some gentlemen," and so on, as in our text. The original note 
 records the discovery of the tune a few years prior to 1772, but 
 as Burns was then only thirteen years old, it would have been 
 imprudent in Cromek to exliibit him with such precocious interest 
 in particular tunes, so he vaguely postdates the occasion to the year 
 1 791, or nineteen years later. By his manipulation, and transferring 
 the authorship to Burns, Cromek not only deceived the public as to 
 the time when the tune emerged from tradition, but he was the 
 unconscious instrument of tempting Stenhouse to make a false state- 
 ment. William Stenhouse, like Peter Buchan, the collector of old 
 ballads, was never at a loss to produce what was wanted. In this 
 case he fell into the trap which Cromek had prepared for him, and 
 boldly asserted as a matter of fact, that Stephen Clarke, organist and 
 singing-master, and the friend of Burns, was the gentleman who 
 wrote the tune from the voice of the 'old woman'. He even 
 improves and corrects the innocent Dr. Walker, as may be seen 
 in the following extract from his Illustrations, p. I2j. 'The gentle- 
 man who took down the tune was the late Mr. Stephen Clarke, 
 organist, Edinburgh. But he had no occasion for a flute to assist 
 him, as stated by Dr. Walker.' It may be remarked that Clarke and 
 Burns never met before 1787, and even ' a few j'ears' before 1791 was 
 too early for any musical transactions of the kind between the two. 
 The exposure of Cromek, therefore, involves the condemnation of Sten- 
 house as a reckless writer in a place where one might least expect to 
 find him. Burns contributed the verses of What will I do gin my 
 hoggie die to the Museum, and his manuscript is in the British 
 Museum. The tune is in M'^^Glashan's Scots Measures, 1781, with 
 the above title, and as Moss Piatt, in Reinagle's Scots Tunes, c. 1782. 
 See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 4'/8. 
 
 Page 65. Where Helen lies. This is the onl}' note in the Liter- 
 leaved Museum of which I did not take a complete copy. It simply 
 repeats, with a few verbal differences, what Pennant says in his J^our 
 of Scotland, iTj^, p. 8S, as follows: — 'In the burying ground of 
 Kirkonnel is the grave of the fair Ellen Irvine, and that of her lover. 
 She was daughter of the house of Kirkonnel, and was beloved by 
 two gentlemen at the same time ; the one vowed to sacrifice the 
 successful rival to his resentment, and watched an opportunity while 
 
APPENDIX 117 
 
 the happy pair were sitting on the banks of the Kirtle, that washes 
 these grounds. Ellen perceived the desperate lover on the opposite 
 side, and fondly thinking to save her favorite, interposed, and 
 receiving the wound intended for her beloved, fell and expired in his 
 arms. He instantly revenged her death ; then fled into Spain and 
 served for some time against the infidels ; on his return he visited 
 the grave of his unfortunate mistress, stretched himself on it, and, 
 expiring on the spot, was interred by her side. A sword and a cross 
 are engraven on the tomb-stone, with hie jacet Adam Fleming : the 
 only memorial of this unhappy gentleman, except an ancient ballad 
 of no great merit, which records the tragical event.' The copy of the 
 ballad which Riddell, in his MS. Collection, 1791, says is the oldest 
 edition, was obtained from a Mr. Henderson's MS. It is in sixteen 
 four-line stanzas. But the earliest printed copy of Fair Helen is in 
 a rare volume entitled 'Poetical Legends [John Tait], London. 
 Printed and sold by John Donaldson, 1776', which begins 'My 
 sweetest sweet and fairest fair'. Burns contributed Where Helen lies 
 to the Scots Musical Museum, the manuscript of which is in the 
 British Museum. In a letter to George Thomson, of July, 1793, he 
 says, 'The old ballad '• I wish I were where Helen lies " is silly to 
 contemptibility. My alteration in Johnson is not much better.' The 
 earliest record of the ballad is the music entitled, Where Helen lies, 
 in Blaikie's MS.. 1692, without words. The same title is cited by 
 Ramsay, in his Miscellany, 1724, When the tune was rescued from 
 tradition, and put into print in Barsanti's Scots Tunes, 1742. it was 
 corrupted almost beyond recognition. The reprint in M'^Gibbon's 
 Scots Tunes, 1768, and particularly in the Scots Musical Museum, is 
 so unvocal that it prevented the ballad receiving anj^ attention. For 
 a chronological record of the verses and a translation of the tune of 
 1692, see Dick's Burns, p. ^97. 
 
 Page 66. The bonny Earl of Murray obtained his title through 
 his marriage with the eldest daughter of the Regent Moray. James VI 
 commissioned the Earl of Huntlyin 1592 to pursue and put into ward 
 the Earl of Bothwell, one of the stalwarts of his time. Whether 
 iMurray was intended to be involved in the plot, which he was com- 
 missioned to root out, is uncertain ; but there appears to have been 
 very little ostensible reason why he should have been attacked and 
 killed. Although the king promised to punish Huntly nothing was 
 done, and Huntly subsequently boasted that he only carried out the 
 king's commission. Thus the bonny Earl of Murray, murdered in 
 1592, aged twenty-five years, has gone down to posterity as the 
 victim of a jealous king. The earliest appearance of the ballad is in 
 the Orpheus Caledonius, 1733. with the tune. Ramsay copied the 
 same verses into the fourth volume of his Miscellany, 1740. 
 
 Page 66. Oromlet's lilt. Stenhouse, not to be outdone in the 
 relation of the marvellous, has described how when James VI paid 
 a visit to Helen's mother, all her thirty-six children were ranked on 
 the lawn, and the uncommon spectacle of such a large family pro- 
 duced a royal joke at which the king himself laughed heartily, 'and 
 
ii8 APPENDIX 
 
 afterwards ate a collop sitting on a stone in the close.' Wc are also 
 told that when more than a hundred years old the tutor of Ardoch 
 ' could drink a bottle of ale at a draught ', a Gargantuan family of all 
 dimensions ! Crotnlcfs lilt came out as a broadside towards the end 
 of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century. It is 
 in Ramsay'5 Miscellany, 1725, and, with the tune, in the Orpheus 
 Caledonitts, 1733. Stenhouse says that the tune is named for one of 
 the hymns in Geddes's Saints Recreation, 1683. 
 
 Page 67. Colonel Gardener. Sir Gilbert Elliott, of Minto, wrote 
 this elegy on Colonel James Gardiner (1688-1745), who was inactive 
 service in the rebellion of 17 15, and at that time was regarded as 
 sowing his wild oats. His change of life and thought took place some 
 years later. His daughter, Mrs. Richmond Inglis, is one of the minor 
 poetesses of Scotland from having published '^ Anna and Edgar, or 
 Love and Anihition — a poetical tale', Edinburgh, 1781. The tune of 
 Colonel Gardiner is entitled Sawnie^s pipe in Oswald's Companion, 
 c. 1757, book ix. 
 
 Page 68. Tibbie Dunbar. Riddell repeats his Note in his 
 Galwegian and Border Tunes, 1794, where the tune is entitled My 
 silly atild man. Under Johmty M" Gill it is in Campbell's Reels, 1778. 
 Burns wrote Tibbie Dunbar for the Museum, the manuscript of which 
 is in the British Museum. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. j6j. 
 
 Page 68. The Highland Character. Lieutenant-Gcneral Sir 
 Henry Erskine ii72o?-i765\ the writer of the once very popular 
 song ' In the garb of old Gaul,' was for a considerable time a member 
 of Parliament. The verses are in The Lark, 1765, vol. ii. The com- 
 poser of the tune, General John Reid (who died in 1807 \ printed the 
 music in his Collection of Marches, &c., entitled The Highland, or 42nd 
 Rigiment^s March. It is also in Bremner's Airs and Marches, 1756. 
 This enthusiastic amateur musician is well known for his endowment 
 of the Chair of Music in the University of Edinburgh. By the death 
 of his sister a sum of ;(C7o,ooo became available from General Reid's 
 estate, and Trustees entered into possession in 1838 to found, (i) 
 a Chair of Music, and (2) to give a concert of music on every 13th of 
 February, the donor's birthday. For nearly thirty years the musical 
 bequest scarcely produced anything but law suits, which reduced con- 
 siderably the bequests. Up to the present time the only achievement 
 of the University in the domain of music is the diffusion of a taste for 
 the higher forms of the musical art. As yet it has not produced any 
 fully equipped musician of renown. 
 
 Page 68. The Gaberlunzie man. This Note is printed verbatim 
 by Cromek, except that the initials of Robert Riddell are suppressed. 
 Ramsay first printed The Gaberlunzie Man as an old song, as stated in 
 the Preface to the Tea Table Miscellany, 1724, and it is signed 'I '. 
 1 cannot find the Scottish monarch specifically named as the author 
 earlier than the copy in Watts' s Musical Miscellany, 1731, p. 140, 
 where it is stated that ' The words and tune composed by King 
 James V of Scotland on occasion of an adventure of his in disguise 
 
APPENDIX 119 
 
 after a countr}' girl '. Afterwards, in Percy's Reltques, 1765, it is 
 •attributed to James V '. I do not doubt that the tradition is old, 
 and there it rests. James V was a bohemian, and known in history 
 as the 'guidman of Ballangeich ' who wandered over the country in 
 disguise. We shall come across him again in The jolly beggar. The 
 tune of The Gaberbimie man is also attributed to him without any 
 evidence. That it is an old air cannot be doubted. It was originally 
 published with the verses in Orpheus Caledonius, 1725 ; and it was 
 repeatedly copied into the collections of Scottish Song during the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 Page 68. Donald and Flora is the work of Hector Macneil 
 (1746-1818}, and the Mttseiim verses, Stenhouse says, are from 
 a stall-copy entitled ' Donald and Flora. On the late misfortune of 
 General Burgoyne and his gallant arm}'.' A revised version is in 
 Macneil's Works. 1812. I have not observed the tune before the 
 Perth Musical Miscellany, 1786, which contains the verse and air of 
 the song. 
 
 Page 69. 'Awa', "Whigs, awa'.' Burns sent the song to the 
 Museum, and in the holograph list for the third volume he styles it 
 * Mr. Burns's old words.' A fragment of eight lines, which, except 
 the chorus, Burns did not use, is in the Herd MS. as follows : — 
 • And when they cam by Gorgie Mills 
 
 They licked a' the mouter, 
 The bannocks lay about there 
 Like bandoliers and powder j 
 Awa', Whigs, awa', 
 Awa', Whigs, awa' ; 
 Ye're but a pack o' lazy louns, 
 Ye'll do nae guid ava.' 
 The tune, still a very popular air, is in Oswald's Companion, 
 book vi, 1754. It resembles and may be compared with My dearie, 
 if thou die, which is an older air. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 461. 
 
 Page 69. The jolly beggar. The original publication of the words 
 is in Yair's Charmer, 1751, ii. p. 2jj ; then in Herd's Scots Songs, 
 1769, p. 46 ; and afterwards, a little varied, in Herd's Scottish Songs, 
 1776, ii. p. 26, a verbatim copy of which is in the Museum. The 
 first verse and chorus is as follows : — 
 
 'There was a jolly beggar, and a begging he was bound, 
 And he took up his quarters into a land'art town, 
 And we'll gang nae mair a roving 
 Sae late into the night. 
 And we'll gang nae mair a roving 
 Let the moon shine ne'er sae bright. 
 And we'll gang nae mair a roving.' 
 
 These are the sources in Scotland from which proceeded this very 
 humorous and somewhat licentious ballad, which Ramsay, probably 
 for that reason, excluded from his Miscellany. I have no doubt it 
 
120 APPENDIX 
 
 was known traditionally in Scotland earlier than the eighteenth 
 century, for the same details are dispersed in manuscripts. Walpole, 
 who did not insert the verses in Cat(doguc of Royal and Noble Atdhors, 
 1759, certain!}' refers to them when Percy quotes him as saying, 
 * that there is something very ludicrous in the young woman's disgust 
 when she thought her first favour had been thrown away upon 
 a beggar'. Perhaps the earliest record is an English broadside in 
 the Pepys Collection entitled, The Politick bcggcr-nian, published 
 about 1660, in twelve stanzas, with a chorus which begins as follows : — 
 
 ' There was a jovial begger-man, a begging he was bound, 
 And he did seek his living in country and in town. 
 With a long staff and a patcht coat, he pranc'd along the pad. 
 And by report of many a one he was a proper lad. 
 His cheeks were like the crimson rose, 
 
 His forehead smooth and high, 
 And he was the bravest begger-man 
 That ever I saw with eye.' 
 
 This ballad contains the leading incidents in The jolly beggar, but 
 there is a dullness and a want of fire in the recital. The canting and 
 begging poetry of England is a far from negligible quantity in the 
 study of ancient manners of an aggressive class. About the middle 
 of the seventeenth century The beggars chorus was sung in Harry 
 Brome's Jovial Crciv, which was acted in the cockpit of Drury Lane 
 in 1641. The words are not in the published play 1652, but the 
 song — verses and air — are in 180 Loyal Songs, 1685, and begin as 
 follows : — 
 
 * There was a jovial begger, he had a wooden leg, 
 Lame from his cradle, and forced for to beg. 
 And a begging we will go, will go, 
 And a begging we will go.' 
 
 The English tune has no resemblance to the Scottish. The beggars 
 chorus was popular in England down to the middle of the eighteenth 
 century, and the air was sung to many parodies with refrains such as A 
 bowling we luill go ; A fishing zve will go ; A hunting we will go ; See, &c. 
 The verse and air of The beggars chorus are also in D'Urfey's Pills, 
 1719, vol. iii, and to be quite clear in our description it may be 
 remarked that the incidents in the English Song have nothing in 
 common with the Scottish, The folly beggar, which, like The Gaber- 
 Innzie man, is said to have been written by James V. In an im- 
 printed version the beggar is described as having ' goudie locks ', 
 ' milk white skin ', and a * ruffled shirt ' ; but as in this same version 
 the jolly beggar ' patt his hand in his pocket and gaa her ginnes three ' 
 this proves, unless it is an interpolation, that the words are not 
 older than 1663, when guineas were first coined. In Herd's 
 Collection, and the Sco/sTJ/ws/m/A/^s^^;;/, the guineas become 'kisses'. 
 The Scottish tune is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1757, 
 book ix, and as a double tune is entitled The beggars meal pokes, 
 ' Composed by King James VI.' The music in the Museum consists 
 
APPEXDIX 121 
 
 of only one measure or strain. I may say that the onl}' difference 
 between the verses in The Charmer, 1751, and the Museum copy is that 
 the original chorus is ' Fa, la, la,' &c., while from Herd of 1776 on- 
 wards the chorus becomes ' And we'll gang nae maira roving,' &c.,&c. 
 
 Page 69. A mother's lament, &c. This Note of Riddell's was 
 printed with alterations and omissions. In the Law MS. Burns ac- 
 knowledges having written the song, but there is no authority for 
 saying that he eulogized John Riddell, the composer, who died in 
 1795. and whose tune Finlaysion house is in his Scots Reels, 1782. 
 See Dick's Burns, 1903, Y>- 3^3- 
 
 Page 70. The White Cockade was written by Burns for the 
 Museum, and he claims it in the Law MS. The tune was originally 
 known as The rantittg Highlandman, in Campbell's Reels, 1778. The 
 distinctive cockade of the House of Hanover was a rosette of black, 
 therefore the Jacobites adopted white. See Dick's Burns, 1903, y>-4^6. 
 
 Page 70. Killiecrankie. This song in the Museum is signed 'Z' 
 as an old song, but there is distinct evidence that Burns wrote the 
 words. Stenhouse states, what has never been disputed, that 'The 
 chorus is old. The rest of it, beginning -'Whare hae ye been sae 
 brawlad," was written in 1789 by Burns, on purpose for the Museum.' 
 In Leyden MS.. 1692, the tune is styled Kill iecrankte ', in i\PGibbon's 
 Scots Tunes, 1755, it is entitled An ye had been nhere I have been you 
 would not been so canty, which constitute the first two lines of the 
 chorus of the song. The first phrase of a tune, My mistrcs blush is 
 bonie, in the Skene MS., c. 1630. is a part of this air Killiecrankie. 
 Riddell's note in the Interleaved Museum is printed verbatim in the 
 Rcliques as from Burns. This Killiecrankie is different from that sung 
 to Tranent Muir. See si{pra, p. gi, and Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 4J1. 
 
 Page 70. Tarn Glen. This Note is not in the Reliques ; pre- 
 sumably it could not be altered to any purpose, and rather than mark 
 it as Riddell's it was left out. Tarn Glen was published in the 
 Museum, 1790, with the proper tune. It is now almost invariably 
 printed with The mucking 0' Geordie's byre, which is not its proper 
 tune. That for which it was written is an English composition of 
 the seventeenth century known as Heivson the Cobbler, the verses of 
 which are in the Vocal Miscellany, Dublin, 1738. Hewson was 
 originally a shoemaker, had only one eye, was a soldier in the 
 Parliamentary Army, became a colonel, was knighted b}' Cromwell, 
 and became one of his lords. The Restoration song-books contain 
 punning verses on his person and character. See Dick's Burns, 1903, 
 p. 414. 
 
 Page 71. Galloway Tam is printed in the Reliques as if the Note 
 was by Burns, who wrote the verses for the Museum, and somewhere 
 entitles them -Mr. Burns's old words'. The tune is in Atkinsons 
 MS., 1694, and in Oswald's Companion, 1754, book vi. 
 
 Page 71. Bonie laddie— Highland laddie. In the Reliques 
 there is a long note entitled Highland laddie^ which is not in the 
 
122 APPENDIX 
 
 Manuscript ; sitpra, p. 75. Some of the rnaterial is in a letter to 
 George Thomson, and another portion somewhat resembles what 
 Burns has written as given in our text, p. 8, The rest is partly 
 apocr3'phal or compounded from some songs in the Merry Muses. 
 See Dick's Bums, 1903, p. ^72. 
 
 Par^e 71. * Ae fond kiss and then we sever.' This well-known 
 beautiful song of Burns was written in December, 1791, to com- 
 memorate the departure of Mrs. M'^Lehose to the West Indies, and it 
 is remarkable that Riddell does not notice Burns as the author. The 
 tune Rory DaWs Port, for which the verses were written, is a Celtic 
 air in Oswald's Companion, c. 1756, book viii. See Dick's Burns, 
 1903. Pi/p. 
 
 Page 71. Nithsdall's welconie hame. This is the last note in the 
 Interleaved Museum. Riddell's tune, Nithsdale^s welcome hame, is one 
 of the best of his musical compositions, and Burns's verses are 
 appropriate. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. ^dj. 
 
 III. INTERLEAVES MISSING. 
 
 Page 72, The Highland lassie, O. The episode of * Highland 
 Mary ' is the least known in the life of Burns, and upon it he was 
 most reticent. The Note which Cromek has printed contains more 
 specific details than all else on the subject. Considering how 
 untrustworthy this editor is, the missing leaf immediately raises the 
 question — Did Burns write on it what Cromek has printed ? Every 
 disputant on the Marion question has hitherto accepted the Note as 
 genuine, because the accuracy and fidelity of Cromek were never 
 questioned. The 'Second Sunday of May', the date of the last 
 meeting of Burns and Mary Campbell, is only to be found in Cromek's 
 Reliqjtes. Scott- Douglas decided that it was the 14th of May, 1786, and 
 the following day, Monday, was a servants' term day when Mary left 
 her place. If the leaf, now missing, exists, it is desirable that it should 
 be disclosed to the public. The Bible, which passed from Burns to 
 Mary with his inscription and signature much obliterated, after being 
 in America, is now in the poet's monument at Ayr. The song was 
 certainly written when he arranged to leave for Jamaica in the 
 summer of 1786, and it was one of the earliest given to Johnson for 
 his Museum for the tune M*^ LatighlUi' s Scots Measure, first printed in 
 Original Scotch Tunes, 1700. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. ^7.2. 
 
 Page 73. ' The day returns, my bosom burns.' It is not very 
 difficult to understand why this leaf was abstracted. The volumes 
 remained in the family of the Riddell's or their collaterals for nearly 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 123 
 
 seventy years, and we may assume one or other took out the leaf, 
 Robert Riddell was an amateur musician ; he composed his Seventh 
 0/ November and printed it in his Collection New Music. 1787; the 
 tune for which Burns wrote his verses. See Dick's Burns, 1903, 
 p. j6j. 
 
 Page 73. * The gloomy night is gath'ring fast.' The substance 
 of this Note is in Burns's Letter to Dr. Moore, which Currie printed 
 in Works of Burns. 1800, i. 56. The song was originally published 
 in the first Edinburgh edition, 1787. and there marked for the tune 
 Roslin Castle. This tune, having been appropriated in the first 
 volume of Johnson's Museum, the beautiful verses of Burns ' The 
 gloomy night is gath'ring fast', when published in the third volume, 
 were set to a worthless composition by Allan Masterton. George 
 Thomson, in his Scotish Airs, got nearer an expression of the verses 
 with the Celtic air Dndmon dubh. No music publisher apparently 
 has discovered the proper tune. Roslin Castle, one of the best Scottish 
 Airs {supra, 83'. See Dick's Burns, p, 4-]-]. 
 
 IV. SPURIOUS NOTES. (See pp. 74-81.) 
 
 These, which are not in the Interleaved Museum, were obtained 
 from several sources, and it is quite certain man}' of the statements 
 did not proceed from Burns at all. The Notes may be divided into 
 three classes : (i) Those which, under the same or different titles, 
 have been already noted. Cromek was ignorant of the identity of 
 some of the songs, and for others he ignored what was written, and 
 compiled his Notes from various sources or his inner consciousness ; 
 Clout the Caldron is taken from Ramsay's article in The Bee; The lass 
 o' Liviston was altered in order to quote the four lines of the old 
 song in the Merry Muses, which, it may be remarked, are not verbatim; 
 that on Jackie's gray breeks is a second note on that entitled The 
 gentle swain ; Highland laddie is a long composite invention, super- 
 seding the short note which Burns wrote. Here Cromek refers to 
 the fifth volume of the Museum, which did not exist. It was not 
 published until six months after the death of Burns, and therefore 
 could not have been noticed by him particularly, as the last Notes in 
 the Interleaved Museum were penned about three or four years before 
 the volume was published, and before any final arrangements were 
 made for sketching its contents. Kirk wad let me be refers to the 
 same tune of Riddell's Note. The blithsome bridal and the story of the 
 old interlude was probably supplied by Allan Cunningham ; Auld 
 lang syne omits what Burns wrote, and refers again to the posthumous 
 fifth volume of the Museum ; and that on Dainty Davie is a suppression 
 of the Note in the Manuscript, to interpolate and repeat in detail 
 the old chestnut about the Rev. David Williamson and the daughter 
 of the Laird of Cherrytrees. 
 
124 APPENDIX 
 
 (2) Those Notes, which are not anywhere in the manuscript, The 
 posie, the verses ot which Burns wrote for the Alitsciiut ; IVaukiii 0' t/ie 
 fmdd ; Pohvarth on the green ; Mill, Mill O, which quotes eight Hnes of 
 a song in the Merry Muses zlmost verbatim ; and The bonie lass made the 
 bed to me, the ballad of Burns which only appeared in the posthumous 
 fifth volume of the Mnsiuyit. 
 
 Lastly, (3) those on Songs which are not in any of the six volumes 
 of the Seots Musical Museum ; The Shepherd's Complaint ; IVc ran and 
 they ran ; and Bob o' Dumblane. 
 
FIRST LINES OF SONGS 
 
 Adieu ye streams that smoothly glide 
 
 Ae fond kiss, and then we sever 
 
 Ah ! the poor shepherd's mournful fate 
 
 A lass that was laden'd with care . 
 
 Allan by his grief excited 
 
 All hail to thee, thou bawmy bud 
 
 All lovely on the sultry beach . 
 
 Amidst a rosy bank of flowers . 
 
 And are ye sure the news is true ? 
 
 And gin ye meet a bonny lassie 
 
 A rosebud b}' my early walk . 
 
 As down on Banna's banks, &c. 
 
 As I cam down by yon castle wa' 
 
 As I was a-walking one morning in May 
 
 As I went over yon meadow . 
 
 As Jamie Gay gang'd blyth his way 
 
 A Southland Jenny that was right bonie 
 
 Awa', Whigs, awa' .... 
 
 Beneath a green shade a lovely young swain 
 Blest as th' immortal gods is he 
 BIythe, blythe and merry was she . 
 Blyth young Bess to Jean did say . 
 Bonie wee thing, canie wee thing . 
 Bonny lassie, will ye go . 
 By smooth winding Tay . 
 By yon castle wa', &c. 
 
 Ca' the ewes to the knows 
 Cauld blaws the wind frae east to west 
 Cease, cease my dear friend, &c. 
 Clarinda, mistress of my soul . 
 Come fy ! let us a* to the wedding . 
 Come gie's a sang, Montgomery cry'd 
 Comin thro' the craigs o' Kyle 
 
 Dear Myra, the captive ribband's mine 
 Dumbarton's drums beat bonny, O . 
 
 Farewell to Lochaber, &c. 
 Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong 
 Fate gave the word .... 
 For lake of gold she "s left me, O 
 Frae the friends and land 1 love 
 
 PAGE 
 
 60 
 
 71 
 29 
 18 
 26 
 57 
 24 
 34 
 15 
 6 
 
 37 
 16 
 
 56 
 3 
 
 23 
 5 
 
 54 
 
 69 
 
 62 
 15 
 35 
 
 I 
 
 59 
 26 
 
 61 
 
 55 
 
 49 
 28 
 46 
 40 
 60 
 51 
 57 
 
 47 
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 62 
 
 63 
 69 
 
 32 
 
 53 
 
126 
 
 FIRST LINES OF SONGS 
 
 Gane is the day, and mirk 's the night 
 
 Gill Morice was an carle's son . 
 
 Gin I had a wee house, &c. 
 
 Go, fetch to me a pint o' wine 
 
 Go on, sweet bird, and soothe my care 
 
 Happy's the love which meets return 
 
 Hark ! the loud tempest, &c. 
 
 Hark ! yonder eagle lonely wails 
 
 Hear me, ye nymphs 
 
 Hersell be Highland shentlemen 
 
 How blest has my time been . 
 
 How pleasant the banks of the clear-winding Devon 
 
 I am my mammy's ae bairn 
 
 I do confess thou art sae fair . 
 
 I dream'd I lay where flow'rs were sprin 
 
 I had a horse, and I had nae mair 
 
 I hae been at Crookieden 
 
 In May, when the daisies, &c. 
 
 In the garb of old Gaul . 
 
 In the hall I lay in night . 
 
 In winter when the rain rain'd cauld 
 
 It is na, Jean, thy bonie face . 
 
 It is night, I am alone 
 
 Jamie come try me . 
 
 John Anderson, my jo, John . 
 
 Landlady, count the lawin 
 
 Leave kindred and friends, sweet Betty 
 
 Love never more shall give me pain 
 
 Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn . 
 Musing on the roaring ocean . 
 My daddy is a canker'd carle . 
 My Harry was a gallant gay . 
 My heart is a breaking, dear Tittie . 
 My heart 's in the Highlands . 
 My heart was ance as blythe and free 
 My laddie is gane far away, &c. 
 My love was born in Aberdeen 
 My love was once a bonny lad 
 My Patie is a lover gay . 
 My sheep I've forsaken, &c. 
 My soger laddie is over the sea 
 
 Nae gentle dames, tho' ne'er sae fair 
 No more my song shall be, ye swains 
 Now smihng spring again appears . 
 
 g'nj 
 
FIRST LINES OF SONGS 
 
 127 
 
 O Bessy Bell, and Mary Gray 
 
 Of a' the airts the wind can blaw 
 
 O, Galloway Tarn came here to woo 
 
 Oh ! open the door. Lord Gregory . 
 
 Oh ! send Lewis Gordon hame 
 
 Oh ! was not I a weary wight 
 
 O ! meikle thinks my love o' mj' beauty 
 
 O Nannie, wilt thou gang wi' me ? . 
 
 One day I heard Mary say 
 
 One morning very early, &c. . 
 
 One night I dream'd I lay most easy 
 
 O ! rattlin, roarin Willy . 
 
 O ! saw ye my dearie, my Eppie M<=Nab 
 
 O, saw ye m}' father? 
 
 O sweet sir, for \^our courtesie 
 
 O, that I were where Helen lies 
 
 O this is no mine ain house 
 
 O Tibbie, I hae seen the day . 
 
 Our lords are to the mountains gane 
 
 O waly, waly, up yon bank 
 
 O ! were I able to rehearse 
 
 O were I on Parnassus' hill 
 
 O ! wha my babie-clouts will buy 
 
 O what had I ado for to marry 
 
 O where hae ye been. Lord Ronald, my son 
 
 O ! where wad bonie Annie ly 
 
 O ! Willie brew'd a peck o' maut 
 
 O wilt thou go wi' me, sweet Tibbie Dunbar 
 
 Pain'd with her slighting Jamie's love 
 
 Raving winds around her blowing . 
 
 Saw ye Johnnie cummin ? quo' she . 
 
 Saw ye nae my Peggy .... 
 
 Should auld acquaintance be forgot ? 
 
 Since all thy vows, false maid . 
 
 Since robb'd of all that charm'd my view 
 
 Sir John Cope trode the North right far . 
 
 Sweet closes the evening on Craigie-burn-wood 
 
 Talk not of love, it gives me pain 
 
 Tarry woo' O, tarry woo' 
 
 The blude red rose at Yule may blaw 
 
 The bonny brucket lassie . 
 
 The Catrine woods were yellow seen 
 
 The Chevalier being void of fear 
 
 The collier has a daughter 
 
 The day returns, my bosom burns . 
 
 The fields were green 
 
 PAGE 
 
 64 
 46 
 
 71 
 
 2 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 54 
 10 
 22 
 16 
 27 
 
 39 
 58 
 62 
 
 25 
 65 
 43 
 39 
 53 
 29 
 
 52 
 47 
 50 
 38 
 56 
 56 
 52 
 68 
 
 33 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 66 
 
 34 
 46 
 
 53 
 
 37 
 16 
 
 35 
 19 
 50 
 23 
 17 
 73 
 10 
 
128 
 
 FIRST LIAES OF SOXCS 
 
 The gloomy night is gath'ring fast . 
 
 The gypsies came to our Lord's yett 
 
 The lass of Pcat3''s mill . 
 
 The last time I came o'er the moor . 
 
 Tlie Lawland lads think they are fine 
 
 The lazy mist hangs, &c. . 
 
 The moon had climb'd, &c. 
 
 The morn was fair, &c. 
 
 The night her silent sable wore 
 
 The noble Maxwel's and their powers 
 
 The pawkyv auld carl came o'er the lea 
 
 There's a youth in this city 
 
 There 's cauld kail in Aberdeen 
 
 There was a jolly beggar . 
 
 There was ance a May, and she loe'd na men 
 
 The silver moon's enamour'd beams 
 
 The taylor fell thro' the bed, 6ic. 
 
 The tears I shed must ever fall 
 
 The tither morn .... 
 
 They say that Jockey '11 speed weel o't 
 
 Thickest night, surround my dwelling 
 
 Thou art gane awa' .... 
 
 Tho' women's minds like winter winds 
 
 To me what are riches, &c. 
 
 To the soft murmuring stream . 
 
 "Twas at the hour of dark midnight . 
 
 'Twas in that season of the year 
 
 Tune your fiddles, tune them sweetly 
 
 Up amang yon cliffy rocks 
 Up and warn a' Willie 
 
 Water parted from the Sea 
 
 Weary fa you, Duncan Gray . 
 
 Wha is that at my bower-door? 
 
 Whare are ye gaun, my bonie lass 
 
 Whare hae 3'e been sae braw, lad 
 
 What beauties does Flora disclose 
 
 What numbers shall the muse repeat 
 
 What will I do gin my hoggie die 
 
 What words, dear Nancy 
 
 When first I came to be a man 
 
 When I have a saxpence, &c. . 
 
 When I think on this warld's pelf 
 
 When I upon thy bosom lean . 
 
 When merry hearts were gay . 
 
 When rosy May comes in wi' flowers 
 
 When summer comes the swains on Tweed 
 
 When the sheep are in the fauld 
 
 PAGE 
 
FIRST LINES OF SONGS 
 
 129 
 
 When trees did bud and fields were green 
 
 When west winds did blow 
 
 Where braving angry winter's storms 
 
 Where waving pines salute the skies 
 
 While fops in saft Italian verse 
 
 Will ye gang o'er the lee-rig . 
 
 Will ye go to the Ew-bughts, Marion 
 
 Ye gallants bright, I red you right . 
 
 Ye Gods I was Strephon's picture blest 
 
 Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands 
 
 Ye rivers so limpid and clear . 
 
 Ye sylvan pow'rs that rule the plain 
 
 Yon wild mossy mountains, &c. 
 
 PAGE 
 61 
 
 42 
 
 39 
 40 
 
 12 
 
 21 
 
 43 
 33 
 
 66 
 
 36 
 19 
 58 
 
 K 
 
TITLES OF TUNES 
 
 Absence 
 
 A galic air . 
 
 A galic air . 
 
 Allan Water 
 
 A Rosebud . 
 
 As I cam down by yon casti 
 
 A Southland Jenny 
 
 Auld lang syne 
 
 Auld Robin Gray 
 
 Awa, Whigs, Awa 
 
 A waukrife minnie 
 
 Banks of Spey 
 
 Bessy Bell and Mary Gray 
 
 Bess the gavvkie . 
 
 Beware o' bonie Ann . 
 
 Bhannerach dhon na chri 
 
 Bide ye 3'et . 
 
 Birks of Abergeldie 
 
 Blink o'er the burn, sweet Bettie 
 
 Blythe was she . 
 
 Bonie Kate of Edinburgh 
 
 Bonie laddie, Highland ladd 
 
 Braes of Ballendtn 
 
 Carron side 
 
 Ca' the ewes to the knows 
 
 Cauld kail 
 
 Cease, cease my dear friend to explore 
 
 Clarinda 
 
 Clout the Caldron 
 
 Corn riggs . 
 
 Craigie-burnwood 
 
 Cromlet's lilt 
 
 Dainty Davie 
 Donald and Flora 
 Down the burn, Davie 
 Druimion dubh 
 Dumbarton's drums 
 Duncan Gray 
 
 East nook o' Fife 
 Eppie M^Nab 
 
 NOTES 
 
 APP. 
 
 36 
 
 97 
 
 47 
 
 104 
 
 48 
 
 105 
 
 15 
 
 88 
 
 37 
 
 98 
 
 56 
 
 109 
 
 54 
 
 108 
 
 9 
 
 85 
 
 47 
 
 103 
 
 69 
 
 119 
 
 51 
 
 107 
 
 37 
 
 97 
 
 64 
 
 115 
 
 I 
 
 82 
 
 43 
 
 lor 
 
 29 
 
 93 
 
 23 
 
 91 
 
 26 
 
 92 
 
 18 
 
 88 
 
 35 
 
 96 
 
 40 
 
 99 
 
 71 
 
 121 
 
 62 
 
 114 
 
 53 
 
 108 
 
 49 
 
 105 
 
 31 
 
 94 
 
 46 
 
 103 
 
 40 
 
 99 
 
 8 
 
 85 
 
 22 
 
 90 
 
 53 
 
 108 
 
 66 
 
 in 
 
 12 
 
 86 
 
 68 
 
 119 
 
 61 
 
 113 
 
 34 
 
 96 
 
 31 
 
 94 
 
 30 
 
 94 
 
 50 
 
 106 
 
 58 
 
 no 
 
TITLES OF TUXES 
 
 J31 
 
 Failte na miosg . 
 
 Fairest of the fair 
 
 Fife and a' the lands about it 
 
 Finlayston house 
 
 For a' that .... 
 
 For lake of gold she's left me, O 
 
 Fourteenth of October 
 
 Fy ! gar rub her o'er wi' strae 
 
 Gallashiels .... 
 
 Galloway Tain 
 Gill I^Iorice .... 
 Go to the ew-bughts, Marion 
 Gramachree .... 
 
 Here' s a health to my true love 
 He stole my tender heart away 
 Hey tutti taiti 
 Highlander's lament 
 Highland lamentation . 
 Hooly and fairly . 
 Hughie Graham . 
 
 lanthy the lovely 
 
 I do confess thou art sae fair 
 
 I dream'd I lay 
 
 I had a horse, and I had nae ma: 
 
 I'll never leave thee 
 
 I'm o'er young to marry yet 
 
 Invercald's reel . 
 
 I wish my love were in a mire 
 
 It is na, Jean, thy bonie face 
 
 Jamie come try me 
 
 Jamie Gay . 
 
 John Anderson, m}' jo. 
 
 John Hay's bonny lassie 
 
 Johnie Cope 
 
 Johnny Faa ; or the gypsie laddie 
 
 Johnny M'^Gill . 
 
 Johnny's gray breeks . 
 
 John o' Badenyond 
 
 Killiecrankie 
 
 Laddie lie near me 
 
 Leader Haughs and Yarrow 
 
 Lewis Gordon 
 
 Lochaber 
 
 Lord Gregory 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NOTES 
 
 APP. 
 
 48 
 
 105 
 
 10 
 
 86 
 
 26 
 
 92 
 
 69 
 
 121 
 
 52 
 
 107 
 
 32 
 
 95 
 
 33 
 
 95 
 
 6 
 
 84 
 
 29 
 
 93 
 
 71 
 
 121 
 
 41 
 
 99 
 
 21 
 
 89 
 
 16 
 
 88 
 
 32 
 
 95 
 
 10 
 
 86 
 
 33 
 
 95 
 
 42 
 
 lOl 
 
 34 
 
 96 
 
 38 
 
 98 
 
 53 
 
 108 
 
 59 
 
 III 
 
 55 
 
 109 
 
 28 
 
 93 
 
 36 ' 
 
 97 
 
 22 
 
 90 
 
 25 
 
 91 
 
 39 
 
 99 
 
 15 
 
 87 
 
 58 
 
 no 
 
 45 
 
 102 
 
 5 
 
 84 
 
 48 
 
 105 
 
 6r 
 
 113 
 
 46 
 
 102 
 
 35 
 
 96 
 
 68 
 
 118 
 
 10 
 
 85 
 
 51 
 
 107 
 
 70 
 
 121 
 
 44 
 
 lor 
 
 43 
 
 lor 
 
 21 
 
 90 
 
 62 
 
 114 
 
 2 
 
 82 
 
132 
 
 TITLES OF TUNES 
 
 Lord Ronald, my son . 
 Low down in the broom 
 Lucy Campbcl 
 
 Marquis of Huntly's reel 
 
 Mar}'' Scot .... 
 
 Mary's dream 
 
 May Eve ; or Kate of Aberdeen 
 
 M''Grigor of Rora's lament . 
 
 M'"Lauc;hlin's Scots measure 
 
 IVrPherson's farewell . 
 
 Miss Admiral Gordon's Strathspey 
 
 Miss Hamilton's delight 
 
 My ain kind deary, O . 
 
 My apron, dearie. 
 
 My bony Mary . 
 
 My dear Jockey . 
 
 BIy deary, if thou die . 
 
 My heart's in the Highlands 
 
 My jo, Janet 
 
 My love is lost to me . 
 
 My tocher 's the jewel . 
 
 Niel Cow's lament 
 Niel Gow's lamentation 
 Nithsdall's welcome hame . 
 
 O'er the moor amang the heather 
 Oh ! ono Chrio . 
 
 Phoebe .... 
 
 Rattlin, roarin Willie . 
 Robie donna gorach 
 Rory Dall's port . 
 Roslin Castle 
 
 Sae merry as we twa hae been 
 
 Sawnie's pipe 
 
 Saw ye Johnnie cummin' quo' she 
 
 Saw ye my father 
 
 Saw ye nae my Peggy 
 
 Scots Jenny . 
 
 Scots queen 
 
 Scots recluse 
 
 Seventh of November . 
 
 She rose and let me in 
 
 Song of Selma 
 
 Strathallan's lament 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NOTES 
 
 APP. 
 
 56 
 
 109 
 
 62 
 
 114 
 
 49 
 
 105 
 
 40 
 
 99 
 
 61 
 
 113 
 
 14 
 
 87 
 
 12 
 
 86 
 
 33 
 
 95 
 
 72 
 
 122 
 
 63 
 
 114 
 
 46 
 
 102 
 
 34 
 
 95 
 
 17 
 
 88 
 
 62 
 
 114 
 
 45 
 
 102 
 
 5 
 
 84 
 
 20 
 
 89 
 
 48 
 
 105 
 
 25 
 
 91 
 
 47 
 
 104 
 
 54 
 
 108 
 
 48 
 
 105 
 
 39 
 
 99 
 
 7i 
 
 122 
 
 57 
 
 109 
 
 22 
 
 90 
 
 58 
 
 110 
 
 39 
 
 98 
 
 47 
 
 104 
 
 71 
 
 122 
 
 3 
 
 83 
 
 j8 
 
 88 
 
 67 
 
 118 
 
 3 
 
 83 
 
 62 
 
 114 
 
 4 
 
 83 
 
 42 
 
 100 
 
 38 
 
 98 
 
 42 
 
 100 
 
 73 
 
 122 
 
 20 
 
 89 
 
 64 
 
 115 
 
 27 
 
 92 
 
TITLES OF TUNES 
 
 133 
 
 Tak your auld cloak about ye 
 
 Tarn Glen .... 
 
 Tarry woo' .... 
 
 The banks of Forth 
 
 The banks of the Devon 
 
 The banks of the Tweed 
 
 The beds of sweet roses 
 
 The black eagle . 
 
 The blathrie o't . 
 
 The blithsome bridal 
 
 The bonie banks of Ayr 
 
 The bonny brucket lassie 
 
 The bonny Earl of Murray . 
 
 The bonny wee thing . 
 
 The braes o' Ballochmyle 
 
 The bridal o't . 
 
 The broom of Cowdenknows 
 
 The bush aboon Traquair 
 
 The collier's bonn}- lassie 
 
 The ewie wi' the crooked horn 
 
 The flowers of Edinburgh . 
 
 The flowers of the forest 
 
 The gaberlunzie man . 
 
 The gardener wi' his paidle 
 
 The gloomy night is gath'ring fast 
 
 The Gordon's has the guiding o't 
 
 The happy marriage 
 
 The Highland character 
 
 The Highland laddie 
 
 The Highland lassie, O 
 
 The Highland queen 
 
 The jolly beggar .... 
 
 The lass of Livingston . 
 
 The lass of Peaty 's mill 
 
 The last time I came o'er the moor 
 
 The lazy mist .... 
 
 The maid in Bedlam 
 
 The maid of Selma 
 
 The maid's complaint . 
 
 The maid that tends the goats 
 
 The mucking of Geordie's byar . 
 
 Then guidwife count the lawin 
 
 There's nae luck about the house 
 
 There'll never be peace till Jamie com 
 
 The shepherd's preference . 
 
 The soger laddie . 
 
 The taylor fell thro' the bed 
 
 The tears I shed . 
 
 The tears of Scotland . 
 
 es hame 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NOTES 
 
 APP. 
 
 47 
 
 104 
 
 70 
 
 121 
 
 16 
 
 88 
 
 19 
 
 89 
 
 29 
 2 
 
 93 
 82 
 
 3 
 
 83 
 
 45 
 II 
 
 lOI 
 
 86 
 
 60 
 
 112 
 
 73 
 19 
 66 
 
 123 
 
 89 
 
 117 
 
 59 
 50 
 
 III 
 106 
 
 49 
 19 
 20 
 
 17 
 
 105 
 89 
 89 
 88 
 
 52 
 
 108 
 
 4 
 60 
 
 83 
 112 
 
 68 
 
 118 
 
 44 
 
 lOI 
 
 73 
 
 123 
 
 24 
 
 7 
 
 68 
 
 91 
 
 84 
 
 118 
 
 8 
 
 85 
 
 72 
 
 122 
 
 I 
 
 82 
 
 69 
 6 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 119 
 84 
 85 
 84 
 
 45 
 16 
 
 102 
 
 88 
 
 63 
 
 115 
 
 58 
 
 1 10 
 
 14 
 
 87 
 
 23 
 
 54 
 15 
 
 90 
 
 108 
 
 88 
 
 55 
 
 109 
 
 50 
 
 107 
 
 55 
 
 109 
 
 43 
 
 lOI 
 
 59 
 28 
 
 III 
 93 
 
 K S 
 
134 
 
 TITLES OF TUNES 
 
 The tithcr morn . 
 
 The white cockade 
 
 The young man's dream 
 
 This is no mine ain house 
 
 Thou art gane awa 
 
 To daunton me 
 
 Todlen hame 
 
 To the rose-bud . 
 
 To the weaver's gin ye go 
 
 Tranent-muir 
 
 Tullochgorum 
 
 Tweed Side . 
 
 Up and warn a' Willie 
 Up in the morning early 
 
 Waly, waly . 
 
 Water parted from the sea 
 
 Were na my heart light I wad die 
 
 Wha is that at my bower-door? 
 
 What will I do gin my hoggie die 
 
 What words, dear Nancy 
 
 Where Helen lies 
 
 Where wad bonie Annie He 
 
 Willie brew'd a peck o' maut 
 
 PAGE 
 
 NOTES 
 
 APP. 
 
 59 
 
 I rr 
 
 70 
 
 121 
 
 27 
 
 92 
 
 43 
 
 Id 
 
 59 
 
 110 
 
 35 
 
 97 
 
 49 
 
 105 
 
 57 
 
 no 
 
 24 
 
 91 
 
 23 
 
 91 
 
 51 
 
 107 
 
 13 
 
 87 
 
 37 
 
 97 
 
 28 
 
 93 
 
 29 
 
 94 
 
 60 
 
 112 
 
 26 
 
 92 
 
 58 
 
 no 
 
 65 
 
 116 
 
 27 
 
 92 
 
 65 
 
 116 
 
 56 
 
 109 
 
 52 
 
 107 
 
 Yon wild mossy mountains. 
 
 58 
 
 no 
 
 FINIS 
 
 Oxford : Horace Hart, Printer to the University 
 
8vo, cloth, pp. xliii + 536, printed on rag-made paper 
 with 4 pp. facsimile MS., price 14s. net 
 
 THE SONGS 
 
 OF 
 
 ROBERT BURNS 
 
 NOW FIRST PRINTED WITH THE MELODIES 
 FOR WHICH THEY WERE WRITTEN 
 
 A STUDY IN TONE-POETRY 
 
 WITH BIBLIOGRAPHY, HISTORICAL NOTES, AND 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 BY 
 JAMES C. DICK 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Preface— Bibliography— Facsimile of Burns's MS.— Songs : Verse 
 and Air. I. Love; Personal; II. Love: General; III. Love: Hu- 
 morous; IV. Connubial; V. Bacchanalian and Social : VI. The Jolly 
 Beggars ; VII. Patriotic and Political ; VIII. Jacobite ; IX. Miscella- 
 neous ; Appendices: Uncertain and Unknown— Historical Notes on 
 Verse and Air— Glossary— Index of First Lines —Index of Tunes. 
 
 HENRY FROWDE 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, NEW YORK 
 AND TORONTO 
 
IN this volume the Songs of Robert Burns, with the melodies 
 for which they were written, have been brought together for 
 the first time. r)Urns knew more of the popular music of his 
 country than any man of his time, and he is unique among 
 distinguished poets in writing for pre-existing music. His 
 achievement in the reconstruction of old poetry seems to have 
 blinded his critics' eyes to his knowledge of its sister art, 
 Scottish music. Bums adopted what other eminent poets re- 
 jected — popular airs — and he adopted them consciously. It is 
 remarkable that the poet's biographers should, with one accord, 
 have ignored, or omitted a description of, his musical perception 
 and his treatment of music. It might have been thought that, 
 apart from his peculiar interest supplied by his method of 
 writing always to airs, his mere musical-editorial talent must 
 have attracted notice. For the mere love of the thing, and 
 without fee or reward, ungrudgingly he worked night and day 
 for the last nine years of his life to illustrate the airs of Scotland. 
 
 The Text of every song and ballad is entire, and the collec- 
 tion includes more than 30 pieces now printed for the first time 
 as Burns's work. These hitherto anonymous songs have been 
 inserted on the authority of the MS. reproduced in facsimile in 
 the volume, from other existing MSS,, and from constructive 
 evidence. 
 
 For the 303 airs the AUTHORITIES are the poet's writings and, 
 occasionally, Johnson's Musetun. Certain of Burns's songs have 
 not until now been printed with any air, and others continuously 
 with wrong airs. 
 
 The Tunes have been copied from early MSS. and from the 
 numerous vocal and instrumental collections of the eighteenth 
 century ; and two are from the MSS. of Burns. Obviously none 
 are less than a hundred years old. They are an epitome of 
 Scottish music, and as selected by Burns the collection forms 
 a handbook of folk-music. 
 
 The Notes have been drawn from Burns's writings, from 
 historical sources, and from an examination of several hundred 
 song-books of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The 
 inaccuracies in Cromek's Reliqt(es which have been repeated in 
 the Works of B 117-71 s since 1808 have been corrected from the 
 original MSS. An unsuspected original oi Aidd laitg sy7ie is 
 now printed for the first time from these MSS. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REVIEWS 
 
 Bookman: — 'The task of collecting and arranging; this book must have been 
 enormous, and students of Burns are under a deep debt of gratitude to the com- 
 piler, whose treasures seem to have been brought from every conceivable quarter. 
 Historical notes to the extent of no fewer than 150 pages, replete with the most 
 valuable information, first hand and up to date ; a Glossary of the West Country 
 vernacular ; several MS. illustrations ; a well arranged Bibliography of Scottish 
 Song-Literature, and copious Indices, make this one of the very best Burns 
 books ever given to the public. For every lover of Burns, and of the old Scottish 
 melodies, a rare treat is in store.' 
 
 Academy:— 'Mr. Dick's book is a rehabilitation of Burns in the capacity of 
 musician. . . . For the rest Mr. Dick's work is a monument of erudition and 
 research, one which no student of Burns can possibly afford to overlook.' 
 
 Saturday Review .-—'^ir. Dick gives all the tunes and the words Burns set to 
 them— and it mav be remarked in passing that these, admirably printed, must 
 have cost endless'labour to get together. The whole book is beautifully got up 
 and may be cordially recommended.' 
 
 Musical Opinion :—^1\v\?. is one of the most valuable of recent contributions 
 to folk-song literature. . . . The notes in the splendid book before us represent 
 an amount of research and study which only those who have worked m the same 
 field can thoroughly appreciate. To trace the history of these old airs ;s 
 exceedingly difficult now ; but in ever>' case in which we have been able to test 
 him, Mr.^'Dick is found to be entirely trustworthy.' 
 
 Scotstnan .-—'A most valuable and interesting contribution is made to Burnsian 
 literature and scholarship. . . The collation of texts, musical and literary and 
 the search back to the original sources have involved much painstaking labour. 
 Tlie result is a quite remarkable contribution to Burnsian scholarship . . . Finely 
 printed by Mr. Henry Frowde, the volume is one that is assured a place in the 
 librarv of every student and lover of Burns who aspires to a knowledge of 
 the poet's musical activities, which are now for the first time set forth in true 
 proportion.' 
 
 Glasgow Herald :—' Th\s is one of the most valuable of recent contributions 
 to Burns literature. . . . Mr. Dick's book may be regarded as exhausting the 
 history of the old Scottish airs. It is a book which every student of Burns ought 
 to possess.' 
 
 Dundee Adverfisey :—' Owe of the most important books relating to Burns 
 published in recent years. ... A word of praise is due to Mr. Dick for the very 
 full bibliography of Scottish poetry and music which he supplies. 1 his volume 
 should appeal especially to Burns Societies, since it opens up an aspect ot Burns s 
 genius which has not hitherto received due attention.' 
 
 Birmi7t^ham Daily Post :—'^\\&\\'^?^or\ca.\ notes and the bibliography impart 
 to this work an interest extending far beyond Burns himself. Indeed, it is not 
 too much to sav that the book is the most exhaustive history of Scottish song 
 and Scottish musical literature extant. It is beautifully got up, and is enriched 
 with a facsimile of Burns's holograph. It should be on the shelves of every 
 collector's library.' 
 
 Newcastle Chro7ticle :-' A contribution of first-rate importance to the vast 
 literature upon the Scots poet. To the lover of tolk-song, and to all who worship, 
 however remotely, at the shrine of Burns, its appeal wmII be found wellmgh 
 irresistible. To the student of the history of music, too, the book is of value as 
 bearing upon perhaps the most important chapter in the history of the fc-nglish 
 lyric. . . .The bibliography, historical notes, and glossary are exhaustive and 
 peculiarly valuable.' 
 
 New York Ti7Jies :—'The bibliography and notes, which occupy a quarter of 
 
 the book, are very full and embody a vast amount of knowledge and research. 
 
 The book is a fine piece of constructive work, indispensable to those who 
 
 would really know Burns's poetry, and likely to remain the definitive treatment 
 
 of the subject.' 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 KBTURN TO D.SKPKOM WHICH BORROWBO 
 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 t' '^'i:trdSe?tV:;^fr -»Ped Mow, o. 
 
 LD 21A-60W-10 '65 
 (F7763810)476B 
 
 . General Library 
 
 University of California 
 oerkeley 
 
,J, C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 COSM^Dba^b 
 
 181582 
 
 *>.-M.'-< 
 
 ^>-^.v^.^:v- 
 
 M-- 
 
 
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