original tune were first printed in the Museum, 1790. Like the author and composer of the Marseillaise Hymn, Allan Masterton has enjoyed posthumous fame from one piece of genius. See Dick's Burns, 1903, P. 440.

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 Museum. The tune is in Cumming's Strathspeys, 1780, entitled Carron's Reell, and McGlashan'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 folkmusic. The poet in 1794 suppressed the chorus, and, with other alterations, sent a copy to George Thomson for his Scotish Airs. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 381.

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. 473.

Page 53. Hughie Graham. The 'several editions' of the ballad were most likely derived from a broadside in the Pepys 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 Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 490.

Page 54. A Southland Jenny.' With an original tune Burns sent this to the Museum 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 recognized 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

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. 443.

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 Jamie's awa'. See Dick's Burns, 1903, P. 472.

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, 1711, entitled Unconstancy in love. With an air by Henry Lawes, it is in Playford's Select Ayres 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. 396.

Page 55. The soger laddie. The verses are from Ramsay's Miscellany, 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 tunes Jacky Hume's lament or The hollin buss are not known, and that of Ken ye what Meg o' 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. 353.

Words and

Page 56. As I cam down by yon castle wa'.' music were communicated by Burns to the Museum. It is connected with a fragment in Herd's Scottish Songs, 1776, ii. p. 6. The manuscript of Burns is in the British Museum. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 491.

Page 56. Lord Ronald, my son is among the Burns manuscripts in the British Museum. The air was also communicated by Burns for 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. 491.

Page 57. O'er the moor amang the heather. Except for what Burns has said on this beautiful song, absolutely nothing else is

known, except that the tune with the title is in Bremner'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. 501.

Page 57. To the Rose bud. Cromek in his Reliques styles the author's name 'Johnson' instead of 'Thomson', who is entirely unknown. The tune was also printed originally in the Museum. The manuscript of the verses, but not in Burns's hand, is in the British Museum.

As

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. 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. 357.

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 Dick's Burns, 1903, P. 376.

Page 58. Eppie McNab. 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 Appie McNab is in Oswald's Collection of Curious Scots Tunes, 1742. See Dick's Burns, 1903, P. 394.

Page 58. Wha is that at my bower-door ?' The style and construction 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 British 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. 413.

Page 59. Thou art gane awa.' The words are a parody on

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 away frae me, Donald. It is also as Hold away from me, Donald in Blaikie's 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 (1765-1838) was married on 26th July, 1790, as second wife to Dugald Stewart (1753-1828), Professor of Mathematics 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, 1719, vol. v, with Barrett's music. See Dick's Burns, p. 482.

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 The bonnie wi thing in Oswald's Companion, 1758, vol. ix. See Dick's Burns, 1903, p. 365.

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 collections, 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 tither morn. The first measure is that of The minstrel boy, and the second that of Saw ye Johnie cummin. The last line of

both measures is the close or cadence of Here's his health in water or The job of journey work.

RIDDELL'S MS.

Page 60. 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 of 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 continuously popular for two centuries. D'Urfey printed a curious copy in his Pills, 1720, vol. vi. p. 350. The tune and words of the song are in Orpheus Caledonius, 1725. The music, however, appears to have had an earlier title, The Kirk wad let 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. 457.

Page 60. The flowers of the forest. The old air, The flowers 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 wellknown modern song.

a'

our braw fo - res ters are This air might be the text of a long critical of folk-music and its transmission viva voce.

essay on the vitality It must suffice here