66 Castle for some little time; and one day Mr Ramsay, accompanying his Lordship in a forenoon's walk or ride, at a place still known by the name of Patie's Mill, on the banks of the Irvine, they saw a pretty girl “ Tedding o' the hay, Bareheaded on the green.” My Lord observed to Allan that she would be a charming subject for a song. Ramsay took the hint; and loitering behind, on their return home, he set about the composition; and at dinner produced the first copy of The lass o' Patie's Mill. This anecdote I had of my much-esteemed friend Sir William Cunningham of Robertland, who had it of the late John, Earl of Loudon. " -- (p. 10): Highland Laddie. As this was a favourite theme with our later Scotish 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 Crookie-den." 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-known 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 every body knows “ Jinglan Johnie." The song begins 66 66 Jinglan John, the meikle man, He met wi' a lass was blythe and bonie. 66 Another " Highland 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 humour in its composition. It begins :As I cam' o'er Cairney-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 ye 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.” (p. 11): 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 Cauldron " played. I have met with another tradition, that the old song to this tune "Hae ye ony pots or pans, Or onie broken 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. Auld Lang Syne. Ramsay here, as usual with him, has taken the idea of the song, and the first line, from the old fragment, which may be seen in the Museum, vol. V. Dainty 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 party 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 bed-fellow. A mutilated stanza or two are to be found in Herd's Collection, but the song consists of five or six stanzas, and has merit in its way. The first stanza is : Being pursued by the dragoons, Within my bed he was laid down ; And weel I wat he was 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 ay telling you, which I should of Williamson. Luckie Nansie, luckie Nansie, But ye wad never trow me conjecture to be part of a song prior to the affair 66 (p. 12): Tweedside. I have seen a song calling itself the original Tweedside," and said to have been composed by a Lord It consisted of two stanzas, of which I still recollect the Yester. When Maggy and I was acquaint, I carried ma noddle fu' hie; I woo'd, but I came nae great speed; So now I maun wander abroad, And lay my banes far frae the Tweed ELUCIDATIONS. Note. When J. C. Dick's work is cited it should be understood that, unless otherwise stated, the reference is to his Notes on Scottish Song by Robert Burns, 1908. 66 MS. Item 1: Waukin o' the Fauld.' -This note is in Cromek's Reliques, 1808, 232. Dick prints it (p. 77) as a Spurious Note. According to the manuscript, the word whence of the printed version should be when." 66 Item 2: Maggie Lauder."-Only the title is written on the manuscript. There is no notice of " Maggie Lauder " in the Reliques, but in Select Scotish Songs, 1810, I., 93, Cromek has a note thereon which, be it marked, follows immediately after the one on "The Waukin o' the Faulds." It reads: "This old song, so pregnant with Scottish naivieté and energy, is much relished by all ranks, notwithstanding its broad wit and palpable allusions.- Its language is a precious model of imitation: sly, sprightly, and forcibly expressive. Maggie's tongue wags out the nicknames of Rob the Piper with all the careless lightsomeness of unrestrained gaiety." Item 3: "Mill, Mill, O."-This is in the Reliques, p. 244, with chorus and verse in reverse order, and the last 66 sentence printed in smaller type as a footnote. Cromek must have forgotten that the words so treated were in the manuscript, for in reprinting them in his Select Scotish Songs (vol. I., 133) he appropriates the footnote by adding Ed." No doubt that explains why Mr Dick, in classing the item with his "Spurious Notes" (p. 77), omitted the sentence entirely. There is one slight verbal discrepancy in the printed versions. For It begins" in the manuscript, Cromek printed "It runs thus :-" 66 Item 4: "Bob o' Dumblane."-This interesting anecdote, reminiscent of the Poet's Highland Tour, with its glimpse of his work as a gleaner of traditional song, will be welcomed back to the canon of his authentic writings. It was printed in the Reliques, p. 305, and numbered among Dick's "Spurious Notes" (p. 80). The manuscript and printed renderings agree, with the slight exception that the " is " printed immediately before the poetry is evidently an interpolation. 66 Item 5: O'er the Muir amang the Heather.”—Here the manuscript yields an interesting little discovery. Burns wrote in the interleaved Museum a spicy note (Reliques, p. 296) on the song of this title, in which he ascribed it to an erring daughter of Killie called Jean Glover. Dick's comment (p. 109) is: 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." The verse in the manuscript is quite different from any in the song as published in the fourth volume of the Scots Musical Museum (1792), and in all likelihood we have here an otherwise unrecorded fragment of the old song, as sung by the strolling singer. Thanks to Mr Frank Kidson, of Leeds, I am able to supplement Mr Dick's information about the tune. 66 It is in Thompson's Country Dances for 1758 as In the moor among the heather," probably published in the autumn of 1757, and exactly the same set is in the Universal Magazine for March, 1758. 66 Item 6: The Moudiewort."—The title only is noted on the manuscript. It is the tune for O, for ane-andtwenty, Tam," which, though not dealt with in the Reliques, is printed in Select Scotish Songs, 1810, II., 171, prefixed with the remark : This song is mine.' 66 Item 7 : "Kirk wad let me be."-This very long and rather interesting note (Reliques, 252), branded as spurious by Mr Dick (p. 78), was printed by Cromek with the words appended to the footnote: "This is the Author's note." Mr Dick had abundant grounds for scepticism, and no one could blame him for applying his literary brandingiron, but with all his faults as an editor, and they were many, the Edinburgh University Manuscript proved that Cromek was right, and that note and footnote are alike genuine Burns. Item 8: "Wat ye what my Minnie did?"—Cromek seems to have made no use of these lines, which do not appear in either of his works. Item 9: If ever I marry, I'll marry a wright." Another fragment of song not used by Cromek when he handled the manuscript. Item 10: Lass, and I come near ye."-Cromek likewise ignored this little Note and snatch of song, probably because he printed, as if it were by Burns, one of Riddell's notes relating to "Wha is that at my bower-door?" and the same tune, inferentially signing Burns's name to it by the unauthorised addition of the formula, The words are mine (see Reliques, 301). The air mentioned is, as Burns says, in Aird's work. which Mr Dick dates 1782, but 66 It is in the first book, which Mr Frank Kidson, an even greater authority on Antiquarian Music, says he has good proof was earlier-about 1775-6. |