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HISTORICAL NOTES |
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of the old song which Burns rewrote or amended. In Leydens MS., 1692, the tune is styled Killie Crankie; and a phrase of My mistres blush is bonie in the Skene MS., c. 1630, is a part of the air.
Ko. 301. The bonniest lad that^e'er I saw. Scots Musical Museum, 1796, No. 468. Centenary Burns, 1877, "'• J72> >s 'n tne British Museum. This sprig of militant Jacobitism is a revised version of a small portion of a long song of the 1745 period with the additional first stanza by Burns. The tune is entitled If thou It play me fair play from the first line of a song in Loyal Songs, 1750. The music is earlier than the Rebellion of 1745. It is in Oswald's Curious Scots Tunes, 1742 ; in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1743, i. 36, without a title; in Bremner's Scots Reels, 1759,47; Campbell's Reels, 1778, 70; Aird's Airs, 1782, i. No. 32. It is corrupted in the Scots Musical Museum, 1796, No. 468.
No. 302. By yon Castle wa' at the close of the day. Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. 313. The MS. is in the British Museum. A copy was sent to Alexander Cunningham," Edinburgh, on March 12, 1791, in a letter, in which Burns says : ' You must know a beautiful Jacobite air There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame. When political combustion ceases to be the object of princes and patriots, it then, you know, becomes the lawful prey of historians and poets. If you like the air, and if the stanzas hit your fancy, you cannot imagine, my dear friend, how much you would oblige me if, by the charms of your delightful voice, you would give my honest effusion to " the memory of joys that are past" to the few friends whom you indulge in that pleasure.'
The following note is in the Interleaved' Museum by Burns. ' This tune is sometimes called " There's few good fellows when Jamie's awa," —but I never have been able to meet with anything else of the song than the title.' The song referred to is unknown ; it was on the Stuarts, and was probably suppressed.
The tune is in Oswald's Curious Scots Tunes, 1740, 22, and the same publisher's Caledonian'Pocket Companion, 1743, i. 20, with the title as in the text; and in McGibbon's Scots Tunes, 1742, 30, entitled Ther'11 never be peace till Jamie comes hame. See No. 21 supra. °—C vjo. xt\.
No. 303. I hae been at Crookieden. Scots Musical Museum, 1792, No. 332, entitled Bonie laddie, highland laddie. The MS. is in the British Museum. This, with Nos. 301 and 306, is representative of a large class common to the eighteenth century which exercised considerable influence on the politics of the country. The present song appeared in Hogg's Jacobite Relics, 1821, ii. 202, considerably enlarged probably by Hogg, who let himself go in very violent language. A very inoffensive model of Burns is in a MS. of the period to which the song refers. ' Willie' and ' the Duke' of the text are the Dnke of Cumberland, who is represented in Satan's hall waiting to be roasted and basted.
The tune, according to Mr. Glen, is in Rutherford's Country Dances, 1749, as The new highland laddie; it is in Oswald's Companion, 1754, vi. 1, entitled The old highland laddie as marked by Burns on the MS. of his verses.
No. 304. 'Twas on a Monday morning. Scots Musical Museum, 1796, No. 428, entitled Charlie he's my darling. No signature, initial, or note. ' Written for this work by Robert Burns,' so often attached to songs in the later issues of Johnson's Museum, indicates the source, but there can be no doubt that the holograph of Burns in the British Museum is the original manuscript of the verses. No trace of any such song, not even a title, is in the musical and other Collections of Scottish song, and presumably Charlie he's my darling is a pure original. Stenhouse, in Illustrations. 1839, first connected Burns in these words : ' 'Twas on a Monday morning' was communicated by Burns to the editor of the Museum. The air was modernized by Clarke. The reader will find a genuine copy of the old air in Hogg'sjacobite Relics, 1821, ii. pa.' On this I may remark that Stenhouse is not known to |
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