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Description: | This is the manuscript Burns wrote to give to Stewart & Meikle, the publishers of its first twopenny edition. The Cantata is a series of tales influenced by John Gay's Beggars Opera and other works. Burns relates the life stories of eight local vagabonds assembled in a Mauchline Inn in a loquacious and jolly mood. (poem no 84)
When at Mossgeil in 1785 Burns and friend John Richmond visited an Inn in Mauchline where they experienced the inebriated setting and vagabond characters which inspired this work. It was his only attempt at a longer work capable of being staged.
In Page 13 the bard seems just too like Burns himself. He wanted always to be glad, well watered and never to be sad. His muse encouraged him to sing of his poesy and his fame. His is a local inspiration and he does love the lassies. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | Burns Monument Trust | Temporal: | 1785-01-01 - 1785-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Poem by Robert Burns: 'The Jolly Beggars | Go to resource |
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