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Description: | Verse 1: 'At Polwart on the green, If you'll meet me the morn, Where lasses do conveen, To dance about the thorn: A kindly welcome you shall meet, Frae her wha likes to view, A lover and a lad compleat, The lad and lover you.'
The 'Scots Musical Museum' is the most important of the numerous eighteenth- and nineteenth-century collections of Scottish song. When the engraver James Johnson started work on the second volume of his collection in 1787, he enlisted Robert Burns as contributor and editor. Burns enthusiastically collected songs from various sources, often expanding or revising them, whilst including much of his own work. The resulting combination of innovation and antiquarianism gives the work a feel of living tradition.
This song is believed to have been written by Allan Ramsay and published by him 1720. It must have been known before this, however, as it also appeared in Mrs Crocket's Manuscript written up in 1709. It went on to be printed in most of the well known song collections of the day, before eventually appearing in this publication. Burns, however, was unsure of the authorship of the piece although he does not appear to have any further suggestions. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 | Publisher: | National Library of Scotland | Temporal: | 1787-01-01 - 1803-12-31 | Source: | Burns Scotland | Identifier: | Volume II, song 183, page 191 - 'Polwart | Go to resource |
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