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Description: | Verse 1: 'A rose bud by my early walk, A down a corn inclosed bawk, Sae gently bent its thorny stalk, All on a dewy morning, Ere twice the shades o' dawn are fled, In a' its crimson glory spread, And drooping rich the dewy head, It scents the early morning. 'Ere twice the shades o' dawn are fled, In a' its crimson glory spread, And drooping rich the dewy head, It scents the early morning.' A 'bawk' is a strip of untilled land.
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.
It is believed that the composer of this melody was David Schiller. He was a schoolmaster at Irvine and an acquaintance of Burns. The lyrics themselves were written by Burns. He comments in his personal notes on the song, 'this song I composed on Miss Jeany Cruikshank, only child to my worthy friend Mr William Cruikshank.' Cruikshank was the Latin master at Edinburgh High School and Burns stayed briefly with the family. Jeany, their twelve year old daughter, inspired Burns to write three poems to her. It is recorded that she sang his songs beautifully and was skilled enough to accompany herself. | 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 189, page 197 - 'A Rose | Go to resource |
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