|
Date: |
|
Description: | Verse 1: 'O love, thou delights in man's ruin, Thy conquests they cost us full dear! Maun I forfeit my life for the viewing The charms o' that lovely Miss Weir, Tho' sometimes thou bid me aspire; Again thou distracts me wi' fear, And Envy o ane that is higher, Wha's even'd to the charming Miss Weir.'
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.
Unfortunately little or nothing is known about the Miss Weir of this song, or in fact about the song itself. According to William Stenhouse, who was editor of the Museum (1853) following Johnson's death, the author of this piece was 'a dissenting clergyman at Biggar' (Glen, 1900). Whilst researching for 'Early Scottish Melodies', Glen was unable to find any occurrence of the melody prior to its publication in the 'Museum'. He did, however, note that 'It is a fine melody, and being within the compass of nine notes, is well suited for the voice.' | 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 IV, song 400, page 413 - 'Miss We | Go to resource |
|
|