Volume IV, song 303, pages 312 and 313 - 'Hughie Graham' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Our lords are to the mountains gane, A hunting o' the fallow deer, And they hae gripet Hughie Graham For stealing o' the Bishop's mare.' 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. In his handwritten notes on the 'Museum', Burns wrote that 'There are several editions of this ballad. This here inserted, is from oral tradition in Ayrshire, where, when I was a boy, it was a popular song. It, originally, had a simple old tune which I have forgotten.' According to Glen (1900), the melody provided here was included in book twelve of James Oswald's 'Caledonian Pocket Companion' (1759), under the title 'Drimen Duff'. It is generally considered to be of Highland origin and is also known by the title 'Drumion dubh'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503499

Title

Volume IV, song 303, pages 312 and 313 - 'Hughie Graham' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Object Type

PhysicalObject

Measurements

- 263 x 211 mm