Volume III, song 204, page 213 - 'I love my Love in secret'...
Volume III, song 204, page 213 - 'I love my Love in secret' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'My Sandy gied to me a ring, Was a' beset wi' diamonds fine; But I gied him a far better thing, I gied my heart in pledge o' his ring. My Sandy O, my Sandy O, My bony, bony Sandy; O; Tho' the love that I owe to thee I dare na show, Yet I love my love in secret my Sandy O.' The words to a another song sung to the same tune are also given. It begins, 'The smiling plains profusely gay, Are dress'd in all the pride of May,'.
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.
The first song was either written, revised or collected for the 'Museum' by Robert Burns. The melody, an old Scots measure, can be traced back through a number of earlier collections. It appeared in Henry Playford's 'Collection of Original Scotch Tunes', published in 1700, Margaret Sinkler's Manuscript Music Book (1710), Mrs Crockat's Manuscript (1709) and, untitled, in Agnes Hume's Manuscript (1704).
Volume III, song 204, page 213 - 'I love my Love in secret' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)