Volume IV, song 395, page 408 - 'On the Death of Delia's...
Volume IV, song 395, page 408 - 'On the Death of Delia's Linnet' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'O, all ye loves and groves lament, And you of hearts humane, Our darling linnets breath is spent, And all our tears are vain. Its sweetly varied voice no more, Shall strike my Delia's ear, It visits now the Stygian shore, Whence no returns are here.' A 'linnet' is a finch and the 'Stygian shore' relates to the River Styx, an underworld river in Greek mythology across which Charon ferries the souls of the dead. Delia was a name commonly used in seventeenth-century pastoral poems. It originates from an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis, which makes mentions of her birthplace 'Delios'.
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.
According to John Glen (1900), the accompanying melody was a modern, 'but, nevertheless, an excellent', composition. Neither song nor melody are known to have appeared in print prior to the 'Museum'. Glen further noted that Johnson received both anonymously, and never did discover the identity of the author.
Volume IV, song 395, page 408 - 'On the Death of Delia's Linnet' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)