Volume VI, song 529, pages 546 and 547 - 'Ah Mary sweetest maid' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verses 1 and 2: 'Ah Mary sweetest maid farewell, My hopes are flown for as to wreck! Heaven guard you love and heal your heart, tho' mine alas maun break, Dearest lad what ills betide? Is Willie to his love untrue? Pledg'd the morn to be your bride! Ah hae ye, hae ye t'en the rue. Ye canna wear a ragged gown, O beggar wed wi' nought a va My kye are drown'd my house is down my last sheep lies a neath the snaw. Tell na me o storm or flood or sheep a' smoor'd ayont the hill, For Willie's sake I Willie lo'ed tho' poor, ye are my Willie still.' ''Kye' are cows and 'smoor'd', in this context, probably means drowned. 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. Sir Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, the eldest son of James Boswell (the biographer of James Johnson), wrote the lyrics to this song. John Glen (1900) writes that the melody to which the song lyrics are adapted is called 'The Maid of Isla', and that it appears in Gow's 'Fourth Collection' (1800). A footnote in Gow's 'Collection' mentions that he is 'indebted to Col. and Lady Charlotte Campbell for this beautiful tune'. Glen says that the song was also published around the same time in single sheet form, under the title 'The Lass of Isla'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503723

Title

Volume VI, song 529, pages 546 and 547 - 'Ah Mary sweetest maid' - 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

- 258 x 211 mm