Volume III, song 256, page 265 - 'Song of Selma' - Scanned...
Volume III, song 256, page 265 - 'Song of Selma' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Ullin, Carril and Ryno, Voices of the days of old, let me hear you while yet it is dark, to please and awake my soul. I hear you not ye sons of song; in what hall of the Clouds in your Rest; do you touch the shadowy Harp, Robed with morning mist, where the rising Sun comes forth from his green headed waves from his green headed waves.'
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.
There are several songs contained in the 'Museum' which are based on the ancient Irish folk story of Selma, such as songs 116 and 119. Selma was the castle, home and power base of the Irish warrior-poet Ossian or Ossin. In the 1760s James MacPherson (1736-1796) 'rediscovered' fragments of poems produced by the ancient Irish hero Ossian. This was challenged by members of literary society at the time, who suggested MacPherson had written them himself. The debate over the origin of the poems still continues today.
Volume III, song 256, page 265 - 'Song of Selma' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)