Volume III, song 211, page 220 - 'Leader haughs and Yarrow' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'The morn was fair, saft was the air, All nature's sweets were springing, The buds did bow with silver dew, Tenthousand birds were singing; When on the bent, with blyth content, Young Jamie sang his marrow, Nae bonnier lass e'er trod the grass, On Leader haughs and Yarrow.' 'Marrow' is Scots for partner, spouse or lover. 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. Burns commented, in his notes on the 'Museum', that 'there is in several collections, the old song of 'Leader haughs and Yarrow'. It seems to have been the work of one of our itinerant minstrels, as he calls himself, at the conclusion of his song 'Minstrel Burn'.' The tune is known to have appeared in a number of early song collections prior to its inclusion in the 'Museum', including the second volume of William Thomson's 'Orpheus Caledonius' (1733).

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503408

Title

Volume III, song 211, page 220 - 'Leader haughs and Yarrow' - 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

- 132 x 211 mm