Volume III, song 228, page 237 - 'The black Eagle' -...
Volume III, song 228, page 237 - 'The black Eagle' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Hark! yonder Eagle lonely wails; His faithful bosom grief assails: Last night I heard him in my dream, When death and woe were all the theme. Like that poor bird I make my moan, I grieve for dearest Delia gone, With him to gloomy rocks I fly, He mourns for love and so do I.'
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 has a left a comment in his personal notes, which reads, 'this song is by Dr Fordyce, whose merits as a prose writer are well-known'. Burns does not state which of the four Fordyce brothers was responsible for this song, although James Fordyce is now believed to have written it.
Volume III, song 228, page 237 - 'The black Eagle' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)