Volume III, song 246, pages 254 and 255 - 'Cease, cease my dear friend to explore' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Cease, cease my dear friend to explore From whence and how piercing my smart, Let the charms of the nymph I adore Excuse and interpret my heart. Then how much I admire you shall prove, When like me you are taught to admire, And imagine how boundless my love, When you number the charms that inspire.' 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, in his friend Riddell's copy of the 'Museum', wrote notes on the songs in the interleaving pages. He left a short script on this song, 'The Song is by Dr Blacklock; and I believe, but am not quite certain, that the air is his too'. Dr Thomas Blacklock, originally from Dumfriesshire, was both a friend and mentor to the young Burns. He wrote numerous pieces for the 'Museum', and seems to have been a good source of information on older songs.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503443

Title

Volume III, song 246, pages 254 and 255 - 'Cease, cease my dear friend to explore' - 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

- 263 x 211 mm