Volume III, song 249, page 258 - 'Whistle o'er the lave...
Volume III, song 249, page 258 - 'Whistle o'er the lave o't' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'First when Maggy was my care, Heaven, I thought, was in her air; Now we're married, spier nae mair, But Whistle o'er the lave o't. Meg was meek and Meg was mild, Sweet and harmless as a child; Wiser men than me's beguil'd, so Whistle o'er the lave o't.' 'Speir' is to ask and in this context 'lave' means remainder or the rest of it.
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 is a tradition which states that this song was written by John Bruce (1720?-85). Bruce was born in Braemar and eventually moved to Dumfries, where it is thought this was composed. He was also a famous fiddler of the time, and unfortunately for him a Jacobite. These political views resulted in a period of imprisonment in Edinburgh Castle. Burns moved to Ellisland, Dumfries in 1788, and so there is a chance that both men were acquainted.
Volume III, song 249, page 258 - 'Whistle o'er the lave o't' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)