Volume III, song 251, page 260 - 'Happy Clown' - Scanned...
Volume III, song 251, page 260 - 'Happy Clown' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'Hid from himself, now by the dawn, He starts as fresh as roses blawn; And ranges o'er the heights and lawn After his bleeting flocks. Healthful and innocently gay, He chants and whistles out the day; Untaught to smile, and then betray Like courtly weathercocks.'
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.
This song was written by Allan Ramsay (1686-1758) and eventually featured in his pastoral musical, 'The Gentle Shepherd' (1725). Pastoral themes had become very popular amongst eighteenth century society and were reflected in fashions, art and music, as well as literature. This early pastoral style was much more idealised and golden than Burns's later more down-to-earth and realistic approach to representing his society. It is thought that the tune was English, pastoral literature having a very strong basis in England, and Ramsay simply reused the tune.
Volume III, song 251, page 260 - 'Happy Clown' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)