Volume III, song 252, page 261 - 'Donald and Flora' -...
Volume III, song 252, page 261 - 'Donald and Flora' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'When merry hearts were gay, Careless of ought but play, Poor Flora slipt away Sad'ning to Mora. Loose flow'd her coal black hair, quick heav'd her bosom bare, And thus to the troubled air She vented her sorrow.'
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.
Robert Riddell of Glenriddell, a close friend of Burns, kept notes on some of the songs in the interleaving pages of the 'Museum'. He commented on this song, 'this is one of those fine Gallick tunes, preserved from time immemorial in the Hebrides'. Riddell believed that this song was written to commemorate General Burgoyne's journey to America in 1777. Later commentator's have suggested that the song was written by Hector MacNeill about a soldier who fell at the Battle of Saratoga. The Battle of Bemis Heights at Saratoga, New York, was the turning point for the American patriots during the War of Independence. After months struggling down from Canada, Burgoyne and his British, Canadian and Indian forces were forced on to a ledge and starved out. The American attacks on them were brutal and Burgoyne surrendered on the 15 October, and the Convention of Saratoga was effected on 17 October 1777.
Volume III, song 252, page 261 - 'Donald and Flora' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)