Volume III, song 276, page 285 - 'The Braes o' Ballochmyle'...
Volume III, song 276, page 285 - 'The Braes o' Ballochmyle' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'The Catrine woods were yellow seen, The flowers decay'd on Catrine lee, Nae lav'rock sang on hillock green, But nature sicken'd on the e'e. Thro' faded groves Maria sang, Hersel' in beauty's bloom the while, And ay the wild wood echoes rang, Fareweel the braes o' Ballochmyle.' 'Lee' is uncultivated land, a 'lav'rock' is a lark and 'e'e' is an eye.
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 Robert Burns around 1785, and is also known by the title 'Farewell to Ballochmyle'. In his handwritten notes on the 'Museum', Burns recorded that 'I composed the verses on the amiable and excellent family of Whiteford's leaving Ballochmyle, when Sir John's misfortunes had obliged him to sell the estate.' A partner in the Ayrshire bank, Douglas, Heron and Company, Sir John Whiteford lost his entire fortune when the bank failed in 1772. In the song, Maria is said to be Sir John's daughter Mary Anne. The accompanying tune, composed by Burns's friend Allan Masterton (d 1799), so impressed Burns at the time that he wrote another song for it, entitled 'The Lass o' Ballochmyle'.
Volume III, song 276, page 285 - 'The Braes o' Ballochmyle' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)