Volume IV, song 364, page 375 - 'Nithsdall's welcome hame' - 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 noble Maxwels & their powers, Are coming o'er the border, And they'll gae big Terreagles towers & set them a' in order. And they declare, Terreagles fair, For their abode they chuse it, There's no a heart in a' the land, But's lighter at the news o't. And they declare, Terreagles fair, For their abode they chuse it, There's no a heart in a' the land, But's lighter at the news o't.' 'Gae' means 'to go' and 'big' means 'to build'. 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. The song by Burns is written in 'epic return' style to commemorate the return of Lady Winifred Maxwell (1736-1801) to her ancestral home of Terreagles. Lady Winifred was the sole surviving child of the last Earl of Nithsdale, who lost his lands to the Crown following his involvement in the 1715 Jacobite Uprising. Like her father, Lady Winifred was also a staunch Jacobite, and Burns sometimes visited her at her rebuilt home. Burns also wrote letters to Lady Winifred, in which he waxes lyrically and romantically about 'the king o'er the water'. In 1758, Lady Winifred married William Haggerston, Constable of Everingham, thus taking on the name and arms of the Maxwell clan - hence the reference to Maxwell in the opening line. John Glen (1900) concurs with Stenhouse's view that Burns's lyrics were adapted to an air composed by Robert Riddell of Glenriddell.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503560

Title

Volume IV, song 364, page 375 - 'Nithsdall's welcome hame' - 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

- 132 x 211 mm