Volume IV, song 371, page 383 - 'Ye Jacobites by Name' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Ye Jacobites by name give an ear, give an ear; Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear; Ye Jacobites by name Your fautes I will proclaim Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear.' The word 'fautes' can mean faults, injuries, defects or wants. Such ambiguity may well be deliberate and mischievous. 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. Though this was originally an anti-Jacobite song dating from 1746, the ambiguity of language means that is it is very difficult to decode what Burns, in his rewrite of the song, is in fact saying about the deposed Stuart monarchy. With a family to provide for, Burns, like everyone else during this era, had to be flexible in matters concerning politics and religion, so was always on guard to disguise his alleged sympathies for 'the king o'er the water'. However, Bill Watkins (2000) claims that 'Burns 'toned it down substantially, making it more of a general anti-war song than a political statement'. Burns certainly enjoyed the traditional Whig Calvinist v. Romantic Jacobite divide of the Scottish psyche, and mischievously employed these opposing characters as muses for his creativity.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503567

Title

Volume IV, song 371, page 383 - 'Ye Jacobites by Name' - 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