Volume IV, song 383, pages 396 and 397 - 'Patie's Wedding' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'As Patie cam up frae the glen, Driving his Wethers before him, He met bonie Meg ganging hame, Her beauty was like for to smore him. O dinna ye ken bonie Meg, That you and I's gaen to be married. I rather had broken my leg, Before sic a bargain miscarried.' 'Wethers' probably refers to sheep or lambs and 'smore' is 'to suffocate' or 'smother'. 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. Although Glen (1900) recorded that these verses did in fact appear in David Herd's 'Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs', published in 1776, he concluded that the song itself 'may be relatively modern'. During his research for 'Early Scottish Melodies', Glen was unable to find it in any collection prior to the 'Museum'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503578

Title

Volume IV, song 383, pages 396 and 397 - 'Patie's Wedding' - 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

- 263 x 211 mm