Volume V, song 443, page 454-5 - 'The wee thing: or Mary of Castle Cary' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'Saw ye my wee thing; Saw ye mine ain thing? Saw ye my true love down on yon lea? Cross'd she the meadow, yestreen at the gloaming? sought she the burnie whar flw'rs the haw tree?' 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 language used in this song is mainly Scots dialect and as a result can seem a little inaccessible at first. A rough translation would read as, 'Have you seen my little thing; Have you seen my own thing? / Have you seen my true love down on that there lea? / Did she cross the meadow, yesterday at dusk / Was she looking for the burn where the hawthorn tree flowers?'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503637

Title

Volume V, song 443, page 454-5 - 'The wee thing: or Mary of Castle Cary' - 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

- 258 x 211 mm