Volume I, song 091, page 92 - 'I'll never leave thee' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'One day I heard Mary say, How shall I leave thee! Stay, dearest Adonis, stay; Why wilt thou grieve me! grieve me! Alas! my fond heart will break, If thou shou'd leave me. I'll live and die for thy sake, Yet never leave thee, leave thee.' 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. Burns commented on this song, in his collection notes, 'This is another of Crawford's songs, but I do not think in his happiest manner. What an absurdity to join such names as Adonis and Mary together'. Adonis a Greek hero who eventually had to split his time between being alone and being with Aphrodite and Persephone. He is associated with beauty as well as decay and regeneration, especially of vegetation.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503286

Title

Volume I, song 091, page 92 - 'I'll never leave thee' - 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

- 130 x 211 mm