Volume I, song 065, page 66 - 'There's my Thumb, I'll ne'er beguile 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: 'Betty early gone a maying, Met her lover Willie straying, Drift, or chance, no matter whether, This we know, he reason'd with her; Mark, dear maid, the turtles cooing, Fondly billing, kindly wooing! See, how ev'ry bush discovers Happy pairs of feather'd lovers!' 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. Turtle doves are the time honoured symbol of true love and constancy. The notion began during the middle ages which is famed for its ideas of 'courtly love' and symbolism. It was believed that turtle doves only ever picked one partner and then they lived together forever.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503260

Title

Volume I, song 065, page 66 - 'There's my Thumb, I'll ne'er beguile 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