Volume II, song 119, pages 123 and 124 - 'Song of Selma' -...
Volume II, song 119, pages 123 and 124 - 'Song of Selma' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'It is night. I am alone, forlorn on the hill of Storms. The Wind is heard in the Mountain, the Torrent shrieks down the Rocks, no Hut receives me from the Rain; forlorn on the Hill of Winds. Rise, Moon, from behind thy Clouds: Stars of the Night appear! Lend me Light to the Place where my Love Rests from the Toil of the chace; His Bow near him unstrung, His Dogs Panting around him. But here I must sit a lone, by the rock of the mossy Stream; The stream and the wind Roar, nor can I Hear the voice of my Love, the voice of my Love.' For 'The Maid of Selma' see song 116.
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.
According to Glen (1900), the earliest known appearance of this melody was in book three of Neil Stewart's 'Thirty Scots Songs', published in 1781. Whilst some claim the tune was composed by James Oswald, there is no real evidence to support this. It is also claimed that the words were taken from Ossian's 'Songs of Selma'. Ossian or Oisin was a legendary Irish warrior and poet. Selma was the name given to his castle.
Volume II, song 119, pages 123 and 124 - 'Song of Selma' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)