Volume II, song 163, page 171 - 'For lake of Gold' -...
Volume II, song 163, page 171 - 'For lake of Gold' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)
Verse 1: 'For lake of Gold she's left me Oh! And of all that's dear bereft me Oh! She me forsook, For a great Duke, And to endless care has left me Oh! A star and garter has more art, Than youth, a true and faithful heart; For empty titles we must part. And for glitt'ring show she left me Oh!'
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 Burns, in his notes on the 'Museum', 'the country girls in Ayr Shire instead of the line:- 'She me forsook for a great Duke'; say 'For Athol's Duke she's me forsook''. Burns assumes that the latter is the original version. It is thought that the song was written by Dr Austin, an Edinburgh-based physician. Glen (1900) suggests that the title of the tune, which is much older than the song itself, inspired the subject of Austin's verses.
Volume II, song 163, page 171 - 'For lake of Gold' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)