Volume II, song 166, page 174 - 'Tune, 'Here's a health to my true love, &c'' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)

Verse 1: 'To me what are riches encumbred with care. To me what is pomp's insignificant glare? No minion of fortune, no pageant of state, Shall ever induce me to envy his fate.' 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. In his notes on the 'Museum', Burns commented that 'this song is Dr Blacklock's. He told me that tradition gives the air to our James 4th of Scotland'. Dr Thomas Blacklock (1721-91) was a poet and friend of Burns. He is known to have contributed a number of songs to the 'Museum'. These verses have been adapted to this ancient air purported to be by King James IV. Glen (1900) doubted the royal origins of this melody and believed that if this were true, the melody would most certainly have appeared in collections prior to the 'Museum'.

Collection

Scots Musical Museum

Inventory Number

4503362

Title

Volume II, song 166, page 174 - 'Tune, 'Here's a health to my true love, &c'' - 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