Volume II, song 195, page 203 - 'Where braving angry...
Volume II, song 195, page 203 - 'Where braving angry winter's storms' - 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 the tune of N(eil) Gow's 'Lamentation for Abercairny'): 'Where braving angry winter's storms, The lofty Ochels rise, Far in their shade, my Peggy's charms First blest my wondering Eyes.' Verse 2: 'As one who by some savage stream, A lonely gem surveys, Astonish'd doubly marks it beam, With arts most polish'd blaze.'
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.
The lyrics for this song were composed by Robert Burns. He writes in his personal notes on the 'Museum', 'this song I composed on one of the most accomplished of women, Miss Peggy Chalmers that was, now Mrs Lewis Hay of Forbes and Co's bank, Edinburgh'. The tune, a slow air, was written by the famous fiddler Neil Gow. He had a close relationship of patronage with the Duke of Atholl and his family. The song was published in Gow's collection in 1784 and was dedicated to the Duchess of Atholl.
Volume II, song 195, page 203 - 'Where braving angry winter's storms' - Scanned from the 1853 edition of the 'Scots Musical Museum', James Johnson and Robert Burns (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1853)