Broadside ballads entitled 'Scots Wha Hae and 'And has She then Fail'd in her Truth'

Commentary

Verse 1: 'SCOTS, wha hae wi' Wallace bled- / Scots, wham Bruce has aften led - / Welcome to your gory bed, / Or to victorie! / Now's the day and now's the hour! / See the front of battle lour! / See approach poor Edward's pow'r! / Chains, and slaverie!'

Verse 1: 'AND has she then fail'd in her truth, / The beautiful maid I adore, / Shall I never again hear her voice, / Nor see her lov'd form any more, / No, no, no, I shall never see her more.' This sheet was published in London for 'wholesale and retail'. The exact location of the publisher has been obscured.

This broadside contains a strange combination of songs. The second is a despairing tale of love lost. The first, 'Scots Wha Hae', is a hymn to Scottish independence written by Robert Burns. It was intended to be sung to an old Scots air, 'Hey, tuttie taitie', which was traditionally thought to have been Robert the Bruce's marching song at Bannockburn. When Burns wrote 'Scots Wha Hae' in 1794, the French Republic had just declared war on Britain, and publication of the song was delayed until 1799 because of its perceived revolutionary sympathies.

previous