Broadside ballads entitled 'Donald's Return To Glencoe' and 'Scotland Yet'

Commentary

The first ballad begins: 'As I was walking one evening of late, / When Flora's green mantle the field decorate, / I carelessly wandered, where I did not know, / On the banks of a fountain that lies in Glencoe.' This sheet was published by James Lindsay of 11 King Street, Glasgow.

The second ballad begins: 'Gae bring my guid auld harp ance mair, / Gae bring it free and fast, / For I maun sing anither sang, / E'er a' my glee be past . . . '

This broadside contains two separate ballads, thus providing the buyer with two songs for the price of one. In 'Donald's Return To Glencoe', a young man meets a young woman at the banks of a fountain in Glencoe. Despite the ominous setting for their meeting, this ballad is in fact a love song - with the last verse suddenly revealing a happy and unexpected twist in the tale. The second ballad, 'Scotland Yet', is an epic-type eulogy to a Scotland of the glorious past, with references to William Wallace, the Ossian poems and 'freedom'.

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