Broadside ballads entitled 'Burns and his Highland Mary' and 'Gae Bring tae me a Pint o' Wine'

Commentary

The first of these pieces begins: 'In green Caledonia there ne'er were twa lovers / Sae enraptured and happy in each ither's arms, / As Burns the sweet bard and his dear Highland Mary / And fondly and sweetly he sang o' her charms.' A simple woodcut of three children sitting on a fence decorates the top of the sheet.

The second ballad begins: 'Gae bring tae me a pint o' wine, / And fill it in a silver tassie, / That I may drink, before I go, / A service to my bonnie lassie.'

The National Library of Scotland has several broadsides in its collection on the subject of Robert Burns (1759-96) and Highland Mary's pastoral romance. Indeed, Burns wrote several poems about her himself: 'Gae Bring tae me . . .' often called 'The Silver Tassie', is one such piece. In it, Burns bemoans that he must leave his 'bonnie Mary' and commentators have judged it safe to assume that this refers to Mary Campbell, or Highland Mary.

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