The maniac. The chevalier's lament, after the battle of Culloden.
Rushton, Edward,1756-1814.
Burns, Robert,1759-1796.Chevalier's lament.
[Edinburgh? : s.n.,
180-?]
Printed on rough provincial rag paper.
Unrecorded printing of Burns' song The Chevalier's Lament, here in a popular broadside form. Aside from its date, which may in fact be very early, the present appearance is of interest for its orthographical and indeed textual differences compared to both the manuscript copy of the poem preserved in Burns' Second Commonplace Book and to its earliest recorded printings. The first stanza was composed in March of 1788, to be sung to the tune of one of Burns' favourite airs, "Captain O'Kane". The poet subsequently adopted a friend's suggestion to complete the song with a Jacobite stanza, supposed to be sung by Bonnie Prince Charlie while wandering in the Highlands following his defeat at the Battle of Culloden. Some time in early 1793 Burns sent a copy of both stanzas to the publisher Thomson, but it did not appear in print until 1799 in Thomson's collection of songs for July. "In the song Burns puts into the mouth of the Young Pretender, there is a sentimental supposition that Bonnie Prince Charlie could live with the loss of a kingdom but not the with the calamity that was visited on the men he called his 'faithful Highlanders' ... It is, like 'The Bonnie Lass of Albanie', one of the songs that celebrates Burns' love-affair with the unfortunate House of Stuart." (Bold: A Burns Companion, pp. 338-339). In stanza 1, line 7, for example, the phrases are reversed: "No birds sweetly singing, nor flowers gaily springing" (here) rather than "No flow'rs gaily springing, nor birds sweetly singing". This conforms to Thomson's text but not to many subsequent printings. In stanza 2, line 8, we read: "Alas! Can I make it no better return" rather than "Alas! Can I make you no sweeter return". This conforms again to Thomson's text, but not to most modern received versions. There are also numerous orthographic and punctuation differences, which occasionally affect meaning (eg. ! rather than ; or ? in Stanza 2, line 2).
Egerer
Scotland Edinburgh.