Ramsay, I suppose, had thought
the old verses unworthy of a place in his collection.
* * * * *
THE FLOWERS OF EDINBURGH.
This song is one of the many effusions of Scots Jacobitism.--The title
"Flowers of Edinburgh," has no manner of connexion with the present
verses, so I suspect there has been an older set of words, of which
the title is all that remains.
By the bye, it is singular enough that the Scottish muses were all
Jacobites.--I have paid more attention to every description of Scots
songs than perhaps anybody living has done, and I do not recollect one
single stanza, or even the title of the most trifling Scots air, which
has the least panegyrical reference to the families of Nassau or
Brunswick; while there are hundreds satirizing them.--This may be
thought no panegyric on the Scots Poets, but I mean it as such. For
myself, I would always take it as a compliment to have it said, that
my heart ran before my head,--and surely the gallant though
unfortunate house of Stewart, the kings of our fathers for so many
heroic ages, is a theme * * * * * *
* * * * *
JAMIE GAY.
Jamie Gay is another and a tolerable Anglo-Scottish piece.
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