The first is number 259 in vol. iii. of Johnson’s Musical Museum (1790), signed ‘Z.’ ‘The first half stanza of this song is old—the rest is mine.’—Author’s note in interleaved copy.
The second was written in 1793, and first published in the Morning Chronicle (May, 1794). The old air, Hey, tuttie, taitie, to which Burns ‘fitted’ this poem, is said to have been Bruce’s marching tune at Bannockburn.
The third appeared in the Edinburgh Courant (May 4, 1795), and in the Dumfries Journal (May 5, 1795), and is number 546 in vol. ii. of Johnson’s Musical Museum (1803).
The fourth was written in 1795 for the Irish air Humours of Glen, and published in the Edinburgh Magazine (May, 1797), and in vol. ii. of Thomson’s Scottish Airs (1799).
[CXXXV]–[CXXXVII]
The first is the opening stanza of the sixth canto of The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805).
The second consists of part of stanza 33, and the whole of stanza 34 of the sixth canto of Marmion (1808).
l. 5. vaward. Vanguard.
7. The horn of Roland, nephew of Charlemagne, the sound of which carried a fabulous distance.
The third was written for Albyn’s Anthology (1816). ‘Donuil Dhu’ means ‘Donald the Black.’