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Wilt thou be my Dearie and Contented wi' little, & cantie wi' mair

Key details

Archive number
NTS/02/25/BRN/02/87
Alt. number
3.6245
Date
November 1794
On display
No
Creator
Burns, Robert (Author)

Description

Wilt thou be my Dearie' and 'Contented wi' little, & cantie wi' mair'. Begins "Wilt thou be my Dearie". Two stanzas of nine-lines each. First published in the "Morning Chronicle", 10th May 1794, Annotation "The Scotch Bard's own handwriting".

The front page of this manuscript contains the song Contented wi' little, & cantie wi' mair. This appears to be an early draft of the work drafted in 1794. Burns offered the song to George Thomson for inclusion in A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice but ultimately gave it to James Johnson for the Scots Musical Museum.

The manuscript also contains an annotation in an unknown hand, 'newly composed and this the first copy, 6th April 1795'.

The reverse contains the song Wilt thou be my Dearie. The song was first published in the Morning Chronicle on 10 May 1794 but it was written at an earlier date. Burns had sent an earlier version to his friend Alexander Cunningham in March of that same year.

Burns considered this one of his best songs, which he set to the old Highland tune of The Suitor's Dochter. The Jeanie of the song is unknown, although it has been speculated that it was based on Janet Miller, the daughter of Burns's friend Patrick Miller.

The manuscript also contains the annotation in an unknown hand, 'The Scotch Bard's own handwriting'.;Begins: "Contented wi little, and cantie wi mair" Composed in November 1794, with annotation, not in R.B.'s hand, "newly composed and this the first copy, 6th April 1795". Four stanzas of four-lines each. With another poem on the reverse of the ms. see item ref 345.02.

Archive information


Hierarchy

  1. Robert Burns, collection of poems and songs ( )
  2. Wilt thou be my Dearie and Contented wi' little, & cantie wi' mair