"LAND O' THE LEAL."

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8305, 25 November 1915, Page 3

"LAND O' THE LEAL."

WHO WROTE IT?

In an article on Lady Nairno and her songs, which appeared in the last issue of the •''Weekly Scotsman," the author; says that she was the real author of the ".Land p' the Leal."' But was she? Tho question is worth examination. ,; .

Tho song appeared' in George Thomson's "Select Airs'" ,in 1802, and lintil 1868, when Mr Charles Itogers's "Memoirs of Baroness Nairne " were written, the authorship was assigned to Burns. It was fully maintained that he had written it when on his doath-bed, and the song itself bore strong testimony to the fact in the reference to the death of his three--year-old daughter. However, the song had appeared with the name " John " instead of "Jean," and the majority of Burns's editors, not suspecting the disguise, never upheld his claim to it, notwithstanding there were certain ' references, in tho song that did hot apply .to the "John" address. Lady Nairne, seeing that the song was , in an otherwise unfinished state, set to work to improve it. with the result that a new "John" copy appeared in. the " Scottish Minstrel "" about 1823. Evidence For Burns. Previous to this, the true " Jean " copy had appeared in a work entitled " The Lyric Muse of Robert Burns,'' , published by John Smith, Montrose, in , 1819, four years before Lady Nairne's | version was seen or heard of, and it j was \then made apparent that Burns was the real author. The ".John," disguise, which had evidently been . rnkde to prevent id^htificatiion and consequent revelations, had not been ex-; plained, and; thus room Was left for the opinion that the address had been changed falsely to make the song appear as Burns's parting address to his wife. . i Knowing this and knowing also the j fact that Lady Nairne could be said to j have put her hand to the song, Dr. Rogers assigned the authorship to her, supporting her claim by inventing the ] story of; the Colquhoun baby and others j of a like nature. All the so-called proofs I are: controverted';■■ by \ the> internal cvi- ' dence of the song itself, which contains words spelt by no other poet except Burns himself. ' Witness of a Word. Tlie, mis-spelt words are " bonie," " ay;" arid "sell "; but it is the latter that is the most important- Evidenly too much of an error to be allowed by the general printer, this worU for a long time defied all attempts to discover it, except in the oldest copies of the song, as they appear with the " John " address in George

Thomson's works, 1802, Pieter Urbani, ! s lßoi, and in- this " Jean " copy, 1819. j s Therefore it was clear that if such a i peculiarity in the spelling could be ; traced to the writer it «'ould reveal tim authorship. This lias been accomplished, and can be seen in Hately WaddelPs edition of Burns's works, and also in " Johnson's Musical Museum," to which Burns was a large contributor. Thore it remains, a powerful witness, to prove, dospito the many false statements made conoormng it, that the " Land o' the Loal " was written as a. parting addross by the poet to his wife, Jean, whou ha was about to start on that last long jouruoy to tho land " from whoso, bourno no traveller returns."