The Battle of Sherramuir - Burns' Revisions

Burns' Revisions

The manuscript, in Burns' clear hand, also contained written notes by Currie thereby proving its provenance. The justification for the publication by Currie of all of Burns' revisions are contained in the manuscript. Burns dropped the chorus line of the original and made significant changes to stanza five and stanza six. In the revised stanza five, the more sceptical of the two shepherds blames the "Angus lads" for being too fond of their wooden bowls of porridge "cogs o'brose" to risk death in battle:

"The Angus lads had nae gude will,
That day their neebours' blude to spill,
For fear, by foes, that they should lose,
Their cogs o'brose; all crying woes,
And so it goes you see, man."

The last two lines are evidence of Burns' alteration of the original stanza five which read:

"Their cogs o'brose, they scar'd at blows,
And homeward fast did flee, man."

In stanza six, Burns changed the original lines:

"Lord Panmuir is slain,
Or in his en'mies' hands man,"

To negate the more general observation about "en'mies" to provide a much more specific account:

"Or fall'n in Whiggish hands, man."

That Scottish Tories gave their lives, while Whigs ran away, is the final wry observation, enlarged from three lines to four:

"Then ye may tell, how pell an mell,
By red claymores and musket's knell,
Wi'dying yell, how Tories fell,
And Whigs to hell,
Flew off in frighted bands, man."

However, a pen stroke through these very lines indicates Burns' dissatisfaction with them and his earlier three-line version is allowed to stand on the final page:

"Say, pell mell, wi' muskets' knell
How Tories fell, and Whigs to hell,
Flew off in frighted bands, man."

The manuscript shows that Currie adopted the new four-line version, in the editions he published from 1800 onwards, despite the fact that Burns had rejected it. He also adopted the title used in his own endorsement, omitted one of the best lines in stanza two, and made minor corrections. There are other deleted lines or half lines where Burns contemplated changes. On the one hand, some deletions and insertions seem to result from Burns writing in haste and either miscopying or misremembering the original.

All of the variations between the original version published in the Scottish Musical Museum and the definitive version published by Currie after Burns' death, including punctuation, are noted in James Kinsley's modern scholarly edition of "The Poems and Songs" (Oxford, 1968). Kinsley, however, omits to note that it was this manuscript, drafted by Burns, which led to the definitive version of the song published by James Currie.