482 Rattling, Roaring Willie. By the late Sir W. Elliot. 



Allan Ramsay's song is also given in David Herd's collection 

 of "Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs." 1 



In the 1th vol. of the 1st edition of Geo. Thomson's " Select 

 Melodies of Scotland," there is a song set to this air, written by 

 Mrs Grant of Laggan "in summer of 1803, when it was under- 

 stood that a negotiation for bringing Mr P 2 into office had 



failed." 



" Oh wise and valiant Willy, 

 Would ye but grip the helm, 

 My blessings on the day 



Ye rose to guide the realm." 1 ' 



In 1822, Thomson began to publish an 8vo edition of his 

 " Select Melodies," and for this edition, modern words were 

 specially written by Wm. Smyth, and set to the old air — 

 " Around this festive table, 



That smiles with ladies gay." 4 



In Stenhouse's notes to Johnson's " Musical Museum" he says, 

 in reference to this air, that it appears in Oswald's " Pocket 

 Companion," vol. vn., p. 9. 



R. Chambers, in the introduction to his "Scottish Songs," 5 

 alludes to an old collection of airs written soon after the Revolu- 

 tion, for the Lyra Viol, in which, Leyden informed him, he found 

 amongst a number of Scottish tunes, " Bonny, Roaring Willie ;" 

 also Dauney in his dissertation on the Skene MSS. in alluding 

 to this tune, as being in one of Andrew Blaikie's MSS. of 1683 

 or 92, puts a query whether this is the same air as "Rattling, 

 Roaring Willie," 6 but was apparently unable to answer it. This 

 however Mr Muir Wood has been able to do, as having trans- 

 lated it from the old tablature from. the Leyden MSS. in the 

 Advocates' Libi'ary (No. 69, Bony, Roaring Willie), he has been 

 able to identify it as a version of the same air. 



Besides being a very old one, the air seems to have been also 

 popular as a pipe tune. Mr Muir Wood has sent me copies of 

 several old versions. 



1. Ranting Boaring Willie, from a Northumbrian MSS. of Henry 



Atkinson, Hartburn, 1694. 



2. Wully's gane to France. 



1 1st Edition, 1769, p. 167. (verified by W. Barclay Squire, British 

 Museum). - William Pitt. 



3 Vol. iv., p. 153. (com. by Mr Muir Wood, and verified by Mr Barclay 

 Squire). 4 Vol. v., p. 35. 5 Introduction, p. xl. 



Ancient Scottish Melodies, Bannatyne Club, 1838, p. 144, 



