Dance The Bumpkin 862

The song “A Country Bumpkin”, which gives title to this dance,
was included in the ballad opera “The Cobbler's Opera”, produced in 1729.

William Stenhouse states under the heading “The Shepherd's Wife”:
“This old comic song appears in Herd's Collection, Vol. 11.
It contains two verses more than the copy inserted in the *Museum*,
which were chiefly omitted on the score of delicacy.
The pretty tune to which the words are adapted in the *Museum* was communicated by Burns;
but a respectable old lady informed the Editor, that, in her early days,
the verses were usually sung to the well known air of ‘Bab at the Bowster’,
*alias* ‘The Country Bumpkin’.”

The original first verse from Herd is as follows:

The shepherd's wife cries o'er the lee,  
  Cries o'er the lee, cries o'er the lee,  
The shepherd's wife cries o'er the lee,  
  Will ye come hame again e'en, jo?  
What shall I ha'e gin I come hame,  
  Gin I come hame, gin I come hame,  
What shall I ha'e gin I come hame,  
  Gin I come hame again e'en, jo?

Burns' version as published in James Johnson's *The Scots Musical Museum*, Volume 4, of 1792
repeats the first verse for the supposedly objectionable three verses.

The shepherd's wife cries o'er the knowe,  
  “Will ye come hame, will ye come hame?”  
The shepherd's wife cries o'er the knowe,  
  “Will ye come hame again e'en, jo?”

“O what will ye gie me to my supper,  
  Gin I come hame, gin I come hame,  
O what will ye gie me to my supper,  
  Gin I come hame again e'en, jo?”

While the similarity of the first verses in both versions is striking,
Burns' total effort lacks the vitality of the old song published by Herd in 1776.
The anonymous verses are amusing.
Burns' song is insipid and considering the content of his *Merry Muses of Caledonia*
one wonders why he let such an opportunity slip by.

On the last page of Niel Gow's *Fourth Repository*, 1817, set beside the tune “Elsie Marly”,
are the figures of the “Old Country Bumpkin”,
and the note that the original tune is to be found in the *First Repository*.
Consideration of the directions for the old dances and their translation
for today's Scottish country dancers generates a deep respect for the work of
The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.