The Romantic-Era Women Writers Project at Nebraska   

 

Bibliographical and Contextual Apparatus

 

Author: Pagan, Isabel (1742-1821)

Title: A Collection of Songs and Poems on Several Occasions

Date: 1808

 

Contemporary Reviews of this Volume

Patterson, James. The Contemporaries of Burns. 1840. Pages 113-123

Isobel, Tibbie Pagan, is the reputed authoress of the following version of “Ca’ the Yoes to the Knowes;”

 “Ca’ the yowes to the knows,
Ca’ them where the heather grows,
Ca’ them where the burnie rows,
My bonie dearie.
As I gaed down the water side
There I met my shepherd lad;
He row’d my sweetly in his plaid
And he ca’d me his dearie.
Will ye gang down the water side
And see the waves sae sweetly glide,
Beneath the hazels spreading wide,
The moon it shines fu’ clearly.
Ye shall get gowns and ribbons meet,
Cauf-leather shoon upon your feet;
And in my arms ye’se lie and sleep;
An’ ye sall be my dearie.
If ye’ll but stand to what ye’ve said,
I’se gang wi’ thee, my shepherd lad,
And ye may row mein your plaid,
And I sall by your dearie.
While water wimple to the sea,
While day blinks in the lift sae hie,
Till clay-cauld death shall blin’ my e’e,
Ye sall be my dearie.


This is a sweet little lyric; and its great superiority to the other known effusions of Isobel, is well calculated to raise a doubt whether it be really hers or not. Cunningham, whom we have had occasion to quote rather frequently, in his “Songs of Scotland”, appends the following note to it: “The song is partly old and partly new; what is old is very old, what is new is written by a gentleman of the name of Pagan, the last verse is very sweet and sincere. To render the song more consistent, I have omitted one verse, in which the heroine is made to express her apprehensions of the moonlight walk by the riverside, though she had been before on the banks of the same steam, and row’d sweetly’ in her shepherd’s plaid. It is very pleasant pastoral, and was once very popular. It’s truth can be felt by all who have led our their flocks to pasture by the green braes, o the healthy hills, and by the running streams. Bums says, “this song is in the true old Scottish taste, yet I do not know that either air or words were ever in print before.”

Douglas, George. Scottish Minor Poets. 1891. Page 290.

Isobel, or Tibbie, Pagan, lived chiefly in her neighborhood of the Muirkirk, in Ayrshire. Deserted in youth by her relations, she was drawn into territories and dissolute habits from which a happier upbringing might have preserved her. She was deformed in person and singularly ill favored; but was noted by her sarcastic wit and her vocal powers. Her chief means of subsistence was the composition of verses, which she would sing for alms. She was also in the habit of satirizing in verse those who had offended her. She added to her slender gains by retailing whisky without a license; and we are informed that often, especially during the shooting season, her hut or hovel would be filled with gentlemen of the aristocracy, who were glad to enjoy a laugh at her humor to hear her sing.

Prepared by Marisa Viramontes, University of Nebraska, Spring 2018
© Marisa Viramontes, 2018