On
the other hand, his perception and his love of music are undeniable.
For example, he possessed copies of the principal collections of
Scottish vocal and instrumental music of the eighteenth century, and
repeatedly refers to them in the Museum and in his letters. His copy
of the _Caledonian Pocket Companion_ (the largest collection of
Scottish music), which copy still exists with pencil notes in his
handwriting, proves that he was familiar with the whole contents. At
intervals in his writings he names at least a dozen different
collections to which he refers and from which he quotes with personal
knowledge. Also he knew several hundred different airs, not vaguely
and in a misty way, but accurately as regards tune, time, and rhythm,
so that he could distinguish one from another, and describe minute
variations in the several copies of any tune which passed through his
hands.... Many of the airs he studied and selected for his verses were
either pure instrumental tunes, never before set to words, or the airs
(from dance books) of lost songs, with the first lines as
titles."--(James C. Dick, _The Songs of Robert Burns_, 1903, Preface,
pp. viii, ix.)
Again, once when Thomson had sent him a tune to be fitted with words,
he replied:
"_Laddie lie near me_ must _lie by me_ for some time. I do not
know the air; and until I am complete master of a tune in my own
singing (such as it is), I never can compose for it.
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