Excerpt from a letter from ROBERT TANNAHILL to JAMES BARR.

—Ramsay, page xlii.

PAISLEY, 24th December, 1809.

“You will no doubt have frequently observed how much some old people are given to magnify the occurrences of their young days. ‘Barrochan Jean’ [1] was written on hearing an old grannie, in Lochwinnoch parish, relating a story something to the subject of the song: perhaps I have heightened her colouring a little.”



[1] See Notes on ‘Barrochan Jean,’ No. 106.—Ed.