The Northumbrian Minstrel
| Language | English, many in Geordie dialect |
|---|---|
| Genre | chapbook |
| Publisher | William Davison |
Publication date | 1811 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 60 pages |
The Northumbrian Minstrel is a songbook, giving the lyrics of local, now historical songs, printed and published at Alnwick in 1811 by William Davison. The majority of the songs are from the north of the county, and therefore the content differs from most of the other popular Northumbrian chapbooks.
Details
The full title of the book is The Northumbrian Minstrel: A Choice selection of Songs.[1] The book contains almost 60 pages and 45 song and folksong lyrics, many in Geordie dialect. The songs, from north Northumberland and southern Scotland, would have been popular, or topical, at the date of publication. There is nothing in the way of biographies of the authors or histories of the events. No music is included, only lyrics.
The book includes both anonymous or traditional lyrics and works by named authors, including a significant number by Robert Burns.
The book is included in Oliver Heslop's Bibliographical List of Works Illustrative of the Dialect of Northumberland, published in 1896 by the English Dialect Society.[2]
The publication
The front cover of the book was as thus :-
THE
Northumbrian
MINSTREL
A
CHOICE SELECTION
OF
SONGS
_____
ALNWICK
PRINTED BY W. DAVISON
1811
Contents
Are as below :-
| page | title | songwriter | tune | comments | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | The Northumbrian Minstrel | page heading | ||||
| 5 | Cottager's Daughter (The) | Mr Vint | ||||
| 6 | Beggar Girl (The) | Mr Sheridan | ||||
| 7 | Banks of Doon | R Burns | ||||
| 8 | Wandering Mary | not given | ||||
| 9 | Down-Hill of Life (The) | Mr Collins | ||||
| 11 | Woodlands (The) | |||||
| 11 | Caledonia | R Burns | ||||
| 12 | Wounded Hussar (The) | Mr Campbell | ||||
| 14 | Auld Langsyne | |||||
| 15 | The Days O' Langsyne | |||||
| 16 | Cot on the Hill (The) | |||||
| 17 | Parting Moments | |||||
| 18 | Dull Care | |||||
| 18 | Exile of Erin (The) | Mr Campbell | ||||
| 20 | Wandering Beggar (The) | |||||
| 21 | Lad for the Lasses (The) | |||||
| 22 | Black-Eyed Susan | |||||
| 24 | Prisoners Welcome (The) | |||||
| 25 | Land O' the Leal (The) | R Burns | ||||
| 26 | Soldier's Return (The) | |||||
| 27 | Thorn (The) | |||||
| 27 | Love and Glory | |||||
| 28 | From Thee, Eliza, I Must Go | Burns | ||||
| 28 | Beautiful Maid (The) | |||||
| 29 | Peck O' Maut (The) | R Burns | ||||
| 30 | My Nanie, O | R Burns | ||||
| 31 | Blue Bell of Scotland (The) | |||||
| 32 | A Man's A Man For A. That | R Burns | ||||
| 33 | Tak' Your Auld Cloak About Yer | Allan Ramsey | ||||
| 35 | Farewell to Ayrshire | R Burns | ||||
| 36 | Death of Mary (The) | Mr G Solomon | ||||
| 36 | Tomb of Love (The) | |||||
| 37 | Negro Boy | |||||
| 38 | Banks of the Dee (The) | |||||
| 39 | Plato's Advice | |||||
| 40 | Go, Gentle Sigh | |||||
| 41 | Rose Tree (The) | |||||
| 41 | Galley Slave (The) | |||||
| 42 | Way-Worn Traveller (The) | |||||
| 43 | When Our Country calls to Arms | Mr I Cross | ||||
| 44 | Mary, I Believ'd Thee True | Mr Moore | ||||
| 44 | Mary's Dream at Sandy's Tomb | |||||
| 45 | Lass of Low Degree (The) | Mr M G Lewis | ||||
| 46 | John Anderson, My Joe | R Burns | ||||
| 48 | Negro's Complaint (The) | |||||
| 48 | End of number first | |||||
| 49 | blank | |||||
| 52 | list of books printed for and by W Davison, Alnwick | William Davison | ||||
| 56 | rear outer | |||||
See also
References
- ^ "The Northumbrian Minstrel". The Internet Archive. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
- ^ "Bibliography". Northumbrian Language Society. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
External links
- Full text of The Northumbrian Minstrel from the Hathi Trust
- Northumbrian Minstrelsy