by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
The Cameronian Cat
Language: English
There was a Cameronian cat Was hunting for a prey, And in the house she catch'd a mouse Upon the Sabbath-day. The Whig, being offended At such an act profane, Laid by his book, the cat he took, And bound her in a chain. “Thou damn'd, thou cursed creature, This deed so dark with thee, Think'st thou to bring to hell below My holy wife and me? Assure thyself that for the deed Thou blood for blood shalt pay, For killing of the Lord's own mouse Upon the Sabbath-day.” The presbyter laid by the book, And earnestly he pray'd That the great sin the cat had done Might not on him be laid. And straight to execution Poor baudrons she was drawn, And high hang'd up upon a tree - Mess John sung a psalm. And when the work was ended, They thought the cat near dead; She gave a paw, and then a mew, And stretched out her head. “Thy name”, said he, “shall certainly A beacon still remain, A terror unto evil ones For evermore, Amen.”
Confirmed with The Jacobite Relics of Scotland; being the Songs, Airs, and Legends of the Adherents to the House of Stewart, collected and illustrated by James Hogg, William Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1819, Page 37.
Authorship:
- by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, "The Cameronian Cat", William Blackwood, Ediburgh., first published 1819 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Francis George Scott (1880 - 1958), "The Cameronian Cat", published 1946 [ baritone and piano ], from Seven songs, no. 6, Bayley & Ferguson, Glasgow. [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-04-02
Line count: 32
Word count: 178