LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,119)
  • Text Authors (19,527)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by Sir Alexander Boswell (1775 - 1822)

Argyle is my name, ‑‑ and you may think...
Language: English 
Argyle is my name, -- and you may think it strange,
To live at a court, and yet never to change:
To faction, or tyranny, equally foe,
The good of the land's the sole motive I know.
The foes of my country and king I have fac'd,
In city or battle I ne'er was disgrac'd,
I've done what I could for my country's weal;
Now I'll feast upon bannocks o' barleymeal.
 
Ye riots and revels of London, adieu;
And folly, ye foplings, I leave her to you.
For Scotland, I mingled in bustle and strife;
For myself, I seek peace, and an innocent life:
I'll haste to the Highlands, and visit each scene
With Maggie my love, in her rockley o' green;
On the banks of Glenary what pleasure I feel,
While she shares my bannock o' barleymeal!
 
And if it chance Maggie should bring me a son,
He shall fight for his king, as his father has done;
I'll hang up my sword with an old soldier's pride;
O! may he be worthy to wear't on his side.
I pant for the breeze of my lov'd native place;
I long for the smile of each welcoming face;
I'll aff to the Highlands as fast's I can reel,
And feast upon bannocks o' barleymeal.

About the headline (FAQ)

Glossary

Bannocks = A flat cake toasted on a girdle
Barleymeal = barley flour
Rockley = cloak

Text Authorship:

  • by Sir Alexander Boswell (1775 - 1822) [author's text not yet checked 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 (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Bannocks o' barleymeal", JHW XXXII/3 no. 194, Hob.XXXIa no. 171. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]
  • by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809), "Variations on Bannocks o' barleymeal", JHW. XXXII/3 no. 265. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2009-08-12
Line count: 24
Word count: 213

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris