The lovely lass o' Inverness,
  Nae joy nor pleasure can she see;
For e'en and morn she cries, (Alas!)
  And ay the saut tear blins her e'e:

« Drumossie moor, Drumossie day,
  A waefu' day it was to me !
For there I lost my father dear,
  My father dear and brethren three.

Their winding-sheet the bluidy clay,
  Their graves are growing green to see,
And by them lies the dearest lad
  That ever blest a woman's e'e!

Now wae to thee, thou cruel lord,
  A bluidy man I trow thou be,
For monie a heart thou has made sair
  That ne'er did wrang to thine or thee! »

Confirmed with The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 250.

Composition:

Set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "The lovely lass of Inverness", op. 108 (25 schottische Lieder mit Begleitung von Pianoforte, Violine und Violoncello) no. 8 (1815) [ voice, violin, violoncello, piano ]

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "The lovely lass o' Inverness"

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Dívka z Inverness"
• FRE French (Français) (Isabelle Cecchini) , "La jolie fille d'Inverness", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist) , "Die holde Maid von Inverness"
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "L'amabile fanciulla di Inverness", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• POL Polish (Polski) (Jan Kasprowicz) , "Nadobna dziewka z Inverness", Warsaw, first published 1907

Researcher for this page: Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 109