The nearness of the remote: "The Broom of the Cowdenknows" (Child 217) revisited

Abstract

"The Broom of the Cowdenknows" has been put forward by Robert Chambers as "the best specimen that can be given of that native poetry on which Scotland prides herself so much." 1 "The Brume o' the Cowdenknowes" Chambers had in mind, however, is not the tradi tional ballad, but — as he calls it — a "simple, delightful, and truly pastoral song" 2 that was first published in Allan Ramsay's Tea - Table Miscellany in 1723 and was written by a man — or more likely a woman — with the initials S.R.: