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@asls.org.uk Sep 23, 2026, 1:07 PM

John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise,
For if you do but taste his blood,
’Twill make your courage rise…

—Robert Burns, “John Barleycorn: A Ballad”. Based on “the old song that goes by this name”, it celebrates the harvest – & the whisky from the grain
#WyrdWednesday #poem #C18

John Barleycorn: A Ballad
Tune: Lull Me Beyond Thee
First printed in the Edinburgh edition, 1787.
(This is partly composed on the plan of an old song known by the same name. R.B.)

There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

They took a plough and plough’d him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.

But the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
And show’rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris’d them all.

The sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong,
His head weel arm’d wi’ pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.

The sober Autumn enter’d mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show’d he began to fail.

His colour sicken’d more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.

They’ve taen a weapon long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then ty’d him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.

They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell’d him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turn’d him o’er and o’er.

They filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim,
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe,
And still, as signs of life appear’d,
They toss’d him to and fro.

They wasted, o’er a scorching flame
The marrow of his bones;
But a Miller us’d him worst of all,
For he crush’d him between two stones.

And they hae taen his very heart’s blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise,
For if you do but taste his blood,
’Twill make your courage rise.

’Twill make a man forget his woe;
’Twill heighten all his joy;
’Twill make the widow’s heart to sing,
Tho’ the tear were in her eye.

Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne’er fail in old Scotland.

Composition is generally dated to around 1785, although Kinsley believes it was written earlier. In the FCB Burns writes, ‘John Barleycorn.—A Song, to its own Tune. I once heard the old song that goes by this name, sung; and being very fond of it, and remembering only two or three verses of it viz the lst, 2nd and 3rd, with some scraps which I have interwoven here and there in the following piece’, June 1785. Kinsley probably over-stresses the importance of the myth of the Corn Spirit still prevalent in the 18th century as the ‘kernel’ theme of this song, the notion that the ‘old man of vegitation’ is driven out of the corn at threshing time to inhabit the fields, then returns to be the spirit of the next crop (Vol. III, p. 1017). Low is probably right in assuming Burns had read or heard the chapbook song of 1781, the allegory of drink titled The Whole Trial and Indictment of Sir John Barleycorn, Knt., A Person of Noble Birth and Extraction... Being Accused of Several Misdemeanours.. killing some, wounding others, and bringing thousands to Beggary (p. 82).

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 23, 2026, 11:09 AM

Joseph-David Odevaere, Lord Byron on his deathbed (1826), Groeningemuseum, Bruges. (Long) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Byron lies naked on a Grecian bed, a sheet draped over him, with a purple curtain drawn slightly to reveal a window with a moody landscape outside. There is a lyre on the floor beside the poet’s hand. He is crowned with a laurel wreath. Along the base of the bed are the titles of some of his works in gold letters, encircled by laurel wreaths

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 23, 2026, 9:11 AM

Matthias de Visch, Prince Charles of Lorraine & Bar as patron of the arts (1762), Groeningemuseum, Bruges #c18 #c18th #18thc

Allegorical figures of the arts supporting an oval portrait of the prince

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 23, 2026, 4:09 AM

Jean-Bernard Duvivier, portrait of the Villars family (1790), Groeningemuseum, Ghent #c18 #c18th #18thc

In an interior with two Palladian windows, the Villars parents sit in the right on a red sofa. A young son stands behind them. To the left, two daughters in large hats with feathers, one holding an oval picture, the other with a large harp

@johnobrien.bsky.social Sep 22, 2026, 6:31 PM

Did you know that Phillis Wheatley Peters's first poem was published in a newspaper? Well, it was. Read all about it my latest Substack post. And subscribe for an essay on a poem found in an 18th century newspaper every week--it's free!
#c18th #c18 #18c
literatureinc.substack.com/p/on-messrs-...

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 22, 2026, 2:41 PM

The fine and shiny buildings of the Grand’ Place, Brussels - mostly 1690s, so almost #c18 #c18th #18thc

@jasonmkelly.bsky.social Sep 22, 2026, 1:17 PM

Nearly 4m records of enslaved people in 20 former British colonies now searchable online: Former British Colonies Enslavement Registers #skystorians #18thc #C18

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 22, 2026, 6:19 AM

Hubert Robert, fantasy landscape (1775), Musées royaux, Brussels #c18 #c18th #18thc

View of a fountain and elevated colonnade with trees and figures

@asls.org.uk Sep 21, 2026, 2:38 PM

The Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders playing “Johnnie Cope”
#C18 #bagpipe #music
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIba...

@asls.org.uk Sep 21, 2026, 2:38 PM

The Battle of Prestonpans was fought #OTD, 21 September 1745, & was a stunning victory for the (largely Highland) Jacobite army. The song “Johnnie Cope”, composed soon afterwards, exists in numerous versions & arrangements – including one by Beethoven – but it is originally a pipe tune
#C18 #music

Jonnie Cope

Second Set

To the foregoing air

Cope sent a challenge frae Dunbar,
Sayin “Charlie meet me an’ ye daur;
An’ I’ll learn ye the airts o’ war,
If ye’ll meet me in the morning.”
Hey! Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin’ yet?
Or are your drums a-beating yet?
If ye were waukin’ I wad wait,
Tae gang tae the coals i’ the morning.

When Charlie looked the letter upon,
He drew his sword its scabbard from,
“Come, follow me, my merry men,
And we’ll meet Johnnie Cope i’ the morning.”
Hey! Johnnie Cope, &c.

“Now Johnnie, be as gude’s as your word,
Come, let us try baith fire and sword,
And dinna flee like a frighted bird,
That’s chas’d frae its nest i’ the morning.”
Hey! Johnnie Cope, &c.

When Johnnie Cope he heard o’ this,
He thought it wadna be amiss
To have a horse in readiness,
To flee awa i’ the morning.
Hey! Johnnie Cope, &c.

“Fy now, Johnnie, get up an’ rin;
The Highland bagpipes make a din,
It’s best to sleep in a hale skin,
For ’twill be a bluidie morning.”
Hey! Johnnie Cope, &c.

When Johnnie Cope to Dunbar came,
They speer’d at him, “Where’s a’ your men?”
“The de’il confound me gin I ken,
For I left them a’ this morning.”
Hey! Johnnie Cope, &c.

“Now Johnnie, troth ye wasna blate,
Tae come wi’ the news o’ your ain defeat,
And leave your men in sic a strait,
Sae early in the morning.
Hey! Johnnie Cope, &c.

“I’faith”, quo’ Johnnie, “I got a fleg
Wi’ their claymores an’ philabegs,
If I face them again, deil break my legs,
So I wish you a gude-morning.”
Hey! Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin’ yet?
Or are your drums a-beating yet?
If ye were waukin’ I wad wait,
Tae gang tae the coals i’ the morning.

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 10:15 AM

In contrast to Marat, David’s final painting (Mars Disarmed by Venus, 1824) is horrendous. Musées royaux, Brussels. (Long) #c18 #c18th #18thc

Naked (but demure) figures of Mars and. Emus in a couch, attended by nymphs and Cupid. A bit like Ingres but saccharine

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 9:33 AM

That painting you’ve always assumed is in the Louvre but isn’t! Jacques-Louis David’s Assassinat de Marat (1793) in the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels #c18 #c18th #18thc

Marat, naked in his bath holding a letter from his assassin, Charlotte Corday. There is a single life-wound in his chest; the weapon lies beneath Marat on the floor

Detail of the letter: ‘du 13. juillet, 1793. Marie anne Charlotte Corday au citoyen Marat. il suffit que je sois bien malheureuse pour avoir Droit a votre bienveillance’

Detail of the letter and the box that stands beside the tub, on the top of which there is an inkwell and quill pen and an assignat. On the side of the box: À MARAT / DAVID. /L’AN DEUX’

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 8:52 AM

The Octagon (1720), Orleans House, by James Gibbs #c18 #c18th #18thc

Exterior: red brick, white stonework, tall Palladian windows below, round windows above

Interior with gilt plasterwork and chandelier. Snapped before a stroppy wedding planner ejected me

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 6:43 AM

William Hogarth, portrait of the young Horace Walpole (1727-28), Strawberry Hill #c18 #c18th #18thc

Walpole, aged 12, in brown velvet coat and blue waistcoat outdoors. He points to a sundial with the figure of a putto. A small spaniel races to Warner’s him. Gilt wood frame. Hanging against wallpaper meant to look like red silk brocade

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 6:43 AM

Johann Heinrich Müntz, Southeast view of Strawberry Hill (1755-58), which the house has on loan & hopes to acquire #c18 #c18th #18thc

View of Walpole’s white gothic villa framed by trees and set back on a lawn

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 6:42 AM

Monuments to Alexander Pope in St Mary the Virgin, Twickenham #c18 #c18th #18thc

Pope is actually buried under the stone slab inscribed ‘P.’

Monument in the gallery to Pope and his mother, Edith.

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 6:42 AM

The site of Pope’s grotto, Twickenham. I booked a ticket for one of the monthly tours but got my dates mixed up and wasn’t able to see the grotto 😔 #c18 #c18th #18thc

Plaque indicating the location of Pope’s grotto

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 20, 2026, 8:12 PM

Strawberry Hill: views of the exterior #c18 #c18th #18thc

Four views of the white cricketer and crenallated exterior of Horace Walpole’s sham gothic villa

@nguthrie.bsky.social Sep 20, 2026, 8:11 PM

OK, Nirvana (Nerdvana?): views of the interior of Strawberry Hill #c18 #c18th #18thc