The Gentle Shepherd

Ramsay’s pastoral comedy The Gentle Shepherd (1725; 1729) went through over a hundred editions, was performed many hundreds of times, and inspired a wide range of visual representations and critiques. Although it is one of the most important printed texts in Scots literature, there has never been a scholarly edition which does justice to its complicated genesis, and to the music of its many songs. This groundbreaking and definitive edition will be welcomed by scholars, teachers, and practitioners of literature, drama and music, and opens up new avenues for research and performance.

• Ramsay’s text collated against all manuscripts and relevant printed editions
• All known contemporary sources for the music, showing how the tunes circulated in Ramsay’s own time
• Extensive textual and musical introductions that situate the text within its various histories of composition, its political, historical, and literary contexts, and its reception