Special Collections - Abbotsford

This is the only complete manuscript of O saw ye my Maggie? written in Burns' hand. Scott has bound it into a printed volume of The Fornicators Court and inscribed Autograph of Burns on the back of the last page - possibly the only time that Scott's handwriting and Burns' have appeared together.

At the end of the song Burns has added a spoof will bequeathing the copyright to Alexander Findlater, his friend and supervisor in the Excise Office. The will is appended in a large, sprawling hand, indicating perhaps that the two had spent a highly convivial evening together. Ironically, after Burns' death, Findlater was highly vocal in defending the poet against charges of drunkenness!