Awa' Whigs, awa'!
Robbie Burns 1789
Awa' Whigs, awa'!
Ye're but a pack o' traitor louns,
Ye'll do nae gude at a'.
Our thrissles flourish'd fresh and fair,
And bonie bloom'd our roses;
But Whigs cam' like a frost in June,
An' wither'd a' our posies.
Awa' Whigs, awa’!
Our ancient crown's fa'en in the dust-
Deil blin' them wi' the stoure o't!
An' write their names in his black beuk,
Wha gae the Whigs the power o't.
Awa' Whigs, awa’!
Our sad decay in church and state
Surpasses my descriving:
The Whigs cam' o'er us for a curse,
An' we hae done wi' thriving.
Awa' Whigs, awa’!
Grim vengeance lang has taen a nap,
But we may see him wauken:
Gude help the day when royal heads
Are hunted like a maukin!
Awa' Whigs, awa’!
Glossary
louns: bums, creeps
thrissles: thistles
Deil: Devil
blin: blind
stoure: puff of dust
gae: gave
wauken: waken
Gude: God
maukin: a hare
Robert Burns published his version of Awa’ Whigs awa’ in 1789 commemorating the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" or "the Young Pretender”, to regain the British crown for the House of Stuart and causing The Jacobite uprising of 1745 . The Whigs' supported constitutional monarchism and opposed the Stuart's claim by absolute monarchy.
The Bonnie Prince gained military success and support in Scotland then lead his Scottish Jacobite army into England. When they found no support from English Jacobites and were faced with the force of the Duke of Cumberland's British Whig troops they turned back.
But not to be forgiven, in April 1746 they were massacred at the Battle of Culloden. Charles escaped to France and effectively the Stuart cause ended. The wild Scottish highlanders were brutally integrated into the Kingdom of Great Britain using civil penalties to undermine the clan system and Gaelic culture. The crackdown earned Cumberland the sobriquet “the Butcher".
Understandably Rabbie was galled.