Here's a Health to Them That's Awa
written in 1792
Here's a Health to Them That's Awa - fact Summary
Jacobite Sympathies Expressed
Written in 1792, this song-like toast celebrates absent compatriots while endorsing Scottish cause and Jacobite sympathies. Burns raises repeated toasts to those "that's awa," praises "Charlie, the chief o' the clan," and calls for liberty, prudence, and the defeat of tyranny. The poem links loyalty to Caledonia with virtues like honesty and truth, offers solidarity across regional divides, and defends free speech. Its convivial tone frames political commitment as communal and moral, blending personal loyalty with broader calls for Scottish rights and resistance to oppressive rule.
Read Complete AnalysesHere's a health to them that's awa, Here's a health to them that's awa; And wha winna wish gude luck to our cause, May never gude luck be their fa'! It's gude to be merry and wise, It's gude to be honest and true; It's gude to support Caledonia's cause, And bide by the buff and the blue. Here's a health to them that's awa, Here's a health to them that's awa, Here's a health to Charlie, the chief o' the clan, Altho' that his band be sma'! May Liberty meet wi' success! May Prudence protect her frae evil! May tyrants and tyranny tine i' the mist, And wander their way to the devil! Here's a health to them that's awa, Here's a health to them that's awa; Here's a health to Tammie, the Norlan' laddie, That lives at the lug o' the law! Here's freedom to them that wad read, Here's freedom to them that wad write! There's nane ever fear'd that the truth should be heard, But they whom the truth would indite. Here's a health to them that's awa, Here's a health to them that's awa; Here's chieftain M'Leod, a chieftain worth gowd, Tho' bred amang mountains o' snaw; Here's friends on baith sides o' the Forth, And friends on baith sides o' the Tweed; And wha wad betray old Albion's right, May they never eat of her bread!
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