Old Cloak, The

DESCRIPTION: In winter, the old wife urges the old man to go out and bring the cow in from the cold. He protests; his cloak is too old and thin. She reminds him of their history, and of the dangers of pride. At last he, to end the strife, goes out to care for the cow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1724 (_Tea-Table Miscellany_, according to Chambers)
KEYWORDS: dialog husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #71, p. 2, "Tak' Your Auld Cloak Aboot Ye" (1 fragment)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishSong, pp. 91-92, "The Auld Cloak" (1 text)
Percy/Wheatley-ReliquesOfAncientEnglishPoetry I, pp. 195-198, "Take Thy Old Cloak About Thee" (1 text)
Rimbault-Musical IllustrationsOfBishopPercysReliques VII, p. 50, "Take Thy Old Cloak About Thee" (1 partial text, 1 tune)
HarvardClassics-EnglishPoetryChaucerToGray, pp. 188-189, "The Old Cloak" (1 text)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 170, "The Old Cloak" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol I, pp. 139-140, "Tak Your Auld Cloak About Ye" (1 text)
Robert Ford, editor, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland [second series] (Paisley, 1901 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 259-261, "Tak' Your Auld Cloak About Ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scots Sangs (in three vols) (London, 1733 (ninth edition) ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. I, pp. 114-115, "Take Your Auld Cloak About You" ("In winter when the rain rain'd caul'd") (1 text)
James Johnson, Editor, _The Scots Musical Museum_ [1853 edition], volume III, #250, pp. 258-259, "Tak your auld cloak about ye" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST OBB170 (Partial)
Roud #8207
NOTES [130 words]: Chambers: "From the Tea-Table Miscellany, 1724. This excellent old song, however, was probably written before the close of the sixteenth century' as its measure and versification unequivocally belong to that period."
There is an item currently on Google Books identified as the 1724 edition of The Tea-Table Miscellany by Allan Ramsay that does not include this song. However, the title page is missing and while the Preface is by Ramsay and is dated 1724, the exact same Preface and date is in the 1733 edition. - BS
One of Percy's stanzas, beginning "King Stephen was a worthy peer," is quoted in Shakespeare's Othello (II.iii.80). But this stanza has nothing to do with the general plot of this song; I can't help but wonder if it is not some broadside-maker's insertion. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: OBB170

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