Notes to "Nae gentle dames, tho' ne'er sae fair" from James C. Dick, The Songs of Robert Burns (1903; Folklore Associates, 1962, pp. 61 & 372):

Tune: McLauchlin's Scots-measure.   Scots Musical Museum, 1788, No. 117.

The tune, McLauchlin's Scots Measure, is in Original Scotch Tunes, 1700, and is unsuitable for Burns's gay song from its extended compass, which no ordinary voice can reach, and its skipping intervals. Another copy of the music is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1754, vi. 28, entitled The Inverness Scots Measure, and in Aird's Airs, 1782, ii, No. 95.