Burns did not write The Winter it is Past according to William Stenhouse who wrote the Illustrations of the Lyric Poetry and Music of Scotland which prefaced the 1853 edition of Johnson's Scots Musical Museum. Stenhouse says "The Editor has not yet been so fortunate as to discover who was the author of this plaintive pastoral song; but there are several variations between the copy inserted in the Museum and the following stall edition of the ballad."

A 'stall' edition is a sheet sold at fairs etcetera and Stenhouse's version show variations:

Verse one: ...the little birds now sing on ev'ry tree...

Verse three: ....My love is like the sun that unwearied doth run, Through the firmament, ay constant and true ... And is ev'ry month changing anew.

Verse four: ....How I pity the pains that you endure.

In addition Stenhouse writes "The plaintive little air to which this song is adapted, is inserted under the same title in Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion, book 7th."


James C Dick, the noted authority on Burns say: " ...Cromek printed the first two stanzas in the Reliques, 1808. Burns wrote only the second stanza and corrected the first: the rest were printed before his time as a stall-ballad. The song of seven stanzas is in the Herd MS. Dr Petrie has copied it into the Ancient Music of Ireland...... The original song (imperfectly authenticated) belongs to the middle of the eighteenth century, and was written by a highwayman called Johnson who was hung in 1750 for robberies committed in the Currach of Kildare."

I have various other books, 18th and 19th century, where the author is stated as unknown.