The words of the song are from a 1791 poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns. The poem expresses Burns' anger over the 1707 Act of Union, which ended Scotland's independence from England and dissolved the Scottish Parliament. Some of the members of the Scottish Parliament who supported the Act did so because they were essentially bribed: in return for their support of the Act, they were compensated for their losses in a disastrous investment scheme that had cost each of them huge sums of money. This is what Burns means when he speaks of the Scots being "bought and sold/for English gold".
The poem refers to two figures from Scottish history: "Bruce" is Robert the Bruce, a Scottish king who fought against the English in the 14th century. "loyal Wallace" is Sir William Wallace, a Scottish knight who was one of the Scottish leaders during the First Scottish War of Independence (and who is probably best known today through the heavily-fictionalized Mel Gibson film "Braveheart").
The words of the song are from a 1791 poem by Scottish poet Robert Burns. The poem expresses Burns' anger over the 1707 Act of Union, which ended Scotland's independence from England and dissolved the Scottish Parliament. Some of the members of the Scottish Parliament who supported the Act did so because they were essentially bribed: in return for their support of the Act, they were compensated for their losses in a disastrous investment scheme that had cost each of them huge sums of money. This is what Burns means when he speaks of the Scots being "bought and sold/for English gold".
The poem refers to two figures from Scottish history: "Bruce" is Robert the Bruce, a Scottish king who fought against the English in the 14th century. "loyal Wallace" is Sir William Wallace, a Scottish knight who was one of the Scottish leaders during the First Scottish War of Independence (and who is probably best known today through the heavily-fictionalized Mel Gibson film "Braveheart").