Early in the reign of James VI and I Patrick Hannay, with a cousin Robert (created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1629), came to the English court and was favourably noticed by Queen Anne.
Attempts, which were for a time successful, were made to oust him from this post, but Charles I reinstated him in 1625 on the grounds of his foreign service and relationship with Queen Anne.
Songs and Sonnets, has the title within a border of thirteen compartments (engraved by Crispin de Pass), with two bars of music in the upper portion and the author's portrait below.
"The Nightingale", a poem in stanzas of sixteen lines, has a dedication to the Duchess of Lennox and commendatory verse by Robert Hannay, John Marshall, William Lithgow and others.
Before the Songs and Sonnets there is a dedicatory epistle to a soldier under whom Hannay had served abroad, Sir Andrew Gray.
A facsimile reprint of the 1622 collection of Hannay's poems was issued in 1875 by the Hunterian Club, with a memoir of the author by David Laing.