THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF THE LIBRARY English Reading Room ^ ANCIENT SCOTISH MELODIES, FROM A MANUSCRIPT OF THE REIGN OF KING JAMES VI. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ENQUIRY ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF SCOTLAND. BY WILLIAM ^DAUNEY, ESQ. F.S.A. SCOT. EDINBURGH : TIIK KDINliUHGH PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY SMITH, ELDER, & CO., CORNHILL, LONDON. M.DCCC.XXXVIII. EDISBURCH PRINTISO COMPANY. Ml 3(^55 TO THE PRESIDENTS AND MEMBERS OF THE iSannatgne antr iWaitlanxr d^lni)^, THIS WORK (UNDERTAKEN THROUGH THEIR ENCOURAGEMENT) IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. sc: CONTENTS. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. PARE 1 Jntboductory Remarks, . ...... Description of the Skene MS. and its Contents, .... 5 Enquiry into the probable datf and history of the MS., ... 10 How far this is the earliest Collection of Scotish Airs which has been published — Orpheus Caledonius — D'Urfey's Pills, ..... 15 Introduction of Scotish Music into England — Dr Blow — Dryden — Mary, Queen of William III. — Charles II. — Extract from " Shadwell's Scowrers," . 17 Scotish musical publications of the Seventeenth Century — Forbes's Cantus — City of Aberdeen — Louis de France, pupil of M. Lambert — Revival of a taste for Music in Scotland — Forbes's Cantus contains the songs which were taught at the music schools, ..... . . . 2U History of the Music Schools in Scotland, ..... 24 Remarks on the Cantus, ....... 23 History of the " Godly and Spiritual Songs," " Compendium," and " Saint's Re- creation," .......■• 30 The ancient Scotish Lyrical poetry and musical instruments, two collateral en- quiries necessary, in order to arrive at a just conception of the ancient Music of Scotland, • ■ 39 vi CONTENTS. PAGt I Ancient Scotish Lyrical Poetry. Introtluctory obsprvations — Ancient rhymes and songs from " Wyntoun's Chro- nicle" — Harleian MS Fabian — Notices of ancient songs from the poems of James I. — Cockelbio Sow — Two original songs of 1507 never before published — Douglas and Dunbar — Sir David Lyudsay — Complaynt of Scotland — Com- pendium of godly ballads — Verstegan's " Restitution of decayed Intelli- gence" — Constable's MS. Cantus, ...... 40 II Ancient Scotish Musical Instruments, &c. Many musical instruments anciently cultivated in Scotland, ... 58 Tiie harp known to the ancient Gauls and Britons, though most probably of Gothic or Asiatic invention, ....... 59 Whetlier known to tiie Greeks and Romans uncertain, but used by the Britons before tiie arrival of tlie Saxons and Danes, .... 61 Early notices of the harp, of use in illustrating the history of ancient nations — Bruce's Theban liurp, ....... 62 The Druids, their functions and history, and their successors the Bards, . 63 The Irish eminent for their early proficiency in music — no reason to suppose that they were the sole introducers of the harp and crwth into Britain, . 65 Many of tlie early inliabitants of Scotland may have acquired a knowledge of timt instrument from tlieir northern ancestors — The Scalds eminent performers upon it, ........ . 67 Description of the ancient population of Scotland — Little difference between the Anglo and Scoto-Saxons before the English conquest — Partiality of the Anglo- Saxons and Danes for the harp — Cedmon — Alfred — AnlafF, . . 69 Anglo and Scoto-Saxons — Troubadours and French minstrels, . . 71 The harper, an officer of the household, had lands assigned to him — Instances of this, ......... 72 Musicians of the royal liousehold of the Scotish sovereigns, their description, names of some of them, and appointments from the Treasurer's Accounts and Privy Seal Register, ....... 74 CONTENTS. vii P/GE Escheats and fines appointed to be given to the minstrels along with the heralds — Heralds and minstrels, their respective functions described, . . 7(3 Decline of minstrelsy — Penal statutes — Sir George Mackenzie's opinion of these, 78 Vagrants of former times — Ritson's erroneous views of the ancient minstrels — Their gradual extinction and that of the bards and harpers, . . 80 The use of tlie harp not confined to the Highlands — Its estimation in England and the Lowlands, ....... 86 Harpers and Clairschochars — Caledonian harps — Ancient and modern compass, and mechanism of harps, ...... 83 The use of the harp anciently among the Welsh, the Highlanders, and the ecclesi- astics of Ireland, . . . . . . . 'J 1 Tiie French troubadours and minstrels — Connection between Scotland and France, and introduction into Scotland of the instruments of the latter country, . 92 The viol — The Vielle — The rote — Rebecs — Instruments played by James I., and others in use in Scotland explained, ..... 'J3 " Monicordis" or " Monochord" — the origin of the harpsichord and piano-forte, 98 The organ, in Scotland, . . . . . . . 105 The favourite instruments of James V., Queen Mary of Scotland, and Quern Elizabeth, . . . . . . . . 107 The Royal Family of Scotland — Their taste in music — James VI. also a lover and patron of music, contrary to the assertions of Burney and Hawkins, . lOS Different species of lutes, &c.^The music adopted on festal occasions — Used at the French Court during the reign of James V. — Hautbois, cornets, schawmes, bombardts, clarions, whistles, &c., &c., explained, . . . . Ill The horn, ......... 113 The bagpipe — Whether anciently used as a militarj' instrument — Mentioned by Giraldus Carabrensis, under the name of " chorus," . . . 119 Discussion as to the meaning of the word "chorus," . . . . 121 The instrument of the English, who were formerly more eminent than the Scots ID their performance on it, . . . . . . 126 Not popular in some parts of the Lowlands during the 17th century — Whether that used by the English was the Highland or Lowland bagpipe, . . 127 Vlll CONTENTS. TAOt Description of the pastoral instruments, . • • • • 129 Ancient MSS. of Scotish Music, with an Enquiry into its Antiuuitv AND THE Formation of its Peculiar Genus and Character. Extreme scarcity of documents illustrative of ancient popular music — The manner in which this is accounted for in Scotland — Want of information with respect to the early history of Scotish music — Mr Ritson's doubts, . . 1 32 Kecoverv of ancient MSS. since his time — Account of these — Rowallan MS., (1620,) 136 Mr Laing'sMS.,(l670,) 139 Mr Illaikie'sMS., (1692,) 143 These and the Skene MS. older and more authentic evidence of the popular music of Scotland than can be produced of that of Wales or Ireland, . 147 Tlieir utility in illustrating the history of Scotish music, &c., . . . 148 The direct proof which the Skene MS. affords with respect to the antiquity of this style of music, and of several celebrated airs, . . . 150 Presumptive do. — Account of the Chapel-Royal of Scotland from original MS. and records, . . . . . . . . 154 Announcement regarding the old Scotish music in Information touching Cliapel- Rnyal in 1631, . . • . . . . . 158 Other testimonies in favour of its antiquity — That of Tassoni — Erroneous opinions regarding this entertained by Mr Tytler and others, . . . 160 James the First's composition and improvement of Scotish music considered, . 165 Arrival of Sir William Rogers, an era in the history of the art in Scotland, . 167 Old airs probably collected, and others composed in imitation of them, during the l6th century, . . . . . . . . 170 Rizzio's connection with the music of Scotland considered, . . . 171 Are there any certain means of testing the age and authenticity of the Scotish Melodies? . , . . . . . . 173 Mr Tytler's opinions, and those of the author of Dissertation prefixed to Thom- son'* Select Melodies, considered, together with the peculiar system upon which the Scotish music is composed, ..... j/j. CONTENTS. ix PAGE Remarks on the analogy between the Scotish music and the Canto fermo of the Roman Catholic Church, ....... 178 Denied by Ritson and others that any of the Scotish airs originated in the Church service, ......... 179 Songs in ridicule of the Papists composed to be sung to the music of the Ritual, 180 The popular music of the Middle Ages, in general, differed little from that of the Church — Opinions of Hawkins, Burney, Berardi — Influence of Canto fermo on the national music of Europe, . . . . . I SI In England, ... ..... 183 In Scotland, . . . . . . . . . 184 National music coeval with the origin of nations — The basis of the ideal system of modern music, . . . ■ . . . .186 Omission of the 4th and 7th of the scale incidental to imperfection of wind instruments, but neither that nor the influence of the Canto fermo sufficient al- together to account for the partiality which the Scots have shown for this par- ticular style of melody — The national music of many other countries chromatic, 189 The existence of a primitive national scale denied — The chromatic series most common to savage nations — The Chinese not ignorant of semitones, . \'J2 The superior animation and variety of the vocal music of Ireland and Scotland partly attributable to skill in instrumental music — The music of these countries described by Giraldus Carabrensis in the 12th century, . . . 194 The vocal music of the English essentially different from the above, . . 197 Scotish music when and where composed — Lowland and Highland melodies — Welsh music — Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian airs, . . 200 The most animated melodies probably the oldest — Many of the slow airs not characteristic, ...... Concluding remarks on the Skene MS., Fac-simile of the Skene MS., .... Explanation ok the Tablatuiie and MODt of Intekpretation empi The Skene MS., ...... Notes and Illustrations, ..... . 204 • 206 • 212 ployed, 21.1 • 217 , 2J3 # CONTENTS. PACK APPENDIX. No. I Analysis of the Scotish Music, by Mb Finlay Dun, . . 31S Preliminary Ueaiurks, ... . . ib. The modulation of the Scotish airs, . . . . 317 Their melodic forms, . . . . . 321 Their cadences or closes, ...... 322 Their riiythm, ....... 323 Analogy between them and the Canto fermo, . . . 324 Explanation of the modes of the Church and the tonal laws, . 325 Examples of Canto fermo compared with the Scotish music, . 327 Peculiarities of the latter referable to the ancient tonality, . 330 This tonality should, as much as possible, be preserved, . . 334 Mode of liaraionic treatment to be adopted with respect to the I'cotish airs, ........ 338 No. II Music, ........ 341 No. Ill Elxtracts relative to Music from the Accounts of the Lords High Trea- surers of Scotland, &c., ...... 355 Uo. relative to Music-Scliools from Burgii Accounts, . . 362 No. IV Information touching the Chapel-Royal of Scotland, . . 365 No. V — Postscript, ........ 368 Gkneral Imdex, ........ 375 Index OF A IBs, . . . . . . . . 386 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. While the translation into modern musical characters of this curious Manuscript is the work of a gentleman whose long experience, and well- known scientific and practical attainments, form a sufficient guarantee for the lidelity, tlie judgment, and the accuracy, with which that duty has been performed, a few words of explanation may be necessary on behalf of the EtUtor, by whom the preparation of the following Dissertation and Notes has been undertaken. Could he have formed any previous idea of the la- bour and research which it rocpiircd, he would at once have deferred to some individual better (junlificd than himself to do it justice ; and, liad it not been that his deficiencies were, in some degree, supplied by the liberal assist- ance which he has been so fortunate as to receive from many who have dis- tinguished themselves in the field of archaeological research, and the free and unreserved access which he has been permitted to many interesting ori- ginal documents, both printed and manuscript, he woidd scarcelv have ventured to give publicity to the result of iiis labours; the more esj)eciallv, as other avocations of a graver sort have greatly circumscribed the leisure which he has had it in his power to devote to the subject. At the same time, it is his belief, that had that leisure been extended to as many years A 2 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. as it lias been months, the work could not fail to have been chargeable with errors and imperfections. Nor is it any affectation of modesty, on his part, to make this avowal — not only from the difficulty of obtaining authentic information in regard to topics where history and tradition are too frequently silent, or, what is worse, furnish ddtti upon which no re- liance can be placed, but because the complete illustration of these re- lics would have demanded a combination of acquirements which are rarely, if ever, united in one and the same individual. To accomplish that object satisfactorilv, little less would have been requisite than the musical learning and critical skill of a Burney, the minute and accurate antiquarian knowledge of a Ritson, and that thorough acquaintance with the ancient manners and customs of Scotland, and particularly what may be termed the unwritten history of its inhabitants, with which tlie mind of Scott was so deeply imbued. The Skene Manuscript has indeed revealed itself at an unhappy moment. Had it been made known during the lifetime of these distinguished writers, the world would doubtless have been enabled to reap the full benefit of the discovery. There was even a period anterior to that of Scott and Ritson, when its ap- pearance would have been hailed with greater enthusiasm, and would most probably have given occasion to greater discussion than is likely now to arise. Scotish music was a subject which much more frequently- engaged the attention of the learned and the ingenious during the last centurv' than at present; much was written upon its character, construction, and history, by Mr Tytler, the grandfather of our historian, Dr Beattie, Dr Gregory, Dr Campbell, Lord Karnes, Dr Franklin, and others ; and not a little is it to be regretted that the enquiries of these gentlemen into this branch of our national antiquities had not taken the same happy turn with those of their illustrious contemporary Lord Ilailes. Had they been as diligent investigators of facts, and as cautious commentators upon them, as his Lordship, there can be little doubt that we should, ere now, have been in possession of information, touching this topic, infinitely more dis- tinct and authentic than any thing that can be gathered from their writings. Neither is it likely that it would have been left to the present PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 3 generation to have awakened from its slumbers a Manuscript, which, per se, and without comment, throws more light upon the history of Scotish melody, than all the disquisitions of those learned and accomplished men. It is now nearly si.xty years since Mr Tytler's Dissertation on Scotisli Music was published," and, in the natural course of things, it may be presumed, that, at that time, more documents of the nature of the Skene Manuscript might have been elicited, had the attention of the public been sufficientlv roused to the importance of these relics; yet, strange to say, although a great deal of historical research was bestowed by Mr Tytler on his Essav, which reflects the highest honour on his talents, as a scholar and a man of taste, he makes no allusion whatever, either to the existence or to the supposed non-existence of any ancient collections of Scotish music, nor does he say one word as to musical MSS., or even the oldest printed versions of the Scotish melodies ; a circumstance the more luiaccountable, as his Dissertation consists chiefly of an attempt to ascertain their indi- vidual anti(juity by an analysis of their leading features, and the changes which have been wrought upon them in the course of time. In this way, the very line of investigation, which, if steadily followed out, would have conducted Mr Tytler's labours to a safe and satisfactory conclusion, was entirely overlooked. If we except Mr Ritson, whose writings contain many general re- commendations to that eftect, there appears to have been only one in- dividual in the last century, who, in turning his attention to this subject, felt the necessity of commencing by a well-founded and rational sys- * It first appeared in 1779, in the appendix to Aniots History of Edinbiirgli; and it is tlie more singular that the importance of these manuscripts should have entirely escaped Mr Tytler, as, in 1775, on the cover of the Scots Magazine, we find the following advertisement : — "This day is pub- lished, to be had at the shop of John ('lark, engraver, first fore stair before the head of l-'oresler's Wynd, the First Number of Fhres Musicie, or the Scots Musician, being a general collection of the most celebrated Scots tunes, reels, minuets, and marches, adapted for the violin, hautboy, or German flute, with a bass for the viollncello or harpsichord, collected Jrom a variety uf old Jlf.S'S., U'lterein the errors that have crept into the former editions of the Scott tunes are /racerf, and ne« variations added to many of them," &c. From the above announcement, we presume that this first number of the work was actually published, but what was its nature, or whether it ever reached a second number, the Editor has never heard, nor has he ever seen this Collection mentioned b\ any one who has written on this subject. 4 PRELLMINARY DISSERTATION. tern of analysis. This was Ramsay of Ochtertyro, who concludes a paper on 01(1 Scotish Songs (pnblislioil in I)r Anderson's periodical, The Bee, in 17!) I") with the following judicious and sensible queries: — "What is the ohiest book of Lowland vocal airs in Scots, either in public or private collections ? What is the most ancient MS. or printed book in which the songs that carry intrinsic marks of antiquity are inserted?" And yet, at that time, so hopeless was the prospect of recovering any of our ancient melodies, that we find Mr Ritson, in a letter to our Scotish anti- quary Mr George Paton, dated I9th May 17i)5, rejoicing, with no ordi- nary feeling of triumph, at the recovery of a solitary tune, which, however interesting from its frequent association with the songs and poems of the olden time, possesses little intrinsic excellence. " I have at last (says he) recovered the tune, to which ' The Banks of Helicon,' and ' The Cherry and the Slae,' were originally sung. Though lost in Scotland, and never perhaps known in England, it has been preserved in Wales by the name of ' Glyn Helicon.' Lord Hailes and Mr Tytler would have been glad of this discovery."'' Well may the Editor in his turn exclaim, how would Mr Ritson and his collaborateurs have rejoiced in the recovery of so rich and varied a collection of ancient Scotish and English melodies as that which is now submitted to the public ! The Editor naturally felt that so valuable and interesting a produc- tion as this might almost be left to speak for itself; so that, when the al- ternative offered of giving immediate publicity to the collection, accom- panied only with such observations and notes as might occur upon a brief though attentive examination of the subject, or of withholding, probably for years, a document essentially the property of the public, and which, as vindicating the antiquity, and perhaps it is not too much to say, elevating the character, of the justly celebrated melodies of Scotland, may be re- garded as little short of a national boon, — he admits that he did not hesi- tate long as to the course which it would be most proper for him to pur- sue ; and in adopting the former of these alternatives, and leaving it to the public to deduce for themselves the more remote and consequential • Vol. ii. p. 209. ' Correspondence of G. Paton, p. 21. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 5 results, which cannot fail to arise from a careful and deliberate analysis of the MS., he willingly resigns all higher ambition than that of render- ing himself in some degree useful, by opening up the way, and excavating a few of the principal materials out of which others may be enabled, at M future period, to erect (it is to be hoped) a complete and well-digested history of Scotish Music. The Collection of Ancient Music, now submitted to the public, is the property of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh. It was bequeathed to that learned body, about twentv years ago, by the late Miss Elizabeth Skene, the last surviving member, in a direct line, of the family of Skene of Curriehill and Hallyards in Mid-Lothian, along with a charter-chest containing a variety of documents relating to that family, of whicli tlial lady had become the depository, as their representative, and great-great- grand-daughter of John Skene of Hallyards, who was the son of Sir John Skene, the author of the treatise ' De Verborum Significatione,'' and Clerk Register during great part of the reign of King James VI.* When the MS. came into the possession of the Faculty, it consisted of seven detached portions or fasciculi ; which, as they obviously be- longed to the same set, were, by order of the Curators, bound up to- gether so as to form one volume. Their contents in the order in which they stand are as follows: — Part I. 1. Male Simme. 2. Doun in yon banke. 3. O sillie soul alace. 4. Long er onie old man. * .Memoir and Genealogy of the Skene TamWy, penei James Skene, Esq. ofRubislaw. 1 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 5. The Spanislio Ladio. 6. My dearest sueate is fardest tVa me. •r • • • 8. Hutchesoun's Gal.^iard. 9. • • • 10. A Frencli Volt. 11. Ladye Elizabeth's Maske. 12. Kette Bairdie. 13. Trumpeter's Currand. 14. Joy to the persono. 15. Comedians Maske. 16. Aderneis Lilt. 17. Sommersets Maske. 18. Johne Devisonns pint of wine. 19. Horreis Gal5iard. 20. Froggis Galjiard. 21.1 cannot Hue and want thee. 22. I mett her in the medowe. 23. Prettie weil begann man. 24. Prince Henreis Maske. Part II. 25. Lady, wilt thou love me. 26. The Lass o Glasgowe. 27. Shoe looks as shoe wold lett me. 28. Alace yat I came owr the moor and left my love behind me. 29- Bonnie Jean makis meikle of me. 30. My love shoe winns not her away. 31. Jennet drinks no water. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Part III. 32. A Frenche « » » 33. Scerdustis. 34. My Ladie Rothemavis Lilt. 35. Blew Breiks. 36. Abeideiiis Ciirrand. 37. Scullione. 38. My Ladie Laiidiaiis Lilt. 39. Lesleis Lilt. 40. The Keeking Glasse. 41. To dance about the Bail3ei's Dubb. 42. I l(>ft my love behind me. 43. Alace this night yat we suld sinder. 44. Pitt on yoiH- shirt on Monday. 45. Horreis Galjiard. 46. I dowe not gunne cold. 47. My mistres blush is bonie. 48. * • • 49. A Saraband. 50. (Another copy of Trumpeters Cmrant.) Part IV. .")l . What if a day. 52. Floodis of Teares 53. Nightingale. 54. The Willow Tree. 55. Marie me marie me qiiotii the bonnie lass. 56. My Lord Hayis Currand. 8 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 57- Jean is best of onie. 58. What hifjli offences lies my fair love taken. 59. Alman Nicholas. 60. Currand Royal, (Sir John Hope's Currand.) 61. Hunters Carrier. G2. Blew ribbenn at the bound rod. 63. I serue a worthie ladie. Part V. 64. Canareis. 65. Pitt on your shirt on Monday. 66. Scerdustis. 67- Shoe mowpit it coming o'er the lie. 68. Adew Dundie. 69. Thrie Sheips Skinns. 70. Clirichton's gud nicht. 71. Alace I lie my alon I'm lik to die awld. 72. I loue for loue again. 73. Sincopas. 74. Almane Delorne. 75. Who learned you to dance and a tovvdle, 76. Remember me at eveninge. 77. Love is a labour in vaine. 78. I dare not vowc I love thee. 79- My Lord Dingwalls Currand. 80. Brangill of Poictu. 81. Pantalone. 82. Ane Alman Moreiss. 83. Scullione. 84. My Ladie Laudians Lilt. 85. Queins Currand. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Part VI. 86. Then wilt thou goe and leave me her. 87. I will not goe to my bed till I siild die. 88. The Flowres of the Forrest. 89. The Fourth Measur of the Buffins. 90. Shackle of Hay. 91. Com love lett us walk into the Springe. 92. Sa mirrie as we have bein. 93. Kilt thy coat Magge kilt thy coatti 94. Shipeherd saw tliou not. 95. Peggie is ouer ye see with the souldier. 96. Ladye Rothemayis Lilt. 97- Omnia vincit amor. 98. I love my love for love again. 99. Ostend. 100. Sir John Moresons Currant. lOL Praeludium. Part VII. 102. Exercises. 103. Gilcreich's Lilt. 104. Blew Cappe. 105. Lady Cassilis Lilt. 106. Blew Breiks. 107. Port Ballangowne. 108. Johne Andersonne my Jo. 109. Good night and God be with yow. 1 10. A Sarabande. 111. Lik as the dum Solsequium. 112. Come sueat love lett sorrow cease. 113. Ve/e Setta. 1 14. A Sarabande. 10 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. The MS. is without date, and there is great difliculty in spealving as to the precise time when it was written. Indeed, upon this point we cannot venture upon a nearer approximation than twenty or thirty years. From the appearance of the paper, the handwriting, and the fact that some of the tunes arc here and there repeated, with very Httle alteration, as re- gards the music, it is extremely probable, that they had been taken down at different times, during a period of about that duration. Farther than this, the most careful examination will only permit us to add, that one part of the MS. was written between the years 1615 and 1620, and that while none of it is likely to have been much more recent than the last mentioned era, some of the collection may have been formed as early as the commencement of the seventeenth century. Among the tunes contained in Part I. there is one entitled " Prince Henrei's Maske." Prince Henry, the eldest son of James VI., was born in 1593, and died in 1612. He was created Prince of Wales in 1610, and upon this occasion the Masque here referred to was performed. It will be found in Ben Jonson's works," under the title of " Oberon, or Prince Henry's Masque." Another of these tunes, " Sommerset's Maske," would bring down the date of this part of the MS. to 1615. Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester, the favourite of James VI., was created Earl of Somerset in 1613, and in 1614 was married to Lady Frances Howard, the divorced Countess of Essex. The Masque in question, the words of which were written by Dr Campion, and the music by John Cooper or Coperario, (as he preferred to style himself,) Lanicre, and others, was performed at the Banqueting-room at Whitehall, on St Stephen's night, (Dec. 26, 1614.)'' Other circumstances of a like nature would indicate that this part of the volume had been written sometime between the years 1615 and 1620. " The Ladie Elizabeth's Maske" obviously refers to the daughter of James VI., who was married to the Prince Palatine of the Rhine, in ' Vol. V. p. 368, Edit. 1750. ' Hawkins' Hist, of Music, vol. iii. p. 372. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 11 1613.* After her marriage she would most naturally have been designated the Princess Palatine ; and as her husband was elected King of Bohemia, ill IGI9, if the tune had been inserted at any period subsequent to that, the name would most probably have been adapted to her new and more exalted title of " Queen of Bohemia."'' Another tune, the " Queen's Currant," in Part V., must have referred to Anne of Denmark, the Queen of James VI., who died in Kil'J- In like manner, in the same Part, we have Lord Dingwall's Currant. This was Sir Richard Preston, who was created Lord Dingwall in 1609, and in 1622 we find him advanced to be Earl of Desmond. There seems, therefore, to be something like a series of contemporaneous historical evidence, tending to shew that great part of the collection had been written out about this time, — a conclusion which is, in some degree, corroborated by the consideration, that the ephe- meral character of several of the tunes renders it very unlikely that thev would have outlived the immediate and fleeting interest attached to the personages or events which they were intended to celebrate. There is just one portion of the MS. which appears to be rather newer than the rest ; this is Part IV. There is here a tune called " Sir John Hope's Currant." Now, if this related to Sir John Hope, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, Lord Advocate to James VI. and Charles I. (and the Editor is not aware of any previous Sir John Hope,) he was knighted aufl appointed a Lord of Session in 1632. It si> happens, however, that there has been an obliteration in this place. The name first given to this tune in the MS. was " Currant Royal." This ap- pears to have been deleted, and " Sir John Hope's Currant" afterwards interpolated, though evidentlyin thesamehand. Thesuperinduction, there- fore, of Sir John Hope's name may have taken place a long while after the airs hatl been written out, so that, as an e.v poxt facto operation, it cannot aff'ect the strong presumptions above alluded to, which point to an * This lady forms tlic branch by whicli her present Majesty is connected wiili the Stuarts. '' See in " Wit's Recreation?," (reprint 1817. vol. ii. p. '26,) tlie sonnet by Sir Henry Wotton, ail- dressed to "the Queen of Buhemia," beginning " You meaner beauties of the night. "' 12 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. oarlier date; and, in any event, its eflect will bo limited to the contents of the /bscicii/iis to which it belongs. On the other hand, Part VI , which contains some of the most valuable of our national airs, is evidently the oldest of all. We draw this inference partly from the appearance of the paper, besides which, it looks as if it had been jjenned by a dillerent and an older hand. The notes, in particular, are of a more anticpie form, which is also the case in Part v.; and there is an orthographical alteration in the word "Currant," which is elsewhere spelt " Currand." It should be added, that the alpha- betical characters, though generally resembling those of the rest of the volume, are not precisely the same. The probability, therefore, is, that this part of the MS. was written prior to 1615, though how long prior to that period it is impossible to say. Since this volume has attracted the attention of the antiquary, it has o-enerally been considered to have been written by Sir John Skene him- self, — an idea which, until its hi.-tory came to be more minutely inquired into, derived some degree of support from the decided resemblance which the handwriting bore to tliat of Sir John. But although music was in these days an accomplishment infinitely more common (among gentlemen at least) than at present, there is no information on record, (and the Editor has perused several sufficiently circumstantial memoirs of Sir John Skene, in the hands of various individuals,) that he was either a proficient in, or a patron of, the art of music." It would seem also, that his declining years had been greatly embittered in conse- quence of several unhappy family difTorenccs;'' and the circumstance of his having lost his office of Clerk Register, without compensation, in a way, too, not a little provoking to a man of his shrewdness and sagacity."^ Had it not been, therefore, for the general rumour, which * Gcncalogic.lI Account of the F.iniily of Skene above mentioned; Memoir by Lord Auchinleck, prefixed to copy of " Regiam Majestatem," penes James Maconochie, Esq. ; Messrs Haig and Brunton's Account of the Senators of the College of Justice. * See Melros Papers, p. 128. ' The following are the particulars of this affair, as related by Spottiswoode, (History, p. 517.) " Sir John Skene had enjoyed the place (of Lord Register) a good many years, and being growu PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 13 has hitherto erroneouslv ascribed the authorship of this collertion to this eminent lawyer, the Echtor would have deemed even the above ob- servations superfluous, especially as Sir John Skene's death took place on the 16th March 1617." The Clerk Register had a son John, who was admitted a Principal Clerk of Session in 1614,'' and afterwards purchased the estate of Hall- yards. This is the person who has already been alluded to, as the great-great-grandfather of the testatrix, by whom the papers of the fami- ly were bequeathed to the Faculty. The precise time of his birth is not known, and no nearer conjecture can be formed than what may arise from the circumstances that his father's marriage took place in 1574, and that he was his second son. John Skene died in 1644, and if the MS. had been written by any member of the Skene family, he was most likely to have been the person."^ One thing rather favours this supposition. At the end of the 1st part, there are the words, " Finis quod Skinc," written in a hand which bears a strong resemblance to some specimens of his writ- ing, which are to be found among the Skene Papers, but the hand in which the music is written is different, and there is no reason to suppose that this in age, and infirm, thinliiiig tocpt liis son provided to liis office, had sent him to court with a di- mission of tlic place, but with a charge not to use it unless he (bund the King willing to admit him ; yet he, abused by some politick wits, made a resignation of the office, accepting an ordinary place among the Lords of Session. The office, upon liis resignation, was presently disponed to the Advocate; which grieved the father beyond all measure. And the c;ise, indeed, was pitiful, and much rcgrated by all honest men ; for he had been a man much employed and honoured with divers legations, which he discharged with good credit, and now in age to be circumvented, in this sort, by the simplicity or folly of his son, it was held lamentable. The King- being informed cfthe abuse by the old man's complaint, was very careful to satisfie him, and to have the son reconciled to his father, which, after some travel, was brought to pass : yet so exceeding was the old man's discontent, as within a few days he deceased." This, however, was not the case, as the transaction in question took place in 1612, and Sir John did not die till 1617. * See Sir John Skene's testament. General Register House, recorded in the testamentary register of the commissariat of Kdinburgh, Hih July 1017. "■ For the information of our Knglish readers, we may remark, that this is the same office which was held by the late Sir Walter Scott. ' This John Skene had a son Joht), who succeeded him in 1644 ; but this person was either uii- born, or an infant, when, as above shewn, the greater pajtof the MS. wiis written. 14 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. John Skene was tlie writer of the MS. There can be Ultlo tluubt, liow- ever, that it was his property, not only from the inscription above noticed, but several others in diilorent parts of the book, which appear to be in his handwriting. We find also the name, " Magister Johannis Skine," in one place, and in another, "Magister Johannes Skcine, his book," inscrib- ed upon the fly-leaves. As the family name was most commonly spelt " Skene," this deviation from the usual orthography might at first sight ap- pear somewhat startling; but all who are accustomed to observe the singu- lar want of uniforniitv wliich prevailed even in the spelling of family names, at that early period, will lay no stress whatever upon such a circumstance. Even among the Skene Papers we notice one deed where the name of Sir John Skene is spelt " Skeine," and another where the name is actually spelt in two different ways, " Skene" and " Skeine." From these circumstances, there can be no doubt that this John Skene of Hallvards was the original owner of the MS., and mo;.t probably the person under whose auspices the collection was formed. Although the authenticity of this document has never been called in question, and docs not admit of the shadow of a suspicion, the Editor has felt it due to himself and the public, before saying any thing as to its merits, to enter into the above investigation of its history; at the same time, while he has here only adduced the general results of very minute and anxious inquiries, he feels that lie has inflicted upon the reader details which, in the opinion of many, might perhaps have been spared. He trusts, however, it will be taken into view, that the peculiar nature of such a volume as the present rendered it a matter of more than ordi- nary importance that it should be known to have emanated from a source such as the one above described, rather than that it should have sprung from some unknown or obscure quarter. The grade in societv to which Mr Skene belonged would at least have led to the selection of the best versions of the melodies, in point of style and character, wliich could be procured at the time when the collection was formed; and, making allowance for that want of careful revision which is to be looked for in a manuscript written entirely for private use, and the PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 15 circumstance of the airs liaviiig been adapted, and, consequently, in many instances, altered in order to draw out to the resources of a particular instrument, the work bears internal evidence of its having been got up by a person of taste and judgment, exhibiting, occasionally, a sim- plicity, a beauty, and even a degree of elegance, which, from any thing we have seen of the productions of that age, we could scarcely have expected. The next point to which the Editor would solicit the attention of the public is, how far this collection of Scotish airs precedes in date those that have hitherto appeared. And here it may occasion some surprise when it is asserted, that it is at least one hundred years older than tJie ear- liest couipilation of the kind irhich has ever issued from the press. This was Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, the first volume of whicli appeared in 1 72.5, and the second in 1 733.* In the former of these years, Allan Ram- say had published about seventy Scotish melodies with basses, as a sort of musical appendix to his " Tea Table Miscellany," which, in like man- ner, with respect to the poetry, formed the first complete collection of Scotish songs. It is not meant that our Scotish melodies had not, prior to this, found their way into other printed collections. In Tom D'Urfey's " Pills to purge Melancholy,"'' originally published at the end of the se- venteenth, and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, and of which an ' Dr Burncy (Hist. vol. iv. p. 647) says, " In February (1722) there was a benefit concert for Mr Thonnson, the first editor of a collection of Scots tunes in England. To this collection, for which there was a very large subscription, may be a.scribcd the subsequent favour of tlie.se national melodies south of the Tweed. After this concert, at the desire of several persons of quality, was performed a Scottish song." '' Ha|ipily for the good taste, and, we may add, the morality of the present age, Tom D'Urfey and his I'ills have lung since sunk into oblivion. His verses, and those of his (irub Street friends, would now be considered little better than doggerel, while, in point of licentiousness, ti.ey have per- haps never been exceeded. They are of the school of Charles II., with whom D'Urfey seems to have been quite " Hail, fellow! well met," and it is not a little amusing to observe the self-compla- cency with which he announces one of his songs — " .Advice to the City" — as " a famous song, set to a tune of Signor Opdar, so remarkable, that I had the honour to sing it with King Charles at Windsor, he holding one part of the paper with me." We may observe, en pauant, that this per- fectly accords with what is stated by Hawkins, (vol. iv. p. 359,) as to the musical proficiency of IG PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. enlarged edition appeared in 1719, there are some Scotish airs, and among these we recognise " Dainty Davie,"" — " The Lea Rig,""" — " My mother's aye glowrin o'er me,"" — " Over the hills and far away,""' — " Bonny Dundee,"" &c. Along with them, we have such precious morgeaux ?s this monarch. " The king," says he, " understood music sufficiently to sing the tenor part of an easy song. He would sometimes sing with Mr Gosthng, one of tlie gentlemen of his chapel, who was master of a fine voice, the Duke of York accompanying them on the guitar." Besides the patron.Tgc of " the Right Honourable the Lords and Ladies" who subscribed to his volumes of songs, D'Urfey seems to have been at all times a favourite with the reigning powers during an un- usually lengthened career, having died, at an advanced age, in 1723. Addison says of him: — " Many an honest gentleman has got a reputation in his country by pretending to have been in company with Tom D'Urfey." And in D'Urfey 's Preface to his Songs, he talks of having had the satisfaction of diverting Royalty " with his lyrical performances." — " And when" (says he) " I have performed some of my own things before their Majesties, King Charles U., King James, King William, Queen Mary, Queen Anne, and Prince George, I never went off without happy and com- mendable approbation." While the vicious tendency of D'Urfey 's productions must be fully admitted, in forming a fair estimate of his character, something should be allowed to the force of bad example, the profligacy of the age, and, it may he added, the necessities of the man. That these were con- siderable, is apparent from a paper of Addison in the Guardian, No. 67, (28th May 1713,) prepa- ratory to a public benefit obtained for him at the theatre, in which he says, " Tom observed to me, that after having written more odes than Horace, and about four times as many comedies as Ter- ence, he was reduced to great diflSculties by the importunities of a set of men who, of late years, had furnished him with the accommodations of life, and would not, as we say, be paid with a song." The whole of this article is exceedingly humorous, nor can we suppose that the chaste Addison would have espoused the cause of his " old friend and contemporary," as he familiarly calls him, with so much earnestness, had his character not possessed many redeeming points. Indeed, he represents him as being not only " a diverting companion, but a cheerful, honest, and good-na- tured man." • Vol. i. p. 43. " Vol. i. p. 316. ° Vol. ii. p. 110. •■ Vol. v. p. 316. ° We find also (vol. i. p. 294) the song " Deil tak the Wars ;" but whether this very beautiful air is of Scotish or English extraction, it is difficult to say. It is mentioned by Leyden (Introduc- tion to Complaynt of Scotland, p. 285) as appearing in a MS. of the end of the seventeenth century, under the title of " Foul tak the Wars," and we ourselves have seen it, j. e. the melody, under the same name, in a MS. volume about the same date, so that it had plainly, even at that early period, been adopted as a Scotish air, and it has ever since been generally regarded as such. On the other hand, it appears in " A Collection of the Choicest Songs and Dialogues composed by the most eminent Masters of the age," published by J. Walsh, London, where it is called, " Song in ' a Wife for any Man ;' the words by Mr Thomas D'Urfey ; sel to music by Mr Charles Powell ; sung by Mrs Cross." This might have been one of the Powells, the celebrated Welsh harp-players, of whom some notice will be found in Jones's Welsh Bards, pp. 50, 52 ; at the same time, we admit our inability to reconcile these discrepancies, and leave the question to the deter- mination of others. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 17 the following : — " A Scotch Song, by Mr Robert Brown" — " A Scotch Song, the words by Mr John Hallam, set to music by Mr John Cottrell" — " Bonny Scotch Lads that kens nie weel, the words by Mr Peter Noble, set by Mr John Wilford," &c. These are, no doubt, ludicrous caricatures both of the Scotish music and phraseology, and are merely referred to in order to show that, about this time, the Scotish style of melody had begun to be very generally appreciated by the English public. The celebrated Dr Blow, who flourished from 1648 to 1/08, is men- tioned by Dr Burney" as the first English composer who united the Scotish with the English style of melody, and of this, many illustrations will be found in his " Amphion Anglicus," published in 1700; so that its character, at this time, must have been very generally understood. Indeed, we find Dryden, in the following passage of his preface to his modernized version of Chaucer's Poems, also published in 1700, referring to it as a familiar topic of illustration : — " The verse of Chaucer, I confess, is not harmonious to us ; but it is like the eloquence of one whom Taci- tus commends — it was ' aurihits isthis temporis accomodata.' They who lived with him, and some time after him, thought it musical ; and it con- tinues so even in our judgment, if compared with the numbers of Lyd- gate and Gower, his contemporaries ; — tliere is tiie rude sweetness of a Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect." It was in the year 1G80 when the Scotish air, " Katherine Ogie," was sung by Mr Abell, a gentleman of the Chapel-Royal, at his concert in Stationers' Hall. But, in reality, little is to bo gleaned as to the publi- cation and performance of these airs in England, before the appearance of D'Urfey's Miscellany. We believe that several of them were published in Playford's " Dancing Master," about the middle of the seventeenth century, but we have had no opportunity of examining that work. One Scotish air, however, we have seen in a collection entitled, " Catch that Catch can," published by John Hilton in 1()52, and afterwards by Plav- ford in his " Musical Companion" in l()(i7. This is the well-known tune, " Cold and raw the wind does blow, up in the morning early." It ap- pears here in the shape of a catch, adapted to words which commence * Hist. vol. iii. p. 4.:>3. 18 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. " I'se gae with thee, my Peggy," and the very same tune is introduced in the second part of Purcell's " Orpheus Britannicus," in the form of a bass to an ode in honour of Queen Mary, the consort of William III. ; though how far this had proceeded from an intention on the part of this illustrious composer to do homage to our national melodies, may be judged of from the following statement of the circumstances which gave rise to its introduction into that work, and which we shall give in the words of Sir .lohn Hawkins,' by whom the story is told : — " The Queen having a mind, one afternoon, to be entertained with music, sent to Mr Gostling, then one of the chapel, and afterwards Sub-dean of St Paul's, to Henry Purcell, and Mrs Arabella Hunt, who had a very fine voice, and an admirable hand on the lute, with a request to attend her. They obeyed her commands. Mr Gostling and Mrs Hunt sung several com- positions of Purcell, who accompanied them on the harpsichord. At length, the Queen beginning to grow tired, asked Mrs Hunt if she could not sing the old Scotch ballad, ' Cold and raw.' Mrs Hunt answered, ' Yes ;' and sung it to her lute. Purcell was all the while sitting at the harpsichord unemployed, and not a little nettled at the Queen's preference of a vulgar ballad to his music. But seeing her Majesty delighted with this tune, he determined that she should hear it upon another occasion. And, accordingly, in the next birth-day song, that for the year 1692, he composed an air to the words, ' May her bright example chace vice, in troops, out of the land,' the bass whereof is the tune to ' Cold and raw.' " The predilection which Queen Mary, on this occasion, evinced for the music of her ancestors, seems to have been common to the illustrious race from which she was descended, and the anecdote reminds us of a story told somewhere or other, but where we cannot remember, which shews that her uncle, Charles II., possessed a heart capable of being warmed by similar associations. It relates to a Scotish laird who had been introduced to King Charles, with whom he had afterwards had many merry meetings, while in Scotland, enlivened by the song and the dance of his country. Having become unfortunate in his affairs, he is ■ ' Hist. vol. iv. p. 6. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 19 said to have found his way to London with the view of making an appeal to the royal favour, and for a lonfr while to have been unable to obtain access, until one day, when he bethought himself of the expedient of slipping into the seat of the organist, at the conclusion of the service, in the Chapel Royal, and of arresting his Majesty's attention as he de- parted, with the homely and unexpected strain of " Brose and butter" — a tune which very naturally awakened the recollection of their former friendship, and in a few minutes brought about the recognition whicli it was so much his desire to efi'ect. The known taste and partialities of the Sovereign will at all times do much to influence those of the public, and it is not improbable that they may have had the eftect of first introducing Scotish music to the favourable notice of the people of England. We were not aware, till lately, that young ladies, during the reign of Charles II., were taught to sing Scotish songs, as one of the fashionable accomplishments of the day ; but we fear that the authority on which we make this statement will not warrant the su])position tliat the era of their popularity had at that time commenced. The following dialogue occurs in one of Shadwell's Flays, " The Scowrers," written about the year I67O. The dramatis personce in the scene are two ladies, Clara and Eugenia, and Priscilla, a sort of privileged waiting-woman, with whom they are familiarly chatting over the manner in which they have been brought up : — " Priscilla. but you had music and dancing? " Eugenia. Yes; — an ignorant, illiterate, hopping puppy, that rides his dancing circuit thirty miles about, lights off his tired steed, draws his kit at a poor country creature, and gives her a hitch in her pace that she shall never recover. " Clara. And for music, an old hoarse singing man, riiiing ten miles from his cathedral to quaver out ' The glories of her birth and state;' or, it may be, a Scotch sovg, more liideous and barbarous than an Irish cronan. " EiKJENiA. And another music-master from the next town, to leach one to twinkle out Lillibtirlero upon an old pair of virginals, that sound worse than a tinker's kettle that he cries his work upon." 20 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. In Scotland, we know of no more than one publication of secular music which appeared throughout the whole of the seventeenth century. This was a work entitled " Cantus, Songs, and Fancies, to several musi- call parts, both apt for voices and viols; with a brief Introduction to Musick, as is taught by Thomas Davidson, in the Musick School of Aberdeen ; together also with severall of the Choicest Italian Songs, and New English Ayres, all in tliree parts, (viz.) two trebles and a bass ; most pleasant and delightfull for all humours." Of this book, editions appeared in 1()G2, 1666, and 1682, printed by John Forbes, in Aberdeen. How the city of Aberdeen, or, as Forbes more appropriately (for our present purpose) styles it, " the ancient city of Bon Accord," sliould have distinguished itself above its compeers, and even the metropolis of Scot- land, by giving birth to this unique musical production, it is not easy to explain; and we certainly can place no great reliance on the panegyrics bestowed by the publisher on this " famous place" in his dedication, in which, not satisfied with describing his patrons their " honourable wis- doms the Lord Provost, Bailies, and Town Council," as being " a har- monious heavenly consort of as many musicians as magistrates,"^ he re- presents the city itself, as no less than "the sanctuary of the sciences, the manse of the muses, and nurserie of all arts," &c.; yea, (he adds,) "the fame of this city, for its admirable knowledge in this divine science, and many other fine enduements, liath almost overspread whole Europe; wit- ness the great confluence of all sorts of persons from each part of the same, who of design have come (much like that of the Queen of Sheba) to hear the sweet chearful psalms, and heavenly melody of famous Bon Accord."'' And yet, absurd as these bombastic encomiums are, they ' It appears to have been a common practice of the magistrates and citizens of Aberdeen, during the seventeentli century, to parade the streets, singing psalms, on all occasions of public rejoicing. In an act of council of 4th June 1630, for regulating " the solemnitie to be usit for the Queenis delyverie of a young sone," it is ordered that " all the youthes of the tonne take thair muskattis, and accompany thair niogistratis throw the streitis of the town, in singing psalmes and praising God." Council Register, vol. li. p. 542. '' We arc so fortunate as to possess a descri])ticn of this " heavenly melody" from another pen than that of Forbes. Mr Richard Franck, Philanthropus, in his " Northern Memoirs, calcu- lated for the meridian of Scotland," originally published in 1G58, and reprinted at Edinburgh, in PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 21 appear at least to have had this foundation, that the art was in reality cultivated with somo degree of success in this place, one reason for which had, no doubt, been the comparative freedom from civil disunion which the inhabitants of this part of the kingdom enjoyed. The Edi- tor has lately been shown a manuscript music-book of the reign of Charles 11.," which appears to have belonged to some member of the Keith-Marischal familv, wherein, as the title bears, are " airs to three, four, and five parts, by M. Clandam, and other fyne pieces in French, Italian, and Spanish, composed by the best maisters of France; as also, other fine Scotish and Inglish aires, old and new, taught by Louis de France, now music-master of Aberdeen, having been the schoUer of the famous musician, M. Lambert, being the King of France's cheife musician, for the method and maimer to conduct the voyces." The book contains an excellent system of exercises in solmization, as taught by this Louis de France, who had no doubt been an able and eminent instructor, as he appears shortly afterwards to have been removed to what was probably a more lucrative employment at Edinburgh. In Mr Maidment's " Analccta Scotica,"** there will be found an application from him to the magistrates of Edinburgh as Governors of Heriot's Hospital, (dated 8th September 1684,) to "allow such of the boys as have ane disposition for the said art to come to the petitioner's school, that he may instruct fhcm in the grounds of musick and the four parts of the psalmes." This seems to have been a gratuitous proposal of M. Louis, proceeding, as he expresses it, from a desire, not "to be idle or wanting in his dutie, whereby he can be serviceable to tlieir honours and the good town," they having appointed him to profess and teach music within the city, with a yearly salary. It seems also, from an old account-book of the Facultv 1821, (p. 229,) speaking of the same music wliicli lie heard wliilc at .Vbcrdeen, observes — " Here you shall have such order and decorum of song devotion in the church, as you will admire to hear, though not regulated hy a cantor or quirister, but only by an insipid paiochial clerk, that never attempts further in the mntheinalics of musick, llian to conipleat the parishioners to sing a psalm in tunc." • /'<•;«■« David Laiiig, Esquire. " Vol. ii. p 263. •22 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. of Advocates, that that loarned bodv had at one time made him a douceur, and although a quid pro quo must in these cases be presumed, it is not easy to conjecture what the consideration was which had led to this act of liberality towards the musical professor, unless we are to suppose that it was intended as a public testimony of the estimation in which his talents and services were held; and that they had tended, not inconsiderably, towards the improvement of the public taste in music, may be presumed from the high character of his master, whose system he intro- duced into Scotland. Sir John Hawkins says of M. Lambert, who was born in IGIO, and died at Paris in 1690, — " He had an exquisite hand on the lute, and sung to it with peculiar grace and elegance : his merit alone preferred him to the office of Master of the King's (Louis XIV.) Chamber-music, upon which he became so eminent, that persons of the highest rank became his pupils, and resorted to his house, in which he held a sort of musical academy. Lambert is reckoned the first who gave his countrymen a just notion of the graces of vocal music;" or rather, in the words of La Borde," he was the first to give ex- pression and elegance to the French style of singing, which, before his time, was little better than plain chant or canto fermo, which is precisely the sort of music to which the songs in Forbes's Cantus are adapted; and, if M. Lambert was the first person who in France appears to have successfully laboured to supersede that system by some- thing approaching to the modern school of vocal melody, it is not likely that it had ever been imported into Scotland before the arrival of M. Louis, his pupil ; so that, by securing the services of this gentleman, the city of Bon Accord would seem to have rendered even a more important service to the interests of music, than by the publication of their Cantus. From about tliis era, we may perceive something like the dawn, we should rather say, the revival, of a taste for popular and national music in Scotland, to which the plays, balls, and other gaieties at Holyrood- house, in 1682, during the short period when the Duke of York (after- wards James II.) and his Duchess held their court there,''no doubt gave * Essai sur la Musiqiie, vol. iii. p. 441. "" Arcliieologia Scolica, vol. i. p. 499. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 23 a secret impulse ; not that any great progress could be expected, scarcely two years after the battle of Bothwell Bridge, in what was denounced by the puritanical spirit of the times, as part and parcel of the for- bidden articles of our creed f but the seeds were probably at this time sown, which were destined in a succeeding age to spring up and ripen into maturity. It may at first sight appear strange that this work, Forbes's Cuntus, should not contain a single Scotish melody. In the edition of 1666, there are three pieces, not in the other impressions, and of these, two are sufficiently national in the subject, the one being " the Pleugh Song," in which all the " hynds" are summoned by name, and the various appurtenances of the plough are enumerated ; the other a Medley, consisting of scraps of old songs, to many of which, no doubt, favourite Scotish airs had once been attached. But even here, the music, instead of being of a national character, consists of a mere church chant, and (he songs themselves, along with another conimenc- * Our readers may be amused with the following catalogue of " abominations," wiiicli we extract from tlie manifesto of four unfortunate Corenanters, who were seized in tlie neigh- bourhood of Edinburgh, and incarcerated in the Canongate Tolbootli. We shoukl premise, however, that the body of tlie party were but slightly tinctured with the extreme fanaticism of the opinions which are here set forth. " We renounce the names of months, as January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, De- cember ; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday ; Martimas, Holydays, for there is none holy but ttie Sabbath day ; Lambas day, Whitsunday, Candlemas, Beltan, Cross stones, and Images, Fairs named by Saints, and all the remnants of Popery ; Yool or Christmas, Old Wives' Fables and By- words, as Palmsund.iy, Carlincsunday, the 2nth ofMav, being dedicat by this generation to prophanity, Peacesunday, Ilallowcven, llogmynae night, Valen- tin's even; no marrying in tlie month tlicy call May, the innumerable relicts of Popery, Atheism, and Sorcery, and New Year's day, and Handsell Monday, Drcdgies and Likewakes : Valentciu's Fnir, Chappels and Chaplains ; likewise Sabbath days Feastings, Blytlimeats, Bantjuctings, Revelling, Pipins^i, Sporlhif'ii, IJancingt, Ijauglihigs, Shiging prnfaiie and lustfull songs and ballads ; Table- Lawings, Monklands, Frierlands, Hlackfriar-lands, Kirk and Kirkyards, and Mcrcat Crosses, Fountstoncs, Images, Registers of Lands and Houses, Register Bonds, Discharges, and all their Law-works, Inhibitions, Homings, Letters of Adjudications, Ships-passes, Proplianily, and all un- chast thoughts, words, and actions, formality and indifferency. Story-books and Ballads, Romances and Pamphlets, Comedy-books, Cards and Dice, and all such like, we disown all of them, and burns them the Gth day of the week, being the 27lh day of the Stii month, 1081, at the Cannon- gate Tolbuith Iron-house." 24 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. iiig, " All Sones of Adam," are, with some reason, conjectured to have boon a sort of Christmas carols, sung by peasants before the Refor- mation. But wo should recollect, that the songs and melodies, of which wo arc in search, did not suit the austere sontimonts and doportmont of the Puritans, and wore perhaps no great favourites with the aristocratic faction, so that, between the two, it is not to be wondered at, if Mr Forbes, in his courtierlike anxiety to render his work " most pleasant and delightful for all humours," had been induced to omit them. The Cantus, however, is higlily characteristic of the music then in vogue throughout Scotland, and which was publicly taught at the differ- ent music-schools. Although the custom has been for many years in disuse, insomuch as scarcely to have left a vestige of its former existence, Music, both secular and sacred, unquestionably formed a branch of ordinary education in Scotland, upon the same footing as it now does in Germany and other parts of the Continent, not only during the sway of the Roman Catholic Church, l)ut for many years after the Reformation. While, in Eng- land, the change of religion did not produce any great immediate alteration on the music of the church — in this country, there can be no doubt, that the annihilation of the great choral establishments, the exclusion of organs and other instruments from the service, and the severe simplicity of the style of psalmody introduced by the rigid disciples of Calvin and Knox, had a considerable effect in checking the progress of the art. This, — James, or rather, his advisers, saw with regret; and they, not improbably, thought, that there was some danger lest the same fierce and intolerant spirit, which, in destroy- ing the images and idols of Popery, had, along with them, swept away many of the richest and most costly monuments of art, would shortlv carry its indiscriminate zeal so far as to attack the whole system of Musical instruction, as one of the remaining symbols of Antichrist. Hence the following statute, passed on the 11th November 1579 — " For instruction of the youth in the art of musik and singing, quhilk is almaist decayit, and sail schortly decay, without tymous remeid be pro- vidit, oure Soverane Lord, with aviso of his thrie estatis of this present PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 25 parliament, requeistis the provest, baillies, coiinsale, and communitie of the maist speciall burrowis of this realrae, and of the patronis and pro- vestis of the collegis, quhair sang scuiHs are foundat, to erect and sett up ane sang scuill, with ane maister sufficient and able for instructioun of the yowth in the said science of musik, as they will ansuer to his hienes upoun the perrell of their fundationis, and in performing of his hienes requeist do unto his Majestie acceptable and gude plesure." This Act must have had the effect not only of keeping up sucii music schools as had been previously established, but of causing the erec- tion of others. We have documents before us, showing that in Aber- deen, Ayr, Cupar, Dunbar, Dundee, Elgin, Irvine, Lanark, St Andrews, &c., for many years after, and in some instances before, the passing of the act 1579, besides the teacher of the grammar school, an individual held the appointment of master of the music or song school. These consist of extracts from the accounts of the common good of certain Scotish burghs preserved in the General Register House,*" relative to schools, and specifying the amount of salary paid to the different teachers. It would appear that the charge of the master of the music school was usually extended to the departments of reading, writing, and arithmetic ;•= and that the teachers were, originally at least, respectable members of the ecclesiastical body. Indeed, we find several instances of clergymen being advanced from this situation to wealthy benefices, and even bishoprics. Thus, William Hay, master of the music school at Old Aberdeen, in 1G58, was • Acta Pari. iii. 174. In the wording of this Act, which does not command, but simply requeih the different functionaries therein specified to erect song-schools, &c., coupled with the sanction that they shall answer therefor, on the peril of their foundations, and followed up by the assur- ance that, " in performing of his hienes requeist, (they will) do unto his Majestie acceptable and gude plesure," there is something so anomalous and absurd, so exceedingly like the strange and not very consistent deportment of the sapient, lialf-witted Monarch, from whose counsels it sprung, that it is most likely that the statute had been dictated by himself, and if so, we may re- gard it as one of his earliest efforts at legislation. He always took a great interest in musical matters, and although he most probably thought with his preceptor, Buchanan, that it was neither becoming nor expedient for a king to possess much skill in that art, he appears about this time to have been ambitious of acquiring proficiency as a performer on the virginals. See infra, p. 111. '■ See Appendix. • See Extract Accounts above mentioned, and Orem's Description of Old Aberdeen, p. 211. U 26 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. appointed minister of Perth, and subsequently Bishop of Murray; and about the middle of the sixteenth century, we find officiating in the same capacity in New Aberdeen, John Lesly, afterwards better known as Bishop of Ross, the historian, one of the most conspicuous agents of the Catholic cause during the reign of Queen Mary, and the associate and instigator of the Duke of Norfolk in the conspiracy against Queen Elizabeth, which, in 1572, cost that nobleman his life/ Kennedy mentions,"" that Mr Davidson, whose system of musical tuition is given in Forbes's Cantus, had teachers under him, and taught both vocal and instrumental music, particularly the virginal and the lute; and Orem not only describes the music in Old Aberdeen as being taught by the same master, who gave instructions in reading, writing, and arith- metic, but under the same roof with these branches of education ; its connexion with which may be still farther traced in the following entry in the Town Council Register of New Aberdeen, (vol. xlv. p. 858,) though the circumstance there recorded would seem to show that the system, at this period at least, was not very conducive to harmony: — " 1612, 1 Dec. — On this day, the scholars of the grammar, sang, and writing schools, rose against their masters, seized the sang school, and held it by force of arms for three days." From a list of the ringleaders, it appears that they were for the most part the sons of the landed gentlemen and • It is right, liowever, to mention, that we state this fact solely on the authority of Mr Kennedy, the author of the Annals of Aberdeen, and that it is very possible that the annalist may have drawn his inference from the mere name without farther evidence. If true, it is a circumstance in the hfe of this eminent person, which his biographers have hitherto omitted to notice. The fol- lowing is a copy of the minute of appointment, as it appears in the town council register of Aber- deen, and from the date, it would seem that at this time he could not have been more than eighteen years of age. As he is styled " Sir John Lessly," it may be proper to state, for the in- formation of those who are not versed in these matters, that this was a title formerly given to ecclesiastics, like the " Reverend" of modern times. — " 1544, 18th September. The said day, the hale consale being convenit togidder, hes ordanit and elect Sir Jhon Lessly to be ane of the Pre- bendaris of the queir, and to haif the organis and Sang-schole for instructioun of the minds of gudis bairns, and I^epiiig of thame in gude ordour ; and he to mak continual residence in the said queir. For the quhilk thai haif gifen him xx lib. yeirlie of fee, thankfullie payit to him yeirUe salary, as he remanis and niakis gude service to the towne." ^ Annals of Aberdeen, vol. ii. p. 135. ' History of Old Aberdeen, p. 191. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 27 barons of Abprdeeiishire. This music school in Aberdeen existed so lately as 175B, when the house was sold." By comparing what has been above stated with the subjoined notices from Dr Burney's Tour, published in 1773, our readers cannot fail to be struck with the perfect parallel which exists between the system here described, and that which prevailed in Germany at the period of his visit to that country, and which is there continued on the same footing to the present day. We may add, that while it has completely gone out of use with us, it has in the meantime extended itself to many other countries, especially to France and the United States. " At Koningstein and Pima there are schools for music At Pirna there is one for the children of olficers, and one for those of the poorer sort, where they learn, as elsewhere, music, with reading and writing.'' " I crossed the whole kingdom of Bohemia from south to north ; and being very assiduous in my inquiries how the common people learned music, I found out at length that not only in everv large town, but in all villages where there is a reading and writing school, children of both sexes are taught music. At Tcuchenbrod, Janich, Czaslau, Bomiscli- brod, and other places, I visited these schools; and at Czaslau, in parti- cular, within a post of Colin, I caught them in the fact." (One would think, from this expression of the learned Doctor, that he had found them any thing but well employed.) " The organist and cantor, M. Johann Dulsick, and the first violin of the parish church, M. Martin Kruch, who are likewise the two schoolmasters, gave me all the satisfaction I re- ■ Kennedy's Annals, vol. ii. p. 135. The folloHiny oxiract from an Aberdeen newspaper, the Journal, (.\ii(;iist '23, 17-18,) shews that music still continucil at that time to be taught at the pub- lic schools throughout Scotland. •' Injustice to the merits of the teachers of the nritin!; and music schools of this city, we have the pleasure to inform the publick, that last Thursday the Honourable Magistrates and Council paid tlieni a vi&it, when the scholars in both performed their parts to the entire satisfaction of the visitors. But particularly the scholars in the musick school performed several parts of vocal and instrumental musick in presence of a polite ,nnd numerous auditory, and some persons of distinction, who were pleased to say, they were the betl performers of any llicy ever heard in a pubiick tchoul in Scollaiid." ^ Burney's Tour, vol. ii. p. 23. 28 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. quired. I wont into the school, which was full of little children of both sexes, from six to ten or eleven years old, who were reading, writing, playing on violins, hautbois, bassoons, and other instrnments. The or- ganist had in a small room of his house four clavichords, with little boys practising on them all ; his son, of nine years old, was a very good per- former."* Originally the clergy would naturally have been selected to officiate as masters of the music school, from their being the only persons qualified to give instructions in that science ; afterwards the office fell into the hands of the schoolmaster;'' and latterly, before its final extinction, it seems to have been united with the less literate functions of reader, precentor, and session-clerk.'^ Forbes' Collection, therefore, is shaped precisely according to what might be expected from the source from which it emanated, and the pre- vailing taste of the day. If we find its contents somewhat heavy and monotonous, we must recollect that it is the production of a period when even the little dramatic music which was beginning to spring up in Italy and France, and which, however it might have startled the ears of our Presbyterian ancestors, would sound dull enough in these " most brisk and giddy paced times," was wholly unknown, and when our aii- * Burney's Tour, vol. ii. p. 4. For farther information on this point, see Mr Edward Taylor's " Airs en the Rhine," and Mr Planche's " Descent of the Danube." ^ From the following extract from Lament's Diary, (p. 20,) it would seem that this functionary was sometimes called upon for an exhibition of his vocal powers : — " 1G50, June 23 The King's Maiestie (Charles the Second) came from Hollaride to this kingdome. The 6 of July, leaning St Androis, he came to Cowper, where he gatt some desert to his foure-houres ; the place where he satte doune to eate was the Tulboothe. The towne had apointed Mr .\ndro Andcrsone, schole- lueaster ther for the tyme, to giue hiin a musicke songe or two whille he was at tabell." ' From the tale of the Prioress in Chaucer, it would appear, that in England, many hundred years ago, " to singen" was as much an established branch of the education of " small children" as " to rede;" and Hawkins, (vol. ii. p. 260,) speaking of the religious houses, says, that besides being schools of learning and education, " all the neighbours that desired it might have their children instructed in grammar and church music without any expense to them," — a custom which was probably introduced soon after the establishment of the Gregorian chant, in the sixth century, when John the Arch-chantor and Abbot of St Martin's was sent from Rome to teach the monks of Wcremouth the Service. BedjE Ecclesiae Historia, lib. iv. c. 18. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 20 cient Scotish melodies, with their wild, varied, and original modulation, were but little relished. From beginning to end there is scarcely any composition which has the least pretension to life or gaiety, if we except Morley's still favourite glee, " Now is the month of Maying." The melodies, if melodies they can be called, are uniformly of a grave and sombre cast, and nothing can be less expressive, or, generally speaking, more at variance with the sentiment which they are intended to convey. Even where there is an attempt at sprightliness in the words, they are almost invariably set in the minor key, which, of course, hangs like a dead weight upon them, and makes most " tragical mirth." The verses are for the most part from the pens of our Scotish lyrical poets of the preceding century, especially Scott and Montgomery ; and the music to which they are adapted consists in general of the productions of English composers. As the stock of melody was at that time extremely limited, it is not surprising to find several different sonnets adapted to the same tune. The air, " If floods of tears," which we have in the .Skene MS., is here associated with two different sets of words; but the most interesting coincidence we observe is a sonnet of Montgomery, " Away, vain world, bewitcher of my heart," the air of which is that of " Farewell, dear heart, since thou must needs be gone : My eyes do show my life is almost done," with which all our readers are familiar, being the sonnet which Shak- speare puts into the mouths of Sir Toby Belch and the Clown, in the scene where their midnight orgies are interrupted by the unwel- come presence of Malvolio. In Montgomery's Poems,* the song, " Away, vain world," is mentioned as having been composed to the " toon" of " Sal I let her go," part of the burden of " Farewell, dear heart ;" and if any doubt might at first have existed as to their identity, the fact is now satisfactorily established, the Editor having re- cently discovered the sonnet itself in a MS. of the year 1G39, belonging to the Advocates' Library, set to the very tune which appears in Forbes' Cantus. Dr Percy has given the words of this song ; but it has not * Published in 1821, under the joint editorship of Dr Irving and David Laing, Esquire. 30 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. hitherto been known that the air to which it was sung was lurking unob- served in this curious volume.* We have the farther satisfaction of in- troducing a still older version of this air than that contained in Forbes or the above mentioned MS. in the Skene Collection, under a dilTerent name from any of the preceding — " O sillie soul alace." Another feature of the Cantus must not be omitted. It contains a good many of the Godly and Spiritual Songs of the period. This was a style of composition introduced soon after the Reformation by certain of the clergy, in order, if possible, to unite religious edification with tlieir musical recreations. Passages of scripture were paraphrased and set to music, but, as may be supposed, not in a way much cal- culated to uphold the dignity of the original, or to heighten the subli- mity of the truths which they enforced. Of these some were adapted to the more fashionable compositions of the day, others to characteris- tic national melodies. A large collection of tliese appeared in the year 1590, and were reprinted by Andro Hart in IG'21, under the title of " Ane compendious Booke of Godly and Spirituall Songs, collectit out of sundrie parts of the Scripture, with sundrie of other Ballates changed out of pro- phaine songes, for avoyding of sinne and harlotrie, with augmentation of sundrie gude and godly ballates not contained in the first edition."'' Some of the contents of this singular performance consist of songs of a sacred character, perfectly fit for church service; but the ballads changed out of profane songs, are either religious parodies of popu- lar songs, or satirical invectives against the Catholic clergy, couched under that form. Wherever the great mass of a community require to be operated upon, ballads arc a species of missives which have not unfrequently proved serviceable; and in the great contest between the ° Our National Antbem is said to make its appearance in Forbes" Cantiis. This is not the case. " Remember, O thou man," (which will also be found in Ravenscroft's Melismata, among what he calls bis country pastimes, under the name of" A Christmas Caroll,") bears a strong resemblance to it; but the coincidence is not such (especially as the former is in the major, and the other in the minor series) as to establish their identity, or even to warrant a charge of plagiarism against any of its reputed authors. '' Specimens of this work were published by Lord Hailes in 1764, and an entire reprint edited by Sir John Graliam Dalyell in 1801. PRELIMLNARY DISSERTATION. 31 Papal Clergy and the founders of the Reformed religion, they seem to have been made use of with considerable effect. It should be remem- bered that a feud had subsisted between the ballad-mongers and the Catholic clergy, even from very remote times. Mr Tytler" observes, " The clergy were tlie bitter enemies of the minstrels, whom they considered as satirical rivals or intruders, who carried off from the church the money which might have been devoted to more pious and worthy uses. They talk of them as profligate, low bred butToons, who blow up their cheeks, and contort their persons, and play on horns, harps, trumpets, pipes, and moorish flutes, for the pleasure of their lords, and who, moreover, flatter them by songs and tales, and adulatory ballads, for which their masters are not ashamed to repay these ministers of the prince of darkness with larse sums of sold and silver, and with rich embroidered robes." Neither did the party here assailed spare their ecclesiastical antagonists; and few as are the fragments which remain of their fleeting productions, (which is the less to be wondered at, as their enemies, the churclimen, were the only persons by whom any thing was committed to writing,) we see enough to convince us, that they rarely omitted an opportunity of exposing their hypocritical demeanour, their luxurious habits, and the corruption and profligacy of their lives. Our readers may take as an example, " The friar had on a coul of red," a distich of which is given in the medley at the end of Forbes' Cantu.s, (Edition lG(i(J,) but which we shall not here repeat. We may, however, transfer to our pages, from the Compendium, the following satirical effusion, from which some iiloa may be formed of the general style of these compositions : — With hunts up, with huntis up,*" It is now perfite day ; Jesus our King is gane in hunting; Quha likes to speed they may. * History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 373. "" According to Puttcnham, one Gray acquired the favour of Iloury VIll., and uflt-rwords that of the Duke of Sohicrset, for making "certain merry hallads," whereof one chiefly was " The huntc is up, the huntc is up." This, therefore, wils an English song, though one of the many which were at that time popular in both countries. The tune is preserved in Lady Nevdl's music book Burney, vol. iil. p. 115. 32 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Ane cursit fox lay hid in rox This hmg and mony ane day, Devouring sheep, whilk he might creep ; Nane might him shape away. It did him gude to laip the bhide Of 3oung and tender lammis: Nane could him mis, for all was his, The young anis with their dammes. The hunter is Christ, that hunts in haist; The hunds are Peter and Paul ; The Paip is the fox; Rome is the rox, That rubbis us on the gall. That cruel beist, he never ceist, By his usurpit power, Under dispence, to get our pence, Our saullis to devoure. Quha could devise sic merchandise As he had there to sell, Unless it were proud Lucifer, The great master of hell ? He had to sell the Tantonie bell, And pardons therein was. Remission of sins in auld sheep-skinis, Our sauls to bring from grace. With buls of lead, white wax and reid. And uther whiles with green, Closit in ane box, this usit the fox; Sic peltrie was never seene. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 33 So numerous and so cutting had these and similar pasquinades become, — not to mention the more oU'ective because more talented and inee- nious productions of Sir David Lyndsay, which must always be classed among the leading, if not the most powerful, agents of the Reformation" in Scotland, that at a provincial council of the Roman Catholic clergy, held at Linlithgow, in 1549, it was thought necessary to enter a special denunciation against all who should be found in the possession of " aliquos libros RYTHMORUM si:u cantilknarum vllgarium scundalosa ecclesiasti- corum, aut quucunque hceresin in se continentia ;" and in 1551, an Act of Parliament'' was passed, prohibiting the publication of " onie buikes, ballates, sanges, blasphemations, rimes or tragedies, either in Latin or in English," without royal licence obtained " fra our Soveraine Ladie and the Lord Governour." Nay, the Catholics were not satisfied with these denunciations and legal prohibitions ; they appear at last to have found it expedient to resort to the lex talionis in self-defence. Some of their clergy are said to have been the authors of a satirical ballad, in very general circulation, against the Protestant faith, and the English for em- bracing it; and John Knox, in his History, (p. 3G,) tells us that " ane Wilsoun, servant to the bischope of Dunkeld, quha (the said bischope) neither knew the New Testament nor the Auld, made a despyteful railing ballat against the preichours, and against the Governor, for the quhilk he narrowly eschapit hanging." Knox also mentions a " sang of triumphe" which the Catholic clergy composed, when Norman Leslie and his associates in the assassination of Cardinal Beatoun were taken from the castle of St Andrews, and consigned to the galleys: — " Priestis, content you now, Priestis, content you now; For Normond and his companie Hes filled the gallays fow." The policy of the satirical ballads is sufficiently intelligible; that of ' Sot- Sir John (Graham DalycH'* Scolisli I'ocms of the Sixtreiith Century, vol. i. p. 30. •■ Queen Mary. I'ur. 5, c. 27. K 34 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. popularising, as it were, the doctrines of religion, by associating them with common secular songs and rustic and street tunes and dances, was an experiment of a much more doubtful character ; and yet it was plainly entered upon under the lionest and earnest conviction, that a trreater service could not have been rendered to the cause of religion and morality. " In Princes' courts," says Hume of Logic, in the preface to his " Hymnes or Sacred Songs," (printed in 1599,) " in the houssis of great menu, and at the assembleis of yong gentlemen and yong damesels, the chief pastime is to sing prophaine sonnets and vain ballattis of love, or to re- hers some fabulos faites of Palmcriue, Amadis, or uther such like reveries, and suche as either have the airte or vaine poeticke, of force they must shew themselves vane followeris of the dissolute ethnike poets, both in phraze and substaunce, or else they salbe had in no reputaunce. Alas ! for pittie, is this the richte use of a Christianes talent ?" Many of the songs were unquestionably of a licentious description ; and it seemed to occur to these well-meaning zealots, that if they could only succeed in divorcing the innocent and artless tunes from their libertine associates, and in wed- ding them to verses of a divine character and import, the stream of pol- lution would gradually work itself clear, and the much lamented inunda- tion of looseness and immorality be speedily dammed up. This idea, though it argued very little knowledge of human nature, was not alto- gether new. Thomas Sternhold, in the reign of Edward VI., tried some- thing of the same kind, and with as little success. It is related of him, that being a " most zealous Protestant, and strict liver," the amorous and obscene songs used in the court of this Prince gave him such scandal, that he turned into English metre fifty-one of David's Psalms, and caus- ed musical notes to be set to them, thinking thereby that the courtiers would sing them instead of their sonnets ; but, says Wood, who mentions the circumstance, this they " did not, only some few excepted."^ It must be allowed, however, that there was something much more reasonable in this project of Sternhold than in that of our Scotish Puritans, although they were both based upon the erroneous, impracticable, and we may add, un- ■ Allienae Oxoniensis, vol. i. p. 76. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 35 scriptural principle, (which we see acted upon by fanatics in all ages,) that the exercises of devotion ought to be made to take the place of our amuse- ments and recreations, and that the comnuinit)-, as a point of reli- gious duty, ought to substitute divine songs for those of a secular nature. Still the former was not liable to the objection of irreverence, which applies so strongly to the other, and which, from the unhallowed al- lusions which it suggested — the indecency with whicli if jumbled together images the most sacred and profane — and the familiarity which it intro- duced in addressing the Deity — was calculated to do more real harm to the cause of religion, than the evil which it was intended to put down, and more than all the pious eft'orts of their authors could ever repair. The monstrous effect of the seria mista jocis, in matters of a religious nature, has seldom been so glaringly exemplified as in some of the " godly and spiritual songs," as they were strangely miscalled, to be found in this Compen- dium. " John, come kiss me now," as Mr Tytler well observes, " makes his appearance, stripped, indeed, of his profane dress, which had promoted "sin and harlotrie," but in exchange, so strangely equipped in his i)eniten- tial habit, as to make a more ludicrous figure than his brother Jack in the " Tale of a Tub." Johne, cum kis me now, Johne, cum kis me now ; Johne, cum kis me by and by, And make no more adow. The Lord thy God I am, That John dois thee call ; John rej)resents man, By grace celesliall. My prophites call, my preachers cry, Johne, cum kis me now; Johne, cum kis me by and by. And mak no more adow. 36 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Till our gudeman, till our gudeman, Keep faith and love till our gudeman : For our gudeman in heaven does reign. In glore, and blisse, without ending, Where angels singes ever, Osan I In laud and praise of our gudeman, Adam our forefather that was, Hes lost us all for his trespasse ; Whais bruckle banes wee may sair ban. That gart us lost our owne gudeman. Quho is at my windo, who, who ?' Goe from my windo, goe, goe. Quha calles there, so like ane strangere ? Goe from my windo, goe, goe. Lord, I am here, ane wrached mortall, That for thv mercie dois crie and call Unto thee, my Lord celcstiall ; See who is at my windo, who ? O gracious Lord celestiall. As thou art Lord and King eternal ; Grant us grace that we may enter all, And in at thy doore let me goe. ■ The proloivpe of tliis song, " Goe from my window, goe," is one of the shreds and patches introduced by " Old Merry Thought," in Beaumont and Fletcher's " Knight of the Burning Pestle." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 37 Qhuo is at my windo, qiiho ? Go from my windo, go ; Cry no more there, like ane stranger, But in at my doore thou go ! Hay, now the day dallis, Now Christ on us callis ; Now welth on our wallis Appeiris anone : Now the word of God rings, Whilk is King of all Kings : Now Christis flock sings, The night is neere gone. This was called moralizing popular ballads ! It is alluded to by Shakspeare in the Winter's Tale,* where he speaks of a Puritan who sings psalms to hornpipes ; and — what we could scarcely have looked for — it has been carried down so near our own times as till within these sixty or seventy years ; a religious sect, denominated the Bereans, having signalized them- selves by the production of a volume similar to that from which the above extracts are made, and of which the following are specimens : — " Wat ye what I met yestreen Lying in my bed, mama? An angel bright," &c. " Haud awa, bide awa, Haud awa frae me, Deilie." The only other Scotish volume of the same nature with the Compen- dium of Godly and Spiritual Songs, is one which appeared iu 1683, » Act iv. Scene 2. 38 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. under the title of " The Saint's Recreation, Third Part, upon the Estate of Grace ; containing, and methodically delineating, a Christian's pro- gress, privileges, comforts, and duties, beginning at conversion ; de- scribing also the blessed Rodeonior, Jesus, both absolutely and compara- tively ; and all these in spiritual hymns and songs suited to graue, sweet, melodious tunes : together with a plain paraphraze upon the margin, confirming all by Scriptures, explaining difficulties, and methodizing the songs. Compiled by Mr William Geddes, Minister of the Gospel, first at Wick in Caithness, and afterwards at Urquhart in Murray." This work is chiefly remarkable for the ingenious apology wliich the author offers for having presumed to blend the sacred with the profane. He says in his preface — " I cannot omit here to obviate an objection which may be raised by some inconsiderate persons, which is this : O! say they, we remember some of these ayres or tunes were sung heretofore with amorous sonnets, wherein were (may be) some bawdy-like or obscene- like expressions. To this I answer, first, That in this practice I have the precedent of some of the most pious, graue, and zealous divines in the kingdom, who to very good purpose have composed godly songs to the tunes of such old songs as these — ' The bonny broom;' ' I'll never leave thee ;' ' We'll all go pull the hadder,' (heather,) and such like, and yet without any challenge or disparagement. Secondly, It is alleged by some, and that not without some colour of reason, that many of our ayres or tunes are made by good angels, but the letters or lines of our songs bv devils. We choose the part angelical, and leave the diabolical. Thirdly, It is as possible and probable that these vain profane men, who composed those amorous naughty sonnets, have surreptitiously borrowed those graue sweet tunes from former spiritual hymns and songs ; and why may not we again challenge our own, plead for restitution, and bring back to the right owner ; applying those graue ayres again to a divine and spiritual subject ? Lastly, We find Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, sanctified some sentences and verses of Greek poets, converting them into scriptural maxims, such as that — ' Cretenses omnes sunt mendaces — the Cretans are always liars,' Tit. i, 12 ; and that in Acts xvii. 28, ' For in him we live, and move, and have our being,' &c. ; and why may not we (finding the measures of a melodious tune or ayre indifferent in them- PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 39 selves) consecrate and apply tliem to a sacred poem ?"" Mr Alexander Campbell remarks, in regard to the latter part of the above extract, that it contains the fanciful notion that our Scotish melodies had been origi- nally sacred music, and that this idea was too ludicrous to merit serious refutation, Mr Ritson,'' too, has observed, that the Scotish music owes nothing to the church-music of the cathedrals and abbeys before the Reformation ; and these opinions, taken up upon such liigh grounds, have since passed current for somelliing little short of authority upon the subject. It is somewhat dangerous, however, (as our readers will shortly see, when they look more particularly into the present collection,) for authors to denounce as absurd and groundless, opinions, merely because they happen to run counter to their own favourite theory. There are a few of the airs themselves, now that we have a clearer insight into them, which seem to tell a different tale; and we are rather inclined to think that the reverend gentleman, however slightly he miglit have been acquainted with the history of Scotish melody — in stating it not only as possible, but probable, that " the graue and sweet tunes" to which he refers had been derived from an ecclesiastical source, might have pro- ceeded uj)oii some credible and authentic tradition generally current at the time when he made the observation ; but of this more hereafter. As Forbes' book is the oi.Iy [Uiblication of the seventeenth century to which we could have looked for the preservation of our native Scotish Melodies, we should have rejoiced even to have discovered a few of their " old familiar faces" peeping out from under the |)uritanical garb in which so many of the artificial productions of the " Caiitus" are in- vested ; but we have not been so fortunate, and we are forced to admit the utter absence of all printed evidence as to their nature and character, of an older date than that which has been above noticed. In this dearth of all direct information, there are two collateral in- quiries which ought not to be overlooked; the one relates to the lyrical associates of (he tuue< — the otlier to tlie musical instruments bv which ' liitrodiiclioii lo History of Scotisli I'ot'lry. p. 3G4. ** Ilistoricul Essay an Scutisli Song, p. 102. 40 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. they were performed and occasionally accompanied. To both of these subjects we sliall now direct the attention of our readers, though not to a greater extent than we feel to be indispensable in the illustration of the particular topic which we are at present engaged in bringing under their notice. I. ANCIENT SCOTISH LYRICAL POETRY. It is obviously impossible to arrive at a just conception or appre- ciation of the character of the ancient vocal music of Scotland, without taking into view the songs and rhymes to which it was adapted, and of which it may be said to have formed a part. Music and poetry were much more intimately connected during the middle ages than they are at present ; and whether the ancient melodies of Scotland were chiefly the invention of an order of men who, according to the impo,?ing de- scription of Percy, conjoined these two sister arts, and " sung verses to the harp of their own composing," who graced all scenes of festivity with the exercise of their talents, and were welcome guests in the halls of the great, and the humble cabins of the poor : or whether they might have emanated from a class of persons who, in the more sober language of Ritson, were little better than what he is pleased to call " mere instru- mental performers, fiddlers, or such base-like musicians, who made it their business to wander up and down the country, chanting romances, singing songs and ballads to the harp, fiddle, &c. ;" or whether they took their rise among sliophords tending ihoir flocks, or maids milking their ewes, who actually felt the sentiments and aflections of wliich they are so very expres- sive, — all must be agreed that a congeniality, — *a reciprocity, more or less perfect, must have {originally, at least, we will not say nhcays) existed between the melody and the words, and that the genius of the one must have alternately inspired and awakened that of the other. The very rythm and measure of a verse, together with the sentiment, often seems to carry a certain intonation or air along with it, and Mr Allan Cun- ' See Percy, Ritson, Bcatlie, Ptnkerton, passim. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 4l ningham* has gone so far as to say, that when he was a boy, and com- mitted to memory many ancient and modern songs, he never learned any of them without making him.^elf master of some kind of melody which re-echoed the words, and that mosi of the airs which the words suggested corresponded, in a great measure, with the proper tune, the nature of the song, and its emphatic words, suggesting flie general spirit and character of the air. Upon this somewhat remarkable declaration, we shall morelv observe, that without meaning to call in question Mr Cunningham's veracity, and supposing it to be quite possible that a few casual coinci- dences of this nature might have occurred, — the slightest consideration of the almost endless variety of musical adaptations of which any given metrical arrangement of words is susceptible,'' must at once lead to the rejection of all such ideas as hypothetical and unfounded. We need hardly say, therefore, that we do not participate in any such theory ; we shall not even attempt to point out the affinities and resemblances which e.xist between the two ; all we shall do will be to collect a few of the scattered notices which are here and there to be met with ; and if they should serve to convey a tolerably correct idea of the favourite themes to which the ancient muse of Caledonia was wont to tune her lays, and the pre- vailing tone and character of her vocal compositions, it is all the informa- tion which we think can be expected, and, considering the few wrecks which the ravages of time have left, quite as much as the data before us are capable of supplying. It is believed that until within the last three hundred years, our Scotish songs were but seldom committed to paper, and when left to the care of memory and tradition alone, they were perhaps not often destined to outlive their authors, or the events which they were intended to coin- uiemorate. In these cases, they probably evaporated in a few years, • Cunningliam's Songs of Scotlniid, vol. i. p. 26. ' Merscnnc has calculated that the iiuinbcr of tunes or CantilentB which it is possible to extract from twenty-two notes (a compass of three diatonic octaves) is precisely 30j53j075.1492C 12960484. Harnionicoruni, l,ili. vii. Prop. ix. It has also been computed, that to ring all the possible changes on tv^'elve bells wonld occupy scvonty-five years, ten months, one week, und three days. Hawkins' Hist. vol. iv. p. 108. P 42 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. without leavins any trace behind them, and in others, wliere tlioy were reduced to writing, no care seems to have been taken of them. We need not wonder, therefore, when we set out in a pursuit of this na- ture, at the unsatisfactory and barren prospect that awaits us, and that, instead of apprehendinfr the bodily substance of what we aim at, we feel ourselves, like beings wandering among the tombs, surrounded by the crumbled relics of former ages, with nothing to guide us to the objects of our search beyond a few casual inscriptions designative of the names by which they were known in their generation, and which now, that they have passed away, like epitaphs, serve merely to mark the period of their ex- istence, or the spot where their ashes are laid. The most ancient specimen of Scotish song, believed to be extant, is that which is given in Andrew Wyntoun's Rhyming Chronicle of Scot- ish History, written about the year 1420, where, speaking of the disastrous effects which residted from the death of Alexander III., who was kilkHJ by a fall from his horse, in 128G, he says — " This falyhyd fra he deyed suddanly, This sang was made of him for thi. Quhen Alysander, oure kynge, wes dede, That Scotland led in luwe and le, Away wes sons off ale and brede, Off wyne and wax, gamyn and gle ; Ovvre gold wes changyd into lede ; Cryst, borne into vergyynyte. Succour Scotland and remede That stad is in perplexitie." Another rhyme of the same period, and only a few years later, (1296,) is quoted by Mr Rilson from an old Harleian MS., and was made by the Scots at the siege of Berwick, the garrison and inhabitants of which, though ultimately overcome, and massacred by the victorious Edward, had at the commencement been successful. It runs as follows : — PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 43 " Wend Kyng Edcwarde with his lange shankes, To have gete Berwyke al our unthankes, Gas pikes hym, and after gas dikes him." We may ne.xt refer to the well known lines on the memorable battle of Bannockburn in 1314 : — " Maydens of Englande, sore may ye morne, For your lemmans ye have lost at Bannockvsborne, With heve alowe. What ! weneth the King of England So soon to have wone Scotlande ? Wyth rumbelowe."'' " This songc," says Fabian, by whom (as well as by Caxton, and also in a Harloian MS.) it is preserved, " was, after many daies, song in daunces in the carols of the maidens and mynstrclles of Scotland, to the reprofe and disdayno of Englyshemen, with dyvers others, whych I overpasse." Afterwards, in 1328, when Edward the Second's daughter Jane was given in marriage to David, the son of Robert the Bruce, and a treaty of peace entered into at York between the two nations, upon terms somewhat humiliating to the (at that time) crest-fallen martial spirit of England, we are informed by the same historian, Fabian, that the contempt of the Scots broke out in " diverse truffes, rounds, and songes, of the whiche one is specially remembred, as foloweth : — * " Ilcve a towe rumbelow" a said to be a sort of ancient chorus, but most commonly used by mariners. It is not unlike the mcidern " i/o-hcavc-o." On this account, in the old song on Bannock- burn, It is supposed to carry with it on allusion to King Edward's having cscopcd in a small skifl' from Dunbar ; or, as the loyal Ciixton discreetly insinuates, " forosmoche as he loved to gone by water." Wo should like nuich to know in what this " heve a lowe ruiubelowc" originated. The •■ Hie down, down, derry down," is said to he a modern version of " llai down, ir derry danno ' — the burden of an old song of the Druids, signifying, " Come let us hasten to the oaken grove :" which was chanted by the bards and vades to call the people to their religious assendilies in the groves, — a curious proof how vestiges of ancient customs and maimers are every now and then III be found lurking beneath (onvenlional expressions, the most frivolous and apparentlv the most unmeaning. Sn' Joni-,' W'eKh Hards, p. IdH 44 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. " Long boirilis liartlis, Payiited hoodes wytles, Gay cottes graceless, Maketh Englande tliryfteless." " Which ryme, as saioth Guydo, was made by the Scottes princypally for the deformyte of clothying that at tliose dayes was used by Englishe- menne." We quote these lines, as they have been usually referred to in illustration of the Lyrical poetry of this remote age. W^e can scarcely conceive, however, that they had ever been intended for a rounde or songe. They are obviously much more of the nature of an epigram or jeu d'esprit, and that they were regarded as such, is apparent from the cir- cumstance mentioned by Caxton, (hat they were inscribed on a placard, and fastened upon the church-doors of St Peter, towards Stangate.* We find no traces of Scolish Song throughout the whole of the inter- vening period between the fragments above quoted and the Poems of James I., which we may suppose to have been written about the year 1430, and these only furnish us with the names of two compositions of this nature — " There fure ane man to the holt ;" i.e. There went a man to the wood ; and, " There shall be mirth at our meeting." The first is alluded to in the Glh Stanza of Poblis to the Play : — " Ane 30ung man stert into that steid Als cant as ony colt ; Ane birken hat upon his heid, With ane bow and ane bolt : Said, mirrie madinis think nocht lang. The wedder is fair and smolt ; He cleikit up ane hie ruf sang, * The attachiog of placards to church-doors is a practice which has descended to tlie present day. It was the principal method of publication at this time, and for many years afterwards. See Hume's History of tlie Reign of James I., where, after mentioning tliat on the union of tlio Crowns, in six weeks time his Majesty conferred the honour of knighthood on not fewer than 237 persons, he says, " a pasquinade ivas affixed to St Paul's, in wliicli an art was promised to be tauglit, very necessary to assist frail memories in retaining the names of the new nobility." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 45 Thairfure ane man to the holt. Quod he, Of Peblis to the Play." The other in the 25th Stanza : — " He fippilHt lyk ane faderles fole, And [said,] be still my swoit thing : Be the haly rud of Peblis, I may nocht rest for greting. He quhissilit and he pypit bayth, To mak hir blyth that meiting ; My hony hart, how sayis the sang, Thair sail be mirth at our meeting, 3't. Of Peblis to the Play." Another tune is spoken of in the course of this piece, " The Schamon's Dance." The ludicrous vernacular poem, called " Cockelbie Sow," written rather before the middle of the fifteenth century, in the following passage contains several allusions to the ballads, songs, and dances, that were popular at that time : — And his cousin Copyn Cull, Foul of bellis ful ful," Led the dance and began. Play us " Jolij Lcminuney^ Sum irottet " Tras and lyenass,"' Sum balterit " The Bass;" Sum, " Perdolli/," sum, " Trollj/ lollj/,"' • " Full of bellis, ful ful," that is to soy, all hung round with bolls. In the Lord High Tro«- surtT's accounts for 1513, wc obsiTve the following entry : " Item, to thirty dozen of bellis, for d.in. saris, di'lyvcrit to Tlioinas lioswell, iiijlb. I2>." ' " Jolly Lcniniaiu'," and " Tras and Trenas," must have been dances. ° " IVrdolly, " and " Trolly lolly," were probably the chorus or burden of popular songs. See Ritsoo's Ancient Songs, p. 92. " Trolly Lolly Lcmmon dou," in Complaynt of Scotland. 46 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Sum, " Cok craw thou q" day ;"' " Ticj/sbank" and Terivai/," Sum, " Lincolne," sum, ^^ Lindsay,'"^ Sum, " Jolly Lemman dawis it not day ;" Sum, " Be yone iroodsyd" singis, Sum, " LaJt lait in evinnyngis T Sum, " Joly Martene with a mok,"' Sum, " Lulalow lute cok."" Sum bakkit, sum bingit. Sum crakkit, sum cringit ; Sum movit most mak revell. Sum, " Symon Sonis of Quhynfell T Sum, " Maister Peir de Cuugate" And uyir sum " in Cottsate," At leser drest to dance. Sum, " Oiirjiite,'' sum, " Orliance"'^ Sum, " Rusty Bully with a bek, " And every note in vyeris neky Sum usit the dancis to dance Of Cipres and Boheme : * " Twysbank" Leyden considers to be the same with " When Tayis bank wes blumyt brycht," in tlie Baiinatyne MS. p. 229. '' It is probable that the names here given referred to productions popular in England. In Ritson's Ancient Songs, p. 30, there is " a song on his mistress, whom he admires as the fiiirest maid between Li/ncolnc and Lyndseye, Norhampton and Lounde, (i. e. London.) It is copied from a MS. of the reign of Edward II. ' Mentioned in Constable's Cantus. '' " Oiiirfute and Orliance" are also mentioned in a poem in the Bannatyne MS. on " the laying of a Ghaist," which begins — " I.istis, Lordis, I sail you tell." And similar to these, in all probability, are Platfute and Backfute, dances still known in some parts of the country. They take their names from the particular motion of the feet by which thev are distinguished. In " Christ Kirk on the Green" Platfute is referred to. " Platfute he bobbit up with bends." Also in Sir David Lyndsay's " Complaynte of the Papingo," along with another, called /u/c bcfurc. " To learn her language artificial!. To play platfute and quhisselyirfe befo-e." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 47 Sum the faitis full yarne Of Portugal and Navcrne ; Sum counterfutit the gyis of Spayne, Sum Italy, sum Almaine ; Sum noisit Napillis anone. And uyir sum of Arragone ; Sum, " The Cane of Tartary,'' Sum, " The Soldane of Surry. "'^ Than all arrayit in a ring, DaDsit " Mtf deir derling."^ No more vestiges of this branch of our literature are traceable till the commencement of the sixteenth century, when we turn to the poems of Douglas and Dunbar, for an addition to our catalogue of empty names. But amidst these shadows of the departed, we are happy to have it in our power to present our readers with something more substantial, which never before reached publicity. These are two metrical performances, at least so they may be termed, although one of them is a mere frag- ment, and it may occasion some surprise when we mention the place where they have been discovered, viz. the Minute-book of Burgh Sa- sines of the city of Aberdeen l" To what they owe their insertion in this inauspicious volume, whether to the truant propensities of some incor- rigil)le youth, whose poetical aspirations were not to be restrained by the dull routine of legal drudgery, or whether they had been entered, along with other public documents, for better preservation, (as it is technically called,) we know not ; but certain it is, that they appear there " dulv recorded" (1503-7) along with some verses by Dunbar. * This must be intended for " Syria." "" Supposed to be the same witli " My dayis darling," mentioned in Constable's Cantus. • This and an uDlooked-for discovery of music, which we shall afterwards have occasion to mention, may serve as examples of a trutli well known to !knli(|uaries, \iz. that rarities of this de- scription are often to be fonnd wlieie they are least of all to be expected. Sir John (iraliam Dal- ycll (Scotish Poems of the Sixteenth t'entury, p. S) mentions a poem as having been found at the end of a manuscript of the Kegiam Majestatem in the Advocates' Library, with two blank stave-; for music subjoined. 48 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. ADOWE DEIE HART OF ABERDENE. " done deir hart off Abirdene leman will depart, me fro will breke for duyl and wo quair iver graven gren Adowe deir hart of Aberdene. I sail ger fasone weile a flane And schut it fra my hart The schaft sal be of soroweful mein The hede of paines Strang [smart ?] Weile fedderit with the tyme has bene Adoue deir hart of Aberdene. hoivlr passis ower the see weile say fair leman myne yon Inglis Kyng or of the yong Dawphine Mary Hewinis Quene Adoue deir hart of Aberdene. Send joy in their jurning O sende my leman weile to me Ye burche of Aberdene . . . have hard say ande that with rycht That thar may nane rest with resone . . . Squiar, Clark nor Knycht Or honorit M. A. Persone Be this my exemple ye may weil sene Adoue deir hart of Aberdene." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 49 QUHT SO STRAT STRANG GO WE BY YOUE ? " Erie at the day doue, Betuix the aid wark and the nowe, I met ane wenkollet clede in ploue. I said my fair and fresche of houe, A bide lat nit our by youe, Quhy so strat Strang go we by youe ? Than scho wald nocht lene to me, For luve the taile ende of hir E, Bot saide away uncoucht man lat be, And ye foUowe I wele fflee Be gode man I defy youe. Quhy so strat Strang go wee by youe ? I saide ray suet hart be the hicht, Your dignitie may not decht nar decht, Bot wile ye bide quhile it be neycht. Under neicht ther bowes brecht, Sum wncouclit spret wile spy youe. Quhy so strat Strang go we by youe ? Scho unbechot hir at the last, And traistit that scho has traispast. Sho saide suet hart ye ryve our fast. It sennks me ye ar a gast. Quhy so strat Strang go we by youe ?" These rude specimens of Scotish song may be justly accounted among the very dregs and " sweepings of Parnassus," but they are, nevertheless, 50 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. curious, as illustrative of the language, the style and structure of this class of composition, and, in some degree, of the manners of the time. Mr Chalmers" observes, that the one half of the conversation of that age, both in England and Scotland, was made up by swearing; and if the reader will turn to certain contemporaneous productions in Ritson's Ancient Songs, pp. 98 and 101, he will observe the very same mode of address adopted on the part of the lady, and no inconsiderable resemblance in the general character of the phraseology. From Gawin Douglas's Prologues to his translation of Virgil (1513) we only draw the following notices ; — 12th Prologue. " Some sang ring-sangs, dancis,^ ledis and roundis. With vocis schil, quhil all the dale resoundis ; Quhareto thay walk into thare karoling, For amourus layis dois all the rochis ring ; Ane sang, ' The schip salts over the salt fame. Will bring thir merchandis and my lemane hame. ' Some other sings, ' / will be blyith and licht, My hert is lent apoun sae gudly wicht.' " Do. our awin native bird, gentil dow, Singand on hir kynde ' I came Kidder to wow.' " ■ Works of Sir David Lyndsay, vol. i. p. 360. ' Leyden (Introduction to Complaynt, p. 130) says that " the ring dance, in which every aged shepherd leads his wife by the hand, and every young shepherd the maid whom he loves, was for- merly a favourite in the south of Scotland, though it has now gone into desuetude." It was danced at the kirn, or feast of cutting down the grain, and with peculiar glee by the reapers, by whom the harvest was first dispatched, to the music of the Lowland bagpipe. They began with three loud shouts of triumph, thrice waving their hooks in the air, and they generally contrived that the dance should take place on an eminence, in the view of the reapers in the vicinity. Leyden adds, that " the dance is still retained by the Scottish Highlanders, who frequently dance the ring in the open fields, when they visit the south of Scotland, as reapers, during the autumnal months." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 51 I3th Prologue. " Thareto thir birdis singis in thare schawls, As menstralis playis ' The joly day now dawi.s.'" The last mentioned tune, along with another, is alluded to bv the Poet Uunbar, who flourished about thirty years after Douglas, in a satirical address to the merchants of Edinburgh. " Your commone menstralis hes no tone, But ' jVow the day dawis,''^ and ' Into Joun.'" Although there are various musical allusions in Sir David Lyndsay's poetical writings, we only observe the name of one Scotish tune. This is in his " Complaynt,"add ressed to his royal patron, James V., in 1529, in which he recapitulates, in familiar terms, the services which he was wont to render him, in early life, when he acted in the capacity of his page and pliiyfellow. * " Hey the day now dawnes" is mentioned in tlie Muses Thrcnodic, a local poero, written at Perth in the reign of James VI., and Montgomery h:is a set of verses on the same theme, com- mencing — " Hay! now the day dawis. The jolie cok crawis." In the Life and Death of the Piper of Kilbarciian, or the Epitaph of Habbie Simson, (Watson's Scott Poems, 1706,) there is the following line — " Now who shall play, the day it dawes?" from which, together with the citation from Dunbar, Mr Chambers {Introduction to Scottish Songs, p. 18) plausibly suggests, that the tune was probably the Itcviillcc, commonly played by the pipers or town's-minstrels throughout Scotland, to rouse the iuliubitaiits to their daily labour; and this tune is believed to be the same with that to which " Scots wlia hae wi' Wallace bled" is now sung. An absurd popular notion is attached to it, for which there is no foundation, viz. that it was Bruce's march at the battle of liannockburn. All we can say is, that it is probably the same with the tune to which " The day dawes" wjuf formerly sutig, and this would appear, from the above notice, to have been a popular song, at least three hundred years ago ; though, as we have not met with any written or printed copy of it earlier than those of the lost century, even that opinion is liable to all the uncertainty of its being founded upon no better evidence than tradition, and the analogous structure and quantity of the verse. 52 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. " Than playit I twenty springs perqueir, Quliilk was great pleasure for to heir, Fra play thou let me never rest, Bot ' Gynkertoun'^ thow luffit best." It is in another production under a similar title, Wedderburn's " Com- playnt of Scotland" originally published in 1548, that we find the most copious enumeration of the songs of that period. After having de- scribed his Dramatis PersoncB, the shepherds and their wives, as having ♦' tauld all thyr pleysand storeis," he tells us that they proceeded to sing " sueit melodius sangis of natural music of the antiquite," and among these, " Pastance vitht gude companye'' — The breir byndis me soir — Stil under the ley vis grene'' — Cou thou me the raschis grene'' — Allace I vyit 30ur tua far ene — Gode 30U gude day vil boy — Lady help 30ur prisoneir"" — King Villsamis note*^ — The lang noune nou^ — The cheapel walk — Faytht ' A verse of this song, or ratlier an allusion to tlie tune, occurs in Constable's MS. Chntut — " I would go twentie mile, 1 would go twentie mile, I would go twentie mile, on my bairfoot ; Ginkertoune, Ginkertoune, till hear him, Ginkertoune Play on a lute." ' A song beginning — ■' Passetyme with good companye, I love, and shall, unto 1 dye," is mentioned by Ritson, as being still extant, both words and music, in a MS. in his possession. It is supposed to have been written by Henry VIII., who, according to Hall, " was accustomed to amuse himself with playing at the recorders, flute, virginalls, and in setting of songes, or making of balattes." ' This song is in the Maitland MS. See Mr Laing's " Early Metrical Tales," p. 249. •■ i.e. " Cull to me the rushes green," the burden of an old English song, of which Ritson {Ancient Songs, p. 54) has given both music and words. • " Sen that I am a prisoneir" ? Bannatyne MS., p. 215. ' Supposed, but improbably, to be the " Kingis Note" sung by Nicholas in Chaucer's Miller's Tate: " And after that he song the Kingis Note, Ful often blessed was his mery throte." ' " The lang noune Nou" — " Skald abellis Nou" — and " The Aberdenis Nou," arc not easily explained ; but the " Nou" was a common chorus in these days. See Ritson's Ancient Songs, pp. 64 and 270 — " O Anthony, now, now, now" PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 53 is there none — Skald abellis nou — The Abirdonls nou — Brume brume on hil" — Allone I veip in grit distres — Trolee lolee lemmen dou'' — Bille vil thou cum by a lute and belt thee in sanct Francis Cord*^ — The Frog cam to the myl dur** — The sang of Gilquhiskar" — Rycht sairlie musing in my myndo — God sen the Due bed byddin in France, and de la Baute had nevyr cum hame*^ — Al musing of mcrvellis amys hef I gone^ — Mastres fayr ye vil forfayr — O lusty maye vitht Flora Queue'' — O myne hart hay this is my sang — The battle of the Hayrlau' — The huntis of Chevet'' — Sal I go uitht you to rumbelo fayr — Greuit is my sorrou' — Turne the svveit Ville to me — My lufe is lyand seik, send hym joy, send hym joy — Fayr luf lent thou me thy mantil joy — The Perssee and the Mongumrye met, that day, that gentil day"" — My luf is laid upon ane * This is one of the songs mentioned in Lanehame's letter from Killingworth, 1575, as contained in a " bunch of ballets and songs, all ancient, fair wrapt up in parchment, and bound with a whip cord," which belonged to Captain Cox, the literary mason of Coventry. ^ " Trolee Lolee," an old chorus. ' In Constable's Cantus the following lines are introduced into a Medley — " Billic, will ye com by a lute," " And trick it with your pin trow low." * Probably the same with " A most strange weddingc of the frogge and the mouse," a ballad mentioned by Warton, in his llislori/ of Kiij^tish Pnctry, as licensed by the Stationers in 1580. Mr Kirlipatiick Sharpe has published a version of it (taken down from recitation) in his " Ballad Book," 1824- Many nursery rhymes on the same subject are still current. Pinkerton (Select Ballads, vol. ii. p. 33) says, that " The froggie came to the mill door," was sung on the Edinburgh Stage shortly prior to 17S4- •' The frog he would a wooing go" is still a favourite with children. The " Froggies Gagliard" in the Skene JMS. is the oldest copy of the tune which exists ; but it is to be regretted, that in this instance it has been so much altered and mutilated, in order to shew off the execution of the performer, that it is scarcely possible to reduce it to its original elements. * Thought to be an historical ballad, but not extant. ' This was the Chevalier de la Beaute who was murdered by the Homes of VVedderburn in 1517. while Regent of the kingdom, in the absence of John Uuke of Albany. ' A verse of this song occurs in Constable's Cantus. ' Printed by Chepman and Myllar in 1588, also with the music in Forbes's Cantus. ' A ballad still extant. See Mr Laing's " Early Metrical Tales." ' See Percy's Jielit/ues, vol. i. p. 2. ' See Ritson's AncienI Songs, p. 93. "" Supposed to have been a Scotish copy of the common historical ballad of the Battle of Otter- bourne. 54 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. knycht — Allace that sarnyn sueit face — In ane myrthtful morou — My hart is Iciiiit on the land." Seven of these ditties appear among the ballads changed out of profane songs in the Compendium of Godly Ballads, a work which supplies us wilh the first lines and general structure of a good many other popular songs, from whicii we may select the following, besides those which have already been cited : — " Be blyth all Cristin men and sing." " Richt sorely musing in my minde.'" " For love of one I make my mone, Right secretlie."* " My loue murnis for me for me. My loue that murnis for me, I am not kinde, he's not in minde. My loue that murnis for me." " Tell me now, and in quhat wise, How that I suld my lufe forga." " O man rise up and be not sweir." " Downe by yond river I ran." " The wind blawis cauld furous and bauld, This lang and mony a day." " Hay trix trim goe trix, under the green-wood-tree." " The wowing of Jock and Jenny,"— The ballat of Evil Wyffis, the bal- lat of Guid Fallowis, and several of the shorter pieces, which appear in the " This is probably the original of " I love my love in secret." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 55 Bannafyne MS. (1.5G8,) maybe considered as lyrical productions of this era, though most likely much older than the date of that collection. To these we may add the two songs, " Cummer goe ye before," and " The silly bit chicken," mentioned in the narrative of the congress of witches who met the Devil at North Berwick kirk." We may farther recall to the recollection of our readers the favourite song of " Tak your auld cloak about ye," a stanza of which is put into the mouth of lago, in Shak- speare's Othello,'' and, " O Bothwell Bank thou blumest fair," of which the following anecdote is related in Verstegan's Restitution of decayed Intelligence, a work printed originally at Antwerp, in 1605. " So fell it out of late years, that an English gentleman travelling in Palestine, not far from Jerusalem, as he passed thorow a country town, he heard, by chance, a woman sitting at her door, dandling her child, to sing, Bothwell bank thou blumest fayre : the gentleman hereat exceedingly wondered, and forthwith in English saluted the woman, who jovfullv answered him, and said, she was right glad there to see a gentleman of our isle, and told him that she was a Scottisli woman, and came first from Scotland to Venice, and from Venice thither, where licr fortune was to be the wife of an officer under the Turk, who being at that instant absent, and very soon to return, entreated the gentleman to stay there until his return ; the which he did, and she, for country sake, to shew herself the more kind and bountiful unto him, told her husband at his home-coming, that the gentleman was her kinsman; whereupon her husband entertained liim very friendly, and at his departure gave him divers things of good value." We have now advanced to about the date of the Skene MS., but we are unwilling to close our extracts, where such scanty information is all that can be gleaned, without adding the series of fragments, however slight, which oiler themselves in a curious medley, contained in a MS. Cantus, formerly the properly of tlie late Archibald Constable of Edin- burgh ; because, althougii the date of that MS. is not older than 1(570 or IGSO, there are few of the songs to which they belonged likely to have been written in the course of that century, an age which, in Scot land, ' Xe lies from Scotland, I.')!)!. ** This drunia is said ti> liiivc been writtoii in lUI I. 66 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. appears to have been the least fertile of any, in productions of this na- ture. " The nock is out of Johne's bow." " First, when Robin, gude bow bare, Wes never bairne so bold." " Sing soft-a, sing soft-a ; Of our pins Ye know the gins. Ye tirled on them full oft-a." " Methinks thy banks bloome best. ' " Haill, gouke, how manie years." * • • *' The mavis, on a tree she sat, Singing with notes clear." " Joly Robin, Gee to the greenwood, to thy lemman." " Titbore, tatbore, what come maw ye ? " Aiken brake at barnes door. What horse in the towne Shall I ride on ?" • • • • " Come all your old malt to me, Come all your old malt to me ; And ye sail have the draffe again, Though all our dukes should die." PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 57 " Thv love leggs sore bunden-a !" '• The reill, the reill of Aves, The joliest reill that ever wes." " Whaten a seapin carlo art thou !" " All of silver is my bow." " Johne Robison, Johiio Robison, That fair young man, Johne Robison." " Goe to the greenwood, Mv good love, goe with me." " I bio-sit a bouir to mv lemnian, In land is none so fair." • • • • " The humlock is the best-a seed, That anie man may sow ; When bairnes greets after breid. Give them a home to blow." • ■ ■ * " The ring of the rash, of the gowan, In the cool of the night came my lemman, And yellow haire above her brow." '' Silver wood an ihow wer myne." • • • • " Come reike me the rowan tree." " Come row to mc round about, bony dowie." 58 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. " So sweetly sings the nightingale, For love trulie, loly, lola." " All the moane that I make, says the giuleman, Who's to have my wife, dcid when I am, Care for thy wynding-sheet, false liirdan. For I shall gett ane uther, when thou art gone." " My gudame for ever and ay-a, Was never widow so gay-a." " The beggar sett his daughter well." " The fryare had on a coule of redd ; He spied a pretty wench kaming her head." " Be soft and sober, I you pray." " I and my cummer, my cummer and I, Shall never part with our mouth so dry." II. ANCIENT SCOTISH MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. As a great many musical instnmients were anciently made use of in Scotland, especially in the Lowlands, much of the Scotish music must have been adapted to suit their particular genius, structure, and compass. We feel it to be necessary, therefore, to enter shortly upon the considera- tion of their nature and history, as one of the most important elements in the present encjuiry. Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote in the reign of Henry II. of England, and William the Lion of Scotland, (towards the end of the twelfth cen- tury,) in his Topographia Hiberniae,* observes, that " the Irish use only two musical instruments, the harp and the tabour ; — the Scots use • Book III. c. ii. p. 739. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 59 three, the harp, the tabour, and the bagpipe; — the Welsh also use three, the harp, the pipe, and the bagpipe." Whetlier, within the purely Celtic and Highland districts, the people at this time actually confined tliemselves to the use of the three instruments here specified — the har|), the tabour, and the bagpipe — we know not : Giraldus had never been in Scotland, and possessed no personal knowledge of the fact. But to the Scandinavian and Scoto-Saxon part of the nation we cannot conceive how this observation could be applied. The Nor- wegians, Danes, Saxons, and Normans, of whom it was composed, had each, in their several countries, cultivated many musical instruments ; and these, along with their national music, they must of course be pre- sumed to have carried into Scotland along with them. In the orna- mental bas-relief still to be seen at Melrose Abbey, (founded by David I. in ili5G,) there are representations of various instruments, among which are a flute with si.\ holes, a bagpipe, a violin with four strings, and an- other of a form somewhat similar, supposed by Mr Barrington to have been a crirt/t." Not that these remains, of themselves, would entitle us to conclude that such instruments prevailed in Scotland at that time, espe- cially as the Abbey itself was the work of a Parisian architect, who was more likelv to have borrowed the instruments of his own count rv for anv |)urpose of mere ornament, than to have seized that opportunity of per- petuating those of a people so rude and uncivilized as the Scots then were. But the intercourse between this country and France, which afterwards became so frequent and intimate, had already commenced in the reign of William the Lion, while the importation and adoption of foreign manners and customs had begun a full century prior to that, under Malcolm Canmore, — there can be no groiuid of rational doubt, therefore, that at ihe lime when Giraldus wrote, ( 1 187,) most, if not all, of the instruments re- presented in the Gothic tracery of Melrose Abbey, and many others, were kiuiwii ami cnliivatcd in Scotland — on the south of the Grampians at least. Of these instruments, by far the most important, both in itself, and with a view to our present encjuiry, was the harp. It is suj)posed, with • Arcliiculogia, vol. v. [>. 3. 60 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. some appearance of truth, that it was known to the ancient Gauls and Britons, — that it was the instrument with which they accompanied the hymns which they addressed to their pagan deities, — with which, at their nuptials and funeral obsequies, their games and other public solemnities, they celebrated the praises of those who had signalized themselves by virtuous and heroic deeds, — and with which, at the head of armies pre- pared for battle, they at one time excited the ardour, and at another repressed the fury, of the combatants. But whether this was the identical instrument which has since been recognized under the appellation of harp, it is impossible to say. There is so much uncertainty in pro- nouncing any opinion as to the identity of the ancient lyres and Cij- tharce with those of modern times, that Montfaucon, who examined six hundred of them, could not venture to affix particular names to any of them, or to ascertain their specific differences.* We cannot, therefore, be too cautious in points of this nature, but more especially in this in- stance, as our sole authority is Diodorus Siculus, who flourished in the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus, and who says, " The Gauls have amongst them composers of melodies, whom they call Bards ; these sing to Instruments like It/res, songs of praise and satire."'' Ammianus Mar- cellinus, a writer of the fourth century, also relates that "the Bards of the Celts celebrated the actions of illustrious men in heroic poems, which they sung to the sweet sounds of the lyre."" And yet, vague as is the expression " instruments like lyres," when, in conjunction with it, a few hundred years afterwards, we find the harp in the hands of their Celtic successors, the bards of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, we see what we should conceive to be enough to satisfy any reasonable mind, that the harp, though probably of a ruder construction, and with fewer strings, was the instrument spoken of by Diodorus. But holding that the harp was truly the instrument of the Druidical bards, we are not to assume that tlie Celtic race to which they belonged * Antiq. Expl. torn. iii. lib. v. c. 3. '' Tall >.voiti; ofioiu-j, lib. v. pag. 308. See also Vossius de Poem. Cantu et Viribus Rythmi, p. 18. ' L. XV. chap. ix. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 61 were the original inventors of that instrument. If Mr Pinkerton's views are well founded, that Druidism had not existed long before the Chris- tian era, and if certainly did not continue for many years after that period ; and if the Celts, whom that writer admits to have been the aborigines of Britain, and of the greater part of Europe, were, as he re- presents, in a state of absolute barbarism, until the arrival amongst them of the Scythians or Goths, an event which he supposes to have taken place about three hundred years before the birth of our Saviour, — we should rather conclude that the Celts must have derived their knowledge of that instrument from them, to whom, according to Mr Pinkerton's theory, they were indebted for all the arts of civilized life. This is also the opinion of that writer,* who expressly says that the " harp was a Gothic instrument, first invented in Asia, and passing with the Goths to the extremities of Europe, and into the Celtic countries. The ancient Irish harp was small like the Gothic." Mr Gunn,'' the author of a Dissertation on the Harp, intimates the same opinion, that it was of Asiatic extraction ; and it is mentioned by Martianus Capella'^ as having been in use among the Gothic nations who overran Italy during the fifth century. Whether the harp was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, is a question which we shall not pretend to determine; probably it was, — but no exact delineation of it, that we are aware of, has ever been found on any of their coins, scidpture, or paintings, nor any description of it in their writings. Venantius Fortiuiatus, Bishop of Poictiers, who wrote in the sixth century, is the first author by whom the harp under its modern name is mentioned, and he pointedly distinguishes it from the Greek and Roman lyres, and assigns it (o the Goths or Barlntii in the following passage : — Romanuscpie Lyra, plaudet tibi, Bdrltun/s Harpd, Graecus Achilliaca, Crotta Britanna Canat. Lib. vii. Carm. 8. • Pinkerton's Eniiuiry, vol. i. p. 390. " See Prospectus ut tbc end of Mr Gunn's lllbturicul Enipiiry into tlie I'erfornuuice on tlie Harp. ' Sec Dii Cangc, v. Harp. 62 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. It is siipposod by I)r Lfdwicli,'' that the crotfa, or crwth, was the primitive national instriunent of the ancient Britons, and that they and the Irish were first made acquainted witli the harp by their con- querors, the Saxons and the Danes, whose Princes and Scalds were eminent performers npon it, and by whom it was highly esteemed and cultivated. But this opinion, which seems to have been mainly founded upon the passage which we have above cited from Venantius, is one, in which we feel it to be altogether impossible to concur. To suppose, as the learned antiquary does, (and he lias not scrupled to ex- press himself to that effect,) that the Celts either of Britain or of Ireland had allowed to be actually obtruded upon them, by their bitterest foes, a mu- sical instrument which they have always cherished with a peculiarly warm feeling of patriotic regard, as one of the proudest symbols of their national independence, is an idea which can never be seriously entertained — and altliough we have no data to conclude as to the specific form of " the instruments like lyres," mentioned by Diodorus, and which Marcellinus, who follows after him, does not distinguish from lyres, we may at least be assured of this, that the Crwth (an instrument played with a bow, and supposed to be the parent of the fidicinal tribe) could not have been the instrument there referred to, bearing but a very slight resemblance to the lyre; while there is not a vestige, either in tradition or record, of any instrument possessed by the ancient inhabitants of Britain, which at all corresponds w-ith that description, except the harp. Tiiis instrument, therefore, was either indigenous to the Celts, — or of Asiatic original, and communicated to them by the first Gothic colonists by whom they were visited, manv years before the Christian era. We should not have diverged into the regions of conjecture, so far as to make the above remarks as to a matter, in regard to which it must be admitted that we have no very authentic information to guide us ; but it is by enquiries such as these, that the origin of the different nations of the ancient world is occasionally illustrated ; and in that view, the early notices which exist of the harp are not the least important. It is to be hoped that much light will still be thrown upon this obscure subject. * Antiquities of Ireland, p. 230. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 63 Most of our readers are acquainted with the story of the Tlieban harp, — that ill-fated communication of the enlightened and enterprising Bruce of Abyssinian fame, to Dr Burney, which, from its extraordinary nature, was universally disbelieved, and drew down upon its author tlie uinnerited sobriquet of the Theban lyre, (liar,) until very recently, when his me- mory has been rescued from this lumierited obloquy, by the researches of subsequent travellers. This was the delineation and description of a harp, from a painting contained in a sepulchre at the Egvptian Thebes. The instrument, as hastily drawn by Bruce, is represented with thirteen strings, and except that it wants the pillar or cross-bar, it is similar in construction to the harp with which we are familiar, while the general form and workmanship appear to have been superior in elegance to those of modern times. Mr Bruce remarked, that it over- turned all the accounts of the earliest state of ancient music and instru- ments in Egypt ; and in its form, ornaments, and compass, furnislieil an incontestable proof, that geometry, drawing, mechanics, and music, were at their greatest perfection when this harp was constructed. Dr Burney ' observes — " The mind is wholly lost in the immense antiquity of the painting in which it is represented." And the subject was one which altogether would have excited much curious and useful specula- tion, had it not been that it was never broached, without being met wiili the answer, that it was a mere phantom of the traveller's imagination.'' Now, however, that its authenticity has been established, we trust it will not be overlooked. To trace the harp, which so clearly appears to have been an instrument of the Scythians throughout their various migrations and jirogress, back to their first connection with Egvpt, and the establish- ment of the first Scythic Empire — the very dawn of history itself — would form an investigation equally interesting and instructive. We believe the Druidical hierarchy to have been but of very short duration. That it existed in Britain, there can be no doubt, as C;rsar himself" expressly says, that the Druids of Gaul derived their first insl ruc- tions from those of Britain ; but bevond that, — whether, as asserted bv • Vol. i. p. i-ir,. ' See Walker's Irish Bards, .Vppcmlix, p. lU; .luiii's' Welsh Bards, p. 11-1. • Osar, De Bell. Gall., lil>. vi. c. 13. (j4 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. Mr Pinkcrton," it was contiiied to Anglesey, the Isle of Man, and the Garonne, or the Southern bounds of Celtica in Gaul, and never found its wav either into Ireland or Caledonia, is a question into which we shall not here enter. Divines — philosophers — legislators — physicians — poets — seers and musicians — the most extraordinary part of their history seems to have heen the multiplicity of functions which their ollice em- braced ; and when the harp, as we have above noticed, fell from their hands into those of the bards, it would appear to have descended to an order of men little less distinguished for the variety of their attainments : " Musician, Herald, Bard, thrice may'st thou be renowned, And with three several wreaths immortally be crowned." With such superhuman versatility as was here called into requisition, it is not surprising to learn, that the office should afterwards be subdi- vided and parcelled out into the separate vocations of poets, heralds, and musicians, and that these again should latterly subside into a series of different gradations, from the Invested Bard, down to the juggler, the crowder, and the tabourer. This branching out of the original profes- sion of the bards, no doubt, foretells of the period of their decay, — and while in Wales the ruthless policy of Edward I., and the stern edicts of several of his successors, precipitated their downfall — in Ireland and Scotland the decline of the feudal system equally served to annihilate their independence, and to determine their fate. We shall say nothing in detail as to the Cambro-British race of bards, some of whom, such as Aneurin and Llywarch-Hcn, appear to have been warriors as well as poets and niusicians, and to have borne a prominent part in their country's sanguinary struggles with the Saxons during the fifth and sixth centuries.*" The accounts which have been * Pinkerton's Enquiry, vol. i. p. 17. ^ Amongst these was the celebrated Myrddin ap Morvyrn, or Merlin of Caledonia, a disciple of Taliesen, who was born about the beginning of the sixth century near Dunkeld in Scotland. Whether Aneurin, the author of the Gododin, was also a native of tliis country, we are not aware; but he lived under tlie patronage of one of the northern princes, Mynyddawg, of Edinburgh. Jones' Welsh Bards, pp. 16, 23. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 65 handed down to us regarding thoso personages, and their own poetical remains, are so intermingled with the fahulous feats and gestea of their romantic contemporaries, Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, equally famed in song, and celebrated for their skill on the harp, that they can scarcely be considered as falling within the pale of authentic history. " The poets," (says HoUingshed,") " used for invention sake to faine such dreaming fables for exercise of their stiles and wits : after- wards, through error and lacke of knowledge, they haue been taken with the ignorant for verie true and most assured histories." In like manner, Ireland may, for several centuries during the middle ages, have been (compared with many other nations) the seat of learning and civilization — we cannot vouch for the truth of what has never yet been satisfactorilv established — but we believe that it must have been ■J eminent for its proficiency in the art of music, far beyond either Wales or Scotland. The fact is certain, that about the year 1100, one of the Welsh princes (GrufTiidd ab Cynan) invited to Wales a number of Irish bards to assist in framing a new code of musical regulations for his Cambrian subjects, and Caradoc their historian has acknowledged the obligation which his countrymen owed to Ireland on this occasion.'' Giraldus Cambrensis, another of their compatriots, towards the end of the twelfth century, writes of the Irish, that they were incomparablv better instructed in music than any other nation whicli he had seen,*" and he had travelled over great part of Europe ; although, he adds, that their at- tainments seemed to him to be confined entirely to their skill in instru- mental music' Another testimony of their excellence in this department is to be found in Galileo's'' Dialogues on Ancient and Modern Music, first printed in 1582, (p. 143,) where, speaking of the harp as among • Cliroii. ' row.lls History of Wales, pp. 115, 191. ' Topog. Hib. c. 1 1, p. 739. " Pra; omni nationc quam vidimus incumparabiliter est iiistructa." ' " In musicis tolum JDStrumcnlis comniendabilcm iiivcnio gentis istius diligcntiam." — Ibid. ' This was tlie fattier of Galileo tlie fiuiiuiis astronomer. Even llio great Lord IWon, in his Sylva Sylvaruin, pays tlie Irish the compliment of s.iying that " no liarpe hath tlie sound so melting and so prolonged as the Irish harpe." I 66 I'RELIMINARY DISSERTATION. the instrmiKMits which were at that time in use in Italy, he says — " This very ancient instrument was brought to us from Irehind, as Dante lias recorded, (this must have been about the year 1300,) where they are excellently made, and in great numbers, and the inhabitants of which island have practised on it for very many centuries; it being also the particular badge of the kingdom, and as such frequently painted and sculptured on their public edifices and coins. "^ With these unexceptionable and thoroughly accredited proofs of their ancient superiority, the Irish, we think, ought to rest satisfied, and not to advance claims for which they can produce no proper authority. That the harp was known to the ancient Britons we have already seen ; and yet the Irish historians'' insist that they were the first to make the Welsh acquainted with the instrument ; and in support of this notion, they found upon what may at once be seen to be a palpable, though no doubt an unintentional, misinterpretation, by Wynne,*" of a passage in which Dr Powell, in his notes on Caradoc's history, speaks of the introduction into Wales of tlic Irish music and musicians by Prince Gruffudd, to which we have just now referred, and where, by con- founding the expression "instrumental music" with "musical instruments," it has been made to appear as if Powell had asserted that the harp was upon that occasion imported into Wales from Ireland. They also say that the word " Telyn" (the Welsh name for harp) is derived from the Irish " Teadhloin," and has no radical etymon to which it can be traced in the Welsh ; an argument at no time very conclusive, but least of all in the case of cognate tongues so nearly allied as those of Ireland and W'ales.'' Upon no better grounds than the above, the Welsh are like- wise accused of having borrowed or stolen from the Irish their old favour- ' The figures on the Irish coins are said, by the best informed antiquaries, to have been triangles, not harps. Dr Ledwich says, that they were introduced simply to express the attach- ment of their monarchs to the Church, and its reciprocal support of them. It was Henry VIII. wlio first gave the Irish the Harp for tlioi' armorial bearing, to perpetuate, it is said, tlie celebrity of their performance on it in former times. ^ Walker's Memoirs, pp. 70, 74. ' Wynne's History of Wales, (Edit. 1774.) p. 159. ^ The Welsh, again, derive the word " Tcli/n" from a Cambro-British root " Til," signifying PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 67 itc instriimoiit the Crirth ;* and it is evon said, that the Scots (we quote Mr Walker's own words) " are in all probability under the same obliga- tion (to the Irish) as to the last mentioned instrument, though not a trace of it can be found in any of their historians T' — a remark con- ceived in so truly Hibernian a spirit, that it carries its own refutation alonrr with it, and renders any farther comment superfluous. Tliat tlie Irish, however, introduced their national harp or Clairseach into this country, is more probable. Indeed, considering the extent of their early settlements in Argyleshire and Galloway, it is scarcely possible that it could have been otherwise. But there was a large portion of what is now comprehended within the territories of Scotland which was never occupied by the Scoto-Irish ; and here it is equally probable that the early inhabitants possessed an instrument of this nature to which the Irish ciHild lay no claim. Even tiie Picts were likely to have been ac- (juainted with the harp, — and this, too, whatever theory we adopt in regard to their origin — whether we consider them to have been aboriginal Britons, or settlers of Gothic extraction. If the former, we have already seen that the harp was the favourite instrument of their bards, from whom it would no doubt have been transmitted to their descendants : — if the latter, (now the more generally received, and, as we are inclined to think, the sounder opinion,) thev must have derived it from their Scalds, a race of men who appear to have stood in the same relation to the Scandinavians, as the Bards, to the British and other Celtic nations. The Laureate Bard among the latter is said to have been the eighth officer of the King's household — to have occasionally sat at his table, and to have been otherwise honourably distinguished. In the same wav, we are told that the Scalds were ranked among the sovereign's chief otKcers, and always of his council;'' and the functions which they performed seemed to have been precisely of the same nature with those of the Bards. They were the historians and genealogists, as well as the poets and musicians, of the Court " stretched, nr drawn tight ;" and argue, that it must consequently have been coeval with \.\\efirtt ttringed inslruiiient will) which their ancestors had over been made acquainted. ' Walker's Irish Bards, p 74. ' Pinkerton's Enquiry, vol. i. |i[). '272, "J'S — 389. Also Percy's Rcliques, Introduction, pp. 20, C3. 68 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. — their verses, also, were sung with the accompaniment of the harp. It is rea- sonable, therefore, to suppose, that within the Pictish kingdom, and where- ever Gothic population and influence extended, they, and not tlie Celts, were the introducers of that instrument. The learned Dr Percy, whose opinions on these matters have stood the test of time, as well as the pointless and misdirected shafts of Mr Ritson's ridicule, in speaking of the origin of the French and English Minstrels," observes — " Though the Bards of the ancient Gauls and Britons might seem to have? a claim of being con- sidered as their more immediate predecessors and instructors, yet these, who were Celtic nations, were ah origine, so different a race of men from the others, who w'ere all of Gothic origin, that I think one cannot in any degree argue from the manners of the one to those of the other ; and the conquering Franks, Saxons, and Danes, were much less likely to take up any custom from tlioir enemies the Gauls and Britons, whom they every where expelled, extirpated, or enslaved, than to have re- ceived and transmitted them from their own Teutonic ancestors in the North, among whom such customs were known to have prevailed from the earliest ages." All who are versed in the history of our literature are aware that the earliest Scotish, wo may add, the earliest English, poetry which, it is well known, was first cultivated in the north of Eng- land, — furnishes strong hereditary proofs of its Scandinavian parentage ; — nay, some authors have considered these northern nations to have been the originators of all European poetry whatever ;'' it might well be asked, therefore, to whom should we ascribe the first introduction of this instrument amongst us, but to those from whom the most ancient relics of our minstrelsy appear to have emanated?" • Percy's Reliques, Introduction, p 07- " Ibid. p. 27. c The most ancient Scotish representation of the harp is that which is delineated in the carved work of the monument near the church of Nieg in Ross-shire. An engraving of it will be found in " Cordincr"s Remarkable Ruins." The figure of the harp is perfect, except that it wants the strings, probably from their having been effaced in the original. Mr Cordincr considered this monument to be nearly as old as the 1 Ith century, and it is no slight confirmation of the foregoing views, to find it situated in a part of the country so essentially and indisputably Gothic in its ori- gin, as the East Coast of Ross-shire. See also Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 230. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 69 In considering the origin of our musical instruments, and the circum- stances which attended the formation of our national music, we must not only take into view the ancient Scandinavian part of our history, however obscure, and the extensive kingdom of the Picts, but the large and fertile tracts of country from an early period in the possession of a people, verv slightly, if at all, differing from their Southern neighbours on the other side of the Tweed — and this, too, long before the junction of the Pictish and Scotish crowns in 813. It was in the fifth century that the Anglo-Saxons first of all made a descent upon Scotland, and in the course of the cen- tury following, they established the kingdom of Northumbria, which, besides the English provinces connected with it, embraced most of the Border district, Berwickshire, and the Lothians as far as the Firth of Forth ; and this country liid not fall under Scotish dominion until it was ceded to Malcolm II. at the beginning of the eleventh century. During this dark period of our annals, the inhabitants of this part of Scotland con- sisted of Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Normans, and Ottadini or ancient North-Britons, a colony of which last occupied Clydesdale, with Peebles- shire, Selkirkshire, and the upper parts of Roxburghshire, which were long maintained by them as a separate kingdom under the name of Strath-Clyde ; besides which, independently of the Scoto-Irish part of the nation, the islands and several of the northern counties were in the pos- session of Scandinavians and Norwegians. A considerable number of Danes, also, the natural result of their occasional invasions between the ninth and eleventh centuries, had become intermingled with the inhabit- ants of the North-East Coast. Such being the general description of the population, it is clear that — abstracting from the Celtic districts — there must, at this time, have been but a slight difference between the people of Scotland and the Englisii nation. Before the great change which took place in the latter after the Norman conquest, it is believetl that the language spoken by the ,Scoto-Saxons and the Anglo-Saxons was the same; and it would even appear, that there was no essential distinction between that spoken by lliein and the natives of Denmark and Norway." The maimers and customs * See Paper by Dr Jamipsoii, Arclia:ologia Scotica, vol. ii. p. 27!>. 70 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. of the Lowlands of Scotland, during these agCs, could not, therefore, have been materially different from those of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. And scanty and defective as are the early chronicles of that period, there is no feature connected with their character, which is more prominently brought forward, than their passionate attachment to the arts of poetry and music. To them the harp owes its modern name, (the Anglo- Saxon being l^^carpC, and the Icelandic ^jai'pa ;") and so invariably does that instrument appear to have been employed by them as an ac- companiment for the voicej that in their translations from the Latin into Anglo-Saxon, it has been observed, that the word ''■ psalinus' is sometimes rendered " harp-song," and " cantare,'' " to sing to the harp" — an ac- complishment whicli must have been nearly universal, as it appears to have been customary to hand round a harp at their entertainments, when each of the guests was expected to perform by turns. This is well illustrated by the story of Cedmon. their earliest poet whose remains have come down to us, and who died in 680 Not being able to sing, it is said that when he was present on these occasions, and saw the harp on its way towards him, he generally contrived to effect his retreat, rather than expose his ignorance. As Cedmon was a Northumbrian, this may be taken as a proof of the cultivation of music in that part of our territories, which, as we have above described, was annexed to the Scotish crown in the eleventh century .'' The high estimation, again, in which the character of the minstrel was held both by the Saxons and the Danes — the readiness with which he was at all times listened to — and his perfect freedom of access to the presence of persons of the highest distinction at all times, are amply tes- tified in a variety of instances ; but in none are they placed in a more conspicuous light than in the incidents known to every schoolboy, where Alfred, the King of the Saxons, — and at a subsequent period, Anlaff, the King of the Danes, availed themselves of their skill on the harp to per- sonate minstrels, and in that character succeeded, it is said, in penetrating into the enemy's camp, and even in gaining admission into the royal. • Percy's Reliques, vol. i. Introduction, pp. 50, 51. •■ See Rede's Ecclesiastical History, b. IV. c. xxiv. See also a Life of Cedmon, iii Young's History of Whitby, vol. i. p. 182. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 71 pavilion, where they acquired a perfect knowledge of the position and resources of the party with whom thev were conteiuling. The date of the first of these occurrences is 878 — that of the latter 938 ; and they are both recorded by William of Malmesbury, who died in 1142; while that which relates to Anlaff is also mentioned by an historian of a somewhat earlierdate, — Ingulphus, who was born in 1030, and died in 1091.* There is some reason, therefore, to believe that the narratives are well founded; and whether true or false, they may at least be presumed to contain faithful representations of the manners of the age. There can be no doubt that, at this time, the Minstrels were a numer- ous body. Du Cange says, that the courts of Princes, during the middle ages, swarmed with them ; and that the royal treasuries were frequently drained by the large sums which were lavished upon them. Indeed, this sort of extravagance seems to have continued to much later times. The Minstrels of the Anglo — we would add the Scoto — Saxons are said to have retained nianv of the honours of their predecessors, the ancient Bards and Scalds ; but they were obviously persons, in point of station and acquirements, very inferior to the latter. This is evident from the fact, (if Dr Percy's statement be correct,) that the name of Scald comprised both poet and musician, and that the Danes had no separate and peculiar name for either of these professions taken singly ; but among the Anglo- Saxons, although manv of the minstrels " composed songs, and all of them could probably invent a few stanzas on occasion," the poet and the minstrel were early distinguished as separate persons. They also appear "to have accompanied their songs with mimicry and action, and to have practised such various means of diverting as were much admired in those rude times, and supplied the want of more refined eutertainineiits."'' The Troubadour or Provencal bards were doubtless of a higher grade; but the French minstrels are described by Mr Ritson in similar terms to the above,*' " They sung either their own compositions, or the compositions of • These anecdotes are related l)y otiier writers of good credit, besides the above ; and among these, by Henry of Huntingdon, Speed, Sir Henry Spelman, and Milton. ' Percy's Reliciues, Int. p. 1. ' Uitson's Essay on Nutional Song, vol. i. p. 26. 72 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. others, to the harp, the vielle, viol, cymbal, and other instruments, danced to the taboiir, played tricks of legerdemain and buffoonery ; and, in short, accommodated themselves to every mode of inspiring festivity and mirth, so that they were everywhere welcome, and everywhere rewarded. The courts of France abounded with them ; and during the reign of our Norman princes, they seem to have been no less numerous in England." Mr Ritson, however, was in error in denying, as he unscrupulously did, the existence of anv class of men to whom the term " English minstrel" was applicable. Although the French minstrels largely intermingled with the latter, as long as the English monarchs retained any portion of their possessions in France, and with the Scotish minstrels to a much greater extent, in consequence of our long continued and intimate con- nexion with that country, — the profession was too lucrative, and too well patronized, not to be extensively practised at home. Mr Tvtlor" says, " there can be little doubt that in Scotland, as in France and England, the profession of a minstrel combined the arts of music and recitation, with a proficiency in the lower accomplishments of dancing and tum- bling;" and that " in the reign of David I. at the Battle of the Standard, which was fought in 1 138, minstrels, posture-makers, and female dancers, accompanied the army." Farther, he relates, that during the royal pro- gresses through the kingdom, it was customary for minstrels and singers to receive the sovereign at his entrance into the different towns, and to accompany him when he took his departure. The country, he says, from a very early period, " maintained a privileged race of wandering minstrels, who eagerly seized on the prevailing superstitions and romantic legends, and wove them in rude but sometimes very expressive versifi- cation into their stories and ballads — who were welcome guests at the gate of every feudal castle, and fondly beloved by the great body of the people." MrTy tier also observes, that the harper was to be found amongst the officers who composed the personal state of the sovereign. This is strictly true. • History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 368, et seq. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 73 Dr Percy* gives an extract from Domesday Book, showing that the Jocu- lator Regis, or King's Minstrel, who he says was a reguhir and stated ollicer of the court of the Anglo-Saxon kings, had lands assigned to him for his maintenance. On turning to Rohertson's Index of the Record of Charters, we find several royal grants in favour of harpers or Citharistce. One in the reign of Robert II. to " Thomas Citharist of the forfalture of Gilloc de Camera — the lands of Gilloc within the burgh of Haddington." Another by David II. to "Patrick Citharist de Carrick, of lands in the county of Carrick." Another to " Ade Chichariste, (for Citharist,) of lands in Forfar." Another by David II. to "Nicholas Chicharist of the forfaultrie of Alexander Cruiks in Constabulario de Linlithgow." As several of these were forfeitures, they may be regarded as substantial proofs of the royal munilicence to this class of persons.'' Grants of lands in behalf of bards and minstrels were common also on the part of our feudal nobility. Jones, in his Welsli Bards, has instanced the lands of Tulli-bardon, from which the Marquis of Tullibardine derives his title; and mentions that the Earl of Eglintoun had informed him that he had a portion of land near Eglintoun Castle, called the Ilarpersland, which used to be allotted by his ancestors to the bard of the family. Could this be the lands described in the Index of Charters as follows? — " A charter of the lands of Ilarperland, in the barony of Kyle, in favour of Sir John Foulerton, son and heir of Ade de Foulerton in Ayrshire, 5 March, 2nd year of the reign of Robert II." ( 137 1.)' From the Lord High Treasurer's accounts, extracts of which we have furnished in the Appendix, some idea may be formed of the band of instru- mental performers kept by the Scotish sovereign for about fifty years, from th(> beginning of the IGth century." Besides those in regular and * Vol. i. Inlroiliiction, p. 64. ' It is riglit to slato, however, that the word " Cilliarist," like " ll.irper," mai/ liere have heeii employed as a proper name, though originally used as designative of the profession, and although this is precisely tlie manner in which, as a musician, the individual wotild have been ilesigned. see infra, p. 89. The particular sense in which it was here used wc have no means of deter- mining with certainty. ° Several of these allotments of land hy Highland nobles ami chieflains are specified by Mr Gunn in his Encpiiry into the Performance of the Harp in the Highlands, pp. 45, et seq. ■^ An eminent antiquary has politely handed us two extracts from the Exchequer Rolls relative K 74 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. stated attendance, musicians seem to liave been collected, upon particular occas.ions, from the private establishments of the nobility, and all quarters whence they could be procured. In 1507» on the first day of the new year, payments were made to " divers menstrales, schawmeris, trumpets, taubroneris, fithelaris, lutaris, harparis, clarscharis, piparis," — in all, to the number of sixty-nine persons ; and among the performers, we see mention of Italians, French, English, Irish, as well as Scots. There is also a Moorish musician, called " The More taubroner." Another of these " taubroners," of whom there is a notice in the accounts for 1548, under the name of " Stewyn tabronar," was probably the person to whom the following anecdote in John Knox's History relates. We should premise that all " tabourers" went under the denomination of " minstrels," a word which, at this period, seems to have been used in the same sense with the generic term " musician," at the present day. " Dur- ing the Queenis absence, the Papists of Edinburgh went down to the chapell to heir mess ; and seeing thare was no punischment, they waxit more bold : some of thanie, thinking thareby to pleise the Queue, upoun a certane Sunday, in February, [1565,] they maid an Even-song of thair awin, setting two priests on the one syde of the quire, and one or two on the uther syde, with Sand>/ Stevir:, mcnsfruU, (baptizing thair children and making marriages,) who, within eight dayes eftcr, was con- vinced of blasphemy, alledging, That he wald give no moir credit to the New Testament, then to a tale of Robin Hood, except it wer confirmed by the doctours of the church." From the entries of ordinary fees and yearly pensions of 1538 and 1542, although we scarcely think that the enumeration here had included the whole, — there seem, about this time, to have been fifteen musicians more immediately connected with the Royal household — viz. five Italian to "minstrels." One, dated '2d May 1398, is a payment entered as follow? :_'■ Et duobus mcn- strallis de gratia aiiditonim ad pra;sens, xx*. ;" another, Sd July 1402, a similar payment to •' Fu- lope menstrallo tempore Scaccarii ex gratia aiiditonim ad prsesens." As Balfour, in his Practics, p. 136, mentions, that the Auditors of Exchequer, and none others, were "judges competent in all actions and controversies anent allowances and accounts concerning the King's houschuld " the above had most probably been sums awarded to these minstrels by the Auditors in their judi- cial capacity. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 75 minstrels, four violists, two performers on the " swesch talbiirn,"" (probably the ketlle-drums,) and four players on military trumpets or trumpets of war, as they are there called. The particular instruments, played by the Italians, are not mentioned ; they were perhaps accom- plished musicians, whose skill was not confined to any single instrument, and who were capable of taking a general direction of the whole. They formed a regular part of the establishment for many years, and in one of the entries, — that for 30th December 151.'), their names are given as fol- lows : " Vincent Auld, Juliane Younger, Juliane, Anthone, and Bes- tiane (i.e. Sebastian) Drummonth."'' Upon the decease of one of these Julians, about the year 1.524, we ob- serve that his place was filled up by one Henry Rudeman, whose ap- pointment is entered in the Privy Seal Register' in the following terms : — " Preceptum iitere Henrici Rudeman tubicinis, dando et assignaudo ei- dem, Henrico locum quondam Juliani Richert, Italiani tubicinis, et ordi- nando eundem Henriciun adjungendum fore reliquis Italianis histrioni- bus et tubicinibus, et regi cum eisdem servire in loco quondam Juliani, durante tempore vite ipsius Henrici ; pro quo servitio, domiiuis rex dat sibi durante vita sua, omnia feoda, stipendia, et dcvoria solita et consueta, etc. Apud Edinburghe x° Septembris anno etc. V" xxiiii"." (1.524.) On the margin is written in an old hand, opposite to " tubicinis," 7nu- sician, as if to indicate that " tubicen" was not here meant to imply " trumpeter," its primitive and more limited signification, but " min- • " Ane thousand hagbutlis gar scluitc al at anis, With tweiche-lalbumu and trumpettis awfulhe." Sir David Lyndsay's Tcstamciit of Sijuut Mi'ldnim. Chalmers, in his edition of Lyndsay's Work>^, translates tuctclic " roar, or ratlior clatter." Jamieson, in his Dictionary, defines it, " a trumpet.' Mr Piti-aim, however, in his Criminal Trials, vol ii. p. 30, by a variety of entries from the Treasurer's hooks, has satisfactorily sliown, that " swesch" means " drum," and nothing hut " drum." One of these, in 1576, is a payment of sixpence for " tua stickis to the swasche." ' There seem to have been a similar sot of Italians among the musicians of the household of Edward VI. They ore called " the four brethren Venetians, viz. John, Antonye, Jasper, and Baptiste." Burney's Hist., vol. iii. p. 5. " Vol. vii. p. 95. 76 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. strel." Another expression, in tliis document, it may be still more neces- sary to explain. This Henry Rudemaii is conjoined with the Italian " Histriones ;" from which it might be supposed that these gentlemen had figured in a dramatic capacity, but for this idea there is no foundation. " It is observable," says Dr Percy," " that our old monkish historians sel- dom use the words cantator, citharo'dus, musicus, or the like, to express a minstrel in Latin, but either mimus uistrio joculator, or some other word that implies gesture." In another place, ^ he says, '■'■ Histrionia in middle Latinity only signifies the minstrel art." There is also a charter to appoint a king of the minstrels, a copy of which will be found in Blount's Law Dictionary, v. King, where the French word " ministraulx" is expressed by the Latin " histriones." The words " feoda, stipendia, et devoria," may be translated " fees, sa- laries, and dues," although, at first sight, it might appear as if the word " feoda" was meant to signify heritable property. But, although the musicians of the chapel royal, (founded by James III. and extended by James IV.) as members of an ecclesiastical institution, were amply pro- vided in benefices, annualrents, and teinds, we arc not aware of any public endowments which were ever granted in l)ehalf of the secu- lar musicians of the royal household. The charters above specified would seem to show that their services were sometimes repaid by grants of land from the sovereign, with whom, particularly with the Jameses, whose love of music was not one of the least remarkable fea- tures in their character, they had the best opportunities of ingratiating themselves. James III., in particular, was notoriously lavish in his at- tentions to minstrels and artists of every kind, and it may be to this that we are to ascribe an enactment by which certain escheats and fines are appointed to be given to the minstrels along with the heralds. This is contained in a statute which was passed during the reign of the last men- tioned prince, in 1471." It is one of the sumptuary laws of which there • Percy's Reliques, vol. i. Introduction, p. 42 ; also pp. 70, ' " Ibid. p. 54. ' 147!,cli. 46. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 77 are a good many in our Statute Book, and commences by deploring the great poverty of tiie realm, and the expense attending the importation of silks; it then appoints that " na man sail wear siikes, in time coming, in doublet, gowne, or cloakes, except knichtes,.minstrelles, and heraulds, without that the wearer of the samin may spend ane hundred pundes woorth of landrent, under the paine of amerciament to the King of tweii- tie pound, als oft as thev are foundin wearand siikes, and escheiling the samin, to be given to the heruulds and ininstretles" &c. Here, we have heralds and minstrels placed precisely on the same foot- ing ; but this is by no means unusual. If we look back to the early part of their history, we see one and the same person at one time olTiciating in both capacities. Taillefer, the Norman knighf, at the battle of Hast- ings, is described as performing the part of Ilerald-iNlinstrel; and being permitted to commence the attack, it is said that he advanced, singing the song of Roland, and was among the first that were slain. Carpentier" says that the French Hiruu.v were actually minstrels, and sung metrical tales at festivals. They might have been selected for this double capa- city, as among the Greeks,'' on account of the strength and clearness of their voices,'' which equally qualified them for animating the soldiers in battle, and for making proclamations at tournaments and public cere- monies. Though afterwards disjoined, — as long as the " pomp and cir- cumstance" of the feudal system lasted, the herald and the minstrel were never far removed from each other. The former was the oHicial bearer of all despatches and messages of truce : in the discharge of these duties, he was invariably accompanied by his minstrels ; and the persons of both, in time of war, were held inviolate.'' They were a necessary part of the retinue of the feudal baron ; and Froissart, in describing a Christmas entertainment, given by the Comte do Foix, in tlie 1 1th cen- tury, furnishes us with a specimen of the munificent reception which oc- casionally awaited them. " There were many raynstralls, as well of hys * Du Catigc. Sii|)[)l. torn. ii. p. 750. >• Iliad, b. V. • Burner's History, vol. ii. p. 275. '' I'roissart, c. NO. 78 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. own as of straungers, and oclic of tlieni dyd their dovoyro in llicir fa- culties. The same day the Erie of Foix gave to heraulds and ininstrelles the sum of fyve hundred frankes, and gave to the Duke of Tourayn's mynsfreies gownes of cloth of gold furred with ermyne, valued at two hundred frankes."" According to the very correct and comprehensive description which Bishop Percy*" has given of the minstrels, they were " protected and caressed" only " as long as the spirit of chivalry subsisted ; because," during that period, " their songs tended to do honour to the ruling pas- sion of the times, and to encourage and foment a martial spirit." What- ever, therefore, miglit have been their pristine status, its lustre liad been considerably diminished long before the passing of the statute to which we have above referred, and the privilege there reserved to them of wearing silks in doublet, gown, and cloak, with the share allotted to them along with the heralds, in the tines thereby imposed, were probably the last complimentswhich the Legislature ever thought of bestowing upon them.*" To judge from the Statute Book, it must be confessed, that their re- spectability from the first was not a little equivocal ; and it is prettv clear, that they could never boast of being, what is technicallv termed, " favourites of the law;" on the contrary, the body to which they be- longed was the object of many severe penal enactments. Much as they were encouraged and admired, there seems to have been always an idea on the part of the legislature, that the members of this profession might be more creditably and usefully employed in some other sphere ; * Froissart, B. iii- c. 31, English Translation, London, 1525. ' The work of Percy, the father of this department of our literature, still furnishes the best account which has hitherto been given of this order of men ; and although Mr Ritson has written a great deal on the same subject, and with a degree of acrimony towards tlie Right Reverend author which, we believe, he afterwards regretted, we cannot perceive that lie has either inva- lidated his statements, nor, with all his antiquarian research, has he succeeded in adding a single new fact of any importance. ■= In proof of this, see another Act of theScotish Parliament, 1581, c. 113, against " theexcesse of coasthe cleithing," in which minstrels arc not ercejited, though there is a general reservation nf the oflBcers and servants of the King's household. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 79 and the solicitude of some of our oldest laws upon this head is not a little amusing. We have an ancient ordinance of Eu Digest de Fugitivis, where likewise manv excellent overtures are proposed." This reminds us of the story of the boys and the frogs. The poor bards and minstrels might well say, what was only an excel- lent overture to Sir George, was death to them ! At the same time, it must be acknowledged, that the gangs of vaga- bonds who for ages infested the country, required the most determined and rigorous coercive measures for their repression. Even so late as leave little doubt that tlie Scotish school of minstrelsy was foundod upon that of France. The only department that seems to have been awanting with ns was that of the Troubadours ; unless we are to liold that their places were in some degree supplied by our old romancers, such as •' Thomas the Rhymer" and " Hucheon of the Awle Ryall. " Le corps de la Jonglerie etoit forme des Trouvcrcs ou Troubadours qui composoient les chansons, ct parmi lesquels il y avoit des Im- provisalcurs comme on en trouve en Italic : des Chantcours ou Ckaiitcres qui executoient ou chan- teoient ces compositions; des Conleurs qui faisoient en vers ou en prose les contes, les recits, Ics histoires : des Jongleurs ou Menestrels qui accompagnoient de leur instrumens." Pref. Anthologie Franc. 1705, 8vo. p. 17. ' M'Kenzie's Observations, p. 190. PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION. 81 1698, our Scotish patriot, Fletcher of Saltoun," computes the number of those loose and disorderly characters throu