tularies, and other ancient documents. But we have forborne to do so, or to enter into any investigation of this subject,-partly from the accumulation of materials which we have been enabled to collect for our more immediate purpose-the illustration of the Skene MS., and with it the secular music of Scotland; and partly, because the effect of that information (although it would no doubt constitute an accession to our stock of Scotish history) would be little more than to show that, for the ages preceding the Reformation,-in our monastic institutions, our cathedrals, and our collegiate and parochial churches, the same regulations prevailed as to the chants, offices, and service of the church, as in other Catholic countries.

The accounts of the Lords Treasurers are a never failing source of interesting and authentic information with respect to the private lives of our sovereigns, and from the very unreserved nature of the explanations with which they are generally accompanied, they exhibit their habits, occupations, and amusements, in all their variety. Besides other entries to the same effect, in 1533, we observe the following: "Oct. 19.-Item, For ane dozen luyt stringis send to the kingis grace in Glasgow, vis. Nov. 2.-Item, For iiij dosane luyt stringis send to the kingis grace in Falkland, xxiiij." Thus it appears that the lute was the favourite instrument of James V. It was also that of his daughter, Queen Mary." Elle avoit (says Brantome) la voix tres douce et tres bonne; car elle chantoit tres bien, accordant sa voix avec le luth, qu'elle touchoit bien solidement de cette belle main blanche et de ces beaux doigts si bien façonnés, qui ne devoient à ceux de l'Aurore." Besides the lute, Mary, as Sir James Melville told Queen Elizabeth at the celebrated interview when his courtesy was so severely put to the test, " occasionally recreated herself with playing on the virginals;" upon which, the latter also, as Sir James relates, played "excellently well;" and if, as Dr Burneyb remarks, "her majesty was ever able to

Sir James Melville's Memoirs, pp. 50, 51.

Vol. iii. p. 15.

execute any of the pieces that are preserved in her virginal book," which is still extant," she must have been a very great player, as some of these pieces are so difficult, that it would be hardly possible to find a master in Europe who would undertake to play one of them, at the end of a month's practice."

At a time when music, instrumental as well as vocal, was taught at the public schools as an ordinary branch of education,-when to sing one's part at sight, and to play on some instrument, was a common accomplishment in every one, and considered almost indispensable in persons of high rank, we need not wonder at the number of crowned heads who excelled in music, and that we should scarcely be able to find any, called to that high station, who were not more or less possessed of these qualifications. In the history of the House of Stuart, we scarcely know a single instance to the contrary. With the exception, perhaps, of James II., (of Scotland,) whose time and attention were entirely absorbed in the art military, the monarchs of this family were all either promoters or cultivators of music; nor have the passion and taste which prompted them to patronise, and enabled them to excel in, that accomplishment, abated in the latest of their successors; and during the brief duration, hitherto, of a reign which we fondly hope may continue among the longest in history, no member of that august family has ever done more to honour the efforts of artists, or, by her own genius and example, to exalt and adorn the art, than the talented and amiable Personage who now fills the throne of these realms.

No doubt, Dr Burney has hazarded the assertion in regard to one of her Majesty's illustrious predecessors, James I., (of England,) that it did not appear that "either from nature or education he was enabled to receive any pleasure from music." But, allowing that his natural capacity did not qualify him to acquire distinction in any branch of the fine arts, (although specimens of his "vein" still extant, not to mention his "Cauteles" for the guidance of professors, sufficiently evince his fondness for poetry,) we doubt very much whether he was incapable, either

by nature or education, of receiving pleasure from music; and from any facts which have come within the range of our observation, we think that in this respect Dr Burney has taken a very erroneous, and, we are constrained to add, what appears to us to be, a very prejudiced, view of his character. Even Sir John Hawkins bears testimony to the same effect, that he did not understand or love music;" but, with great deference to both of these learned authors, whose opinions, accompanied as they generally are by extensive research, are entitled to respectful consideration, we hold these statements to be neither well founded in themselves, nor very gracious (if they are to be considered as expressive of the sentiments of the musical profession) towards the memory of one who appears, from the first, to have been both a sincere and an active patron of the art; and if the mind of Burney had not, in this matter, from some cause or other which we cannot explain, been unfavourably biassed, the very circumstances which he himself had occasion to record would have at once brought him to an opposite conclusion. It is remarkable that the Doctor follows out the very same sentence, in which he gives utterance to the observations we have cited, in the following words" However, early in his reign, the gentlemen of his chapel, assisted by the influence and solicitation of several powerful noblemen who pleaded their cause, severally obtained an increase of ten pounds to their annual stipend." In the preceding paragraph, we are told, that Elizabeth, though extremely fond of splendour and show, was so parsimonious in rewarding talent, "that she suffered these gentlemen of her chapel, till the time of her death, to solicit in vain" for this augmentation of salary; and that the celebrated Dr Bull, and Dowland, the friend of Shakspeare, had been actually obliged to quit the kingdom in search of better patronage elsewhere!

After this we see this very Dr Bull, who is described by Burney (whether correctly or not we shall not here stop to enquire) as having been obliged to find employment abroad, retained in the establishment

of Prince Henry, the son of James I., along with some of the first musicians of the age. In a subsequent part of his work, the author, in a paragraph in which he says something about his own "historical integrity," -a profession which does not appear to have always accorded with his practice, observes-"It may perhaps be necessary for me to mention, that practice,―observes James I., UPON WHAT BENEFICIAL PRINCIPLE IT IS NOW DIFFICULT TO DISCOVER, incorporated the musicians of the city of London into a company," with all the privileges of such, &c. The "historical integrity" of the Doctor's views, in this particular instance, is farther exemplified in another passage, where, in speaking of "the periods of our own history, in which music has been the most favoured by royalty," while Queen Elizabeth, Charles I., and Charles II., are respectively lauded for their exertions, all mention of the reign of James I. is purposely avoided;—so that, in spite of his liberality, his absolute zeal in the promotion of this branch of the fine arts, and the solid and substantial benefits which he conferred upon its professors, his name has been handed down to posterity as that of one who, having no "music in his soul," was the adversary, rather than the friend, of their interests!

Under these circumstances, had it not been that the facts which Dr Burney himself has brought under the attention of his readers, seemed to furnish a sufficient refutation of his aspersions, we should have felt it right to say a few words, in order to rescue the memory of an inconsistent, but well-meaning monarch, from the unhappy predicament in which these musical historians have left it. We may recall to recollection that it was in his reign, and (although he was only in his 14th year) not improbably at his suggestion, that the institution of music-schools in the principal cities throughout Scotland became part of the law of the land. It may be added, that Dr Burney was in a complete mistake as to the musical part of his education. In the treasurer's accounts for 1580, there is the following article of charge:-" September, Item, be the kingis

Burney's History, vol. iii. p. 326.

Vol. iii. p. 483.

majesteis precept, to his servitour James Lawder ije merkis, as for the dew price of twa pair of virginellis coft be the said James in London, be his hienes directioun and command, and deliverit to his maiestie, &c. ije. li." King James was at this time in his fifteenth year.

We observe another entry a few years after this; but whether we should quote it as an additional illustration of King James' munificence to English professors, we know not. We are not informed as to the extent of their services on this occasion, and therefore can form no estimate of the comparative rate of their remuneration; but we subjoin the extract, as it may possibly amuse our readers, from the very circumstantial manner in which the mode of payment is set forth.—“ March 1596, Item, be his majesties speciall directioun, out of his awin mouth, to four Inglis violaris in Haliruidhous, 32 lib."

a

Dr Burney informs us, that, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the lute was the favourite chamber instrument of every nation in Europe; and that about the end of the former of these eras, James and Charles Hedington, two natives of Scotland, were eminent performers upon it, and much in favour at the court of Henri Quatre. There seem to have been a great many varieties of the lute species, the theorbo, the arch-lute, the guitar, the cystrum or citterne, the pandora," the mandora, and others of different names, at least, if not of different kinds; but into their specific distinctions it is not our intention, in this place, to enter. They are fully described by Mersenne and other authors, with all the advantage of delineations, without which it would be quite needless to attempt any explanation of their peculiar forms, and the details of their construction.

It may be mentioned, however, that the mandora, mandour, or lesser lute of four strings, was the instrument to which the airs in the Skene MS. are adapted; and the lute tablature, or notation in which they are

b 44

Burney's Hist. vol. iii. p. 274.

'Two Pandores" are mentioned among the instruments provided for the musicians of the Chapel-Royal at Holyroodhouse in 1633. See information touching the Chapel-Royal in the Appendix.

De Instr. Harmonicis, lib. 1.