earlier date; and, in any event, its effect will be limited to the contents of the fasciculus 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 penned by a different and an older hand. The notes, in particular, are of a more antique 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 alphabetical 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 generally been considered to have been written by Sir John Skene himself,—an idea which, until its history came to be more minutely inquired into, derived some degree of support from the decided resemblance which the handwriting bore to that 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.a It would seem also, that his declining years had been greatly embittered in consequence of several unhappy family differences; 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

Genealogical Account of the Family 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 grown

has hitherto erroneously ascribed the authorship of this collection to this eminent lawyer, the Editor would have deemed even the above observations superfluous, especially as Sir John Skene's death took place on the 16th March 1617.a

The Clerk Register had a son John, who was admitted a Principal Clerk of Session in 1614, and afterwards purchased the estate of Hallyards. This is the person who has already been alluded to, as the great-great-grandfather of the testatrix, by whom the papers of the family 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 Skine," written in a hand which bears a strong resemblance to some specimens of his writing, 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, thinking to get his son provided to his office, had sent him to court with a dimission of the place, but with a charge not to use it unless he found 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 his resignation, was presently disponed to the Advocate; which grieved the father beyond all measure. And the case, indeed, was pitiful, and much regrated 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 of the 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.

a

* See Sir John Skene's testament, General Register House, recorded in the testamentary register of the commissariat of Edinburgh, 8th July 1617.

For the information of our English 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 John, who succeeded him in 1644; but this person was either unborn, or an infant, when, as above shewn, the greater part of the MS. was written.

John Skene was the writer of the MS. There can be little doubt, however, that it was his property, not only from the inscription above noticed, but several others in different 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 Skeine, his book," inscribed upon the fly-leaves. As the family name was most commonly spelt "Skene," this deviation from the usual orthography might at first sight appear somewhat startling; but all who are accustomed to observe the singular want of uniformity which 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 Hallyards was the original owner of the MS., and most probably the person under whose auspices the collection was formed.

Although the authenticity of this document has never been called in question, and does 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 he 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 ordinary 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 society 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, which 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

circumstance of the airs having 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 simplicity, 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 the earliest compilation of the kind which has ever issued from the press. This was Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, the first volume of which appeared in 1725, and the second in 1733. In the former of these years, Allan Ramsay had published about seventy Scotish melodies with basses, as a sort of musical appendix to his "Tea Table Miscellany," which, in like manner, 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 seventeenth, and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries, and of which an

a

Dr Burney (Hist. vol. iv. p. 647) says, " In February (1722) there was a benefit concert for Mr Thomson, the first editor of a collection of Scots tunes in England. To this collection, for which there was a very large subscription, may be ascribed the subsequent favour of these national melodies south of the Tweed. After this concert, at the desire of several persons of quality, was performed a Scottish song."

Happily for the good taste, and, we may add, the morality of the present age, Tom D'Urfey and his Pills have long since sunk into oblivion. His verses, and those of his Grub Street friends, would now be considered little better than doggerel, while, in point of licentiousness, they have perhaps 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-complacency 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 passant, that this perfectly accords with what is stated by Hawkins, (vol. iv. p. 359,) as to the musical proficiency of

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, "c_❝ away,"d_" Bonny Dundee," &c. Along with them, we have such precious morceaux as

this monarch.

“The king," says he, "understood music sufficiently to sing the tenor part of an easy song. He would sometimes sing with Mr Gostling, one of the gentlemen of his chapel, who was master of a fine voice, the Duke of York accompanying them on the guitar." Besides the patronage 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 unusually 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 II., King James, King William, Queen Mary, Queen Anne, and Prince George, I never went off without happy and commendable 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 be added, the necessities of the man. That these were considerable, is apparent from a paper of Addison in the Guardian, No. 67, (28th May 1713,) preparatory 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 Terence, he was reduced to great difficulties 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-natured man."

a

b Vol. i. p.

316.

Vol. ii. p. 110.

d Vol. v. p. 316.

Vol. i. p. 43. 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 (Introduction 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, i. 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; set 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 determination of others.