Dublin—Jamaicaa-Galloway's Lament," &c. We may add, that there are at present lying before us, in common notation, a MS. belonging to the Advocates' Library, dated 1704; another to Mr Laing, 1706; and a third of 1715 to Mr Waterston, stationer in Edinburgh.

With these documents, besides that of which we here furnish a translation, we are now amply fortified against the attacks of Mr Ritson's scepticism; and our readers will recollect that these MSS. are merely such as have fallen within the scope of our personal observation.b In a letter which Mr Ritson addressed to Mr Walker, the author of the Memoirs of the Irish Bards, in 1791, several years before the publication of the Essay on Scotish Song, after noticing the apparent want of all direct evidence of the existence of our favourite airs, prior to the Restoration, he puts the question-" Upon what foundation, then, do we talk of the antiquity of Scotish music?" Indeed, we have been taunted on this subject in more than one quarter. Jones tells us that we have "no such thing as an ancient and authentic MS. like what the Irish or the Welsh have." Now, although we have no inclination whatever to provoke a national contest upon this or any other point, or to challenge the antiquity of many celebrated Welsh and Irish airs; yet, believing, as we do, the real state of the fact to be this, that neither the Welsh nor the Irish can produce any authentic collections of their national music of so old a date, and containing so many popular melodies, as the MSS. of Scotish airs which we have above described, we cannot allow the observation to pass unnoticed. We are not aware that Mr Morris's MSS.,said to be of the eleventh century, but which Dr Burney thought much more recent-though filled with harp music, arranged in harmony or coun

As Jamaica was the date of the tune.

taken by the English from the Spaniards, in 1655, this may be assigned as Many of the above songs will be found in Hogg's Jacobite Relics.

b That more of the same sort are still extant, we have little doubt. Gordon's Lute Book, noted at Aberdeen in 1627, which contains, among other things, the air of " Greysteil," is mentioned as having been the property of Dr Burney, (see supra, p. 84,) who probably may have collected other MSS. of Scotish music, especially from his having undertaken to prove that it was of higher antiquity than generally supposed.

c Letters of Ritson, vol. i. p. 190.

a Welsh Bards, p. 99.

e Hist. vol. ii. p. 110.

terpoint, contain any Welsh air known at the present day. In Jones's Collection, two or three airs are copied from MSS.; but of these the age is not mentioned; and the Editor expressly styles his work a a Collection of Welsh National Melodies, which "have been handed down by tradition," and which he collected "from hearing the old musicians or minstrels play them on their instruments, and from their being chanted by the peasantry."

In the same way, the first collection of ancient Irish airs was formed by Mr Bunting, being noted at the meeting of harpers in 1792 at Belfast, and afterwards taken down from their performance, and from the singing of the people in different parts of the country.

In short, the authentication of these airs by MSS. is a thing which appears never to have been dreamt of either in Wales or in Ireland, and the best evidence which Mr Bunting obtained on the point of antiquity will appear from the following extract from his preface "Most of the performers convened at the meeting above mentioned were men advanced in life, and they all concurred in one opinion respecting the reputed antiquity of those airs which they called ancient. They smiled, on being interrogated concerning the era of such compositions, saying, They were more ancient than any to which our popular traditions extended." "b So much for the assertion that, in Scotland, we have no such thing as an ancient and authentic MS. such as the Irish and Welsh have!

But, besides their rarity, we can scarcely regard these MSS. with indifference, even in an historical and literary point of view. No doubt, so far as relates to the poetry-the titles, and sometimes the first lines of the songs, are all that are there preserved; and, we may add, all that, in most cases, are known to be extant; but these are not only interesting from personal and local associations, and as illustrations, however slight, of the manners of a bygone age, but they denote the former existence, and, to a certain extent, mark out the individual character, of a great

a Welsh Bards, p. 122.

64

b It seems to be admitted on all hands, that the old music of the Irish bards and minstrels is purely traditionary. Though musical notation (says Mr Walker, Irish Bards, p. 66) was not known amongst the aborigines of this island, remains of their music have been handed down to us by tradition, in its original simplicity."

many songs and ballads, some of which (if written copies of them are no longer to be found) may still survive in the memories of the present generation. It is not unlikely, therefore, that the bare mention of their names may lead to their discovery. Of their restoration by the hands of any of our "North-countrie" minstrels of the nineteenth century, we are not so sanguine;-a task which so perfectly fitted the genius of Burns does not so readily adapt itself to the capacity of ordinary men. There are relics, however, particularly in the Skene MS. which, together with the music,-from the images and associations they suggest,-are well calculated, we should think, to awaken the pathos, the simplicity, and the humour of the Scotish muse.

The interest attached to their musical contents can best be appreciated by those who, like ourselves, have taken pains to enquire into the history of Scotish music, and who, not being able to go farther back than the beginning of the last century, have been tempted, in their unavailing search after the strains of preceding ages, to exclaim—

"Where should this music be?-i' the air or the earth ?”

Has it altogether ceased to exist? Has it quitted this terrestrial sphere, or does it still continue to hover around us, in some of those gentle, breathing forms which the creative genius of man has, from time to time, imparted to it? If so, what are the forms in which we are most likely to recognise it? Were those ancient songs which have reached us, along with their reputed melodies, originally chanted to the same tunes with which we now find them associated? What has been the nature of the changes which they have undergone in passing through the trying ordeal of oral communication? Have they been improved or deteriorated in consequence? Have they been casually altered by the ignorance of the multitude, or wilfully changed and perverted by the crude attempts of inexperienced amateurs, or the injudicious efforts of tasteless and pedantic composers, to polish and improve them? For these, and other such questions, an answer is now provided, which, so far as it goes, may be relied on as authentic and indisputable.

With all these documents at our disposal, and the most unreserved

privilege of publication liberally conceded to us by their respective owners, we confess that we, at one time, felt much inclined to include in the present volume copious extracts from the music, and a complete commentary upon the whole of these MSS. Upon consideration, however, it was found that the execution of such a project would have increased the letter-press and engraving to a degree not only beyond the limits, but incompatible with the plan, of a dissertation which professed to treat simply of the Skene MS.—a subject which, when combined with those general views of the history of Scotish music which naturally spring out of it, is, of itself, sufficiently voluminous. We resolved, therefore, to content ourselves with introducing these ancient collections to the notice of our readers in the cursory manner we have here done, and, in the course of our observations, to avail ourselves of their materials, at all times when they were likely to prove serviceable for the purpose of illustration.

In what farther remains, we confine our remarks tc the more immediate object of the present enquiry.

The most gratifying result which arises from the discovery of the Skene MS. is the proof which it affords of the antiquity of some of our most celebrated Scotish airs, and of those striking national peculiarities by which the music of this country has been so long distinguished. In the same spirit with the observations of Ritson, Mr Pinkerton,a in 1783, referring to the names of the songs given in the Complaynt of Scotland, observes"This list, which is of exceeding curiosity, may teach us that not one of our Scotish popular airs is so ancient as 1548." But, although the Skene MS. is upwards of half a century more recent than the Complaynt of Scotland, it contains sufficient internal evidence to refute this opinion,— if, indeed, (resting upon so weak a foundation,) it may be thought to require any refutation. In a rhapsody such as the Complaynt, where "ane rustic pastour, distitut of urbanite and of speculatione of natural

a Select Songs, vol. ii. p. 32.

philosophe, indoctrynes his nychtbours as he hed studeit Ptholome, Averois, Aristotel, Galen, Ypocrites or Cicero, quhilk var expert practicians in methamatic art," we are not to look for historical evidence as to the music which was popular in Scotland at the epoch of its publication. In fact, "the sweit melodious sangis of the natural music of the antiquitie❞ there named, appear, most of them, to have been, like the philosophy which the shepherd inculcated, of the scholastic order; and they are described in the narrative as having been sung in parts," in gude accordis and reportis of dyapason, prolations, and diatesseron,". so that the music attached to them had been, most probably, the works of English composers, and served up in this Scotish pasticcio with the same regard to consistency, with which the author has introduced the nightingale, singing her sweet notes all the night long, although it is well known that she was never a native of these less favoured climes.

We have now before us direct and incontrovertible proof that many melodies which have come down to the present day are two hundred, and, in some instances, upwards of two hundred, years old; and, farther than this, we are enabled to ascend many years beyond the commencement of the seventeenth century, upon grounds which, though circumstantial and presumptive, are, in some respects, not the less satisfactory and convincing.

As may be expected in all such collections, none of the tunes in the Skene MS. bear either a date or the name of their author. Nay, we have not even the satisfaction of an observation of the copyist, very common in our day, (though often misapplied,) that this or that was " a very ancient melody." Neither do any of the titles of the tunes correspond with the names or description of the ancient lyrics alluded to in the chronicles and poems which we have above particularized. In regard to some of these, had they appeared in this collection, the known dates of the works in which they were mentioned would have carried back their antiquity for centuries beyond the time when the MS. was written; others, such as "God sen the Duc had bidden in France, and de la Beauté had neuer come hame," by being interwoven with historical