hypothesis, we would add, that, as an hypothesis or conjecture, the idea that this monarch had composed Scotish airs, and improved the music of his kingdom, would appear to be by no means ill-founded. Considerng his extraordinary musical taste and acquirements, if our national music had been ameliorated in his time, no one was, perhaps, so well qualified for the task;a and who was more likely to have felt and appreciated the high-toned expression of feeling which pervades the more pathetic of our airs, or to have entered with greater keenness and zest into their more animated strains, than the elegant author of "The Queen's Quhair," or the graphic and truly characteristic delineator of those humorous scenes of rustic festivity and merriment, which were never, perhaps, exhibited in greater perfection than in his "Christ Kirk on the Green," and his "Peblis to the Play?"

In all our enquiries regarding the history of Scotish music, we have to encounter this difficulty, that none of our historians ever distinguish between the music of the nation, which, from the first, must have possessed certain peculiar traits, and that which was cultivated by those who devoted themselves to the practice of the art, and which may be said to have comprised the regular, artificial music in use throughout the greater part of Europe. Our historians seem to be always discovering some "illustrious testimony of the excellency" of the Scotish music; and, were we to trust to what Dr Henryb has stated, it must have found admirers in Italy, even in the early part of the sixteenth century. "James III. (says the reverend historian) being no less fond of music than the other fine arts, invited the most famous musicians to his court, and loaded them with favours. Sir William Rogers, a musician, was one of his six unhappy favourites, who were put to death at Lauder, 1482. Ferrerius, an Italian, who wrote the history of the Prince, acquaints us that he had conversed with several celebrated musicians in Italy, who spoke in high terms of Scotch music, and the munificence of James III. These musicians, probably, had belonged to that numerous

⚫ Boethius says of him, "Musicam exacte tenebat ac quicquid illi arti affinebatur peritissime,”– Buchanan, "In musicis curiosius quam regem vel deceat vel expediat.”

b History of Great Britain, vol. v. p. 496.

choir which King James established in the chapel of his palace in the Castle of Stirling, and had returned into their own country after the death of their royal patron, and carried with them the knowledge of the Scotch music." But what says Ferrerius, from whose history Dr Henry has felt himself authorised to deduce the above statement? He says, that William Rogers, a famous musician of that age, whom Edward IV. had sent into Scotland, along with some others, upon an embassy, in order to negotiate a truce with that country of twenty years' duration, had, by his exquisite singing, and performance on various instruments, so captivated James III., that, at the close of the embassy, the latter retained Rogers, nothing loath, (non invitum,) and, shortly afterwards, promoted him to the honour of knighthood. Farther, he mentions, that, under this individual, so celebrated in his art, many persons at the Scotish court became such proficients in music, that, a few years before Ferrerius wrote his history, several distinguished characters were still living who, in his hearing, had boasted of their having been benefited by the instructions or schola of Rogers, and that the time here alluded to was the year 1529.

a

From this it does not appear either that these musicians who lauded the instructions of Rogers were Italians, or that the conversation spoken of took place in Italy. On the contrary, while Ferrerius does not speak of his informants as being his own countrymen, the circumstance to which he alludes could only have taken place in Scotland, where, and not in Italy, Ferrerius was resident in the year 1529. There were, however, as we have formerly had occasion to notice, several Italian musicians retained

a

Gulielmum quoque Roger, Anglum, insignem ea etate musicum quem Edwardus ejus nominis quartus, Anglorum rex, una cum aliquot aliis viris, legatum, ut supra docuimus, pro induciis viginti annorum impetrandis, in Scotiam miserat, ubi modulantem concinne et variis instrumentis musicis dexterrime personantem, vidisset, ita dilexit, ut, absoluta ea legatione, non invitum, apud se retinuerit, quem, paulo post, locupletatum, valde ad equestris ordinis honorem, evexit. Sub hoc autem viro, in arte sua percelebri, adeo multi in aula Scotia perfecti musici evasere, ut proximis annis nonnulli viri insignes adhuc extiterint qui de illius schola, se prodiisse, nobis audientibus, gloriarentur scilicet anno Domini 1529. Ferrerius' Continuation of Boethius's History, (Edit. 1574,) pp. 391-2. b See a Sketch of his Life in Pinkerton's History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 422. Ferrerius's History was written in Italy in 1564.

by the Scotish sovereign at this time,a one of whom, "Bestiane Drummonth," is entered in the Treasurer's Books in 1515, as having received ten pounds "to help his expens by his wages abuffwritten, because he past with licence to visy his frendes in Itale." There might also have been a music school connected with the royal household for training the king's musicians, and this, very probably, had been instituted by Sir William Rogers, and may have been the "schola" referred to by Ferrerius in the passage above quoted, as we observe another entry in the Treasurer's Accounts for 1512, "to foure scolaris menstralis, be the kingis command, to by thame instrumentis in Flandris, vij fi. gret, answerand in Scottis money to xxi fi., and help thair expensis and fraucht, lvjš.; and, therefter, becaus thai plenyeit thai gat our litill expens and fraucht, deliverit uther lvj,

xxxvj ti. xij š."

In the next place, it will be remarked that the observations of Ferrerius say literally nothing with respect to the national music of Scotland, whatever light they may throw upon the history of the art of music in this country, during the reign of James III., and for some time afterwards. The arrival of Rogers had, no doubt, been an era in its progress similar to the return of James I. Ferrerius styles him "rarissimus musicus ex Anglia;" and we may naturally suppose that he would have imparted to the Scots a knowledge of all the leading improvements of his country, which, according to Erasmus, about that time challenged the prerogative of being the most accomplished of any in the art of music. Hamboys was one of the most eminent musicians during the reign of Edward IV. He was the author of a musical work entitled "Can

a Supra, p. 75. b P. 395.

C They also laid claim to two other distinctions, which, though not relating to music, should not be omitted, viz. that they possessed the handsomest women, and kept the best tables. "Natura ut singulis mortalibus suam, ita singulis nationibus, ac pene civitatibus communem quandam insevisse Philantium; atque huic fieri Britanni præter alia, formam, musicam et lautas mensas proprie sibi vindicent." Erasmi Moriæ Encomium. See also Holinshed, vol. ii. p. 1355, and Morley's Introduction, p. 151.

d Hawkins's History, vol. ii. p. 345.

Y

tionum Artificialium Diversi Generis," and is supposed to have been the first person upon whom the degree of Doctor of Music was conferred. He flourished about 1470, the very time when Rogers had been imbibing the elements of his musical education. We may presume, therefore, as no particulars regarding the latter have reached us, beyond what have been above mentioned, that he was a musician of this class, though, most probably, more distinguished for his practical than his theoretical attain

ments.

In another view, these circumstances lend a few scattered rays to illuminate the "darkness visible" in which the history of the Scotish airs is enveloped. We are not here speaking of their origin; that is a question upon which we shall afterwards enter; but of their improvement by the hands of composers; and that most of them had been subjected to a process of this kind at a very early period, there can be no doubt. Many tunes, also, may have been composed in imitation of the artless primitive airs of the country. In speaking of the Neapolitan rustic and street tunes, Dr Burney observes, a "The first secular music in parts, after the invention of counterpoint, that I have been able to discover on the Continent, is the harmony that was set to the rustic and street tunes of the kingdom of Naples; and these under the several denominations of arie, canzonette, villotte and villanelle, alla Napolitana, were as much in fashion all over Europe during the sixteenth century, as Provençal songs were in preceding times, and Venetian ballads have been since. Besides the old tunes which were collected, and published in four parts, others were composed not only by the natives, but in imitation of these short familiar airs, by almost all the principal composers of other places, of which innumerable volumes were printed at Venice, Antwerp, and elsewhere, under the same titles." We have never heard of any publication of Scotish airs during the sixteenth century, in the shape here mentioned ; but with so many accomplished musicians as we appear then to have possessed, to say nothing of harpers, luters, violars, pipers, flute and cornet players, &c., it is impossible but that a large proportion of the

a Burney's History, vol. iii. p. 214.

music which was then composed and performed had been of a national kind, or, as the Information touching the chapel-royal (which of itself, from the regulation there specified, furnishes indubitable proof of its early popularity and excellence) expresses it, "Old Scotish Music." With so many individuals who could not fail to have been attracted by its many pleasing traits, and whose professional talents would naturally have been exercised in exhibiting it to the best advantage, what are we to think of the absurd conjectures which, without a particle of evidence, would ascribe the composition of our finest airs, nay, the very invention of the Scotish melody itself, to James I. and David Rizzio? The former of these we have already considered; and with respect to the latter very little will require to be said. It seems, indeed, to have been little better than one of those foolish popular traditions, which would have died a natural death had it not been brought forward on all occasions, less for the purpose of being entertained than of being confuted. Even Burney intended to have added himself to the list of combatants in this field of contention, although he deferred doing so till the Greek kalends. "The controverted point (says the learned historian) of Rizzio having been the author of the Scots tunes which go under his name, will be discussed hereafter, when national music comes to be considered." The real cause of this questio vexata seems to have been, that Thomson, the editor of the "Orpheus Caledonius," and Oswald, in order that they might give additional celebrity to certain tunes in their respective collections, had pointed them out as having been composed by Rizzio. As for the fact itself, no well-informed writer ever averred him to have been the author of a single Scotish tune; and history is wholly silent, both as to this, and as to his having been the reformer or polisher of our

Burney's History, vol. ii. p. 576.

b It has often been thought that Oswald himself was the author of several of the tunes said to have been composed by Rizzio, but we have never till now seen any thing approaching to evidence of the fact. Appended to one of his collections, in the possession of David Laing, Esq., there is the following memorandum :-" The airs in this volume, with the name of David Rizo affix'd, are all Oswald's. I state this on the authority of Mrs Alexander Cumming and my mother, -his daughter and sister. (Signed) "H. O. WEATHERLEY."