ber," the use of the flat seventh may be a modern innovation, as it is not to be found in the copy of that air given in the "Orpheus Caledonius ;' but the antiquity of the practice is now fully established by the original version of the "Flowers of the Forest," as it stands in the Skene MS. And in regard to the use of the flat seventh, as a direct and unprepared transition from the tonic, we would observe in passing, that, so far from being of rare occurrence, it constitutes one of the most striking features of Scotish melody. We do not merely refer to its introduction in a minor key, as in "Adieu, Dundee," where its effect is exceedingly pleasing, but to its use, as a transition from the major series, instances of which are so abundant that we shall not stop to refer to them. In fact, nothing connected with Scotish music is better understood; and we may appeal to the well-known fact, that our reels and strathspeys seldom receive any other accompaniment than the tonic and the full tone immediately under it.

"

With these exceptions, it has been represented that all our ancient airs are constructed according to the scale which has been above described, that they do not contain a single note which is foreign to it." In particular, it has been repeatedly asserted that "they contain no semitones whatever;" that our primitive musicians "could no more introduce minuter divisions of the scale, or sounds not comprehended in it, than a musician of the present day could introduce sounds not to be found in the scale to which his ear had been accustomed."a Afterwards we find this proposition restricted to airs purely vocal, (those for the bagpipe and harp being usually in the full diatonic scale,) and from any thing that we have seen to the contrary, we suspect that it will require to be yet still farther restricted, as it cannot be said but that semitones are of very frequent occurrence throughout the vocal melodies here presented to the public,—a fact which we leave to the adherents of this theory to explain as they best can.

For ourselves, although we disclaim all intention of theorising, (however desirous we may be to furnish materials for the theories of others,) we con

a Dissertation prefixed to Thomson's Collection, p. 4.

fess that we have been induced to adopt views in some degree at variance with the above, and with other opinions which have been very generally circulated with respect to the formation of our national music; and these views, involving many points of a technical nature upon which we should have adventured with no slight diffidence, we felt it to be our duty to bring forward-embracing, as they did, some of the most prominent topics which had occurred in the course of the present enquiry. But from this part of our undertaking we have fortunately been relieved in a way which, we have no doubt, will prove quite as satisfactory to our readers as it has been gratifying to ourselves. Before closing the Dissertation, we became aware of the fact, that many of our opinions were shared, and had been much more than anticipated, by a musical professor of eminence, a native of Scotland, who had, for several years, greatly distinguished himself by his admirable arrangements of our national melodies, and who, in a spirit of the most ardent enthusiasm, had applied himself to the investigation of their structure, during the short intervals of leisure which the duties of a laborious profession had left him. Many of this gentleman's notions had been matured before he had had an opportunity of seeing the Skene MS., but this document having been submitted to him, he at once did us the honour to agree to our proposal of making the present work their vehicle of publicity, and of availing himself of such illustrations as the contents of that MS. are calculated to afford. To his observations we here gladly refer our readers; nor is it too much to say, that they contain the most able and complete analysis, scientific and critical, of the Scotish music which has hitherto appeared.

Perhaps its most novel feature is the singular analogy which it exhibits between the Scotish music and the Canto fermo, or plain chant of the Romish Church. Not that the Canto fermo is to be considered as consisting of melody,-being destitute of time, measure, and rythm. It is in the succession of its intervals, and the medial and final closes found in it on sounds other than the tonic, that the resemblance is chiefly to be traced. Why this should have been the case, we cannot tell. Why a peo

ple, never much distinguished for a scrupulous adherence to the forms and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church, and, far less, for any blind subserviency to its power, and who, at the Reformation, flung from them, with a degree of rage approaching to frenzy, its doctrines, rites, and

usages,

its eremites and friars,

White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery,

should have been, perhaps, the only nation in the world which adhered to the strict rules of the Gregorian chant in the modulation of their popular airs, and why they should have clung to these vestiges of their ancient faith with a zeal and a pertinacity which neither the subversion of the Romish hierarchy, nor all the rancour of the most deadly hatred, could mitigate or extinguish-is a problem which we leave to the solution of others. We profess to do no more than to bring the fact under the reader's attention.a

The resemblance between the church chants and the Scotish melodies is casually noticed by Ritson. A friend of his observes" When I was in Italy, it struck me very forcibly that the plain chants which are sung by the friars or priests bore a great resemblance to some of the oldest of the Scotish melodies. If a number of bass voices were to sing the air of Barbara Allan' in the ecclesiastical manner, the likeness would

appear

a The use of the flat, instead of the sharp, seventh for the penultimate note, is an ancient ecclesiastical practice of long standing, the remains of which still subsist in the psalm—and even in the ballad-singing of the uneducated, in all parts of the country; and in some cases in Scotland, where anti-catholic prejudices run high, it almost provokes a smile to see people, who so thoroughly detest Popish forms and usages, continuing (though unknown to themselves) to put in practice so undoubted and venerable a portion of the Romish Ritual. Dr Burney (vol. iii. p. 273) has a similar observation in speaking of the compositions of Claudin le Jeune, one of the authors of the reformed Protestant psalmody," Though the melody manifestly begins and ends in the chord of G, yet by keeping F constantly natural, there is a stronger impression throughout of the key of C than of any other. This was still adhering to the ancient modes of the church, and may be called a rag of Popery, for, however reformed the author may have thought himself in religion, his music was still Papistical."

b Historical Essay on Scotish Song, p. 102.

so great to a person who is not accustomed to hear the former frequently, that he would imagine the one to be a slight variation on the other." But Ritson, Campbell, and Tytler, all concur in deprecating the idea of our popular airs having sprung from the music of the church. The former expresses himself to the following effect :-" No vestige of any Scotish melody ever was, or ever will be, found in the old Scotish church service, which did not, (for one of their service books is preserved,*) and could not, possibly differ from that of other Catholic countries, and must, therefore, have consisted entirely of chant and counterpoint. We may, therefore, safely conclude, that the Scotish Song owes nothing to the church music of the cathedrals and abbeys before the Reformation; and that nothing can be more opposite than such harmonic compositions to the genius of song, which consists in the simple melody of one single part."-" It is a received tradition in Scotland," says Dr Percy," that, at the time of the Reformation, ridiculous and obscene songs were composed, to be sung by the rabble, to the tunes of the most favourite hymns in the Latin service. Green sleeves and pudding pies,' (designed to ridicule the Popish clergy,) is said to be one of those metamorphosed hymns; Maggy Lauder' was another; John Anderson, my jo,' was a third. The original music of all these burlesque sonnets was very fine." Mr Tytler adds to these, the tunes of "John, come kiss me now," and "Kind Robin lo'es me." We know not what credit is attachable to these traditions; but there are many circumstances which would lead us to believe, that, at the Reformation, and for many years before it, the adaptation to secular purposes of the hymns and Canto fermo of the Romish Church was no novelty in Scotland. As Mr Ged

6

This is the "Antiphonarium" of the Abbey of Scone, which belongs to the Advocates' Library. In the College at Edinburgh there is another of these ancient service books, viz. a Collection of Roman Catholic Hymns, supposed to have belonged to the church of Dunkeld before the Reformation.

b A friend of ours mentions the following fragment of a song which used to be sung to a very aged relative of his when a child :—

"I have a true love beyond the sea,

Para mee dicksa do mee nee;

des, the editor of "The Saints' Recreation," observes" It is possible "It and probable" that our "graue sweet tunes" had been "surreptitiously borrowed from spiritual hymns and songs;" and we have often thought that the solemnity of the ecclesiastical tones, every now and then pealing upon the ear, powerfully contributes to the production of those wild, plaintive, and pathetic effects, for which our slow airs are so celebrated.

A little examination will serve to explain why the ecclesiastical modes should have intermingled so largely with our ancient popular music. Whatever might have been the national melodies of our Celtic and Gothic ancestors, and of the ancient nations of Europe, they seem gradually to have receded before the all-powerful influence of the church; and although they are said to have taken refuge with the humble and ignorant, it is a remarkable fact, that the music popular among the lower, as well as the higher ranks, during the middle ages, is invariably described by our musical historians, as differing very little from that which was dedicated to the service of religion. Numerous testimonies may be appealed to in corroboration of this remark, a few of which we shall here take the liberty of quoting. "We may fairly conclude," says Hawkins, "that the knowledge of music was then (during the middle ages) in great measure confined to the clergy; and that they, for the most part, were the authors and composers of those songs and ballads, with the tunes adapted to them, which were the ordinary amusement of the common people." And in casually alluding to the same topic, Dr Burney assures us, that the melodies not only of England, but of all the rest of Europe, "had no other model than the chants of the church till the cultivation of the musical drama; whence, all the rythm, accent, and grace of modern music have manifestly been derived." In

The "

And mony a love-token he sends to me,

With a rattum, pattum,

Para mee dicksa do mee nee."

para me, dixi, Domine," is an obvious adaptation of a part of the service; and we have no doubt that other relics of the same sort could be pointed out.

a Supra, p. 38.

b History, vol. ii. p. 88.

e Vol. iii. p. 88.