another place he assures us, that during "the thirteenth century, the songs in vogue were of various kinds, moral, merry, and amorous; and at that time melody seems to have been little more than plain song or chanting." Even the far-famed songs of the Troubadours, although they appear to us to have been of a lighter and more airy character, are stated by M. Perne to have been cast in the same mould. "Toute composition musicale depuis les bas siecles avoit pour base et type de melodie les tons ou modes du chant Gregorien, vulgairement appelé plain-chant, modes d'origine Grecque, d'apres lesquels les modernes ont formé leurs modes majeurs et leurs mineurs," &c. In addition to what has been here stated, and in order to show the extent to which the ecclesiastical tones found their way into popular music, and how long it was doomed to wander within the stationary and limited routine of keys and scales laid down for the guidance of composers in those days, we shall here cite a passage from Berardi's Miscellanea Musicale, published in 1689, its details on this point being more copious and satisfactory than any that we have elsewhere seen." Musicians have begun to separate their style as much as possible from that of the ancients, in order to give such expression to the words as was best calculated to move the passions, which our ancestors did not attempt, as they only made use of one style and one common system in their consonances and dissonances, which may be proved from their different publications. If we take Palestrina, the chief and father of music, as an author not very ancient, we shall find that there is little difference between his madrigals and his motets, in so far as regards their respective styles. If we look at the popular French and Dutch works, such as the Twenty-six Chansons Musicales,' also the Thirteenth Book, containing twenty-two new songs for six and eight parts, printed in the years 1545, 46, and 49, 1550 and 1552, the compositions of different authors, such as Crequilon, Janluys, Petit, Jaude

a Vol. ii. p. 262.

Chansons du Chatelein de Coucy, par Messieurs Michél et Perne. Paris, 1830, c P. 40.

p. 146.

d We transcribe these names as they stand in the original, the Bologna edition of 1689, though they are evidently misprinted.

latére, Jaques Vaet, Vulnerant, Baston, Clemenz Morel, Clemens non Papa, (this is to contradistinguish him from Pope Clement,) Jusquin, Jan Gerard, Simon Cardon, Ricourt, Adriano, Noel Baldwin, Jan Ockenheim, Verdelot, and many others of different nations whom we omit to mention; with respect to their compositions there is no difference between the ecclesiastical and the popular melody, if we except some, the modulation of which is somewhat more sprightly, such as La Bella Margarita La Girometta'- La Battaglia de Clem. Jan,' and that of Verdelot; and this occurs where the words are humorous and gay, but where they are serious there is little or no difference between the motets, masses, and madrigals, in the style and arrangement of the consonances and dissonances. So that we plainly see that our ancestors had only one style and rule of composition."

Every where, in short, do we find, the ecclesiastical chant and style of composition usurping the place of the old national music. The songs of the Gondolieri, at Venice, are described by Burney as little better than a species of Canto fermo; and Eximeno speaks of the tunes of the Spanish romances as "monotonous and tiresome," and believes. them to be remnants of Moorish melody, or else sprouts of Canto fermo. As for England, so eagerly were the modes of the church followed up in that country in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, that, as far back as authentic history extends, they appear to have swept away the last vestiges of their national music, so as to leave it a matter of question whether or not that nation ever possessed any—of a marked and peculiar character. The manner in which this was effected is thus described by Dr Ledwich: "It was the policy of the Church of Rome, from the first entrance of her missionaries into Britain, to decry and depreciate the ancient rites and ceremonies of the natives, and to exalt the efficacy and perfection of her own. Arguments, however, were in vain; power soon decided the We are informed by Bede, that

controversy in favour of the latter.

a Vol. ii. p. 32.

b Trattato de l'origine della Musica, 1774.

c Appendix to Walker's Irish Bards, p. 25.

James the deacon instructed the clergy of York in singing after the Romish manner, as Stephen did the northern ecclesiastics. Pope Agatho thought the establishment of the Gregorian chant so important an affair, that he sent John his precentor hither for that purpose. These efforts of the Papal See, seconded by the favour of the British princes, soon extinguished every spark of our (the English) ancient music, and confirmed the slow, spacious, and unisonous melody of plain song. The perpetual use of it to both clergy and laity was secured by canons, and when it became a commutation for sins and fasting, the practice of it must have been universal. 'Tis then no wonder that the taste of the nation accommodated itself to this chant ;-a dull and heavy modulation succeeded, well fitted to a state of spiritual thraldom, and to express the dismal tales of minstrelsy."a

In Scotland, where the same ecclesiastical institutions and regulations prevailed as in other Catholic countries, the original vocal music of the people must have been overlaid by that of the church in the same manner, though not, perhaps, to the same extent. In one shape or other, it must all, more or less, have passed through the hands of ecclesiastics themselves, or of their pupils; that is to say, of persons who had been trained up in the ecclesiastical tones; for, from the time that the Gregorian chant first found its way into Great Britain in the seventh century, it was taught (as has been noticed in an early part of this Dissertation) gratuitously to the poor, in connection with our collegiate churches, monasteries, and other religious houses. The music of the common people, therefore,

son,

46

a Such was also the fate of the Anglo-Saxon literature-" It is not unreasonable," says Ritto attribute the suppression of the romantic poems and popular songs of the Saxons to the monks, who seem not only to have refused to commit them to writing, which few others were capable of doing, but to have given no quarter to any thing of the kind which fell into their hands. Hence it is, that except the Saxon chronicle, and a few other traditional fragments, together with many of their laws and a number of charters, deeds, &c. all which are, to be sure, of some consequence, we have little or nothing original in the language, but lying legends, glosses, homilies, charms, and such like things, which evidently show the people, from their conversion, at least, to have been gloomy, superstitious, and priest-ridden." Ritson's Essay on National Song, p. 45. Supra, p. 28, note.

The training of our youth in the Gregorian Chant continued till the Reformation.

"It was

would naturally resemble that with which they had been familiar from their infancy, and which they had been instructed to consider as the only legitimate and regular style of melody."

It is impossible not to feel that the very general adoption of the plain chant in the singing of popular songs and ballads, and the use of the ecclesiastical formulæ in the composition of many of our favourite airs, (of which the airs themselves afford undoubted internal evidence,) are circumstances which tend to impinge a little upon the originality of our ancient vocal music, insomuch as almost to raise a question as to the antiquity of

required (says Dr M'Crie, in his Life of Andrew Melville, vol. i. p. 221) of those who were admitted to St Leonard's College, that besides being of good character, acquainted with grammar, and skilled in writing, they should be sufficiently instructed in the Gregorian Song. (Cantuque Gregoriano sufficienter instructum.) Papers of University. The religious of the Priory of St Andrews were always celebrated for their skill in music, and singing formed one of the regular exercises of the students." Boetii Aberdon. Episcop. Vitæ, F. xxvi. In another place, (supra, p. 27,) it has been shown that the music schools were continued in Scotland after the Reformation, even till the middle of the last century. In England, this does not seem to have been the case, as we find old Thomas Mace, in his work entitled "Musick's Monument," published in 1676, recommending to the adoption of his countrymen the very method which was at that time in full operation in Scotland. (See Hawkins's Hist. vol. iv. p. 453.) This occurs in the course of certain remarks, in which he proposes to point out how psalms may be performed in churches without the organ. Probably the want of these instruments to guide the voices of our congregations in Scotland, rendered it inexpedient to dispense with the training and tuition which the music schools afforded, and thus led to their continuation here longer than in the sister country; but as that plain and obvious ratio of utility still subsists in full force, why have they ceased to exist? Such are the charms of novelty in music, as well as in other things, that the conventional, wherever it enters, is sure to succeed in displacing the natural; a truth which should never be lost sight of, in reasoning upon national music. If in Italy, at the present day, the primitive airs of the people are dispelled at the presence of the more artful and luxuriant, but scarcely more elegant and tasteful, strains of the musical drama, we may imagine how difficult it must have been at a time when no regular system of music existed, except the dull, heavy, monotonous modes of the church, for the natural melody of a nation to extricate itself from the pressure of the superincumbent mass. Upon this point, M. Mainzer, in his ingenious Essay on the Chants Populaires de l'Italie, has the following observations." In proportion as the primitive character of a people is effaced and disappears, when brought into daily contact with the stranger, are effaced and disappear also their genuine popular songs, soon supplanted by foreign melodies, and the songs which, till then, confined within the precincts of halls and theatres, at last reach the streets.

An opera was established at Sorrento, and in this country so abundantly supplied with popular songs, I searched long before finding any; because, wherever the doors of the theatre are opened, the natural is sacrificed to the conventional-the music of the people is dumb before that of the scientific world."

a style of modulation which has generally been considered as separate and distinct from the music of other nations. The same author,a who discards as utterly preposterous and incredible the tradition that two or three of our popular tunes were derived from the Catholic ritual, has ventured (in spite of the monstrous inconsistency which the proposition involves) to throw out a doubt whether the music to which our secular songs had been anciently sung consisted of any thing but the music of the church. "As we have seen, the Scots had songs in the fourteenth century, so no doubt had they tunes or music to them; but of what nature, and how far, if at all, resembling their now celebrated melodies, or if, indeed, any thing more than the plain church chant, is at present almost beyond the reach of conjecture." But, although time and other causes may have conspired to rob us of any thing like written evidence as to the actual state of our melody at this period, we see no reason why a few conjectures may not be hazarded on the subject. Since the time of Mr Ritson, the Skene MS., the Information touching the chapel-royal, and other documents, have furnished us with data which may assist in enabling us to gratify our curiosity in points of this nature. From what has been stated, the regulation requiring the musicians of the chapel-royal to exercise themselves in "OLD Scotish music," has very much the appearance of having been a restoration of a much more ancient usage; and the very expression old which is here used, (in the year 1631,) may, of itself, be a sufficient answer to those who would argue that our melody was of modern invention. But, what particular revolution in the manners, taste, and habits of the people, would sanction the idea that our national style of melody had sprung up posterior to the fourteenth century? We know of none;-nor can we very readily conceive any change which was likely to be attended with such an effect. Wherever national music exists, we should consider it to be indigenous-based in the natural constitution and temperament of a nation-" growing with its growth, and strengthening with its strength"-liable to be modified by circumstances, but so deeply rooted and intertwined in its very essence, as to be

a Mr Ritson,-Historica! Essay on Scotish Song, p. 91.

b Supra, p. 156.

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