the rivulets, villages, and hills adjoining to the Tweed near Melrose;a a region distinguished by many charming varieties of rural scenery, and which, whether we consider the face of the country, or the genius of the people, may, properly enough, be termed the Arcadia of Scotland. And all these songs are sweetly and powerfully expressive of love and tenderness, and other emotions suited to the tranquillity of pastoral life." The Highlands, again," "are a picturesque, but in general a melancholy country. Long tracts of mountainous desert, covered with dark heath, and often obscured by misty weather; narrow valleys, thinly inhabited, and bounded by precipices resounding with the fall of torrents; a soil so rugged, and a climate so dreary, as in many parts to admit neither the amusements of pasturage, nor the labours of agriculture; the mournful dashing of waves along the friths and lakes that intersect the country; the portentous noises which every change of the wind, and every increase or diminution of the waters, is apt to raise, in a lonely region, full of echoes, and rocks, and caverns; the grotesque and ghastly appearance of such a landscape by the light of the moon ;-objects like these diffuse a gloom over the fancy, which may be compatible enough with occasional and social merriment, but cannot fail to tincture the thoughts of a native in the hour of silence and solitude."

What, then, would it be reasonable to expect from the fanciful tribe, from the musicians and poets, of such a region? Strains expressive of joy, tranquillity, or the softer passions? No: their style must have been better suited to their circumstances; and so we find, in fact, that their music is. The wildest irregularity appears in its composition; the expression is warlike and melancholy, and approaches even to the terrible.

a Cowdenknows, Galashiels, Gala Water, Ettrick Banks, Braes of Yarrow, Bush above Traquair, &c.

Essay on Poetry and Music, pp. 169, 173.

The very titles of the Highland airs are sufficient to evince the truth of this remark. Take some of those in Macdonald's Collection, for example, "Wet is the night and cold”—“ Many are the cries and shrieks of woe”— —“ My cheeks are furrowed"-" This casts a gloom upon my soul"-" The death of Dermid"_" The vale of Keppoch is become desolate"-" Sad and cold are my people," &c.

There is, no doubt, a considerable difference between the Highland and the Lowland melody, although we think that Dr Beattie has overrated it, when he says that it is as great as that which exists "between the Irish or the Erse language, and the English or Scotch." The difference, in reality, is one of style and expression, rather than of genus, both being composed according to the same scale. The old Irish vocal airs are also characterized by a similar succession of intervals to the Scotish, but those of a more modern date are chiefly of a diatonic or chromatic structure, arising, it is supposed, from the harp having continued in use in that country to a greater extent, and for a longer period, than with us. Chalmers has said, that "the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish, have all melodies of a simple sort, which, as they are connected together by cognate marks, evince, at once, their relationship and antiquity."a Such, however, is the regularity of the Welsh airs, and their conformity to modern scales and keys, that we search in vain for any internal evidence of the affinity here spoken of. Their more modern character has been sometimes ascribed to the exclusive preference which the Welsh have always shown for music of an instrumental kind, and a still more plausible exposition may be arrived at when the regulations of the Eistedvodd come to be more fully investigated, and better understood. But into these matters it is no part of our present purpose to enter; the unexpected length to which our observations have run, renders it imperative in us to avoid all topics except those which are immediately and necessarily connected with that under consideration. And yet we are conscious that the full and perfect developement of this subject depends upon the carrying out of a great variety of collateral enquiries, which, of themselves, would demand no ordinary labour and thought. Much still requires to be done before the history and progress of Scotish music can be elucidated with certainty and precision; and in one department, in particular, it has been a matter of regret, that we have had no opportunity of adding to the stock of information which we already possess. That the northern nations by whom this country was invaded and peopled during the earlier periods of our his

a Caledonia, vol. i. p. 476.

tory, had, along with their manners, customs, and language, imported into Scotland their music, both vocal and instrumental, we have no reason to doubt; and to trace the coincidence of their national airs with ours, is a task which could scarcely fail to be attended with success. But the difficulty which we have experienced in obtaining access to authentic collections of Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian airs, must prevent us from expressing a positive opinion upon this point. We were certainly much struck with the circumstance, that the second section of the very first Swedish air which presented itself in the collection which we have above named, and the corresponding part of "John Anderson, my Jo," should appear to be almost identical.a But we find few other features of resemblance to the Scotish music in the rest of the volume, or among the Danish airs which we have examined. On the other hand, we know nothing for certain as to the genuineness and antiquity of these collections; and we may mention, that when the celebrated Norwegian violinist, Ole Bull, visited Edinburgh, in Spring 1837, upon being shown some of the Scotish airs, he at once recognised them as of the same character with those of his own country; and we, ourselves, heard him perform several of them in public, with a spirit and an expression which might almost be termed instinctive.

Before closing our notice of the ancient Scotish music, perhaps it is not too much to deduce another observation from the memorable critique, by Giraldus Cambrensis, on the Irish and Scotish music of the twelfth century. He has represented its style as lively and rapid, and contrasted it with the dull heavy spirit of the English airs. Is it not probable, therefore, that our oldest tunes were of the lively sort, and our slow airs (and these possess the most decided ecclesiastical peculiarities) of more recent origin? We merely start the conjecture, and yet it is one which we have sometimes thought strengthened by other considerations. We have the evidence of Tassoni that, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Scotland was distinguished for its plaintive melodies; but, at this time, or anterior to this, we scarcely find any other instance where

a See Appendix.

this part of our music is mentioned with approbation, or commented upon in any kind of way, while the dance tunes appear to have been very much in vogue. The only reference to Scotish music in Morley's Introduction is where he says-" I dare boldly affirme that, looke which is hee who thinketh himself the best descanter of all his neighbours, enjoyne him to make but a Scotish jygge, he will grossly erre in the true nature and qualitie of it."a In like manner, the only notice with which Shakspeare has honoured the music of Scotland, relates to the same kind of tune. It is in "Much Ado about Nothing," where Beatrice 66 says, Wooing, wedding, and repenting, is as a Scotch jig, a measure and a cinque pace; the first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch jig, and full as fantastical; the wedding, mannerly modest, as a measure full of state and ancientry; and then comes repentance, and, with his bad legs, falls into the cinque pace faster and faster, till he sink into his grave." Then, we have the "chants des branles communs gais," published in Paris in 1564-the chefs d'œuvre probably of " Cabrach," and the other violars or "fithelaris" of the court of the Jameses-the Gows and Marshalls of the sixteenth century, and no less eminent, we dare say, for the spirit and vivacity with which they gave effect to the movement of the dance, at times, when the joyous character of the Scots was wont to break forth with equal, if not greater, hilarity than in the present day.

The slow, drawling, and monotonous style of many of the Scotish melodies which were popular during the last century, is certainly something very different from the description given by the Cambrian churchman of our ancient airs, and not a little at variance, we should say, with the spirit and character of the nation,-the perfervidum ingenium-the effervescent enthusiasm of our countrymen. Some of these airs were composed, and most of those which had been handed down from antiquity were

c Speaking of our pronunciation, which he contrasts with the "too slow and grave style" of the English, Sir George Mackenzie says that that of the Scots is "like themselves, fiery, abrupt, sprightly, and bold." Essay on the Eloquence of the Bar. Mackenzie's Pleadings, p. 17.

essentially altered, by Oswald and others, especially by the former, a person, whose taste in music, although he unquestionably possessed some inventive talent, (would that he had possessed less!) was too much perverted by the age in which he lived, for him to relish the simple notes of our primitive melodies; and who, accordingly, so far from taking any pains to preserve them in their original form, generally contrived to adapt them to a formula of his own, in which phrases, the sole merit of which lay in their being unaffected and pleasing, were exchanged for passages of embellishment invented, in order to display the skill of the singer or the performer, and artificial closes or shakes, substituted for the natural, broken, and often touching cadences of the original.a

Of this, we are enabled to speak the more confidently, with the Skene MS. before us. The favourable contrast which many of the Scotish airs, therein contained, present to the dull, tiresome, and meretricious productions, which, from time to time, have been palmed off upon the public, under that name, and the vitiated copies of the same tunes which have been handed down by tradition alone, are among the most gratifying results of its discovery. We are now no longer at a loss for a standard by which we can test the genuineness of our national music, distinguish the true from the false, and separate the pure ore from all admixture of baser metal. Whether or not they come from "the well of (Scotish) genius undefiled”—we cannot say; but they are a distance of one hundred years nearer the fountainhead than any with which the public have previously been acquainted. And it is also worthy of remark, (we speak here of the principal Scotish airs,) that they are not cast in the formal and elaborate mould which characterizes the artificial compositions of the age when the collection was formed. They are animated, chaste and simple in their style and expression, and though" old and plain," and more remarkable for spirit and originality than for elegance,

a In certain practical remarks as to the manner in which Scotish airs ought to be sung, Mr Tytler, in his Dissertation, recommends singers, by all means, to acquire the embellishment of a shake by which they are to wind up the melody. Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis. Were a young lady, now-a-days, to conclude a Scotish air in the way here proposed, it would occasion nearly as much surprise as if she were to enter the room in her grandmother's hoop and highheeled shoes.