As if pointing to a condition of primeval happiness, Poetry has been the
first language of nations. The Lyric Muse has especially chosen the land
of natural sublimity, of mountain and of flood; and such scenes she has
only abandoned when the inhabitants have sacrificed their national
liberties. Edward I., who massacred the Minstrels of Wales, might have
spared the butchery, as their strains were likely to fall unheeded on
the ears of their subjugated countrymen. The martial music of Ireland is
a matter of tradition; on the first step of the invader the genius of
chivalric song and melody departed from Erin. Scotland retains her
independence, and those strains which are known in northern Europe as
the most inspiriting and delightful, are recognised as the native
minstrelsy of Caledonia. The origin of Scottish song and melody is as
difficult of settlement as is the era or the genuineness of Ossian.
There probably were songs and music in Scotland in ages long prior to
the period of written history. Preserved and transmitted through many
generations of men, stern and defiant as the mountains amidst which it
was produced, the Minstrelsy of the North has, in the course of
centuries, continued steadily to increase alike in aspiration of
sentiment and harmony of numbers.
The spirit of the national lyre seems to have been aroused during the
war of independence,[1] and the ardour of the strain has not since
diminished. The metrical chronicler, Wyntoun, has preserved a stanza,
lamenting the calamitous death of Alexander III., an event which proved
the commencement of the national struggle.
"Quhen Alysandyr oure kyng wes dede,
That Scotland led in luve and le,
Away wes sons of ale and brede,
Of wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle:
Oure gold wes changyd into lede.
Cryst, borne in-to virgynyte
Succour Scotland and remede,
That stad is in perplexyte."
The antiquity of these lines has been questioned, and it must be
admitted that the strain is somewhat too dolorous for the times. Stung
as they were by the perfidious dealings of their own nobility, and the
ruthless oppression of a neighbouring monarch, the Minstrels sought
every opportunity of astirring the patriotic feelings of their
countrymen, while they despised the efforts of the enemy, and
anticipated in enraptured paeans their defeat. At the siege of Berwick in
1296, when Edward I. began his first expedition against Scotland, the
Scottish Minstrels ridiculed the attempt of the English monarch to
capture the place in some lines which have been preserved. The ballad of
"Gude Wallace" has been ascribed to this age; and if scarcely bearing
the impress of such antiquity, it may have had its prototype in another
of similar strain. Many songs, according to the elder Scottish
historians, were composed and sung among the common people both in
celebration of Wallace and King Robert Bruce.
The battle of Bannockburn was an event peculiarly adapted for the
strains of the native lyre. The following Bardic numbers commemorating
the victory have been preserved by Fabyan, the English chronicler:--
"Maydens of Englande,
Sore may ye morne,
For your lemmans, ye
Haue lost at Bannockysburne.
With heue-a-lowe,
What weneth the king of England,
So soon to have won Scotland?
Wyth rumbylowe."
Rhymes in similar pasquinade against the south were composed on the
occasion of the nuptials of the young Prince, David Bruce, with the
daughter of Edward II., which were entered into as a mean of cementing
the alliance between the two kingdoms.
After the oblivion of a century, the Scottish Muse experienced a revival
on the return, in 1424, of James I. from his English captivity to occupy
the throne. Of strong native genius, and possessed of all the learning
which could be obtained at the period, this chivalric sovereign was
especially distinguished for his skill in music and poetry. By Tassoni,
the Italian writer, he has been designated a composer of sacred music,
and the inventor of a new kind of music of a plaintive character. His
poetical works which are extant--"The King's Quair," and "Peblis to the
Play"--abound not only in traits of lively humour, but in singular
gracefulness. To his pen "Christ's Kirk on the Green" may also be
ascribed. The native minstrelsy was fostered and promoted by many of his
royal successors. James III., a lover of the arts and sciences,
delighted in the society of Roger, a musician; James IV. gave frequent
grants to Henry the Minstrel, cherished the poet Dunbar, and himself
wrote verses; James V. composed "The Gaberlunzie Man" and "The Jollie
Beggar," ballads which are still sung; Queen Mary loved music, and wrote
verses in French; and James VI., the last occupant of the Scottish
throne, sought reputation as a writer both of Latin and English poetry.
Under the patronage of the Royal House of Stewart, epic and lyric poetry
flourished in Scotland. The poetical chroniclers Barbour, Henry the
Minstrel, and Wyntoun, are familiar names, as are likewise the poets
Henryson, Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, and Sir David Lyndsay. But the authors
of the songs of the people have been forgotten. In a droll poem entitled
"Cockelby's Sow," ascribed to the reign of James I., is enumerated a
considerable catalogue of contemporary lyrics. In the prologue to Gavin
Douglas' translation of the AEneid of Virgil, written not later than
1513, and in the celebrated "Complaynt of Scotland," published in 1549,
further catalogues of the popular songs have been preserved.
The poetic gift had an influence upon the Reformation both of a
favourable and an unfavourable character. By exposing the vices of the
Popish clergy, Sir David Lyndsay and the Earl of Glencairn essentially
tended to promote the interests of the new faith; while, on the event of
the Reformation being accomplished, the degraded condition of the Muse
was calculated to undo the beneficial results of the ecclesiastical
change. The Church early attempted to remedy the evil by sanctioning the
replacement of profane ditties with words of religious import. Of this
nature the most conspicuous effort was Wedderburne's "Book of Godly and
Spiritual Ballads," a work more calculated to provoke merriment than to
excite any other feeling.
On the union of the Crowns a new era arose in the history of the
Scottish Muse. The national spirit abated, and the poets rejoiced to
write in the language of their southern neighbours. In the time of
Barbour, the Scottish and English languages were almost the same; they
were now widely dissimilar, and the Scottish poets, by writing English
verse, required to translate their sentiments into a new tongue. Their
poetry thus became more the expression of the head than the utterance of
the heart. The national bards of this period, the Earl of Stirling, Sir
Robert Aytoun, and Drummond of Hawthornden, have, amidst much elegant
versification, left no impression on the popular mind. Other poets of
that and the succeeding age imitated Buchanan, by writing in Latin
verse. Though a considerable portion of our elder popular songs may be
fairly ascribed to the seventeenth century, the names of only a few of
the writers have been preserved. The more conspicuous song writers of
this century are Francis Semple, Lord Yester, Lady Grizzel Baillie, and
Lady Wardlaw.
The taste for national song was much on the wane, when it was restored
by the successful efforts of Allan Ramsay. He revived the elder ballads
in his "Evergreen," and introduced contemporary poets in his "Tea Table
Miscellany." The latter obtained a place on the tea table of every lady
of quality, and soon became eminently popular. Among the more
conspicuous promoters of Scottish song, about the middle of last
century, were Mrs Alison Cockburn, Miss Jane Elliot of Minto, Sir
Gilbert Elliot, Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik, Dr Austin, Dr Alexander
Geddes, Alexander Ross, James Tytler, and the Rev. Dr Blacklock. The
poet Robert Fergusson, though peculiarly fond of music, did not write
songs. Scottish song reached its climax on the appearance of Robert
Burns, whose genius burst forth meteor-like amidst circumstances the
most untoward. He so struck the chord of the Scottish lyre, that its
vibrations were felt in every bosom. The songs of Caledonia, under the
influence of his matchless power, became celebrated throughout the
world. He purified the elder minstrelsy, and by a few gentle, but
effective touches, completely renovated its fading aspects. "He could
glide like dew," writes Allan Cunningham, "into the fading bloom of
departing song, and refresh it into beauty and fragrance." Contemporary
with Burns, being only seven years his junior, though upwards of half a
century later in becoming known, Carolina Oliphant, afterwards Baroness
Nairn, proved a noble coadjutor and successor to the rustic bard in
renovating the national minstrelsy. Possessing a fine musical ear, she
adapted her lyrics with singular success to the precise sentiments of
the older airs, and in this happy manner was enabled rapidly to
supersede many ribald and vulgar ditties, which, associated with
stirring and inspiring music, had long maintained a noxious popularity
among the peasantry. Of Burns' immediate contemporaries, the more
conspicuous were, John Skinner, Hector Macneill, John Mayne, and Richard
Gall. Grave as a pastor, Skinner revelled in drollery as a versifier;
Macneill loved sweetness and simplicity; Mayne, with a perception of the
ludicrous, was plaintive and sentimental; Gall was patriotic and
graceful.
Sir Walter Scott, the great poet of the past half century, if his
literary qualifications had not been so varied, had obtained renown as a
writer of Scottish songs; he was thoroughly imbued with the martial
spirit of the old times, and keenly alive to those touches of nature
which give point and force to the productions of the national lyre.
Joanna Baillie sung effectively the joys of rustic social life, and
gained admission to the cottage hearth. Lady Anne Barnard aroused the
nation to admiration by one plaintive lay. Allan Cunningham wrote the
Scottish ballad in the peculiar rhythm and with the power of the older
minstrels. Alike in mirth and tenderness, Sir Alexander Boswell was
exquisitely happy. Tannahill gave forth strains of bewitching sweetness;
Hogg, whose ballads abound with supernatural imagery, evinced in song
the utmost pastoral simplicity; Motherwell was a master of the
plaintive; Robert Nicoll rejoiced in rural loves. Among living
song-writers, Charles Mackay holds the first place in general
estimation--his songs glow with patriotic sentiment, and are redolent in
beauties; in pastoral scenes, Henry Scott Riddell is without a
competitor; James Ballantine and Francis Bennoch have wedded to
heart-stirring strains those maxims which conduce to virtue. The
Scottish Harp vibrates to sentiments of chivalric nationality in the
hands of Alexander Maclagan, Andrew Park, Robert White, and William
Sinclair. Eminent lyrical simplicity is depicted in the strains of
Alexander Laing, James Home, Archibald Mackay, John Crawford, and Thomas
C. Latto. The best ballad writers introduced in the present work are
Robert Chambers, John S. Blackie, William Stirling, M.P., Mrs Ogilvy,
and James Dodds.[2] Amply sustained is the national reputation in female
lyric poets, by the compositions of Mrs Simpson, Marion Paul Aird,
Isabella Craig, and Margaret Crawford. The national sports are
celebrated with stirring effect by Thomas T. Stoddart, William A.
Foster, and John Finlay. Sacred poetry is admirably represented by such
lyrical writers as Horatius Bonar, D.D., and James D. Burns. Many
thrilling verses, suitable for music, though not strictly claiming the
character of lyrics, have been produced by Thomas Aird, so distinguished
in the higher walks of Poetry, Henry Glassford Bell, James Hedderwick,
Andrew J. Symington, and James Macfarlan.
Of the collections of the elder Scottish Minstrelsy, the best catalogue
is supplied by Mr David Laing in the latest edition of Johnson's Musical
Museum. Of the modern collections we would honourably mention, "The Harp
of Caledonia," edited by John Struthers (3 vols. 12mo); "The Songs of
Scotland, Ancient and Modern" (4 vols. 8vo), edited by Allan Cunningham;
"The Scottish Songs" (2 vols. 12mo), edited by Robert Chambers; and,
"The Book of Scottish Song," edited by Alexander Whitelaw. Most of these
works contain original songs, but the amplest collections of these are
M'Leod's "Original National Melodies," and the several small volumes of
"Whistle Binkie."[3] The more esteemed modern collections with music are
"The Scottish Minstrel," edited by R. A. Smith[4] (6 vols. 8vo); "The
Songs of Scotland, adapted to their appropriate Melodies arranged with
Pianoforte Accompaniments," edited by G. F. Graham, Edinburgh: 1848 (3
vols. royal 8vo); "The Select Songs of Scotland, with Melodies, &c."
Glasgow: W. Hamilton, 1855 (1 vol. 4to); "The Lyric Gems of Scotland, a
Collection of Scottish Songs, Original and Selected, with Music,"
Glasgow: 1856 (12mo). Of district collections of Minstrelsy, "The Harp
of Renfrewshire," published in 1820, under the editorship of Motherwell,
and "The Contemporaries of Burns," containing interesting biographical
sketches and specimens of the Ayrshire bards, claim special
commendation.
The present collection proceeds on the plan not hitherto attempted in
this country, of presenting memoirs of the song writers in connexion
with their compositions, thus making the reader acquainted with the
condition of every writer, and with the circumstances in which his
minstrelsy was given forth. In this manner, too, many popular songs, of
which the origin was generally unknown, have been permanently connected
with the names of their authors. In the preparation of the work,
especially in procuring materials for the memoirs and biographical
notices, the editor has been much occupied during a period of four
years. The translations from the Gaelic Minstrelsy have been supplied,
with scarcely an exception, by a gentleman, a native of the Highlands,
who is well qualified to excel in various departments of literature.