The Book of Scottish Song/Preface
PREFACE.
This work was undertaken with the object of laying before the public, in a single volume, and at a moderate price, a comprehensive collection of the Songs of Scotland, ancient and modern, accompanied with such particulars regarding their history, age, or authorship, as could be gathered from the literary records of the country, or might be elicited from personal inquiry and research among the lovers of song. It may excite surprise to know, but nevertheless it is undeniable, that no publication of the kind here aimed at, whether as regards extent of design in text and commentary, or adaptation in size and price for general circulation, has hitherto been attempted, amid the multifarious song-collections that have issued from the press. Ritson, near the close of the last century, was the first, as an editor of Scottish song, who endeavoured to ascertain the age and authorship of the pieces in his work,[1] and his example has been followed by one or two other editors; but the compilations adverted to are at once limited in their range, and removed by their cost beyond the reach of ordinary purchasers. Ritson's collection did not, in all, amount to more than one hundred and eighty songs, and the collections of succeeding editors, though in some instances extending to several volumes, do not in any case contain one half of the number of songs given in the present publication.
The great majority of song books, whether of elegant or humble exterior, display, as every body must be aware, a total want of any thing like historical or biographical information: even the names of the authors are in most instances dispensed with; and, altogether, the songs are in general collected and distributed with the disdainful indifference that might be supposed to accompany the handling of a pitchfork. One consequence of this is, that, puting aside those of modern date, a wide-spread ignorance prevails regarding the history of most of our lyrics; and on no literary points of inquiry, we venture to say, is more darkness to be found, even among the well-informed and intelligent classes, than on those connected with the songs of bygone generations. All that people, in most cases, can say of any one of them is, that it is an 'old' song, because they know it was a favourite with their grandmother, or because they may happen to have it in some old collection; but as to its precise antiquity, or any other point of its history, they are wholly unacquainted. It has been one leading object of the present work to fix, as far as possible, the date and authorship of all the lyrics quoted, so that the reader may be put in possession of what is positively known regarding the ancient as well as modern Songs of Scotland. By stating where a song first appeared, or in what publication it was first printed, some definite notion is obtained as to its age; and even in those cases where its original appearance cannot be traced, the reader has at least the comfort of being assured, that he knows all that is to be known on the subject.
The difficulties encountered in following up the ambitious design of this work, of giving at once a complete and unobjectionable collection of Scottish Song, accompanied with illustrative notices, could not be readily comprehended by any but those who are in some measure familiar with the wide field of research—(rugged, dark, and dangerous in many places, though studded by numberless spots of delicious verdure)—over which it was necessary to wander; and it would be idle here, if not ungracious, to insist on the subject. Whatever, at all events, might be the difficulties encountered in accomplishing a work, which, though small in bulk, is more comprehensive in its scope and complete in its aim than any of a similar character hitherto attempted, the Editor is desirous of acknowledging that these difficulties were met under the most favourable auspices. From the first he has been encouraged in his labours by the interest which many of his countrymen have manifested in the work, attaching to it the importance of a national repository, and by the liberality with which the most successful song-writers of the day have permitted him to quote their verses. In the number of those who have honoured him with their correspondence, he has, besides, been fortunate. To Captain Charles Gray, R.M., in particular, he has been largely indebted for many valuable communications on the subject of Scottish song—a subject on which the Captain's enthusiasm and information go hand in hand—as well as for pointing out and furnishing a number of useful authorities. He has also to express his obligations to Alexander Laing, Esq., David Vedder, Esq., Patrick Maxwell, Esq., Thomas C. Latto, Esq., Robert White, Esq., Dr. Andrew Crawford, and various other correspondents in a lesser degree, for serviceable information in the course of his labours.
The Book of Scottish Song contains, in all, somewhere about twelve hundred and seventy songs; and it is presumed that every standard lyric in the language—every song of established reputation—is included within its pages. Some omissions may possibly have been made; but the Editor trusts that they are of a very unimportant character.[2] A large number of the songs in the collection are taken from hitherto unexplored sources, and may be considered (to use Coleridge's phrase) 'as good as manuscript.' Another portion, though not so large, are bona fide 'originals,' that is to say, they have the claim to originality at least, in having been here first printed. Of this portion, about one hundred and thirty in all, many, it is confidently trusted, will be admitted even by the most fastidious, to possess very superior merit, while the whole, though forming but a subordinate feature of the work, will be found, it is hoped, to add no inconsiderable or unworthy heap to the lofty and ever-accumulating cairn of Scottish song.
In this preliminary notice, it was originally intended to have entered somewhat at large into the history of the lyric poetry of the country; but the demands upon the space of the work, as it drew to a close, for the insertion of standard songs that could not be omitted, have left only a few pages for a Preface, and have forced the Indexes into the smallest type. An extended dissertation on Scottish Song is. however, in this place the less necessary, as already a vast amount of information on the subject, and almost all that is valuable in the way of anecdote, is scattered over the volume in the shape of commentary to individual songs. A brief chronological summary of the leading authorities in Scottish song may therefore here be sufficient to guide the reader in his researches.
A love of music and song can be traced in the earliest literature of Scotland, in the works of James I., Dunbar, and Gawin Douglas; and the songs of these days seem to have been characterized by a gay and jovial spirit, little in accordance with the alleged austerity of the national character. In 'Peebles to the Play,' (ascribed to James I., 1424-37), two songs are mentioned as being then in popular use:—'There fure ane man to the holt,' (There went a man to the wood), and 'There shall be mirth at our meeting yet.' These songs, which are both lost, may be called the first of which we have any notice, with the exception of a rhyme mentioned by Andrew Wynton, made on the death of Alexander III., (1286), and two or three taunting doggrels made by the Scots on the English, especially one on the siege of Berwick, (1296), and one on the victory of Bannockburn, (1314), none of which can properly be considered in the light of song, according to our modern meaning. About the same time as the reign of James I., or a little later, a humorous poem was composed, called 'Cockelby's Sow,' (preserved in the Bannatyne MS.) which refers to a number of songs and tunes then in popular use,—such as 'Joly Lemmane,' 'Tras and Trenass,' 'The Bass,' 'Trolly Lolly,' 'Cok craw thou qll day,' 'Twysbank,' 'Terway,' 'Be yon wodsyd,' 'Lait, lait in evinnynis,' 'Joly Martene with a mok,' 'Rusty Bully with a bek,' &c. Of all these the words are lost, and if the tunes exist, they do so, with one or two exceptions, under different titles. The next intimation of song which occurs in our literature is in Gawin Douglas's prologues to his translation of Virgil, written about 1512,[3] wherein four different songs are adverted to, viz. 'The ship sails ower the saut faem,' 'I will be blithe and licht,' 'I come hither to woo,' and 'The joly day now dawis.' All these are lost, unless a fragment preserved in the Fairfax MS., beginning,
'This day day dawes, this gentil day dawes, and I must home gone,'
belong to the latter. 'The day dawes' was long a popular tune in Scotland. In 1549 was printed at St. Andrews a curious work entitled 'Vedderburn's Complainte of Scotlande,' in which are preserved the titles of no less than thirty-seven songs. We are tempted to quote these, although pressed for room; for a melancholy interest, we consider, attaches itself to even the titles of lays that charmed or cheered our ancestors three hundred years ago.—'Pastance vitht gude companye,' 'The breir byndes me soir,' 'Still vnder the leyuis grene,' 'Cou thou me the raschis grene,' 'Allace I vyit zour tua fayr ene' 'Code zou gude day vil boy,' 'Lady help zour prisoneir,' 'King Vilzamis note,' 'The lang noune nou,' 'The cheapel valk,' 'Faytht is there none,' 'Skald a bellis nou,' 'The Aberdenis nou,' 'Brume, brume on hil,' 'Allone I veip in grit distress,' 'Trolee, lolee lemendou,' 'Bill vill thou cum by a lute and belt thee in Sanct Francis cord,' 'The frog cam to the myl dur,' 'The sang of Gilquiskar,' 'Rycht soirly musing in my mynd,' 'God sen the Duke had bidden in France, and Delabaute had nevyr cum hame,' 'Al musing of meruellis a mys hef I gone,' 'Maestress fayr ze vil forfoyr,' 'O lusty May vitht Flora quene,' 'O myne harte hay this is my sang,' 'The battel of the Hayrlaw,' 'The huntis of Cheuet,' 'Sal I go vitht you to Rumbelo fayr,' 'Greuit is my sorrow,' 'Turne the sweit Ville to me,' 'My lufe is lyand seik, send him joy, send him joy,' 'Fair luf lend thou me thy mantil joy,' 'The Persee and the Mongumrye met, that day, that gentil day,' 'My luf is layd upone ane knycht,' 'Allace that samyn sweit face,' 'In ane mirthful morou,' 'My hart is leinit on the land.'—Of these songs, all are lost, with the exception of 'Still under the leaves green,' 'Cull to me the rushes green,' 'O lusty May with Flora queen,' 'Greived is my sorrow,' and the three historical ballads, 'The battle of Harlaw,' 'The Hunts of Cheviot,' and 'The Percy and the Montgomery.' Some of them, however, are found parodied in 'A Compendious Book of Godly and Spiritual Songs, collected out of sundrie parts of the Scripture, with sundrie of other ballats, chainged out of profane Songs, for avoiding of Sinne and Harlotrie,' printed in 1590 and 1621. (See Note to 'John come kiss me now,' p. 578.)
The earliest song book published in Scotland was a musical collection, entitled, 'Cantus, Songs, and Fancies to several Musical Parts, both apt for Voices and Viols,' &c., printed by John Forbes, Aberdeen: first edition, 1662; other editions, 1666 and 1682. This collection, however, does not contain, properly speaking, a single Scottish song or Scottish melody, for it was not till nearly half a century later that the national music became fashionable. Some of the songs are taken from the 'Compendious Book of Godly and Spiritual Songs,' mentioned above, and other words are quoted from the old Scottish poets of the previous century: the music is chiefly English, and apparently adapted for church service.
About the close of the seventeenth century, a taste for Scottish music became prevalent among the upper classes of society, and Scottish airs were introduced at all places of public amusement in London and elsewhere. Thomas D'Urfey, an obscene humorist of this period, wrote several imitations of Scottish song, all of which are to be found in his 'Pills to Purge Melancholy,' collected in six vols., 1719; and his example was followed by other London poetasters. These 'Anglo- Scottish' productions (as Burns calls them) are generally of the most execrable character; but we have been obliged to give in the present collection two or three of the best, as they at one time held an established place among our Scottish songs. (See Notes to 'Jockey met wi' Jenny,' p. 145, 'Diel tak' the wars,' p. 177, 'As Jamie Gay gang'd blythe his way,' 176, 'My Jeanie and I,' 317, 'Glancing of her Apron,' 522, 'Sweet Annie,' 550, &c.) A single verse of one of Tom D'Urfey's 'Scotch Songs' may be given here as a specimen of the whole. It is the original of 'Within a mile of Edinburgh town.'
'Twas within a furlong of Edinborough town,
In the rosie time of the year when the grass was down:
Bonnie Jockey, blythe and gay.
Said to Jenny making hay,
Let's sit a little, dear, and prattle,
'Tis a sultry day:
He long had courted the black-brow'd maid,
But Jockey was a wag and would ne'er consent to wed;
Which made her pshaw and phoo, and cry out it will not do,
I cannot, cannot, cannot, wonnot, monnot buckle too.
'He told her marriage was grown a meer joke.
And that no one wedded now but the scoundrel folk,
&c., &c.
In 1724 appeared the first volume of Ramsay's 'Tea Table Miscellany'—a work which may be said to form the foundation of all other collections of Scottish song. A second and a third volume were issued by the year 1727, and a fourth some time after the year 1733. The extreme rarity of the early editions prevents us from stating their exact dates. The copy in our possession is said to be 'the twelfth edition,' and is printed at London in 1763; but we understand there are other two 'twelfth editions,' one printed at Glasgow in 1753, and one at Edinburgh in 1760. The 'Tea Table Miscellany' is valuable as being the repository in which many of our best and most popular old songs, which had been floating on the memory of generations, or at best but enjoying the doubtful security of a ballad broadside, were first preserved:—it is also valuable as containing a number of songs by Ramsay himself, and by Ramsay's contributors, the most distinguished of whom were Robert Crawfurd and Hamilton of Bangour. Beyond this, its merits do not go; for Ramsay unfortunately had little reverence for antiquarian lore; numerous old ditties he altered and remodelled according to his own discretion, without apparently the slightest remorse, or without apprizing the reader of the extent of the alterations; and throughout the whole four volumes he does not give a single note or commentary, or even an author's name! All that we have to guide us in the work is the following notification affixed to the Index: 'The songs marked C, D, H, L, M, O, &c. are new words by different hands; X, the authors unknown; Z, old songs; Q, old songs with additions.' This note, meagre though it be, is yet of eminent service; and the reader will see, in glancing over the present compilation, of what use it has been in pointing out the songs that were considered old in Ramsay's day, in specifying those that had undergone alterations from his own pen, and in enabling us to guess at the productions of his contributors. If it is to be lamented that Ramsay did not favour us with any traditional information (which must have been rife in his day,) regarding the many old songs which he has preserved, let it never be forgotten how much the Iyrical literature of the country owes to him,—first, for collecting and introducing to the upper circles of society (for his Miscellany, as its title imports, aimed at the patronage of those who indulged in the then aristocratic beverage of tea,) many admirable rustic effusions that otherwise might have remained unnoted or altogether perished, and above all, for his own contributions to the stock of Scottish song. These latter unquestionably 'led the way' to many of the triumphs that have since been achieved in modern song-writing, and, after more than a century's trial, they still hold a foremost rank in the dazzling and crowded scroll of the lyrical muse of Scotland. As a song-writer, indeed, the author of 'The Gentle Shepherd' is not surpassed for honest warmth and heartiness of feeling and expression, while in the modulation of his rhythm and style of versification, he has, we consider, no equal among all his successors. In exquisite delicacy of ear, Ramsay appears to us to be among Scottish poets what Milton is among English poets on the same point—unrivalled.
The number of editions through which the 'Tea Table Miscellany' ran, not in Scotland only but in England, proves that Scottish song enjoyed, during the early half of last century, a wide-spread popularity. In confirmation of this, and illustrative also of the fashionable favour in which our native lyrics were held, William Thomson, a teacher of music in London, brought out in 1725, a collection of Scottish songs set to music, which he called 'Orpheus Caledonius,' and dedicated to the Princess of Wales, afterwards consort of George II. In 1733 he published two other volumes, with the same title, the first dedicated 'To the Queen,' and the second 'To her Grace the Duchess of Hamilton.' Most of the songs in the 'Orpheus Caledonius' are taken from the 'Tea Table Miscellany,' without acknowledgment; and honest Allan thus good-temperedly adverts to the circumstance in the preface to the 'twelfth edition:' 'From this and the following volume, Mr Thomson (who is allowed by all to be a good teacher and singer of Scots songs,) culled his Orpheus Caledonius, the musick for both the voice and flute, and the words of the songs finely engraven in a folio book, for the use of persons of the highest quality in Britain, and dedicated to the late Queen. This, by the bye, I thought proper to intimate, and do myself that justice which the publisher neglected; since he ought to have acquainted his illustrious list of subscribers that the most of the songs were mine, the musick abstracted.'
After the 'Tea Table Miscellany,' the most important collection was David Herd's 'Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, &c.' originally published in 1769, in one volume, and afterwards in 1776, enlarged to two volumes. This collection the reader will find repeatedly referred to in the course of the present work, as the place where many of our very best old Scottish songs first appeared in print. Herd was at once a most successful and most faithful collector.[4] 'The rough, the polished,' says Allan Cunningham, 'the rude, the courtly, the pure, the gross, the imperfect, and the complete, were all welcome to honest and indiscriminating David—he loved them all, and he published them all. He seemed to have an art of his own in finding curious old songs: he was not a poet, and could not create them; he was no wizard, and could not evoke them from the dust; yet he had the good fortune to find them, and the courage to publish them mthout mitigation or abatement. Whatever contained a vivid picture of old manners, whatever presented a lively image of other days, and whatever atoned for its freedom by its humour, or for its indelicacy by its well-flavoured wit, was dear to the good old Scotchman.'
Early in the year 1787, the first volume of Johnson's 'Scots Musical Museum' was published. This work was undertaken by James Johnson, Engraver and Musicseller in Edinburgh.[5] at the suggestion of William Tytler of Woodhouselee and Dr. Blacklock, and its professed object was 'to unite the songs and music of Scotland in one general collection.' It was intended to extend to two volumes only;[6] but before the first volume was completed, Johnson got acquainted with Robert Burns, who was then in the zenith of his popularity in Edinburgh—and from that hour, the 'Scots Musical Museum,' which in all probability would have gone down to the dust, expanded its wings, and became immortal. Every reader is familiar with the history of Burns's life, and knows with what enthusiasm he entered into the spirit of Johnson's undertaking, and afterwards of Mr. George Thomson's—the latter a work more ambitious in its character, and much more select and elegant in its design and execution. The services which he rendered to the lyric poetry of his country, by restoring and animating with life and vigour many a half-forgotten lay of the olden time, are incalculable; while his own contributions to that much-loved department of literature—inimitable as they are for their truth of feeling, simplicity and grace of expression, passionate tenderness, exquisite pathos, and felicitous humour—for ever constitute him the 'High Chief of Scottish Song.' No single sentence (and to such we are now limited,) can express the obligations which the lyric literature of Scotland owes to Robert Burns; but with the present volume in his hand, the reader may partly guess at these; and here may be appropriately inscribed, as applicable to the poet, the words of Sir Christopher Wren's epitaph in St. Paul's cathedral—'Si monumentum requiras, circumspice'—'If you seek for his monument, look around.'
Of the Collections of the present century, we can but barely allude to the more important. In 1816 was printed at the University Press of Glasgow, in 2 vols., 'The Pocket Encyclopedia of Songs'—a rather valuable collection, and now extremely scarce. In 1819, was published at Paisley, 'The Harp of Renfrewshire,' a work containing a large number of 'original' songs, and preceded by an 'Essay on the Poets of Renfrewshire,' from the pen of William Motherwell, then a very young man. In 1821, Mr. John Struthers brought out at Glasgow, his 'Harp of Caledonia,' a very comprehensive collection in 3 vols., accompanied by an able 'Essay on Scottish Songwriters.' In 1825 appeared at London, in 4 vols., 'The Songs of Scotland,' by Allan Cunningham, and in 1835, in 2 vols., 'The Songs of England and Scotland,' by Peter Cunningham, the latter work, though limited in its scope, a more faithful guide than the former. In 1829 Mr. Robert Chambers brought out at Edinburgh in 2 vols. his 'Scottish Songs,' a collection of great value, preceded by an 'Historical Essay on Scottish Song,' written in the editor's usual clear and discriminating manner. To this list may be added two musical collections: R. A. Smith's 'Scottish Minstrel,' Edinburgh, 1820, &c., 6 vols., and Mr. Peter Macleod's 'National Melodies,' Edinburgh, 1838. From all these works, the present publication has derived more or less benefit; and it now humbly claims a place by their side, in the hope of being in its turn of service to future collectors.
- ↑ 'Scottish Songs: In Two Volumes, London MDCCXCIV.' Misprint in title page of first volume, 'MDCCXIV!' It is amusing to contemplate what effect this blunder, when discovered, would have upon a man of Ritson's excessive love of accuracy, punctilious adherence to literal facts, and infirmity of temper.
- ↑ The Index of First Lines, which is constructed on the strictest alphabetical arrangement, and given at the end of the volume, will be the reader's best guide for finding out any particular song. In cases where the first line is not known or remembered, the Index of Authors may be of service. An Index of Titles was at one time contemplated, but the impracticability of arranging these in a satisfactory manner caused it to be abandoned as a table of reference all but useless. In consulting the Index of First Lines, great accuracy is of course necessary on the part of the consulter as to the opening word, otherwise he may be disappointed in his search, and hastily conclude that the song he wants is not in the book, while it actually is. The omission or addition of the exclamation 'O' at the beginning of a song may, for example, lead him wrong. When he is not sure in cases of this kind, he had better try the line with and without the 'O.'
- ↑ Mr. Dauney, in his valuable Introduction to 'Ancient Scottish Melodies, from a MS. of the reign of king James VI.,' p. 47, gives some fragments of song found in the Minute Book of Burgh Sasines of Aberdeen, 1503-07. Mr. Dauney's publication proves beyond all question the antiquity of a number of our finest Scottish airs.
- ↑ David Herd was a native of St. Cyrus in Kincardineshire, but spent most of his life as clerk in an accountant's office in Edinburgh. He died in 1810, at the age of seventy-eight. 'He was known,' says Sir "Walter Scott, 'and generally esteemed for his shrewd, manly common sense and antiquarian science, mixed with much good nature and great modesty. His hardy and antique mould of countenance, and his venerable grizzled locks, procured him, amongst his acquaintance, the name of Greysteil.'
- ↑ Johnson died at Edinburgh in February, 1811, in indigent circumstances. He is said to have been the first who engraved music on pewter, by which a great saving was effected. The 'Museum' is engraved on pewter plates.
- ↑ Johnson's 'Museum' eventually ran the length of six volumes. The second was published in 1788, the third in 1790, the fourth in 1792, the fifth in 1797, (a year after the poet's death, but he had contributed largely to its contents before that event) and the sixth in 1803. A new edition of the 'Museum' was brought out in 1839, with Notes by the late William Stenhouse, and additional Illustrations by Mr. David Laing of Edinburgh. To these Notes and Illustrations we have been much indebted for information in the course of this work.