46 ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. 



the old language fignifies the King s Book. i. A 

 ballad or poem, called Cbrift Kirk on the Green* 



and 



The fceevifli tloubt entertained by fome; of their authenticity, ap* 

 pears to be the utmoll refinement of fcepticiiin. As genuine re- 

 mains of Celtic poetry, the poems of Otfian will continue to be 

 admired as long as there fhall remain" a tafte for the fublimc and 

 beautiful. 



The Scottifh Mt/fe does no fefs honour to the genius of the 

 country. The old Scottifh longs have always been admired for 

 the wild, pathetic fweetnefs, which cliilinguiflies them from the 

 mulic of every other country. I mean, in this eflay, to try to fix 

 the aera of our moil: antient melodies, and to trace the hiitory of 

 our mufic down to modern times. In a path fo untrodden, where 

 icarce a track is to be leen to lead the way, the fureft guide I have 

 to follow is the mufic itfelf, and a few authorities which our old 

 hiftorians afford us. After all, the iitmofl I aim at is probability ; 

 and, perhaps, by ibrae hints, I may lead others to a more direct 

 road. 



The origin of mufic, in every country, is from the woods and 

 lawns. The fimplicity and wildnefs of feveral of our old ScottifH 

 melodies, denote. them to be the production of a pailoral age and 

 country, and prior to the ufe of any muiical inilrument beyond 

 that of a very limited fcale of a few natural notes<, and prior to the 

 knowledge of any rules of artificial mufic. This conjecture, if 

 folid, muft carry them up to a high period of antiquity. 



The moft antient of me Scottish longs, Hill preferred, are ex* 

 tremely fimple, and void of all art. They confift of one meafure 

 only, .and have 'no iecond part, as the later, or more modern airs 

 have. They muft, therefore, have been compofed for a very fim~ 

 pie inftnmient, fuch as the fhcpherd's reed or pipe, of few notes, 

 and of the plain diatonic fcale,. without uling the lemi-tones, of 

 lharps and flats. The diftingnifhing ftrain of our old melodies is 

 plaintive and melancholy ; and what makes them foothing and af- 

 fecting, to a great degree, is the conftant ufe of the concordant 

 tones, the third and fifth of the fcale, often ending upon the fifth, 

 and fome of them on the hxth of the fcale. By this artlefs ftandard 

 ibiue of our ok! Scottilh melodies may be traced : fuch as Gil 

 Morice There cam a ghcft to Market's door*-O laddie^ I man 

 loo* tbcc, Hap me ivi'* thy pfttycoat. I mean the old lets Of 

 thefe airs, as the lait air, which I take to be one of our olcleft 

 longs, is fo modernized as icarce to have a trace of its antient fim- 

 plicity. The fimple original air is Hill fang by nurfes in the 

 country, as a lullaby to ftill their babes to fleep. It may be faid, 

 that the words of fonie of theic fongs denote them to be of no very 

 antient date : But it is well known, that many of our old fongs 

 have changed their original names, by 'being adapted to more 

 words. Some old tunes have a fecondpartj but it is 



only 



