ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. 47 



and another poem called Peblis to the Play ; both 

 of them defcribing the humours and manners of 

 the peafantry in thofe rude ages. 



James 



only a repetition of the firtt part on the higher o&ave ; and thefe 

 additions are probably of more modern date than the tunes them- 

 ielves. 



King James I. is faid to have been a fine performer on the lute 

 and harp, with which he accompanied his own fongs. Playing 

 on thefe inttruments, mutt, by the prince's example, have be- 

 come tafliionable j and, of courie, a more regular and refined 

 modulation in the Scottifli longs mull have been introduced. The 

 limple ic:}le of the pipe, by the introduction of the ttringed inftru- 

 ments, became, in confequence, much enlarged, not only by a 

 greater extent of notes, but by the divifion of them into iemitones. 



The great rcra of poetry, as of mufic, in Scotland, I imagine; 

 to have been from the beginning of the reign of king James I. irt 

 1405, down to the end of king James V. in 1542. The old cathe- 

 drals and abbeys, thofe venerable monuments of Gothic grandeur, 

 with the choritters belonging to them, according to the fplendour 

 of their ritual church fervice, were ib many ichools or ieminaries 

 tor the cultivation of mufic. It mutt be owned, however, that 

 although the icience of harmonic mufic was cultivated by the church 

 compolers, yet, as the merit of the church muiic, at that time, 

 confifted in its harmony only, the fine flights and pathetic expref- 

 lion of our longs could borrow nothing from thence. 



This was likewile the sera of chivalry : The feudal fyttem was 

 then in its full vigour. The Scottilh nobility, poffcfTed of great 

 eitates, hereditary jurifdictions, and a numerous vaiTalage, main* 

 tained, in their remote catties, a ttate and fplendour little interior 

 to the court of their kings. Upon folemn occafions, tilts and tour- 

 naments were proclaimed, and fettivals held with all the Gothic 

 grandeur and magnificence of chivalry, which drew numbers of 

 knights and dames to thefe folemnities. 



James IV. and V. were both of them magnificent princes: 

 They kept fplendid courts, and were great promoters of thefe 

 heroic entertainments. In the family of every chief, or head of a 

 clan, the bard was a very conliderable pcrlbn : his office, upon 

 l/>L-mn fealls, was to ling or r^heade the fplendid actions of the 

 hciocs, anceitors of the family, which he accompanied with this 

 haip. At this time, too, there were itinerant or ttrolling min- 

 itrcl-', perrlrmers on the harp, who went about the country, from 

 houfe to houfc, upon folcnm occafions, reciting heroic ballads, 

 and other popular epifodes. To theie lylvan minilrels, as they 

 were called, 1 imagine we arc indebted for many fine old fong-\ 

 which aie more varied in their melody, and more regular in their 

 conipofition, as they approach nearer to modern times, though 

 ft ill retaining their * wood-notes wild. ' . . , 



T* 



