48 ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. 



JAMES II. founded the univerfity of Glafgow, 

 and exceeded his father, ifpoflible, in encouraging 



fumptuary 



To the wandering harpers we are certainly indebted for that 

 fpecies of mulic, which is now fcarcely known j I mean the port. 

 Almoft every great family had a port that went by the name of the 

 family. Of the few that are itill preferred are, port Lennox, port 

 Gordon, port Seton, %\\&]}ortAthok, which are all of them excellent in 

 their kind. The port is not of the martial ftrain of the march, as 

 iome have conjectured ; thole above-named being all in the plain- 

 tive iirain, and modulated for the harp. 



The pibracb, the march or battle tune of the Highland clans, 

 v/ith the different ftrains introduced of the coronich, &c. is fitted 

 tor the bagpipe only : its meafure, in the pas grave of the High- 

 land piper, equipped with his flag and military enfigns, when 

 inarching up to batrie, is ftately and animating, riling often to a 

 degree of fury. 



To clafs the old Scottilh fongs, according to the feveral aera* 

 in which we may fuppofe them to have been made, is an attempt 

 which can arile to conjecture only, except as to fuch of them as 

 carry more certain marks, to be afterwards taken notice of.** 



Mr. Tytler proceeds to flate the gradations of the Scottifh 

 mufic, and particularly the molt diitinguilhed longs, which fall in 

 with the following periods of time, viz. 



i . The longs prior to the reign of James I. 



2. from that aera to the beginning of James IV. 



3. . from James IV. to the end of the reign of queen 



f rO rn queen Mary to the restoration j and, 



5. from the reftoration to the union. 



li It were endlefs, fays he, to run through the many fine airs 

 expreilive of lentiment, and pailion, in the number of our Scottifh 

 fongs, which, when lung in the genuine natural manner, mnft affect 

 the heart of every perfon of feeling, whofe tafte is not vitiated and 

 ieduced by fajbzon and novelty* 



As the Scottilh fongs are the flights of genim, devoid of art, 

 they bid defiance to artificial graces and affected cadences. A-Scots 

 long can only be lung in tafte by a Scottilh voice. To a fweet, 

 liquid, flowing voice, capable of fwelling a note from the lofteft to 

 the fulleft tone, and what the Italians call a vocc di peito, muft be 

 ynacdfoy&ittty and feeling, and a perfect underflanding of the lub- 

 ject, and words of the fong, fo as to know the jjgnificant word on 

 which \.o fuecll QT foftcn the tone, and lay the force of the note. 

 Frorh a want of knowledge of the language, it generally happens, 

 that, to moft of the foreign mafters, our melodies, at firft, mult 

 ieem wild and uncouth; for which reafon, in their performance, 

 they generally fall Ihortofour expectation. We fometimes, how- 

 ever, find a foreign mailer, who, with a genius for the pathetic, 



said 



