Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

INTRODUCTION
In the introduction to a small work which assumes the
flattering title of "The Book of Scottish Song," I find
the following sentences : — " Nearly all the beautiful music,
and delicious snatches of song, commonly considered to
be Scottish, belong to that section of Scotland known as
the Lowlands, and a country in which the people speak
one of the many 'Doric' dialects of the Saxon English
language." . . . "If a line be drawn from Greenock on
the Clyde north-east by Perth to Inverness, it will be
found that by far the greater portion of the songs and
melodies which are known as Scotch, to Scotchmen and
to the w^orld, and of which Scotchmen speak and write
with the highest pride and enthusiasm, have been
produced to the south and east of it."
"North-west of that line is the land of the Gael — of the
semi-barbarous and imperfect instrument the bagpipe, of
wild pibroch tunes, of rude melodies, very little known
and still less admired, and of a species of song which has
rarely been considered worth the trouble of translation.
But on the louth-east of the line, and all the way to the
English Border, where the Saxon tongue prevails, and
where the minds of the people have for ages had access
to English literature, the land is vocal with sweet
sounds." .... "The Highlander who has no right or title
to this music or song, is as proud of both as the