Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Jacobite minstrelsy

PREFACE. vii
the horrors of famine, and they themselves,
when they escaped the axe of the executioner,
driven into hopeless exile. Remembering
those accumulated ills, all their faults, and all
the vices of their cause, are lost in commiser-
ation of their fate; and to this feeling of
compassion for the wretched, must we ascribe
that general prepossession which still exists for
every thing connected with the Jacobite cause
and Jacobite times. Hence, also, the univer-
sally popular character of Jacobite Song.
Independent, however, of the hold which
these relics of the past thus have on the sym-
pathies and affections of Scotsmen ; and, be-
sides the charm which they possess as spirit-
ed, graphic, and touching specimens of the
muse, their practical use in illustrating many
events of the period to which they refer, stamps
them with an additional value, and renders them
of no little estimation in the eye of the histo-
rical reader. In fact, when arranged consecu-
tively, and with attention to chronological order,
these songs and fragments form a delightful
commentary on the memoirs of the time, and
may almost be said to constitute an epitome
of Jacobite history. Subservient in some
degree to this end, and with a view to make
them as useful as agreeable, have the pieces in
the present collection been selected and ar-
ranged, and, on reference to their titles, it
will be found that, taken in connection with
the notes, they present such a series of political
and personal details as may well serve the
purpose of more legitimate memoirs.
In this point of view, the Jacobite Min-
strelsy is chiefly of importance from the date