Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Illustrated book of Scottish songs from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century

INTRODUCTION. »
seven of these compositions. " Now I will rehearse," says he,
" some of the sweet songs that I heard among them." Among
others, he mentions, " Pastime with gude company," a song the
composition of King Henry VIII. ; " Still under the levis grene,"
and " Coll thou me the rashis grene," two songs acknowledged
by later Scottish writers to be English; "King William's note,"
— supposed to be the song sung by Nicholas in Chaucer's
"Millers Tale:"
" And after that he sang the King's note.
Full ofteft bless'd was his mery throat."
" Trolly, lolly," of the English origin of which there needs no
other proof than the title; " The frog came to the mill-door,"
better known to English readers at the present time under the
title of " The frog he would a-wooing go ;" " The Percy and
the Montgomery met," or the English ballad of" Otterbourne,"
printed in " Percy's Eeliques," and six songs entitled, " Alone I
weep in great distress," " Right sorely musing in my mind,"
" mine heart, this is my song," " Grievous is my sorrow,"
" Alas, that seeming sweet face," and " In one mirthful mor-
row." These songs have been lost; but their music has been
fortunately preserved in the work of Andro Hart, printed in
Aberdeen about the commencement of the seventeenth cen-
tury, and called, " Ane Compendious Book of Godly and Spiritual
Songs, collectit out of sundrie parts of the Scripture, with sundrie
of other Ballats, chainged out of Profaine Songs, for the avoiding
of Sinne and Harlotrie." In this work the tunes appear under
their old titles, as given above, but with the " godly words" of
the strange religious parodies which were made upon them.
These six tunes, as well as all the other melodies in Hart's
book, are acknowledged by all investigators to be English,
and to have none of the marks by which songs in the Scot-
tish manner are now distinguished.