Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns

xviii INTRODUCTION.
generally with at the least some brightening touch from his
masterly hand. It remained only to be regretted, that a consider-
able number of songs unfit for decorous society was permitted to
mingle with the general mass. A new edition of this work was
published by Messrs Blackwood in 1838, with an ample supple-
ment of prose notes by the late Mr William Stenhouse and Mr
David Laing — the former a type of all that is faithless and
inaccurate in editorship, the latter precisely the reverse. It is
on the whole a valuable book, and one not to be dispensed with
by any one who desires a minute acquaintance with the subject.
The present Volume is intended to embody the whole of the
Pre-Burnsian songs of Scotland that possess merit and are pre-
sentable, along with the music ; each accompanied by its own
history, as far as that can be ascertained. It is meant as
historical in its general scope and arrangement, and may be
sufficient, perhaps, to satisfy all ordinary inquirers into the
subject, as a department of the national literature. It is also
hoped that the collection may be serviceable amongst those who
have not consented to the entire banishment of our national airs
from the drawing-room.