Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Popular music of the olden time > Volume 2

ANGLO-SCOTTISH SONGS. 615
The Scotch adhered to old notation a longer than the English, especially in writing
music on six lines. b x
I leave it to Scottish antiquaries to determine, whether corroborative evidence
of the date of the manuscripts may not be found among the titles of their own
airs. Mr. Dauney even passed over Lesleys Lilt without a suspicion that it de-
rived its name from the Scotch general in the civil wars. A march and another
air were certainly named after him before the Restoration.
It is curious to mark the difference between English and Scotch writers on the
music of their respective countries; Dr. Burney, like the fashionable English-
man, minutely chronicling the Italian operas of his day, and hesitating not to
misquote Hall, Hollinshed, and Hentzner, to get rid of the trouble of writing
about the music of England ; and the Scotch sturdily maintaining the credit of
Scotland— some being intent rather upon putting forth fresh claims than too
nicely scrutinizing those already advanced, if they tell in favour of their country.
It is time, however, that we should have one collection to consist exclu-
sively of Scottish music. Burns and George Thomson confess in their published
correspondence, to having taken any Irish airs that suited them, and even in
Wood's Songs of Scotland, the publisher's plan has been to include all the best
and most popular airs, and not to limit the selection to such as are strictly of
Scottish origin.
The separation of the English and Irish tunes from the Scotch in these
collections, was nominally attempted by Mr. Stenhouse in his notes upon airs in
Johnson's Scots Musical Museum. I say " nominally," for those notes are like
historical novels, — wherever facts do not chime in with the plan of the tale,
imagination supplies the deficiencies. Mr. Stenhouse's plan was threefold, —
firstly, to claim every good tune as Scotch, that had become popular in
Scotland ; secondly, to prove that every song of doubtful or disputed parentage
came to England from Scotland " at the union of the two crowns ; " and,
thirdly, to supply antiquity to such Scotch airs as required it. All this he
accomplished in a way quite peculiar to himself. Invention supplied authors and
dates, and fancy inscribed the tunes in sundry old manuscripts, where the chances
were greatly against any one's searching to find them. If the search should be
made, would it not be made by Scotchmen ? Englishmen care only for foreign
music, and do not trouble themselves about the matter; and will Scotchmen
expose what has been done from such patriotic motives ? Upon no other ground
than this imaginary impunity, can I account for the boldness of Mr. Stenhouse's
inventions.
Unfortunately for his fame, two of his own countrymen did not think all this
ingenuity necessary for the reputation of Scottish music. Mr. David Laing,
therefore, made a tolerably clear sweep of his dates, and Mr. George Farquhar
3 I believe it was the retention of the old form of the oldest writing, and differing from any other, in themanu-
letter " d " in the musical notation that deceived an acute scripts.
Scotch antiquaryand excellent judgeof the age of literary b Witness Mrs. Agnes Hume's book, dated 1704. ^
manuscripts. In a portion of the tablature it. has a stroke c I do not mean the tune which Oswald prints in the
through the top (like the Anglo-Saxon letter which cor- second volume of his Caledonian Pocket Companion under
responds with our th), and this is also found in the title the name of Lasly's March, but the Lesleyes March in
of "Lady, wilt thou love me?" which appears to be the Playfotd's Musick's Recreation on the Lyra Viol, 1056,