Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Scottish songs > Volume 1

otf sco'TiS'tf Song. i XXX v
he fays, " fome of ovir Scottifh melodies may be
traced ; fuch as Gil Mortice — The? e cam a gho t to
Market's door — O laddie, / man loo' the— Hap me
iuP thy pettycoat — I mean," adds he, " the old
fets of thefe airs, as the laft air, which i take to be
one of our oldeft fongs, isfo modernized as fcarce
to have a trace of its ancient fimplicity. The
fimple original air is ftill fung by rturfes in the
country, as a lullaby to ftill their babes to fleep."
The two laft of thefe melodies, of which Mr.
Tytler obferves, the artlefs fimpLcity of both
words and mufic bears teftimony of their origi-
nality and antiquity, are here inferted as proofs
of the doclrine he has advanced, from copies
obligingly communicated by himfelf.
She. .S
loo na me.
iiiiSi
lad - ie, I man loo thee.
Wirh r-fpeiT: to the melodies felecled by Mr. Tytler,
in ftipporc of his hypothefis, their antiquity is l"o very far
trom being " undoubted," that it feems altogether imaginary
and chimerical. We by no means deny that the Scots either
had or have ancient tunes or fongs; we only (to adopt the
words of bifliop SriUingfltet) " deft re to be better acquaint
'* ith them."
Vol. I. h