Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed text > Ancient Scotish melodies from a manuscript of the reign of King James VI

40 PRELIMINARY DISSERTATION.
they were performed and occasionally accompanied. To both of these
subjects we shall now direct the attention of our readers, though not
to a greater extent than we feel to be indispensable in the illustration of
the particular topic which we are at present engaged in bringing under
their notice.
I. ANCIENT SCOTISH LYRICAL POETRY.
It is obviously impossible to arrive at a just conception or appre-
ciation of the character of the ancient vocal music of Scotjand, without
taking into view the songs and rhymes to which it was adapted, and of
which it may be said to have formed a part. Music and poetry were
much more intimately connected during the middle ages than they are
at present ; and whether the ancient melodies of Scotland were chiefly
the invention of an order of men who, according to the imposing de-
scription of Percy, conjoined these two sister arts, and " sung verses to
the harp of their own composing," who graced all scenes of festivity with
the exercise of their talents, and were welcome guests in the halls of the
great, and the humble cabins of the poor : or whether they might have
emanated from a class of persons who, in the more sober language of
Ritson, were little better than what he is pleased to call " mere instru-
mental performers, fiddlers, or such base-like musicians, who made it their
business to wander up and down the country, chanting romances, singing
songs and ballads to the harp, fiddle, &c. ;" or whether they took their rise
among shepherds tending their flocks, or maids milking their ewes, who
actually felt the sentiments and affections of which they are so very expres-
sive, — all must be agreed that a congeniality, — a a reciprocity, more or less
perfect, must have (originally, at least, we will not say always) existed
between the melody and the words, and that the genius of the one must
have alternately inspired and awakened that of the other. The very
rythm and measure of a verse, together with the sentiment, often seems
to carry a certain intonation or air along with it, and Mr Allan Cun-
a See Percy, Ritsun, Bcallie, Pinkerton, passim.