ANCIENT SCOTTISH MELODIES.

ARAM` twenty years ago, an ancient musical manuscript was be- queathed to the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, by the late Miss ELIZABETH SKENE, the last lineal descendant of the family of SKENE of IIallyards • along with a number of documents relating to that family, several members of which were persons of consider- able eminence. The manuscript was properly bound, and placed in the library ; but no attempt was made to decipher its contents, till lately, when it was put into the hands of Mr. GRAHAM, a musi- cal amateur of distinguished learning and ability. He perceived that the notation was that which was formerly employed for the instruments of the lute species, one Of which, the mandour, or maadora, was anciently used in geotland ; and that the manuscript consisted of a large collection of Scottish national melodies. A considerable number of them were reduced by him to modern no- tation ; and these have now been published, with an " Introductory Inquiry illustrative of the Music of Scotland," and copious notes upon, the melodies, by Mr. DAUNEY, of the Scottish bar,—a gen- tleman who has added to " the weightier matters of the law," great attainments in literature and music. The volume also con- tains an able essay, under the title of an " Analysis of Scottish Music," by Mr. FINLAY DUN, a musical professor of high reputa- tion in Edinburgh. These various articles form the contents of a large and uncommonly elegant quarto volume of about four hun- dred pages : the expense of its publication (necessarily very great) has been provided for by the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs of

Scotland, under whose auspices it is given to the world ; and to their liberality the public is indebted for one of the most valuable contributions which the musical literature of this country has ever received.

Mr. DAnNEr's historical inquiry, (its title of " preliminary dis- sertation " being rather a misnomer) occupies three-fourths of the volume, and constitutes the bulk of the work. It is a production of great learning and research, entering much more fully and deeply into the subject than any other essay on ancient Scottish music and song that has appeared.

Our author sets out with an account of " the Skene Manuscript." The manuscript has no date, and bears no direct evidence by which its date can be ascertained. Mr. atuNsy, therefore, has recourse to circumstantial proof; and brings forward a number of statements and inferences which, if they do not absolutely prove, at least create a presumption of the strongest kind. that it belonged to the time of JAMES the Sixth, and was compiled between the years 1600 and 1620. The lute, of which the mandora was a variety, was the favourite instrument among the higher classes all over Europe at that period ; and there can be little doubt that the collection in question was made for the use of some member of the SKENE family who performed upon that instrument ; nor can there be any doubt that it is more ancient, by a century at least, than any ether collection of Scottish melodies now extant ; the oldest of which is unquestionably TuostsoN's Orpheus Caledonins, published in 1725. As to the Aberdeen collection, published in 1662, by FORBES, under the title of " Songs and Fancies." about which so much has been written, it is now well understood that it has nothing to do with Scottish national melody.* The Dissertation consists of three great divisions,—first, ancient Scottish lyrical poetry ; secondly, ancient Scottish musical instru- ments ; and thirdly, ancient manuscripts of Scottish music, with an inquiry into its antiquity. and the formation of its peculiar genius and character. This enumeration will give a general idea of the course pursued by the author. Through his multifarious details it is im- possible for us to travel ; and they are bound together by such a chain of continuity that tires of them can be taken out of their places. The discussion on the subject of the Bagpipe is very curious. " To one accustomed," says our author, " to consider the bagpipe, the inspiring effects of which upon our Scottish troops is well known, as our leading national instrument, it must appear strange, that, in the very circumstantial accounts which have come down to us of the many sanguinary conflicts in which our ancestors were engaged, there should be no allusion to its spirit-stirring sounds, and, so far as we have observed, no mention even of its name, in the early part of our history." In the course of his learned inquiries, Mr. DAVNEY shows more courage than SCOTT did once, when he was deterred from entering into some unpalatable topic of Celtic anti- quity by the dread of " bringing a Highland tempest into the shop of his publisher." Had Mr. DatNny no similar apprehension when he penned the following entertaining passage ?

" In Scotland, the use of the bagpipe seems to have gradually superseded that of the harp ; but this process, we should think, must have taken place chiefly within the last two hundred years; previous to which, we doubt very much whether the natives of North Britain were more distinguished for their par- tiality for the bagpipe them their Southern neighbours. Even Shakspeare, although he talks of the ' drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe,' and of 'a York- shire bagpiper,' has nowhere associated that instrument with the Scots ; and when we go back several centuries anterior to this, we find it used in loth countries by the same class of persons. Chaucer's Miller played upon it- . A LaLpipe well eolith Lc blowe awl ,owns:' and ' Will Swanc,' the nwikle miller man,' in our • reblis to tie Play,' calls for it to assist in the festivities nf the day. • Gin' 1 sail dance. have donne, lam se, Btaw up the bagpyp Indeed, although we arc justly proud of our ancient proficiency on the harp, and adhere unhesitatingly to our claims to supremacy on that head, we are much disposed, upon a candid consideration of the facts, to resign to the Eng- lish the palm of superiority in this less refined description of music, about time time to which we rthr. The pipers who are mentioned in the Lord High Treasurer's accounts, seem almost uniformly to have been natives of England. Thus, 10th July 1459, there is a payment of eight pounds eight shillings ' to Influx pyituris that coin to the eastel yet and playit to the King.' Again, in 150, there is another payment to the Inglis Attar with the drone.' It should he added that, while the bagpiper ' formed part of the musical esta- blishment of the English sovereigns and noblemen during the sixteenth cen- tury, we find no such musician retained at the Scottish court. Our monarchs had probably not much relish for this sort of pipe music ; and although the result of our investigation of the word " chorus pipe has had the effect of clearly convicting our first dames of being a iwribrmer upon that uuprincely instrument, (for which the only precedent we can find in history is that of the Emperor Nero,) we should remember that he had most probably acquired that as well as his other accomplishments, in Eugland, where he received the rest of his edu- cation. Nye do not conceive, upon the whole, that the bagpipe has ever been a very popular instrument in Scotland, except in the Highland districts ; and we may state this with some confidence as to one part of the country—a royal burgh, which we have already had occasion to name, and where the Magis- trates actually prohibited the common piper from going his rounds, in terms by no means complimentary to the instrument. Our readers will be the less surprised at the superior refinement here exhibited, when they are informed that these were the musical magistrates' of the city of Alienleen, whose praises have been so loudly trumpeted by Forbes, the publisher of the Cantos,'

in his dedication of that work. 26th May 1630. The Magistrates discharge the common piper of all going through the tour at nycht, or in the morning,

• We wonder, by the way, that Mr. DAtNEY should have copied the vulgar error of constantly calling this book " Forbes's Contra." The book was a collection of vocal harmony in several parts, each part printed separately, (like the parts for instrumental music now-a-days,) and marked with the words " Cantos," "Altus," "Medius," and " Bassos." Callus is no more the title of the book, than " Violin Primo" would be the title of a set of MATDR'S Quartets. itt tvatie cooling, with Ids pope ; it being as ineivnp Arnie to be asit within sic a famous burgh, and being often fund fault with, all weill be sundeie nichtlouris qf the tonne as be strangens.'

This instrument must have been the great Highland bagpipe, blown with the mouth; and all who have experienced its deafening effects will concur in the wisdom and good taste of the above regulation. Critically speaking, and bolding, it in the highest possible estimation for its utility in rousing the ener- gies of the Highland soldiery, the sounds which it emits are certainly of a na- ture much better calculated to excite alarm and consternation than to diffuse

pleasure."

Mr. llAuxEr adds, in a note, the following very pertinent query-

" The Highland Society of Scotland has been much and justly applauded for having be annual premiums kept up the great witifitrg instrument of the Highlanders ; but why should they have allowed to sink into oblivion their great musical instrument ?—that thr which their oldest and most exquisite airs were composed ? Why has there been no attempt to revive these, and along with them the recollection of the time a lieu • the shell went rotund, the bards sung, and the soft hand of the virgins trembled on the strings of the harp.'"

On the subjects of the history and characteristic features of the Scottish melody, Mr. asusur examines the statements and

opinions of previous writers,—BursoN, BuRN sr, TuomSON, and others,—with great fulness, and in a spirit of candour and liberality much to be commended in literary dialectics. his obser- vations on the peculiarities of the Scottish scale, and the theories formed to account for them, involve technicalities into which the general reader would not thank us for lialowing hint, though they are full of interest for the musician. A curious resemblance be- tween the melodic structure of the Scottish airs and the ancient cuutoferme of the Runtish Church, arising front the omission of certain notes of the scale, is pointed out by Mr. Dux in his ana- lysis : but Mr. D.u.NEY is of opinion, and on good grounds, that this similarity, to whatever it may be ascribed, is not a consequence of the relation of cause and effect between the two kind, of melody ; because the same cause, prevalent all over Europe, ought to have produced effects equally general.

Mr. DALINEY winds up his Dissertation by a view of the advan- tages to be derived front the discovery of " the Skene Manuscript," and other similar papers, which, now that attention has b,:en drawn

to this object, may yet be thund. After referring to the account given by GIII.aleDus Cambrensis of the Irish and Scottish music of the Twelfth century, Mr. DAUNEY says— " The slow, drooling, and monotonous style of many of the Scottish melodies which were popular during the last century, is certainly something very dif- ferent from the description given by the Cambrian churchman of our ancient airs, and not a little at varia nce. we should say, with the spirit and clumwter of the nation—the po rli rgltHwt itt,trai,u,—the effervescent enthusiasm of our COUntrytnell. Soho of these airs were composed, and most of tho.a. which had been bawled down front antiquity, we re essentially altered. by Oswald and others, especially the former; a person Whose taste la music. aftloatOt he un- questionably possessed some inventive talent, (would that 1.e had possessed less!) was too much perverted by the age in which lie lived. for hint to relish the simple notes of our primitive melodies; and who accordito,ly, so for 60m taking any pains ti preserve than in their original frm, gene....t!iy contrived to adapt them to a formula of his (min in ii Licit phrases, the sole merit of et hich lay in their being unaffected un • pleasing, ,very exchanpal for Fass.iges of tan- ts:Distnt:oh invented in tinier to display the skill of the or the per- former, and artificial closes or shakes :ubstituted for the natural, broken, and often touching cadences of the original. " Of this we are enabled to speak the more confidently with the Skene 31S. before us. The favourable contrast which many of the Scottish airs therein contained. present to the dull, tiresome, and meretricious productions o Lich, from time to time, have been palmed oil upon the public under that name, told the vitiated copies of the Mlle tunes which have been handed down by tra- dition alone, are among the most gratifying results of its discovery. We are now no longer at a loss for a standard by which we can test the genuineness of our national music, distinguish the true from the false, and separate the pure ore from all admixture of baser metal. Whether or nut they come front • the well of (Scottish) genius undefiled' we cannot say; but they are a dis- tance of nue hundred years nearer the fountaiu-head than any with which the public have previously been acquainted. And it is also worthy of remark,

(we speak here of the principal Scottish airs,) that they are not cast in the formal and elaborate mould which characterizes the artificial compo- sitions of the age when the collection was formed. They are animated,

chaste, and simple in their style and expression, and though 'old and plain,' and more remarkable for spirit and originality than for elegance, it may be said

of them, as of the poetical relics of ancient trelsy, • With rough majestic tote.' they move the heart, And strength and nature make amends for art.'

At the same time, we will not do them the injustice to say that they are less smooth and flowing than the Scottish airs of a more recent date. On the con- trary, there are perhaps fewer of those sudden and unexpected leaps in the melody which we find in the latter ; and of this any one may satisfy himself, who will take the trouble of comparing the original copies here given of 'The Flowers of the Forest,' Alas! that I came o'er the Moor,' anti Adieu, Dundee,' with the modern versions of the same tunes. They will also see that tradition, and still more, the unscrupulous treatment which they have receited at the hands of composers, have tended to injure, and not by any means to improve the originals,—frittering away their simplicity by notes of ampfissage and variations, and in some instances divesting them of the leading points and characteristics upon which their effect and expression depended. But this is a subject on which it is not our intention to expatiate. It it not for us to pre- sume to arbitrate in matters of taste, or to prejudge the Oldie, to whom this collection is now submitted, and who will form their own opinion of its excel- lences and its defects. Whatever these may be, it will be remembered that it possesses more than one recommendation, altogether independent of its musical merits. It comes fresh from the hands of our fbrefathers of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries, with all the features of their musical genius, style, taste, and ideus, such as they were, fully impressed upon it. Further, it is well known, and has been pointed out in the course of the present inquiry, that the original versions of our ancient and most celebrated Scottish airs were lost, and that they have for many years been given up as irrecoverable. Contrary to all ex- pectation, however, several of them have been preserved by the Skene 31S. ; and it ought, we think, to afford satisfaction to every lover of Scottish melody and of Scotland, that relics soprecious should at last have been saved from destruction, and thrown into a form which may go for to prevent the occur- rence of such casualties in future. Besides the airs that are known to us, the collection contains others of great beauty, which have not been heard for many years, and which are now awakened into new life, to run, it is to be hoped, a new career of existence."

In much of this we readily- concur ; though we are inclined to think that Mr. DAL-Nr.r's fore of his subject has rendered his language somewhat enthusiastic and exaggerated. Of the im- portance and value of' his own labours there cannot be two opinions; nor, to a certain extent, can the value of the Skene Manuscript be disputed. We do not quite understand him when he says—. " We are now no longer at a loss for a standard by which we can test the genuineness of our national music, distinguish the true from the false, and separate the pure ore from all admixture of

baser metal." Surely Mr. DAENEY cannot mean, (and yet what else is the meaning of time sentence ?) that all the " pure ore" is con-

tained in the Skene Manuscript, and that the immense number of the most beautiful of the airs commonly received as Scottish, but of which no vestige is to be found in that record, are the "base metal?" The question as to the beauty of the airs in the Skene Manuscript, compared with the same airs in their present current throe is, as Mr. DiusEy says, a matter of taste ; and our taste

and his do not entirely agree on this score. We will, moreover, venture to suggest, that though this collection is the oldest extant, it by no means t'ollows that the sets of the airs must necessarily be

the purest. Music was then in a highly artificial state : the airs were written not for the voice, but for an instrument used by skilful perthriners ; they are full of passages never intended to be sung, but evidently arising out of the peculiarities of

the instrument ; and many of them, indeed, are as full of " notes of remplissve and variations," as the most sophisticated airs in

any modern collection. The Skene Manuscript, however, is in- disputably valuable in two particulars,—it establishes, to a certain point, the antiquity of a number of the most remarkable Scottish melodies ; and it. has given occasion to the learned, able, and in- teresting labours of Mr. DAVNEY.