manuscript Cantus which belonged to the late Mr Archibald Constable, of Edinburgh, with a considerable variety of scraps arranged in the shape of a medley. The whole passage containing these scraps is here transcribed, in such a manner as to isolate each individual piece, so that the reader may readily scan the list.

The ring of the rash, of the gowan,
In the cool of the night came my lemane,
And yellow hair above her brow.

Come row me round about, bony dowie.

So sweetly sings the nightingale,
For love truly, loly lola.

All the moane that I make, sayes the gudeman,
Who's to have my wife, deid when I am :
Care for thy winding-sheet, false lurdan,
For I shall gett ane uther when thou art gone.

My gudame for ever and ay-a,
Was never widow so gay-a.

The fryare had on a coule of redd ;

He spied a pretty wench kaming her head.

Be soft and sober, I you pray.

I and my cummer, my cummer and I,
Shall never part with our mouth so dry.

We have here fragments bearing a far more striking resemblance to the rude familiar ditties of the populace, or what is properly Scottish song, than any thing which has hitherto fallen under our notice. The greater part of them are now unknown, or changed to something more refined; but, fortunately, two or three are

still preserved. For instance, the fragment beginning, "Come all your old malt to me," is the same with the song called the Mautman," which Ramsay printed in his Tea-Table Miscellany, and of which the following clever verses may be given, as a specimen, from a copy lately sung to me by a friend. They were never before published.

Some say that kissing's a sin,

But I think it's nane ava,

For kissing has wonned in the warld,
Since ever that there was twa.+

O, if it wasna lawfu',

Lawyers wadna allow it;

If it wasna holy,

Ministers wadna do it.

If it wasna modest,

Maidens wadna tak it;

If it wasna plenty,

Puir folk wadna get it!

Bring a' your maut to me,

Bring a' your maut to me;
My draff ye'se get for ae pund ane,
Though a' my deukies should dee.

"My gudame for ever and ay-a" is a very old song, seeing that a parody of it was printed by Chepman and Myllar, in the year 1508. The last scrap is evidently a piece of the well-known song, " My kimmer and I," which appeared in Cromek's Nithsdale and Galloway Songs, 1810.

In 1666 was published the first edition of Forbes's Cantus, so frequently alluded to in this work. Here, strange to say, in a book published at Aberdeen, and for the entertainment and solace of Scotsmen, we find, among upwards of fifty songs, not one of the characteristically Scottish ditties which are proved to have then existed, and not one air now popular as a Scottish air. The songs are partly of the godly kind already described, and partly of English composition; and the airs are also altogether foreign to the object of

* Dwelt.

To wit, the first pair.

the present essay. It may seem strange that such a thing should be. But it is perfectly explicable by the theory laid down at the commencement of this essay, that neither Scottish song nor Scottish music was fashionable, or esteemed worthy of publication, till an era somewhat later.

The beautiful song of " Waly, waly, gin love be bonny," will be found, from the notes appended to it in this collection, to have been composed in the reign of Charles II., and probably in the decade of 1670-80. The reader will also find reason to believe that the popular songs of "Tweedside," (old set,) "John Hay's bonnie lassie," and the "Broom of the Cowdenknowes," (early set,) are of the same era. The airs, called "The bonny broom," "I'll never leave thee," and "We'll all go pull the hadder," are mentioned in the preface to a volume of spiritual songs, published at Edinburgh in 1683, being the compilation of a Mr William Geddes. "Katherine Ogie" is said to have been sung in London in 1686. There is an air, and probably there was a song, called "The fourteenth of October," which, Ritson informs us, was composed in honour of the birth-day of King James VII. battle of Killiecrankie," which is known to have been written immediately after the incident it commemorates, must also be considered a song of this era.

"The

A manuscript collection of airs for the viol de gamba, dated 1683-92, and which I have had the good Fortune to see,* contains a considerable number of Scottish airs, which, together with their appropriate songs, are still popular. Some of them are under different names from those which they now bear. "Nancy's to the greenwood gane," for instance, is called Tow to spin; which suggests the idea of a ludicrous familiar song; because, to this day, in Scotland, when a younger sister is first married, she is said to leave her senior the tow to spin; which unhappy circumstance was probably the subject of the composition. The tune of Ramsay's song," My mother's ay glowran ower me,"

It is at present in the possession of Mr Andrew Blaikie, engraver, Paisley.

is here called A health to Betty.* "Lochaber no more" is called King James's march to Ireland ; "Tweedside," Doun Tweedside. The airs called Al

lan water, For lack of gold she left me, Haud awa fræe me, and Where Helen lies, are all here under their present names; as also an air, now out of fashion, entitled, "Weel hoddlet, luckie," [Well danced, old woman!] which the author of Waverley, in consequence of seeing Mr Blaikie's curious manuscript, has represented in his novel of Redgauntlet, as the air which Sir Robert Redgauntlet requested Wandering Willie's father to play to him in hell.

In another collection of airs written soon after the Revolution, being for the Lyra viol, Mr Leyden informs us, that he found the following Scottish tunes, which are at the same time, of course, the names of songs: Ower the muir to Maggie; Robin and Jonnet; My dearie, if thou die; Money in both pockets; The lady's goune; Bonnie Nanie; Meggie, I must love thee; Where Helen lays; Strick upon a strogin; Hallo even; Happie man is he; Woman's wark will never be done; Jocke the laird's brother; Bonie lassie; Jenny, I told you; The gilliflower; The bonny brow; The new kirk gavell; The nightingall; Jockie went to the wood; Sweet Willie ; Bonny roaring Willie; Tweedside; When she cam ben she bobbit; Foul fa' my eyes; When the bride cam ben she becked; The collyer's daughter; Foull tak the wars; The milkeine pail; and The bonie brookit lassie, blew beneath the eyes.

It is supposed that the very first Scottish air which appeared in print is the well-known one entitled, "Up in the morning early." Under the title of "I'se gae wi' thee, my Peggy," this tune appears, as a catch, in John Hilton's Collection, 1652. That it continued to be admired for a considerable time afterwards, is proved by an anecdote, which has been related by Sir John Hawkins, in his General History of Music. The

* I have heard a tradition, that "My mother's ay glowran ower me" was not written by Ramsay, but by Lady Betty Wemyss, an ancient virgin of that noble family, who lived in Edinburgh till towards the end of the last century.