| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
612 |
ANGLO-SCOTTTSII SONGS. |
||
|
furlong of Edinborough town," are by D'Urfey; and " Sawney was a lonny lad "a by P. A. Motteux, the tune by Purcell.
Songs in imitation of the Scottish dialect seem to have been confined to the stage till about the years 1679 and 1680,b when the Duke of York, afterwards James II., was sent to govern Scotland, pending the discussion on the Exclusion Bill in the Houses of Parliament. The "Whigs were endeavouring to debar him from succession to the throne, as being a Roman Catholic, while the most influential Scotch and the English loyalists, then newly named Tories, were as warmly espousing his cause.
Among the ballad-writers, the royalists greatly preponderated, and the Scotch were in especial favour with them. Mat. Taubman, the city of London pageant-writer, was one of these loyal poets. He published many songs in the Duke's favour, which he afterwards collected into a volume, with " An Heroic Poem," on his return from Scotland. Nat. Thompson, the printer, collected and published 120 Loyal Songs, which he subsequently enlarged to 180. Besides these, there are songs extant on broadsides, with music, which are not included in any collection. Occasional attempts at the Scottish dialect are to be found in all these sources. Purcell, and other musicians in the service of the court, readily set such songs to music; indeed, from the time of the Exclusion Bill until he became king, James seems to have had all the song-writers in his favour.
Perhaps the earliest extant specimen of a ballad printed in Scotland, may also be referred to this period;—I mean by "ballad" that which was intended to be sung, and not poetry printed on broadsides, without the name of the tune, even though such may sometimes have been called " ballets." Of the latter we have specimens by Robert Sempill, or Semple, printed in Edinburgh as early as 1570; but, as a real ballad, intended to be sung about the country, as English ballads were, I know none earlier than " The Banishment of Poverty, by his R. H., J. D. A. [James, Duke of Albany], to the tune of the Last Good Night." It is to be observed that this is to an English tune, and so are many of the ballads that were printed in Scotland, some being reprints of those published in London. Among others in the possession of Mr. David Laing, are " A proper new Ballad intituled The Gallant Grahames: To its own proper tune, I will away and will not stay." This is a white-letter reprint of "An excellent new Ballad entituled The Gallant Grahams of Scotland,'" a copy of which is in the Roxburghe Collection, iii. 380, to the same tune. " Bothwell Banks is bonny: Or a Description of the new Mylne of Bothwell," is to the English tune of Who can blame my woe. " The Life and bloody Death of Mrs. Laurie's Dog" is " to the tune The Ladies Daughter" [of Paris properly]. See Evans's Old Ballads. The above are on Scottish subjects, hut there are also reprints of the Anglo-Scottish, such as " Blythe Jockie, young and gay," (the tune of which is by Leveridge,) and "Valiant Jockey's march'd away," before mentioned; as well as of purely
* If not tills, it must be " Jockey was a dowdy lad," a b I do not include songs like " Sing, home again,
Scotch song by D'Urfey in The Campaigners. There is Jockey," (upon the defeat of the Scottish army,) or others
a Sawney in that song, but lie is the favoured lover. The written against the Scotch, which may contain a few
music was composed by Mr. Wilkins. words in imitation of the dialect, |
|||