Read Ebook: The Modern Scottish Minstrel Volumes 1-6. The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century by Rogers Charles Editor

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PAGE JOHN SKINNER, 1 Tullochgorum, 11 John o' Badenyon, 13 The ewie wi' the crookit horn, 17 O! why should old age so much wound us? 20 Still in the wrong, 22 Lizzy Liberty, 24 The stipendless parson, 28 The man of Ross, 31 A song on the times, 33

WILLIAM CAMERON, 35 As o'er the Highland hills I hied, 37

MRS JOHN HUNTER, 39 The Indian death-song, 41 My mother bids me bind my hair, 41 The flowers of the forest, 42 The season comes when first we met, 43 Oh, tuneful voice! I still deplore, 44 Dear to my heart as life's warm stream, 44 The lot of thousands, 45

ALEXANDER, DUKE OF GORDON, 46 Cauld kail in Aberdeen, 48

MRS GRANT OF CARRON, 50 Roy's wife of Aldivalloch, 52

ROBERT COUPER, M.D., 53 Kinrara, 55 The sheeling, 55 The ewe-bughts, Marion, 56

JOHN TAIT, 70 The banks of the Dee, 72

HECTOR MACNEILL, 73 Mary of Castlecary, 82 My boy, Tammy, 83 Oh, tell me how for to woo, 85 Lassie wi' the gowden hair, 87 Come under my plaidie, 89 I lo'ed ne'er a laddie but ane, 90 Donald and Flora, 92 My luve's in Germany, 95 Dinna think, bonnie lassie, 96

MRS GRANT OF LAGGAN, 99 Oh, where, tell me where? 104 Oh, my love, leave me not, 106

JOHN MAYNE, 107 Logan braes, 110 Helen of Kirkconnel, 111 The winter sat lang, 113 My Johnnie, 114 The troops were embarked, 115

JOHN HAMILTON, 117 The rantin' Highlandman, 118 Up in the mornin' early, 119 Go to Berwick, Johnnie, 121 Miss Forbes' farewell to Banff, 121 Tell me, Jessie, tell me why? 122 The hawthorn, 123 Oh, blaw, ye westlin' winds! 124

JOANNA BAILLIE, 126 The maid of Llanwellyn, 132 Good night, good night! 133 Though richer swains thy love pursue, 134 Poverty parts good companie, 134 Fy, let us a' to the wedding, 136 Hooly and fairly, 139 The weary pund o' tow, 141 The wee pickle tow, 142 The gowan glitters on the sward, 143 Saw ye Johnnie comin'? 145 It fell on a morning, 146 Woo'd, and married, and a', 148

WILLIAM DUDGEON, 151 Up among yon cliffy rocks, 152

WILLIAM REID, 153 The lea rig, 154 John Anderson, my jo , 155 Fair, modest flower, 157 Kate o' Gowrie, 157 Upon the banks o' flowing Clyde, 159

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, 161 Now winter's wind sweeps, 165 The hawk whoops on high, 166

MRS DUGALD STEWART, 167 The tears I shed must ever fall, 168 Returning spring, with gladsome ray, 169

ALEXANDER WILSON, 172 Connel and Flora, 179 Matilda, 179 Auchtertool, 182

CAROLINA, BARONESS NAIRN, 184 The ploughman, 194 Caller herrin', 195 The land o' the leal, 196 The Laird o' Cockpen, 198 Her home she is leaving, 200 The bonniest lass in a' the warld, 201 My ain kind dearie, O! 202 He 's lifeless amang the rude billows, 202 Joy of my earliest days, 203 Oh, weel's me on my ain man, 204 Kind Robin lo'es me 205 Kitty Reid's house, 205 The robin's nest, 206 Saw ye nae my Peggy? 208 Gude nicht, and joy be wi' ye a'! 209 Cauld kail in Aberdeen, 210 He 's ower the hills that I lo'e weel, 211 The lass o' Gowrie, 213 There grows a bonnie brier bush, 215 John Tod, 216 Will ye no come back again? 218 Jamie the laird, 219 Songs of my native land, 220 Castell Gloom, 221 Bonnie Gascon Ha', 223 The auld house, 224 The hundred pipers, 226 The women are a' gane wud, 227 Jeanie Deans, 228 The heiress, 230 The mitherless lammie, 231 The attainted Scottish nobles, 232 True love is watered aye wi' tears, 233 Ah, little did my mother think, 234 Would you be young again? 235 Rest is not here, 236 Here's to them that are gane, 237 Farewell, O farewell! 238 The dead who have died in the Lord, 239

JAMES MONTGOMERY, 247 "Friendship, love, and truth," 253 The Swiss cowherd's song in a foreign land, 254 German war-song, 254 Via Crucis, via Lucis, 255 Verses to a robin-redbreast, 257 Slavery that was, 258

ANDREW SCOTT, 260 Rural content, or the muirland farmer, 263 Symon and Janet, 265 Coquet water, 268 The young maid's wish for peace, 269 The fiddler's widow, 271 Lament for the death of an Irish chief, 272 The departure of summer, 273

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BART., 275 It was an English ladye bright, 289 Lochinvar, 290 Where shall the lover rest, 292 Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, 294 Hail to the chief who in triumph advances, 295 The heath this night must be my bed, 297 The imprisoned huntsman, 298 He is gone on the mountain, 299 A weary lot is thine, fair maid, 300 Allen-a-Dale, 300 The cypress wreath, 302 The cavalier, 303 Hunting song, 304 Oh, say not, my love, with that mortified air, 315

METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM THE MODERN GAELIC MINSTRELSY.

ROBERT MACKAY , 309 The song of winter, 311 Dirge for Ian Macechan, 315 The song of the forsaken drover, 315 Isabel Mackay--the maid alone, 318 Evan's Elegy, 321

DOUGAL BUCHANAN, 322 A clagionn--the skull, 326 Am bruadar--the dream, 330

DUNCAN MACINTYRE, 334 Mairi bhan og , 335 Bendourain, the Otter Mount, 336 The bard to his musket, 347

JOHN MACODRUM, 351 Oran na h-aois , 352

NORMAN MACLEOD , 355 Caberfae, 357

GLOSSARY, 363

THE

MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL

JOHN SKINNER.

Returning to Aberdeenshire, he was ordained a presbyter of the Episcopal Church, by Bishop Dunbar of Peterhead; and in November 1742, on the unanimous invitation of the people, he was appointed to the pastoral charge of the congregation at Longside. Uninfluenced by the soarings of ambition, he seems to have fixed here, at the outset, a permanent habitation: he rented a cottage at Linshart in the vicinity, which, though consisting only of a single apartment, besides the kitchen, sufficed for the expenditure of his limited emoluments. In every respect he realised Goldsmith's description of the village pastor:--

"A man he was to all the country dear, And passing rich with forty pounds a-year; Remote from towns he ran his godly race, Nor e'er had changed, nor wish'd to change his place."

Secluded, however, as were Mr Skinner's habits, and though he never had interfered in the political movements of the period, he did not escape his share in those ruthless severities which were visited upon the non-juring clergy subsequent to the last Rebellion. His chapel was destroyed by the soldiers of the barbarous Duke of Cumberland; and, on the plea of his having transgressed the law by preaching to more than four persons without subscribing the oath of allegiance, he was, during six months, detained a prisoner in the jail of Aberdeen.

Entering on the sacred duties of the pastoral office, Mr Skinner appears to have checked the indulgence of his rhyming propensities. His subsequent poetical productions, which include the whole of his popular songs, were written to please his friends, or gratify the members of his family, and without the most distant view to publication. In 1787, he writes to Burns, on the subject of Scottish song:--"While I was young, I dabbled a good deal in these things; but on getting the black gown, I gave it pretty much over, till my daughters grew up, who, being all tolerably good singers, plagued me for words to some of their favourite tunes, and so extorted those effusions which have made a public appearance, beyond my expectations, and contrary to my intentions; at the same time, I hope there is nothing to be found in them uncharacteristic or unbecoming the cloth, which I would always wish to see respected." Some of Mr Skinner's best songs were composed at a sitting, while they seldom underwent any revision after being committed to paper. To the following incident, his most popular song, "Tullochgorum," owed its origin. In the course of a visit he was making to a friend in Ellon , a dispute arose among the guests on the subject of Whig and Tory politics, which, becoming somewhat too exciting for the comfort of the lady of the house, in order to bring it promptly to a close, she requested Mr Skinner to suggest appropriate words for the favourite air, "The Reel of Tullochgorum." Mr Skinner readily complied, and, before leaving the house, produced what Burns, in a letter to the author, characterised as "the best Scotch song ever Scotland saw." The name of the lady who made the request to the poet was Mrs Montgomery, and hence the allusion in the first stanza of the ballad:--

"Come gie 's a sang, Montgomery cried, And lay your disputes all aside; What signifies 't for folks to chide For what was done before them? Let Whig and Tory all agree," &c.

Though claiming no distinction as a writer of verses, Mr Skinner did not conceal his ambition to excel in another department of literature. In 1746, in his twenty-fifth year, he published a pamphlet, in defence of the non-juring character of his Church, entitled "A Preservative against Presbytery." A performance of greater effort, published in 1757, excited some attention, and the unqualified commendation of the learned Bishop Sherlock. In this production, entitled "A Dissertation on Jacob's Prophecy," which was intended as a supplement to a treatise on the same subject by Dr Sherlock, the author has established, by a critical examination of the original language, that the words in Jacob's prophecy , rendered "sceptre" and "lawgiver" in the authorised version, ought to be translated "tribeship" and "typifier," a difference of interpretation which obviates some difficulties respecting the exact fulfilment of this remarkable prediction. In a pamphlet printed in 1767, Mr Skinner again vindicated the claims and authority of his Church; and on this occasion, against the alleged misrepresentations of Mr Norman Sievewright, English clergyman at Brechin, who had published a work unfavourable to the cause of Scottish Episcopacy. His most important work, "An Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, from the first appearance of Christianity in that kingdom," was published in the year 1788, in two octavo volumes. This publication, which is arranged in the form of letters to a friend, and dedicated, in elegant Latin verse, "Ad Filium et Episcopum," , by partaking too rigidly of a sectarian character, did not attain any measure of success. Mr Skinner's other prose works were published after his death, together with a Memoir of the author, under the editorial care of his son, Bishop Skinner of Aberdeen. These consist of theological essays, in the form of "Letters addressed to Candidates for Holy Orders," "A Dissertation on the Sheckinah, or Divine Presence with the Church or People of God," and "An Essay towards a literal or true radical exposition of the Song of Songs," the whole being included in two octavo volumes, which appeared in 1809. A third volume was added, containing a collection of the author's compositions in Latin verse, and his fugitive songs and ballads in the Scottish dialect--the latter portion of this volume being at the same time published in a more compendious form, with the title, "Amusements of Leisure Hours; or, Poetical Pieces, chiefly in the Scottish dialect."

As a man of ingenuity, various acquirements, and agreeable manners, Mr Skinner was held in much estimation among his contemporaries. Whatever he read, with the assistance of a commonplace-book, he accurately remembered, and could readily turn to account; and, though his library was contained in a closet of five feet square, he was abundantly well informed on every ordinary topic of conversation. He was fond of controversial discussion, and wielded both argument and wit with a power alarming to every antagonist. Though keen in debate, he was however possessed of a most imperturbable suavity of temper. His conversation was of a playful cast, interspersed with anecdote, and free from every affectation of learning. As a clergyman, Mr Skinner enjoyed the esteem and veneration of his flock. Besides efficiently discharging his ministerial duties, he practised gratuitously as a physician, having qualified himself, by acquiring a competent acquaintance with the healing art at the medical classes in Marischal College. His pulpit duties were widely acceptable; but his discourses, though edifying and instructive, were more the result of the promptitude of the preacher than the effects of a painstaking preparation. He abandoned the aid of the manuscript in the pulpit, on account of the untoward occurrence of his notes being scattered by a startled fowl, in the early part of his ministry, while he was addressing his people from the door of his house, after the wanton destruction of his chapel.

The death of Mr Skinner's wife, in the year 1799, fifty-eight years after their marriage, was the most severe trial which he seems to have experienced. In a Latin elegy, he gave expression to the deep sense which he entertained of his bereavement. In 1807, his son, Bishop Skinner, having sustained a similar bereavement, invited his aged father to share the comforts of his house; and after ministering at Longside for the remarkably lengthened incumbency of sixty-five years, Mr Skinner removed to Aberdeen. But a greater change was at hand; on the 16th of June 1807, in less than a week after his arrival, he was suddenly seized with illness, and almost immediately expired. His remains were interred in the churchyard of Longside; and the flock to which he had so long ministered placed over the grave a handsome monument, bearing, on a marble tablet, an elegant tribute to the remembrance of his virtues and learning. At the residence of Bishop Skinner, he had seen his descendants in the fourth generation.

Of Mr Skinner's songs, printed in this collection, the most popular are "Tullochgorum," "John o' Badenyon," and "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn." The whole are pervaded by sprightliness and good-humoured pleasantry. Though possessing the fault of being somewhat too lengthy, no song-compositions of any modern writer in Scottish verse have, with the exception of those of Burns, maintained a stronger hold of the Scottish heart, or been more commonly sung in the social circle.

TULLOCHGORUM.

Come gie 's a sang, Montgomery cried, And lay your disputes all aside, What signifies 't for folks to chide For what was done before them: Let Whig and Tory all agree, Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory all agree, To drop their Whig-mig-morum; Let Whig and Tory all agree To spend the night wi' mirth and glee, And cheerful sing alang wi' me The Reel o' Tullochgorum.

O Tullochgorum 's my delight, It gars us a' in ane unite, And ony sumph that keeps a spite, In conscience I abhor him: For blythe and cheerie we'll be a', Blythe and cheerie, blythe and cheerie, Blythe and cheerie we'll be a', And make a happy quorum; For blythe and cheerie we'll be a' As lang as we hae breath to draw, And dance, till we be like to fa', The Reel o' Tullochgorum.

Let warldly worms their minds oppress Wi' fears o' want and double cess, And sullen sots themsells distress Wi' keeping up decorum: Shall we sae sour and sulky sit, Sour and sulky, sour and sulky, Sour and sulky shall we sit, Like old philosophorum? Shall we sae sour and sulky sit, Wi' neither sense, nor mirth, nor wit, Nor ever try to shake a fit To th' Reel o' Tullochgorum?

May choicest blessings aye attend Each honest, open-hearted friend, And calm and quiet be his end, And a' that's good watch o'er him; May peace and plenty be his lot, Peace and plenty, peace and plenty, Peace and plenty be his lot, And dainties a great store o' them: May peace and plenty be his lot, Unstain'd by any vicious spot, And may he never want a groat, That 's fond o' Tullochgorum!

But for the sullen, frumpish fool, That loves to be oppression's tool, May envy gnaw his rotten soul, And discontent devour him; May dool and sorrow be his chance, Dool and sorrow, dool and sorrow, Dool and sorrow be his chance, And nane say, Wae 's me for him! May dool and sorrow be his chance, Wi' a' the ills that come frae France, Wha e'er he be that winna dance The Reel o' Tullochgorum.

JOHN O' BADENYON

When first I cam to be a man Of twenty years or so, I thought myself a handsome youth, And fain the world would know; In best attire I stept abroad, With spirits brisk and gay, And here and there and everywhere Was like a morn in May; No care I had, nor fear of want, But rambled up and down, And for a beau I might have past In country or in town; I still was pleased where'er I went, And when I was alone, I tuned my pipe and pleased myself Wi' John o' Badenyon.

This song was composed when Wilkes, Horne, and others, were exciting a commotion about liberty.

THE EWIE WI' THE CROOKIT HORN.

Were I but able to rehearse My Ewie's praise in proper verse, I 'd sound it forth as loud and fierce As ever piper's drone could blaw; The Ewie wi' the crookit horn, Wha had kent her might hae sworn Sic a Ewe was never born, Hereabout nor far awa'; Sic a Ewe was never born, Hereabout nor far awa'.

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