The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I

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Title: The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I.
The Songs of Scotland of the past half century
Author: Various
Release Date: May 15, 2006 [EBook #18396]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL ***
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[Illustration:
THE
MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL;
BY
CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D.
F.S.A. SCOT.
VOL. I.

THE AULD HOUSE O' GASK.
_THE BIRTH PLACE OF
LADY NAIRN._
_(Copied by permission of Patterson & Sons)_
EDINBURGH:
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,

BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO THE QUEEN.]

[Illustration:
SIR WALTER SCOTT BART.
Lithographed for the Modern Scottish Minstrel, by Schenck &
McFarlane.]

THE
MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL;
OR,
THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND OF THE
PAST HALF
CENTURY.
WITH
Memoirs of the Poets,
AND
SKETCHES AND SPECIMENS
IN ENGLISH VERSE OF THE
MOST CELEBRATED
MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
BY
CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D.
F.S.A. SCOT.

IN SIX VOLUMES;
VOL. I.
EDINBURGH:
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,

BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO HER MAJESTY.
M.DCCC.LV.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY,

PAUL'S WORK.
TO
WILLIAM STIRLING, ESQ. OF KEIR, M.P.,
AN ENLIGHTENED SENATOR, AN ACCOMPLISHED
SCHOLAR, AND AN INGENIOUS POET,
THIS FIRST VOLUME
OF
The Modern Scottish Minstrel
IS,
WITH HIS KIND PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY
INSCRIBED,
BY
HIS VERY OBEDIENT, FAITHFUL SERVANT,
CHARLES ROGERS.
PREFACE.

Scotland has probably produced a more patriotic and more extended
minstrelsy than any other country in the world. Those Caledonian
harp-strains, styled by Sir Walter Scott "gems of our own mountains,"
have frequently been gathered into caskets of national song, but have
never been stored in any complete cabinet; while no attempt has been
made, at least on an ample scale, to adapt, by means of suitable
metrical translations, the minstrelsy of the Gaël for Lowland melody.
The present work has been undertaken with the view of supplying these
deficiencies, and with the further design of extending the fame of those
cultivators of Scottish song--hitherto partially obscured by untoward
circumstances, or on account of their own diffidence--and of affording
a stimulus towards the future cultivation of national poetry.
The plan of the work is distinct from that of every previous collection
of Scottish song--the more esteemed lyrical compositions of the various
bards being printed along with the memoirs of the respective authors,
while the names of the poets have been arranged in chronological order.
Those have been considered as _modern_ whose lives extend into the
past half-century; and the whole of these have consequently been
included in the work. Several Highland bards who died a short period
before the commencement of the century have, however, been
introduced. Of all the Scottish poets, whether lyrical or otherwise, who
survived the period indicated, biographical sketches will be supplied in
the course of the publication, together with memoirs of the principal
modern collectors, composers and vocalists. The memoirs, so far as is
practicable, will be prepared from original materials, of which the
Editor, after a very extensive correspondence, has obtained a supply
more ample and more interesting than, he flatters himself, has ever
been attained by any collector of northern minstrelsy. The work will
extend to six volumes, each of the subsequent volumes being
accompanied by a dissertation on a distinct department of Scottish
poetry and song. Each volume will be illustrated with two elegant
engravings. In the course of the work, many original compositions will
be presented, recovered from the MSS. of the deceased poets, or
contributed by distinguished living bards.
For the department of the "Modern Gaelic Minstrelsy," the Editor has

obtained the assistance of a learned friend, intimately familiar with the
language and poetry of the Highlands. To this esteemed co-adjutor the
reader is indebted for the revisal of the Gaelic department of this work,
as well as for the following prefatory observations on the subject:--
"Among the intelligent natives of the Highlands, it is well known that
the Gaelic language contains a quantity of poetry, which, how difficult
soever to transfuse into other tongues and idioms, never fails to touch
the heart, and excite enthusiastic feelings. The plan of 'The Modern
Scottish Minstrel' restricts us to a period less favourable to the
inspirations of the Celtic muse than remoter times. If it is asked, What
could be gained by recurring to a more distant period? or what this
unlettered people have really to shew for their bardic pretensions? we
answer, that there is extant a large and genuine collection of Highland
minstrelsy,