In its present dress, it has gained
immortal
honour from
Mr.
Mr.
Robert Forst
This song I composed about the age of seventeen.
* * * * *
NANCY'S GHOST.
This song is by Dr. Blacklock.
* * * * *
TUNE YOUR FIDDLES, ETC.
This song was composed by the Rev. John Skinner, nonjuror clergyman at
Linshart, near Peterhead. He is likewise author of "Tullochgorum,"
"Ewie wi' the crooked Horn," "John o' Badenyond," &c. , and what is of
still more consequence, he is one of the worthiest of mankind. He is
the author of an ecclesiastical history of Scotland. The air is by Mr.
Marshall, butler to the Duke of Gordon; the first composer of
strathspeys of the age. I have been told by somebody, who had it of
Marshall himself, that he took the idea of his three most celebrated
pieces, "The Marquis of Huntley's Reel," his "Farewell," and "Miss
Admiral Gordon's Reel," from the old air, "The German Lairdie. "
* * * * *
GILL MORICE.
This plaintive ballad ought to have been called Child Maurice, and not
Gil Maurice.
In its present dress, it has gained immortal honour from
Mr. Home's taking from it the ground-work of his fine tragedy of
Douglas. But I am of opinion that the present ballad is a modern
composition; perhaps not much above the age of the middle of the last
century; at least I should be glad to see or hear of a copy of the
present words prior to 1650. That it was taken from an old ballad,
called "Child Maurice," now lost, I am inclined to believe; but the
present one may be classed with "Hardyknute," "Kenneth," "Duncan, the
Laird of Woodhouselie," "Lord Livingston," "Binnorie," "The Death of
Monteith," and many other modern productions, which have been
swallowed by many readers as ancient fragments of old poems. This
beautiful plaintive tune was composed by Mr. M'Gibbon, the selector of
a collection of Scots tunes. R. B.
In addition to the observations on Gil Morice, I add, that of the songs
which Captain Riddel mentions, "Kenneth" and "Duncan" are juvenile
compositions of Mr. M'Kenzie, "The Man of Feeling. "--M'Kenzie's father
showed them in MS. to Dr. Blacklock, as the productions of his son, from
which the Doctor rightly prognosticated that the young poet would make,
in his more advanced years, a respectable figure in the world of
letters.
This I had from Blacklock.
* * * * *
TIBBIE DUNBAR.
This tune is said to be the composition of John M'Gill, fiddler, in
Girvan.
