Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Indulgent) prove altogther fruitlefs: a circumftance, per haps, which will, fome time or other, be confidered as not a little to the honour of the English mufe.

The third and laft divifion is compofed of fuch pieces as do not fall within either of the above defcriptions, and contains feveral truly valuable lyric compofitions, both ancient and modern, on a variety of fubjects. It will be regretted that the number could not be rendered more confiderable.

Although no fubdivifion appeared neceffary, or was, indeed, admiffible, or even practicable, in these two laft parts, the reader may yet perceive an attention to, and propriety in the arrangement and difpofition of each, with which, it is prefumed, he will not have reafon to be difpleased.

Throughout the whole of the first volume, the utmost care, the most scrupulous anxiety has been fhewn to exclude every compofition, however celebrated, or however excellent, of which the flighteft expreffion, or the most diftant allufion could have tinged the cheek of Delicacy, or offended the purity of the chastest ear. This abomination, fo grofsly perceptible in, almoft, every preceding collection, and even where editors have difclaimed its countenance, or profeffed its removal, is here, it may be safely averred, for the first time, reformed altogether; the remoteft inclination to fuch an offence being fcarcely to be difcovered, even in that quarter in which licentiousness has been so long fuffered, nay expected, to reign without controul, and was, of courfe, with the greater difficulty restrained,-amongst the Bacchanalian fongs; where, however, the editor is perfuaded, no one of his fair readers, for whose perufal this part of the collection is, certainly, neither calculated nor intended, will feek to detect it. A former editor, a gentleman of taste and fentiment, has termed an execution of his duty in this refpect," a difagreeable piece of feverity;" the prefent editor, however, far from having experienced any pangs of remorfe on the occafion, wishes he could have had reason to glory in being

b 3

the

the inftrument of deftruction to the whole fpecies of those infidious and infernal productions.

Curs'd be their verfe, and blasted all their bays,
Whose fenfual lure th' unconfcious ear betrays;
Wounds the young breaft, ere virtue spreads her fhield,
And takes, not wins, the fcarce difputed field!
Tho' fpecious rhet'ric each loofe thought refine,
Tho' mufic charm in ev'ry labour'd line,
The dang'rous verfe to full perfection grown,
Bavius might blush, and Quarles difdain to own.*

Moft, if not all, of the pieces which form the three divifions already enumerated, will be found more accurately printed than in any former compilation; having been felected from the best editions of the works of their respective authors, and other approved and authentic publications, or corrected by a careful collation of numerous copies. There is another advantage, which the prefent collection poffeffes unrivaled, and that is, the great number of names of the real authors of the fongs, prefixed to their respective performances.

By those who, in reading the prefent collection, shall happen to remark the careful omiffion of all Scotifh fongs, it may be expected that the editor fhould give fome reafons why no pieces of that denomination, many of which are univerfally allowed to poffefs the higheft degree of poetical merit, have been inferted. It might, perhaps, be fufficient, on this occafion, to plead the words of the title, which only promifes ENGLISH Songs; but the editor is not, however, without a further, and, he would willingly hope, a more fatisfactory apology; which is, an intention to prefent the public, at fome future opportunity, with a much better and more perfect collection of fongs ENTIRELY SCOTISH, than any that has been hitherto attempted: he muft, therefor, intreat the patience of fuch of his readers.

W. Whitehead.

as

as are difappointed by, or may happen to complain of the prefent omiffion, till fuch intended publication appear. In the mean time, fhould any pieces of Scotish extraction be discovered in thefe volumes, which there is every reason to think will not be the cafe, he has only to confefs his ignorance of their origin, and to defire better information.

With refpect to the lyric productions of our now fifter-kingdom Ireland, the beft of them have been generally esteemed and ranked as English fongs, being few in number, and poffeffing no national, or other peculiar or diftinguishing marks;* of thefe, however, the number is very few, and that which might be deemed the most exceptionable, the HUNTING SONG at page 168, vol. II. may be well pardoned on account of the fuperior excellence of its compofition to moft others on the fame fubject: this defcription of fongs being, in general, as utterly void of poetry, sense, wit, or humour, as the practice they are intended to celebrate, whether it be the diverfion of the prince or the peafant, is irrational, favage, barbarous, and inhuman†.

T'he

The diftinction between Scotish and English fongs, it is conceived, arises-not from the language in which they are written, for that may be common to both, but- from the country to which they refpectively belong, or of which their authors are natives. This dif crimination does not fo neceffarily or properly apply to Ireland; great part of which was colonifed from this kingdom, and the defcendants of the fettlers, the only civilifed and cultivated inhabitants, have, confequently, been, ever fince, looked upon as English: the native Irish being, to this day, a very different people. Every one has heard of the ENGLISH PALE.

It is hoped, however, that the editors partiality for the truly claffical performance which immediately precedes the laft-mentioned fong, will not be judged inconfiftent with his abhorrence of its fubject. He will avail hisfelf of this opportunity to remark, as rather a whimfical circumstance, that both thefe pieces have been commonly attributed to the ingenious mr. George Alexander Stevens; and, perhaps, with pretty equal juftice: the first of them having been compofed upwards of a century and a half ago, and the other not being inferted in his own publication of Songs comic and fatyrical: the value of which work is not diminished by any tranfpofitions from it into the

b 4

prefent

The infertion of fongs on political topics, the best of which are not only too temporary, but too partial to gain much applaufe when their fubjects are forgotten, and their fatire has loft its force, has here been studiously avoided. A compofition, however, fo humourously pointed as the VICAR OF BRAY, or fo elegant and pathetic as HOSIERS GHOST, may fafely bid defiance to both age and oblivion: the one will continue to move our tendereft paffions, and the other to excite a hearty laugh, fo long as the language in which they are written fhall be more than a name.

Songs on what is called Freemasonry feemed calculated rather to difgrace than to embellish the collection. The most favourite and admired compofitions on this ftrange fubject muft neceffarily appear abfurd, conceited, enigmatic, and unintelligible, to thofe who have not had the fupreme happiness to be initiated into the hallowed myfteries of this venerable fociety: and they who have will know where to find them.

Several pieces of fome antiquity and great merit being here and there inferted, it has been attempted to point them out to the reader, by affixing the fignature O. (old) to thofe which appear to have been compofed, or rather first published, within the courfe of the last century; and the letters V. O. (very old) to fuch as were printed before its commencement; unless the name of the author ferved to afcertain the age of his fong with greater propriety. The orthography of the whole collection will, however, it is believed, (except in a fingle inftance *) be found reduced to a modern, correct and uniform ftandard throughout; fo far, at leaft, as eftablished corruptions, and natural prejudice would eafily permit. It may be, likewife, proper to remark that there is no one fong here published, which was not in print before, although moft of the manufcript

prefen collection; though many of his fpirited Bacchanalian lyrics would have done it the utmost credit, had the editor thought hisfelf at liberty to make use of them.

*Song LII. Part II.

collections

collections in the Harleian and other libraries in the Museum were carefully confulted for materials, without any other fuccefs than as they fometimes afforded an improved reading, of which the editor has in a very few places, where emendation was abfolutely necessary, availed hisfelf. It is not, however, by this meant to affert that no unpublished lyric poetry is to be met with in the above noble repofitories: there is a prodigious quantity: but not a fingle stanza occurred of fufficient merit to mingle with the elegancies of the prefent collection. It would not, perhaps, have been difficult to have procured original pieces in any number; but the editor could not, confiftently with his refpect for the public, obtrude upon them a fingle line, which had not been already ftamped with their approbation, or on the merits of which they had not had an opportunity to decide. This collection does not, therefor, any way interfere with a publication of fuch fongs as have not hitherto been communicated from the prefs.

What is already faid has been entirely confined to the three first parts of the collection; of PART THE FOURTH, therefor, a confiderable, at least interesting portion of the work, not to be found in any former compilation of this nature, it still remains to be spoken. This department is engroffed by a select number, indeed ALL THE BEST, of our old popular tragic legends, and historical or heroic ballads: the genuine effufions of the English mufe, unadulterated with the fentimental refinements of Italy or France. And without thefe (which would by no means affimilate or mix with the more polished contents of the preceding divifions) the collection, as profeffedly defigned to comprehend every fpecies of finging poetry, would, doubtless, have been imperfect. Every piece in this clafs has been tranfcribed from fome old copy, generally in black letter; and has, in most cafes, been collated with various others, preferved in different repofitories. Many of them, however, it must be confeffed, are printed in the Reliques of ancient

Englife

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »