The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume 1

The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume 1. - The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century

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 Gal 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 songhitherto partially obscured by untoward circumstances, or on account of their own diffidenceand 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 songthe more esteemed lyrical compositions of the various bards being printed[Pg vi] 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-[Pg vii]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: ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 18396
Author: Rogers, Charles
Release Date: May 15, 2006
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Rogers, Charles, 1825-1890