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ADVERTISEMENT
Fanciful as poetical
productions generally are, we naturally look for something more than mere
imaginary painting when the subject turns on national manners or events. It
may therefore be necessary, thus early, to intimate to the critical reader,
that if he expects to find the following Poem founded on some historical
fact, or traditionary testimony, he will be disappointed.—Nor let him
attribute this defect to the negligence or stupidity of the author, but to
those who have most unaccountably deprived him of these valuable sources of
information. Had our early annalists and succeeding historians, instead of
devoting their whole attention to intestine feuds, warfare, and hostilities,
bestowed the tenth part of their labours on the manners, customs, and rural
occupations of our ancestors, an author would have had little to plead in
excuse for having reared a poetical fabric without some solid foundation, or
for having painted national scenes and events, founded chiefly on conjecture
and analogical deduction. Effectually excluded from all information on these
interesting subjects by the, causes just specified, and unfurnished with any
materials for ascertaining the real condition of the Scottish peasantry
during particular periods in our history, the author has availed himself of
the only resources left him, namely, the untutored strains of national
melody and song, or what may not improperly be called the evidence of
national Poetry and Music.
The scope, tendency, and object, therefore, of the following production, are
to describe the united influence of these sister arts in harmonizing the
passions, regulating the affections, and suppressing the turbulence of an
uncivilized and barbarous people. By Music and Poetry is not here meant such
as are usually met with in polished and refined society, but that species of
simple melody and uncultivated song, which, without artificial ornament, or
fastidious correctness, touch the heart with genuine Nature, and awaken the
feelings of sympathy, affection, and love. In addressing the inhabitants of
his native country, who have long felt and acknowledged the influence of
their national music, the author need hardly remark, that the particular
species here alluded to is the Pastoral airs and Lyrical compositions
peculiar to the southern districts of this part of the kingdom, which have
uniformly been considered as the Arcadia of Scotland. From the effects
invariably produced by these tender and passionate productions, the author
was naturally led to think that the progressive improvement of manners and
sentiments, in that once sanguinary quarter, must have been considerably
indebted to their united influence; and although nothing has been
transmitted to establish the fact, or to authorise the conjecture, he is
likewise disposed to think, from a variety of circumstances inseparably
connected with the compositions themselves, that a number of the most-
popular of our southern songs and melodies were produced in consequence of a
material change in the situation or condition of the inhabitants. But, as an
explanation and defence of these opinions come not within the prescribed
limits of a short address, the author must refer the reader to the subjoined
Notes at the end of the Poem, a method which, to avoid a formal preliminary
treatise on our Pastoral Music and Poetry, he has preferred.
It is almost unnecessary to remark, that the frequent change of measure in
the versfication was adopted merely to give corresponding effect to the
different subjects introduced in the Poem. The Spenserian stanza, with all
its advantages for harmony and sententiousness, is, however, apt to become
languid in productions of any length ; and exclusively of the difficulty
annexed to a judicious and musical construction of this measure in our
language, it can never prove favourable to Lyrical composition, which
requires one more light and airy to render the subject sufficiently
interesting.
Edinburgh, December 1808
TO
MRS ARCHIBALD FLETCHER.
My dear Madam,
It will,
no doubt, surprise you much to find your name prefixed to a Poem which you
never saw previous to its publication, and a liberty taken of .which you had
no previous notice. All I can say in my defence is, that having never
dedicated any thing of mine but to those whom Friendship and Worth placed
near my heart, I was unwilling to close my poetical labours without some
public testimony of my regard for one whose virtues I have long known and
admired; and that, impressed with a belief that I should not have obtained
permission to express publicly what sincerity and esteem prompted, I was
constrained to accomplish by stealth, what, I had good reason to think,
modesty would have prohibited. I might, indeed, with equal truth, add, that
in a performance, where the Moral and
Social virtues
arc particularly inculcated, it was natural for an author to look out for a
suitable Patroness, and that, in choosing one as distinguished for her
literary taste as for those accomplishments and talents which render the
female character truly attractive, I have, in the present instance, been not
altogether disinterested.—You know my sincerity too well to call this
flattery. Should you, however, be inclined to think it complimentary, I have
only to assure you, that it comes infinitely short of what all those who are
sufficiently acquainted with your character, and blessed in your society,
say of you daily. —That you may long remain to diffuse the sweets of this
society, and to bestow that unremitting attention which contributes so
essentially to the relief and comforts of humanity, is the ardent wish of,
My dear Madam, your affectionate friend
and faithful servant
H. MACNEILL.
The Pastoral or Lyric Muse of
Scotland
In Three Cantos by Hector MacNeill, Esq. (1808) (pdf) |
