INTRODUCTION.
Most writers upon tlie subject of Scottisli song and music
have hitherto drawn a marked distinction between England
and Scotland. They have considered the people on the two
sides of the Tweed to be quite distinct — each with a music and
a literature as well as opinions of its own. While it has been
impossible for any writer to deny that England possessed a
literature exclusively of English growth, of which it might well
be proud, and of the whole benefit of which Scotland has been
the partaker, it has been very generally denied that England
possessed any music worthy of the name. On the other hand,
honours have been heaped upon Scotland, both for her litera-
ture and for her music, which, though by no means undeserved,
a