SONGS

AND

CORRESPONDENCE.

WE COME now to the correspondence between Burns and Thomson on the subject of northern music and song. In the autumn of 1792 the latter planned his truly elegant and adventurous work, entitled: "A select Collection of original Scottish Airs; to which are added Symphonies and Accompaniments by Pleyel and Kozeluck, with characteristic Verses by the most esteemed Scottish Poets ;" and as Burns was the only poet of that period worthy of the name, he was instantly applied to. He had, as has been amply shewn in the last volume, contri

buted largely to the "Musical Museum" of Johnson, and was still composing for it: the work of Thomson presented something more worthy of his ambition, and he promised his aid with an enthusiasm and alacrity peculiar to himself. The songs were all to be published with the names of the authors; and as the new lyrics were sure to be compared with those which they superseded, there was a twofold claim upon the Poet for his purest and happiest musings.

"The undertaking of Thomson," says Currie, "is one on which the public may be congratulated in various points of view; not merely as having collected the finest of the Scottish songs and airs of past times, but as having given occasion to a number of original songs of our Bard, which equal or surpass the former efforts of the pastoral muses of Scotland; and which, if we mistake not, may be safely compared with the lyric poetry of any age or country. The letters of Burns to Thomson include the songs he presented to him, some of which appear in different stages of their progress; and these letters will be found to exhibit occasionally his notions of song writing, and his opinions on various

subjects of taste and criticism. These opinions, it will be observed, were called forth by the observations of his correspondent; and without the letters of the latter, those of Burns would have been often unintelligible."

The reasons which influenced Currie in printing the letters of Thomson along with those of the Poet are equally strong now. The opinions of Burns, though generally given spontaneously, were now and then forced from him by the criticisms of his friend. It may be remarked, generally, that the former always thought and felt as a poetthe latter as a musician; one was chiefly solicitous about the weight of the sense- -the other about the beauty of the sound. The changes which "Wandering Willie" and the "Address of Bruce to his troops" underwent will bear out this remark, and perhaps induce some to wonder how one so fiery and intractable in most matters should have become so soft and mild to fiddlers and bagpipers. The poetry which is written for music must, it is true, be measured in another way than that which is for perusal only. The emphatic notes of the music must find an echo in the emphatic words of

the verse; and words soft and liquid are far fitter for ladies' lips than words rough and hissing. It is nevertheless certain that language at once emphatic and harmonious is not easily summoned into lyric verse; and it is quite as true that, in substituting a melodious for a harsher word, the sentiment is often crushed out by the experiment. A certain happiness of language as well as of thought is demanded by the lyric muse, and no one had this in greater perfection than Burns-a truth which the reader will easily discover for himself in the course of the ensuing correspondence.

SIR:

No. I..

G. THOMSON TO BURNS.

Edinburgh, September, 1792.

FOR some years past I have, with a friend or two, employed many leisure hours in selecting and collating the most favorite of our national melodies for publication. We have engaged Pleyel, the most agreeable composer living, to put accompaniments to these, and also to compose an instrumental prelude and conclusion to each air, the better to fit them for concerts, both public and private. To render this work perfect, we are desirous to have the poetry improved, wherever it seems unworthy of the music; and that it is so in many instances, is allowed by every one conversant with our musical collections. The editors of these seem in general to have depended on the music proving an excuse for the verses; and hence, some charming melodies are united to mere nonsense and doggrel, while others are accommodated with rhymes so loose and indelicate, as cannot be sung in decent company. To remove this reproach would be an easy task to the author of the "Cotter's Saturday Night ;" and, for the honour of Caledonia, I would fain hope he may be induced to take up the pen. If so, we shall be enabled to present the public with a collection, infinitely more interesting than any that has yet