Page:The Book of Scottish Song.djvu/11

Rh him with their correspondence, he has, besides, been fortunate. To Captain Charles Gray, R.M., in particular, he has been largely indebted for many valuable communications on the subject of Scottish song—a subject on which the Captain's enthusiasm and information go hand in hand—as well as for pointing out and furnishing a number of useful authorities. He has also to express his obligations to Alexander Laing, Esq., David Vedder, Esq., Patrick Maxwell, Esq., Thomas C. Latto, Esq., Robert White, Esq., Dr. Andrew Crawford, and various other correspondents in a lesser degree, for serviceable information in the course of his labours.

contains, in all, somewhere about songs; and it is presumed that every standard lyric in the language—every song of established reputation—is included within its pages. Some omissions may possibly have been made; but the Editor trusts that they are of a very unimportant character. A large number of the songs in the collection are taken from hitherto unexplored sources, and may be considered (to use Coleridge's phrase) 'as good as manuscript.' Another portion, though not so large, are bona fide 'originals,' that is to say, they have the claim to originality at least, in having been here first printed. Of this portion, about in all, many, it is confidently trusted, will be admitted even by the most fastidious, to possess very superior merit, while the whole, though forming but a subordinate feature of the work, will be found, it is hoped, to add no inconsiderable or unworthy heap to the lofty and ever-accumulating cairn of Scottish song.

In this preliminary notice, it was originally intended to have entered somewhat at large into the history of the lyric poetry of the country; but the demands upon the space of the work, as it drew to a close, for the insertion