Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern (Volume 2); With an Historical Introduction and Notes - William Motherwell

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1846 Excerpt: ... CHILD NORICE, ETC. Of the many ancient ballads which have been preserved by tradition among the Peasantry of Scotland, none has excited more interest in the world of letters than the beautiful and pathetic tale of " Gil Morice "; and this, no less on account of its own intrinsic merits as a piece of exquisite poetry, than of its having furnished the plot of the justly celebrated tragedy of Douglas. It has likewise supplied Mr. Langhorne with the principal materials from which he has woven the fabric of his sweet, though prolix, poem of "Owen of Carron"; and Mr. Jamieson mentions that it has also "been made the subject of a dramatic entertainment, with songs, by Mr. Rannie of Aberdeen." f Perhaps the list could be easily increased of those who have drawn their inspiration from this affecting strain of Olden Minstrelsy. "When this tragedy was originally produced at Edinburgh, in 1756, the title of the heroine was Lady Barnard: the alteration to Lady Randolph was made on its being transplanted to London." It was acted in Covent Garden in 1757. Biographia Dramatica, Vol. II., p. 175. t Popular Ballads and Songs. Edinburgh, 1806, Vol. I., p. 5. "It has been thought," says the writer of The Statistical Account of St. Ninians, "though it cannot be certainly determined, that the Earl's burn, the Earl's hill, a hill and rivulet in the muirland part of the parish, derived their names from the residence of some feudal Baron, or Earl, in the neighbourhood of the Carron. It is natural to suppose that Gillies hill, another hill in the muirland part of the parish, derives its name from the name Gill, or Gillies. The names both of Gillies and Morrison occur in the muirlands. It is certain that the fair lady, mother of Gil Morice, ' lived on the Carronside.' This union of f...