Our Ancient National Airs: Scottish Song Collecting from the Enlightenment to the Romantic Era by Karen McAulay (review)

This is a book of scope and ambition. Its title is, of course, drawn from one of the earlier collections, just in case some reader might imagine that McAulay believes in the ancients. Primarily academic in its approach, with many a footnote, and following as near dispassionate a line as the subject matter can bear, McAulay has provided the reader with something approaching a comprehensive guide to a complex subject. Her writing style is eminently readable, though her scholarship has perhaps inhibited her wit in a subject which offers many opportunities for its exercise.

The different attitudes to the gathering, appropriation, dissemination and even invention of 'Scottish song' is itself a study of many a human foible, to which McAulay duly draws attention in a chapter entitled 'Invention or Fakery?'. Her approach combines the chronological with topics such as 'Increasing the Knowledge and Improving the Taste', the wry title of which is balanced by 'Paratextual Imagery and Metaphors' — the latter apt to chill one's enthusiasm until one dives in and discovers in McAulay a sure and percipient guide, discussing the introductory matter and general ponti¢cating of collectors. This gives a clue to the overall tenor of her work — namely that it is as much, if not more, a study of literary and social trends than it is of musical ones. The crucial word in the title is 'Collecting' — a term which includes, but is anything but confined to, field-work. Many publications of Scottish song described themselves as collections, which is precisely what they were, but their editors' labours were frequently in the library and bookshop rather than the field.

Given the amount of detail, McAulay's chapter divisions and headings are well managed, and there is much here that would be hard to find elsewhere. Burns and Scott are naturally central to the discussion, though Tannahill might have earned more coverage. She has given William Stenhouse (and his relationship with James Hogg) excellent treatment, here and elsewhere bringing to life many an editorial spat, commercial rivalry and dispute over aesthetic claims. The chapter 'The Feelings of a Scotsman' handles the disputes between the Englishman, William Chappell, and Scottish collectors and editors such as Wighton and Davie, with balanced judgement. It is possible to weary of such bygone turf wars, but this is revealing stuff and casts interesting light on the personalities of the time as well as on their preconceptions and agendas. As such, the book is a most useful source of primary information, gathered from letters and the like, but it is not the kind of book that is easily read from cover to cover, and many readers may prefer to use it more as a reference book than as a narrative account: for them, a more comprehensive index would have been a boon. For example, while 'bards' merit an entry, 'Gaelic' does not, although the chapter 'Preserving the Highland Heritage' focuses on the MacDonald brothers and Mac-Pherson. The former published no lyrics, though titles were usually in Gaelic; the latter published no music. This might have borne more comment as it bears directly upon the acceptability or otherwise of the Gaelic language, as well as the function of the MacDonalds' publications, which McAulay points out were supported by a more aristocratic patronage than some of the Lowland collections. The same applies to Simon Fraser's publication, innocent of any lyrics. With Campbell's Albyn's Anthology, which includes many Gaelic lyrics, that extraordinary omission was dealt with after a fashion: but it relied upon the reputation and many contributions of Sir Walter Scott to bolster its aims. McAulay's treatment of Campbell is, however, full of interest.

Inevitably, in a work this ambitious, there are omissions and choices of emphasis one might wish to question. Oswald's influential Caledonian Pocket Companion, though without lyrics, includes (amongst over 550 airs) a huge number of song airs...