Excerpt from Ancient Scotish Melodies: From a Manuscript of the Reign of King James Vi;, With an Introductory Enquiry, Illustrative of the History of the Music of Scotland While the translation into modern musical characters of this curious Manuscript is the work of a gentleman whose long experience, and well-known scientific and practical attainments, form a sufficient guarantee for the fidelity, the judgment, and the accuracy, with which that duty has been performed, a few words of explanation may be necessary on behalf of the Editor, by whom the preparation of the following Dissertation and Notes has been undertaken. Could he have formed any previous idea of the labour and research which it required, he would at once have deferred to some individual better qualified than himself to do it justice; and, had it not been that his deficiencies were, in some degree, supplied by the liberal assistance which he has been so fortunate as to receive from many who have distinguished themselves in the field of archaeological research, and the free and unreserved access which he has been permitted to many interesting original documents, both printed and manuscript, he would scarcely have ventured to give publicity to the result of his labours; the more especially, as other avocations of a graver sort have greatly circumscribed the leisure which he has had it in his power to devote to the subject. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.