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FAMOUS SONGS
subsequent sets of verses." Of no air could this be more truly said than the one in question, which is so ancient as to defy the discovery of its origin. It has been traced back to 1512, when it is mentioned by Gavin, Bishop of Dun-keld, as being a favourite song with the people, under the name of " Now the Day Dawis," and is referred to by Dunbar in ridicule of some half-hearted minstrels:
' < Your commone minstralis has no tune But ' Now the Day Dawis' and 'Into June.'"
Alexander Montgomerie wrote fresh words to the air, and in the reign of James IV. it was printed in a Lute Book of " Ayres," which seems to suggest that the music was either by a French-man or an Italian attached to the Court, for it was customary to have English, French, Italian, and Irish minstrels employed at the Scottish Court from, at any rate, 1474 to 1550 and later. In later times it received the inexplicable title of " Hey Tuttie, Taitie." Many have tried to solve the mystery of this enigma, but without any notable success. And it is worse than use-less to make guesses where there is so little foundation to work upon. In Jacobite days it reappeared (about 1718) as "Here's to the King, Sirs," and was published by Thomson in
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