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FAMOUS SONGS
though claimed by the Scotch, is of pure Irish creation, and dates from the seventeenth century. Alfred MofFatt says, in "Minstrelsy of Scotland," that the tune is printed in Adam Craig's " A Collection cf the Choicest Scots Tunes/' Edin-burgh, 1730. Even so, but it was published twenty-four years earlier in Ireland. Mrs. Oliphant, in her entertaining " Memorial of Principal Tulloch," says, speaking of Tulloch's predecessor at St. Mary's, ". . . . and Dr. Ten-nant of merry memory,—the author of' Maggie Lauder' and ' Anster Fair,' not perhaps to be described as academical productions—that of Hebrew/' meaning that he held the Chair. Now it is very certain that Dr. Tennant did not write the Scottish version of "Maggie Lauder," and it is doubtful whether Francis Semple of Beltres, who is credited with the authorship, was capable of turning out such a song, judging by his other productions, the style of which is entirely dif-ferent from " Maggie." But the original" Maggie Laidir" was not Scottish at all; the first authen-tic published appearance of the song in Scot-land was in 1776 in "Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs," while the Irish " Maggy" was printed in 1706 as stated by Hardiman in his " Irish Minstrelsy" (1831). Its antiquity is also vouched for by Walker. It was written by John
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