Note 8 — INTRODUCTORY.

“That patchwork of blasphemy, absurdity, and gross obscenity, which the zeal of an early Reformer spawned under the captivating title of Ane Compendvious Booke of Godlie and Spiritvall Songs”—vide Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern: Glasgow, 1827—Introduction, p. lix. Motherwell’s criticism is neither accurate nor just. There were more than one Reformer at the making of the “Gude and Godlie Ballates,” and probably many readers will prefer the words of another writer who says the hymns “quickened and refreshed the little companies of evangelical Christians that struggled for religious reform.” Blasphemy, absurdity, and obscenity were, doubtless, far removed from the minds of many early readers of these quaint broadsides.