The Balcarres lute manuscript is probably the single most important source of Scottish lute music; certainly it is the most extensive, containing well over 200 pages of music. A priceless snapshot of popular Scottish music at the turn of the 18th century, a feature of Balcarres is the elaborated and often extended nature of the settings, as compared with the earlier Scottish lute manuscripts mentioned. This is clearly due to the violinistic origin of many of the settings, and increases both the interest and difficulty of the music