34 8T. KILDA. -HIGHLAND MUSIC. 



of common place and tasteless flourishes, offensive to the 

 ear by their excess, and adding to the original confusion 

 instead of embellishing the little air which the groundwork 

 may possess. 



The other class of compositions is of a distinct cha- 

 racter, and commonly of a plaintive nature ; being divisible 

 alto into a regufor number of accented bars. These are 

 often in a minor key ; while the melodies are so little 

 varied that it requires some experience in them to dis- 

 cover the difference among a great number. The more 

 ancient appear to have consisted of one strain only : the 

 second strain so often found attached to them at present, 

 and invariably attending the more modem compositions of 

 the same nature, is generally a more recent addition; 

 wandering commonly through a greater extent of the scale, 

 and not often a very felicitous extension of the same idea. 

 In some cases these airs appear to be purely instrumental ; 

 in others, they are attached to poetry and sung by the 

 milkmaid at her summer shealing or the cowherd on 

 the green bank. One peculiar circumstance attends 

 nearly the whole; namely, that they equally admit of 

 being played in quick time. Thus they are often also the 

 dancing tunes of the country ; nor is there any essential 

 distinction between the reel and the pathetic air; the 

 same character, and even the same melody, pervading 

 both. Exceptions to this general rule need not be noticed 

 at present, as the nature and causes of these will shortly 

 appear. 



It is well known to musicians, that the Scottish airs of 

 genuine character are composed on a scale which does not 

 contain the fourth and seventh of the modern diatonic scale 

 of music. From this is derived the peculiarity by which 

 they are immediately recognised, as well as their general 

 similarity ; nor is it possible to move through a succes- 

 sion of these intervals, without producing the semblance 

 of a Scottish air. The same scale, it has been long 

 known, is in use among the Chinese, and hence the 



