4 { J ST. KILDA. HIGHLAND MUSIC. 



pathetic and the lively, the pastoral airs of the Tweed, 

 and even the melodies of the border, would thus equally 

 appear to have been originally founded on the bagpipe. 

 The truth of that opinion will be confirmed by an analysis 

 of these airs ; in which the same scale exists, and which 

 consist of the same set of musical phrases under slight 

 modifications. It will often indeed be found, as already 

 remarked respecting the ancient melodies themselves, that 

 the same air which is now known as a Lowland pathetic 

 composition, is also a Highland dancing tune; and so 

 common is this diversity of application of any single 

 melody, that it is now impossible to conjecture whether, 

 in the hands of the original composer, such an air was 

 intended to convey the idea of joy or sorrow ; whether 

 it was originally united to words of a pathetic or of a 

 humourous cast. Association is, in this case, every thing ; 

 musical expression, abstractedly considered, appearing to 

 be often of so vague a character, as to be readily con- 

 vertible by mere alteration in the rapidity of the perform- 

 ance ; and still more readily, like the sense-echoing sounds 

 of verse, capable of adapting itself to the meaning of the 

 associated words. 



From the same cause to which is owing the peculiar 

 expression of the Scottish airs, arise also their defects ; 

 the imperfect nature of their scale rendering them inca- 

 pable of receiving a regular harmony, or of admitting any 

 variety of accompaniment consistently with the rules of 

 good composition. At the same time, they frequently 

 offend a modern ear by their unwarrantable transitions, 

 by the imperfection of their closes, and by the illegiti- 

 mate succession of implied chords which occasionally 

 occur in their melodies. 



In attempting to apply these general principles to the 

 present extensive catalogue of airs ranked in the national 

 list, numerous exceptions unavoidably arise. But an air 

 is not proved to be national, by being placed in a national 

 list; nor is it now possible, amid the innumerable com- 

 positions of a mixed, or of no character, which harp 



