ST. KILDA. HIGHLAND MUSIC. 45 



airs of much higher antiquity ; altered and improved 

 by the introduction of passing notes, by slight devia- 

 tions to a more florid style, by the addition of a 

 second strain pursuing the same idea a little further, 

 or by occasional changes of the harmonic basis of the 

 melody still more important. Others are original in 

 every respect, but formed on the same system; while 

 many bear the marks of additional refinement, bor- 

 rowed, either from the Italian style of ballad, or from 

 other compositions of a similar character which happened 

 to prevail at the time they were written. Musicians who 

 may be inclined to examine this subject, will find little 

 difficulty in doing it for themselves ; with a few excep- 

 tions, the internal evidence is of such a nature that it 

 cannot easily be mistaken. 



I am aware that the preceding opinions are at variance 

 with a notion which has prevailed respecting the origin 

 of the Scottish pastoral music. It has been supposed to 

 have been introduced by James the First : the claims of 

 Rizzio having been for some time abandoned. But in 

 tracing the airs in their gradual progress to refinement, 

 there is no indication of a chasm in their style : certainly 

 at least, none of so distant a date. Still less can any 

 distant period be discovered in which a new style of 

 melody, or any decided and complete change in the cha- 

 racter of the national music, was introduced. A few com- 

 positions of ancient date undoubtedly exist, which, com- 

 pared with the prevailing airs of the same day, are evi- 

 dently of a superior character ; but these are exceptions, 

 and have not generated a style. They may have been the 

 occasional productions of individuals who had cultivated a 

 better class of music ; possibly some of them have even 

 been the composition of that monarch; and it is not 

 improbable that, like others, he may have contributed to 

 the refinement of the national taste. But that which 

 at present is peculiarly esteemed the pastoral style, seems 

 to have originated chiefly in the last century; partly from 



