Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/142

488 in their case at any rate, genius and talent were hereditary. Although Neil was born, and lived the whole of a long life in a small village in the Highlands of Perthshire, with no ambition for the honours and advancement which, in general, are only to be obtained by a residence in great cities ; and although he was in a manner a self-taught artist, and confined his labours chiefly to what may be considered a subordinate branch of the profession of music; yet he acquired a notoriety and renown beyond what w r as destined to many able and scientific professors, of whom hundreds have flourished and been forgotten since his time, while his name continues, especially in Scotland, familiar as a household word.

Many causes contributed to this. The chief ones, no doubt, were his unquestioned skill in executing the national music of Scotland, and the genius he displayed in the composition of a great number of beautiful melodies. But these were enhanced in no small degree by other accessory causes. There was a peculiar spirit, and Celtic character and enthusiasm, which he threw into his performances, and which distinguished his bow amid the largest band. His appearance, too, was prepossessing—his countenance open, honest, and pleasing—his figure compact and manly, which was shown to advantage in the tight tartan knee-breeches and hose, which he always wore. There was also an openness and eccentricity in his manner, which, while it was homely, easy, and unaffected, was at the same time characterised by great self-possession and downrightness, and being accompanied by acute penetration into the character and peculiarities of others, strong good sense, and considerable quaintness and humour, and above all, by a perfect honesty and integrity of thought and action, placed him on a footing of familiarity and independence in the presence of the proudest of the land, which, perhaps, no one in his situation ever attained, either before or since. Many who never heard him play, and who are even unacquainted with his compositions, fired by the accounts of those who lived in his time, talk to this day of Neil Gow as if they had tripped a thousand times to his spirit-stirring and mirth- inspiring strains.

Living in the immediate neighbourhood of Dunkeld house, he was early noticed and distinguished by the duke of Athol and his family, which was soon followed by the patronage of the duchess of Gordon, and the principal nobility and gentry throughout Scotland. But while his permanent residence was at Inver, near Dunkeld, he was not only employed at all the balls and fashionable parties in the county, but was in almost constant requisition at the great parties which took place at Perth, Cupar, Dumfries, Edinburgh, and the principal towns in Scotland. So necessary was he on such occasions, and so much was his absence felt, that at one time, when indisposition prevented him attending the Cupar Hunt, the preses called on every lady and gentleman present to "dedicate a bumper to the better health of Neil Gow, a true Scottish character, whose absence from the meeting, no one could sufficiently regret." We have already said, that he lived on terms of great familiarity with his superiors, in whose presence he spoke his mind and cracked his jokes, unawed by either their rank or wealth indeed, they generally delighted in drawing out his homely, forcible, and humorous observations; and while he, in turn, allowed all good humoured freedoms with himself, he at the same time had sufficient independence to repel any undue exhibition of aristocratic hauteur, and has brought the proud man to his cottage with the white flag of peace and repentance, before he would again consent to "wake the minstrel string" in his halls. With the duke of Athol and his family, a constant, kindly, and familiar intercourse was kept up; indeed, so much did the duke keep his rank in abeyance when Neil was concerned, that, when the latter was sitting for his portrait to the late Six