of lessons on the violoncello, as a player of which he made his first public appearance. In 1782 he was appointed one of his majesty's trumpeters for Scotland, having to attend royal proclamations, and to accompany the justiciary judges on their circuits. In 1791 he became leader of the band formerly conducted by m'Glashan. This band was in great request, and his memorandum books show that as much as a hundred and fifty guineas was occasionally paid for their services. He was frequently called to London, and on most of these occasions he had an invitation to play at private parties given by George IV, then Prince of Wales. In Edinburgh he had an extensive connection as a teacher of the violin and pianoforte, and commanded the highest fees in the profession. At one time he is said to have been worth upwards of 20,000l., accumulated solely from the proceeds of his balls and teaching. He started business as a music-seller on two separate occasions, first in 1796, in company with William Shepherd, and next in company with his son Niel. The later enterprise was unsuccessful, and in 1827 Gow became a bankrupt. He was in bad health; his friends raised a considerable sum by a ball for his benefit, and the noblemen of the Caledonian Hunt voted him besides an annuity of 50l. He died on 17 Jan. 1831, and was buried in Greyfriars churchyard, Edinburgh. Gow was twice married, and had a large family, one of whom was Niel, the composer of the popular air known as ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ (‘Cam'ye by Athol?’). Niel had been educated for the medical profession, but abandoned it in favour of music. He died in 1823.
As a violinist Nathaniel Gow had all the spirit and fire of his father, whom he greatly excelled in the performance of music of a slow and plaintive character. In Scotch dance music he was unapproached. He was a voluminous composer; upwards of two hundred original melodies were published by him during his life, and many were left in manuscript. While his father lived he assisted him in bringing out three volumes of music, published as the works of ‘Niel Gow & Son.’ He subsequently issued a fourth, fifth, and sixth ‘Collection’ of strathspeys and reels; three volumes of ‘Beauties’ (a reprint of the best airs in the first three collections, with additions); four volumes of a ‘Repository’ of Scots slow airs, strathspeys, and dances; two volumes of Scottish vocal melodies; two volumes of slow airs, dances, waltzes, &c., and a collection of ancient curious Scots melodies, besides many smaller publications arranged for harp, pianoforte, violin, and violoncello.
[Chambers's Eminent Scotsmen, 1855, ii. 482; Grove's Dict. i. 615, where he is erroneously spoken of as the eldest son of Niel Gow.]
GOW, NIEL (1727–1807), Scotch violinist and composer, was born at Inver, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, on 22 March 1727. His father was a plaid weaver, and at first intended the boy to follow his calling. At a very early age he showed a decided talent for music, and at nine began to practise the violin. Up to the age of thirteen he was self-instructed, but about that time he took lessons from John Cameron, a retainer of Sir George Stewart of Grandtully, under whom he made rapid progress. He was first heard of as a player in 1745, when he carried off the prize in a public competition. Living near Dunkeld House, he early attracted the attention of the Athole family, through whom he was gradually introduced to the leading nobility of Scotland, and employed at fashionable parties. His fame soon reached London, whither he was frequently called to play Scotch dance music. He lived on terms of great familiarity with his social superiors. The Duke of Athole often walked arm in arm with him in Edinburgh, and when at home he was frequently visited by the gentlemen of the county. In the autumn of 1787 Burns met him at Dunkeld, and the poet describes him as ‘a short, stout-built, honest Highland figure, with his greyish hair shed on his honest social brow; an interesting face, marking strong sense, kind open-heartedness, mixed with unmistrusting simplicity.’ Gow is popularly, but it would seem erroneously, believed to have been a man of intemperate habits (see M'Knight). He retained his faculties to the last, and continued to play till within a year or two of his death, which took place at Inver on 1 March 1807. He was buried at Little Dunkeld, where a marble tablet marks his grave. He was twice married, and had by his first wife, Margaret Wiseman, five sons and three daughters. One of the sons died early; the other four, William, John, Andrew, and Nathaniel [q. v.], all acquired a reputation as violin-players in the same style as their father. Four portraits of Gow were painted by Sir Henry Raeburn; one is now in the County Rooms, Perth, another is in the possession of the Duke of Athole, and a third is held by the Dalhousie family. A mezzotint by Say has been called ‘the perfection of a likeness’ (Drummond). All his portraits show him dressed in tight tartan knee-breeches and hose, and holding his violin in the old manner, with the chin resting on the inner side of the tail-piece.
As a player of Scotch dance music, espe-
