knows, these three qualities--namely the instrumental, the decorative and the rhythmic--have stamped themselves indelibly on all Hungarian folk-music. The Gypsies tend to mutilate a tune past recognition by their wanton decoration. But when they are able to keep their instinct in control they leave the melody glittering with decorative richness but firm and vigorous in outline. The chief external characteristic of the Hungarian melodies,--their accented grace-note (a feature scarcely to be found in any other folk-music the world over, except to a smaller degree in the Scotch)--is said to come from the character of the Hungarian language, which is inclined to heavily accented first syllables. A more probable explanation would be that it comes from the nature of the violin, on which most of these melodies were doubtless composed. For in the case of a short grace-note, the violinist’s bow has hardly time to take a new stroke between the grace-note and the chief note; hence both are taken on one stroke, and as the beginning of the stroke is the natural place for the accent the grace-note, however short, tends to take on all the accent of a true first note of the rhythmic measure. Yet such abstract discussion is empty in the face of the melodies themselves. Many of these are songs and excellent ones--whether composed for the words originally or fitted out with words later makes little difference. And many of them are distinctly singable, though they demand a robust vocal mechanism such as few parlor-trained singers possess. But whether sung or not they are all glorified dances. The _rubato_ may be elaborate, but the feeling of rhythm is always present. Many of the songs preserve the form of the national dance, the Czardas, beginning with a slow Lassan and ending with the violent Friska, as in the Hungarian Rhapsodies. There may be pauses and cadenzas between the two, there may be pauses and long _ritardandos_ in the body of the dance itself (as frequently in the well-known Brahms arrangements of Hungarian dances), but the firm rhythmic sense is always there.