When it is remembered how large an amount of instrumental talent in France has owed its development to the fostering care and excellent system of the _Conservatoire_, a very happy augury may be drawn from the results in this kind that have as yet followed the institution of the English Royal Academy of Music. Supposing this establishment to be rightly and effectively conducted, one of its beneficial consequences as regards the Violin-Students (and that by no means the smallest) will be found in the harmonious unity of feeling and execution that will pervade our orchestras, supplied as they will then mainly be, from the same source. As a general fact, it has been remarked with regret by Spohr, the great German master, that the Violinists of an orchestra never originate from the same School;—the exceptions to this being in the Conservatories of Paris, Prague, and Naples, where the orchestras have been enabled to produce surprising effects, through this unity among the Violinists. * * * * * By way of _tail-piece_ to this chapter, I am tempted to present a brief sketch of an individual in whose hands the Violin, as respects its _lower_ range of capabilities, was long, and most conspicuously, illustrated. Having devoted our attention at some length to the instrument, under its _English_ aspect, shall we refuse a passing glance at the _Scotch_ Fiddle, in the person of one of its most restless and remarkable expositors? NEIL GOW—the head of a race of north-country instrumentalists, and one of the most zealous in the line where Music is the special handmaid of the Dance—was born in Strathband, Perthshire, in the year 1727, of humble parentage. His first efforts were made at the age of nine; but he had no instructor till, at thirteen, he was taken in hand by one John Cameron. Whilst yet a youth, he carried off the prize at a trial of skill among the best performers in that rather out-of-the-way district—on which occasion, one of the minstrels who was the umpire (a blind man) declared that he could distinguish _the stroke of Neil’s bow_ among a hundred players! In process of time, while thus vigorously engaged in working his way, Neil obtained the patronage of the Athol family, and the Duchess of Gordon, whereby he became noticed and sought after in the fashionable world. He was eminent in one department of Scotch national music—the livelier airs belonging to the class of what are called the strathspey and the reel. The characteristic expression of the Highland reel depends materially on the _power of the bow_, and particularly on the upward (or returning) stroke; and herein Neil was truly great—“un homme marquant,” in a two-fold sense. His mode of bowing, indeed, by which he imparted the native Highland _gout_ to certain Highland tunes (such as “Tulloch Gorum” for instance), was never fully attained by any other player. He was accustomed to throw in a