Annotation:Lord Melville's Welcome to Strathearn

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LORD MELVILLE'S WELCOME TO STRATHEARN. Scottish. Composed by Peter Bowie (1763-1846), brother of Perth musician, composer and music seller Biography:John Bowie. John Melish, writing in his travel journal Travels through the United States of America in the years 1806 & 1807, and 1809, 1810, & 1811: including an account of passages betwixt America & Britain, and travels through the various parts of Britain, Ireland, and Canada: with corrections and improvements till 1815 (1815, pp. 53-54), reminisces:

For my own part, I was passionately fond of Scottish music I and dancing, from the earliest period of my remembrance; and we had most delectable music in the parish. There was a ?? of the name of John Bowie, who played delightfully on the fiddle; and his brother Peter was equally celebrated on the bass. They performed at all the weddings round, and a wedding could not be held without music and dancing. To these it was the fashion for the young boys, for many miles round, to go; and I never failed to embrace every opportunity that presented itself. Often, on a stormy winter night, have I walked three or four miles, plashing away through "dub and mire;" but the moment that the sound of the fiddle reached my ears, it would set my heart a capering so, that I could hardly withstand the temptation to dance in the open fields, a quarter of a mile distant from the scene of action.


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