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There is no space in this small manual to enter into a disquisition on the Modes. The reader is referred to such a work as the new edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (vol. iii., p. 222), to Carl Engel’s Study of National Music, and to a most valuable contribution to the subject by Miss A. G. Gilchrist, “Note on the Modal System of Gaelic Tunes,” in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society, vol. iv., No. 16.

The following are given as examples of modal folk-tunes, in the modes most frequently found:—

ONE MOONLIGHT NIGHT Dorian Sung in a “Cante-Fable” One moonlight night, as I sat high, I looked for one, but two came by; The boughs did bend, the leaves did shake, To see the hole the fox did make. [Listen]

THE BONNY LABOURING BOY Noted by Miss L. E. Broadwood Sung by Mr Lough, Surrey Mixolydian As I roved out one eve - ning, being in the blooming spring, I heard a love-ly dam-sel fair most grie-vously did sing,Say-ing “Cru-el were my pa - rents that did me so an - noy.They did not let me mar-ry with my bon-ny la-b’ring boy.” [Listen] CHRISTMAS CAROL AS SUNG IN NORTH YORKSHIRE Æolian Mode God rest you merry, merry gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay,Re- member Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day,To save our souls from Satan’s pow’r that long had gone astray,Oh, tidingsofcomfort andjoy, andjoy,and joy,Oh,tidingsof comfort and joy,andjoy. [Listen]

In addition to modal tunes we have a certain number of folk-airs built upon a “gapped,” or limited, scale of five notes instead of the usual seven. This “pentatonic” scale, which appears to be very characteristic of the primitive music of all nations, was formerly held as an infallible sign of a Scottish origin, and the old recipe to produce a Scottish air was—“stick to the black keys of the piano.” It is quite true that a large number of Scottish melodies have the characteristics of the pentatonic scale, but so also have the Irish tunes, and there are a lesser number that may claim to be English.