first professional appearance, it is believed, was in the band conducted by king
M'Glashan, in which he played the violoncello. After the death of M'Glashan,
he continued under his elder brother William Gow, who succeeded as leader, a
situation for which he was well fitted by his bold and spirited style; but having
been cutoff about the year 1791, at the early age of forty, Nathaniel took his
place, and maintained it for nearly forty years, with an eclat and success far
beyond any thing that ever preceded or followed him.
So early as 1782, when he could not have been more than sixteen years of age, Gow was appointed one of his majesty's trumpeters for Scotland, a situation which required only partial attendance and duty, being called on only to officiate at royal proclamations, and to accompany the justiciary judges on their circuits for a few weeks, thrice in each year. The salary is small, but it is made up by handsome allowances for travelling expenses, so that in all it may yield the holder about £70 per annum. This situation he held to the day of his death, although during some of his later years, he was forced to employ a substitute, who drew a considerable portion of the emoluments
He had for many years previously, by assuming the lead of the fashionable bands, become known not only as an excellent violin player, but as a successful teacher, and as having arranged and prepared for publication the first three numbers of the collection of reels and strathspeys published by his father. So much, however, and so quickly did he advance in reputation after this, and so generally did he become acquainted with the great and fashionable world, that in 1796, without giving up or abating his lucrative employment as leader, he commenced business as a music-seller on an extensive scale, in company with the late Mr Wm. Shepherd; and for fifteen or sixteen years, commanded the most extensive business perhaps ever enjoyed by any house in the line in Scotland. In 1813, however, after his partner's death, the business was wound up, and whatever profits he may have drawn during the subsistence of the partnership, he was obliged to pay up a considerable shortcoming at its close.
It was in 1799 that he continued the work commenced by his father and himself; and from that time till 1824, in addition to the three first collections, and two books of Slow Airs, Dances, Waltzes, &c., he published a fourth, fifth, and sixth Collection of Strathspeys and Reels; three volumes of Beauties, being a re-publication of the best airs in the three first collections, with additions, four volumes of a Repository of Scots Slow Airs, Strathspeys, and Dances two volumes of Scots Vocal Melodies, and a Collection of Ancient Curious Scots Melodies, besides a great many smaller publications, all arranged by himself for the harp, piano forte, violin, and violoncello. During the life of his father, he was assisted by him, and the first numbers were published as the works of Neil Gow and Son. Many collections had been published previously by ingenious individuals, the best of which, perhaps, was that of Oswald; but Gow's collections, beyond all dispute, are the most extensive and most complete ever submitted to the public; embracing not only almost all that is good in others, but the greater part of the compositions of Neil and Nathaniel Gow, and other members of that musical family.
After an interval of a few years, Gow commenced music-seller once more, in company with his only son Neil, a young man of amiable and cultivated mind, who had received a finished education at Edinburgh and Paris for the profession of surgeon, but who, finding no favourable opening in that overstocked calling, and having a talent and love for music, abandoned it and joined his father. This young gentleman, who was the composer of the beautiful melody of "Bonny Prince Charlie," and a great many others, was not long spared to his father and friends, having been cut off by a lingering disease in 1823. The
