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Author had treated it at more length, as he seems well qualified for profecuting fuch enquiries with success.

In the four remaining difcourfes, he confiders the uses that mankind make of thofe advantages which they poffefs above the reft of the animal creation, and which are principally derived from reason, the focial principle, tafte, and religion. He then proceeds to confider the effects which a fuperior understanding has in promoting the happiness of the individual, and to point out fome of the inconveniencies that attend it. The bulk of mankind, he observes, look upon a person of distinguished genius with that awe and diftant regard that is inconfiftent with confidence and friendship. They never unbofom themselves to one they are afraid of, nor lay open their weaknesses to one they think has none of his own. For this reason we commonly find men of genius have the greatest real affection and friendship for fuch as are very much their inferiors in point of understanding; goodnatured, unobserving people, with whom they can indulge all their peculiarities and weakneffes without referve. Men of great abilities therefore, our Author fays, who prefer the sweets of focial life and private friendship to the vanity of being admired, muft carefully conceal their fuperiority, and bring themselves down to the level of those they converfe with. Neither must this feem to be the effect of a defigned condefcenfion; for this is fill more mortifying to human pride than the other.

In regard to the focial principle, he obferves, that it does not appear to have any natural connexion with the understanding; that perfons of the best understanding poffefs it frequently in a very inferior degree to the reft of mankind; and that the idle, the diffipated, and the debauched, draw most pleasure from it. Not only their pleasures but their vices are often of the focial kind. This makes the focial principle warm and vigorous, and hence perhaps there is more friendship among them than among men of any other clafs, though confidering the flightness of its foundation, fuch friendship cannot be fuppofed to be very lafting. Even drinking, our Author obferves, is found favourable to friendship, especially in northern climates, where the affections are naturally cold; as it produces an artificial warmth of temper, opens and enlarges the heart, and difpels the referve natural perhaps to wife men, but inconfiftent with friendship, which is entirely a connexion of the heart.

The advantages derived to mankind from tafte, by which, fays our Author, is meant the improvement of the powers of the ima gination, are confined, he obferves, to a very fmall number. The fervile condition of the bulk of mankind requires conftant labour, for their daily fubfiftence. This of neceffity deprives them of the means of improving the powers either of imagination or of reason, except in fo far as their particular employments make

fuch

fuch an improvement neceflary. Yet there is great reason to think men of this clafs the happieft, at least fuch of them as are raised above want. If they do not enjoy the pleasures arifing from the proper culture of the higher powers of their nature, they are free from the mifery confequent upon the abuse of these powers. They are likewife in full poffeffion of one great fource of human happiness, which is good health and good fpirits. Their fpirits never languish for want of exercise, and therefore the tadium vita, the infupportable liftleffnefs arifing from the want of an object, fomething to wifh, or fomething to fear, is unknown among them.

Our Author goes on to obferve, that the only powers of the mind, that have been much cultivated in this Ifland, are those of the understanding. One unhappy confequence of this, he fays, has been to diffolve the natural union between philofophy and the fine arts: an union extremely neceffary to their improvement. The influence of mufic over the mind, he obferves, is perhaps greater than that of any of the fine arts; and yet the effects produced by it are inconfiderable. This, we are told, is entirely owing to its being in the hands of practical Musicians, and not under the direction of taste and philofophy; for in order to give music any extenfive influence over the mind, the compofer and performer must be well acquainted with the human heart, the various affociations of the paffions, and the natural tranfitions from one to another, fo as to enable him to command them in confequence of his skill in musical expreffion.

As our ingenious Author treats this fubject with more precifion than any other which hath fallen under his confideration, we need make no apology for inferting part of what he has advanced on this head.

Mufic, fays he, is the science of founds, in so far as they affect the mind.-Nature independent of custom has connected certain founds or tones with certain feelings of the mind.Meafure or proportion in founds has likewife its foundation in nature. Thus certain tones are naturally adapted to folemn, plaintive, and mournful fubjects, and the movement is flow; others are expreffive of the joyous and elevating, and the movement is quick.-Sounds likewife affect the mind, as they are loud or foft, rough or fmooth, diftinct from the confideration of their gravity or acutenefs. Thus in the Eolian harp the tones are pleafant and foothing, though they do not vary in acuteness, but only in loudness.-The effect of the common drum in roufing and elevating the mind is very ftrong; yet it has no variety notes; though the effect indeed here depends on the proportion measure of the notes.

Melody confifts in the agreeable fucceffion of fingle founds. he melody that pleafes in one country does not equally

please

pleafe in another, though there are certain general principles which universally regulate it, the fcale of mulic being the fame in all countries.-Harmony confifts in the agrecable effect of founds differing in acutenefs produced together; the general principles of it are likewife fixed.

< One end of mufic is to communicate pleafure, but the far nobler and more important is to command the paffions and move the heart. In the first view it is an innocent amusement, well fitted to give an agreeable relaxation to the mind from the fatigue of ftudy or bufinefs.-In the other it is one of the most useful arts in life. The effect of eloquence depends in a great mealure on it. We take mufic here in the large and proper fense of the word, the art of varioufy affecting the mind by the power of founds. In this fenfe, all mankind are more or lefs judges of it, without regard to exactness of ear.-Every man feels the difference between a fwest melodious voice, and a harth difionant

one..

As the proper application of the voice to the purposes of eloquence has been little attended to, it has been thought an art nattainable by any rules, and depending entirely on natural talte and genius. In fome meafure it certainly is io, yet it is much more reducible to rules, and more capable of being taught, than is commonly imagined. Indeed before philofophy afcertains and methodizes the ideas and principles on which an art depends, it is no wonder it be difficult of acquifition.-The very language in which it is to be communicated is to be formed, and it is a confiderable time before this language comes to be underftood and adopted.We have a remarkable inftance of this in the fubject of musical expreffion, or performing a piece of mulic with taste and propriety. People were fenfible, that the fame mufic performed by different artifts had very different effects. Yet they all played the fame notes, played equally well in tune and in time. But till there was an unknown fomewhat that gave it meaning and expreffion from one hand, while from another it was lifelets and infipid.-People were fatisfied in refolving this into performing with or without tafte, which was thought the entire gift of nature.-Geminiani, who was both a compoler and performer of the highest class, first thought of reducing the art of playing on the violin with tafte to rules, for which purpose he was obliged to make a great addition to the mufical language and characters. The fcheme was executed with great ingenuity, yet it has fcarcely been attended to by any practical musicians except Mr. Avilon.

• Mufic, like eloquence, must propose, as its end, a certain effect to be produced on the hearers. If it produces this effect, it is good mufic; if it fails, it is bad.-No mufic can be pronounced good or bad in itself; it can only be relatively fo.

Every country has a melody peculiar to itself, expreffive of the feveral paffions. A compofer must have a particular regard to this, if he proposes to affect them.-Thus in Scotland there is a fpecies of music perfectly well fitted to inspire that joyous mirth fuited to dancing, and a plaintive mufic peculiarly expreffive of that tenderness and pleafing melancholy attendant on diftress in love; both original in their kind, and different from every other in Europe. It is of no confequence whence this music derives its origin whether it be fimple or complex, according to the rules of regular compofition, or against them; whilft it produces its intended effect in a fuperior degree to any other, it is the preferable mufic; and while a perfon feels this effect, it is a reflection on his taste and common fenfe, if not on his candor, to despise it.

They who apply much of their time to music, acquire new taftes, befides their national one, and in the infinite variety which melody and harmony are capable of, discover new fources of pleasure formerly unknown to them. But the finest natural tafte never adopts a new one, till the ear has beèn, long accuftomed to it, and after all seldom enters into it with that warmth and feeling, which thofe do, to whom it is national.

The general admiration pretended to be given to foreign mufic in Britain, is a defpicable piece of affectation. In Italy we fee the natives tranfported at the opera with all that variety of delight and paffion which the compofer intended to produce. -The fame opera in England is feen with the most remarkable liftleffnefs and inattention. It can raise no paffion in the audience, because they do not underftand the language in which it is written.--To them it has as little meaning as a piece of inftrumental mufic. The ear may be tranfiently pleafed with the air of a fong, but that is the most trifling effect of music.Among the very few who understand the language and enter with pleasure and tafte into the Italian mufic, the conduct of the dramatic part appears fo ridiculous, that they can feel nothing of that transport of paffion, the united effect of mufic and poetry, which may be gradually raifed by the artful texture and unfolding of a dramatic flory*.-Yet vanity prevails so much over the very fenfe of pleafure, that the Italian opera is in England more frequented by people of rank, than any other public diverfion; and they, to avoid the imputation of want of taste, condemn themfelves to fome hours painful attendance on it every week, and to talk of it in raptures which their hearts never felt.

Simplicity in melody is very neceffary in all mufic intended to reach the heart, or even greatly to delight the ear.-——The

* Brown.

effect

effect here must be produced inftantaneously, or not at all. The fubject must therefore be fimple and eafily traced, and not a fingle note or grace fhould be admitted, but what has a view to the proposed end. If fimplicity of melody be fo necessary where the view is to move the paffions, fimplicity of harmony must be ftill more neceffary. Some of the most delicate touches of pathetic mufic will not allow any accompanyment.

The ancient mufic certainly produced much greater and more general effects than the modern, though the accounts of it be fuppofed greatly exaggerated. Yet the fcience of mufic was in a very low ftate among the ancients. They were strangers to harmony, all the voices and inftruments being unifons in concert and the inftruments they made use of, appear to have been much inferior in refpect of compafs, expreffion, and variety, to those which we are poffeffed of. Yet thefe very deficiencies might render their music more expreffive and powerful. The only view of compofers was to touch the heart and the paffions. Proper melody was fufficient for this purpose, which might easily be comprehended and felt by the whole people.-There were not two different fpecies of mufic among them, as with us, one for the learned in the fcience, and another for the vulgar.

The introduction of harmony opened a new world in mufic. It promised to give that variety which melody alone could never afford, and likewife to give melody an additional charm and energy. Unfortunately the first compofers were fo immerst in the ftudy of harmony, which foon appeared to be a fcience of great extent and intricacy, that thefe principal ends of it were forgot. They valued themselves on the laboured conftruction of parts which were multiplied in a surprising manner. In fact, this art of counterpoint and complicated harmony was in a very few years brought to the highest degree of perfection, after its introduction by Palæftine, who lived in the time of Leo X.But this fpecies of mufic could only be understood by the few who had made it their particular ftudy. To every one else it appeared a confused jargon of founds without defign or meaning. To the very few who understood it there appeared an evident deficiency in air or melody, efpecially when the parts were made to run in ftrict fugues or canons, with which air is in a great measure incompatible.-Befides the real deficiency of air in thefe compofitions, is required the attention to be conftantly exerted to trace the fubject of the mufic, as it was alternately carried on through the feveral parts; an attention inconfiftent with what delights the ear, much more with what touches the paffions; where that is intended, the mind must be difengaged, must see no contrivance, admire no execution; but be open and paffive to the impreffion.

The artifice of fugues in vocal mufic, feems in a peculiar
REV. Nov. 1765.

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