an exercife of deep fkill, the refult of much erudition, and the effect of great labour, as having been for a great part of his life the employ ment of that excellent theorift in the fcience, Dr. Pepufch. Thefe have been accumulating and encreafing for a feries of years paft: For others of a different kind recourse has been had to the Bodlean library and the college libraries in both universities; to that in the mufic-fchool at Oxford; to the British Museum, and to the public libraries and repofitories of records and public papers in London and Westminster; and for the purpofe of afcertaining tacts by dates, to cemeteries and other places of fepulture; and to him that shall object that these sources are inadequate to the end of fuch an undertaking as this, it may be answered, that he knows not the riches of this country.

"A correfpondence with learned foreigners, and fuch communications from abroad as fuit with the liberal fentiments and difpofition of the prefent age, together with a great variety of oral intelligence refpecting perfons and facts yet remembered, have contributed in fome degree to the melioration of the work, and to justify the title it bears of A General History; which yet it may be thought would have been more properly its due, had the plan of the work been still more extensive, and comprehended the ftare of mufic in countries where the approaches to refinement have as yet been but finall."

To thofe, however, who adopt the Greek maxim, that "A great book is a great evil," an hiftory in five volumes, quarto, will probably appear to have been both defigned and executed on a plan fufficiently extenfive; and, indeed, we are ourselves. perfectly of our author's opinion, that it is of little importance to enquire into a practice that has not its foundation in fcience. or fyftem, viz. to know what are the founds that most delight an Hottentot, a wild American, or even a more refined Chi

nete.

In a preliminary difcourfe, Sir John Hawkins hath given a general fketch of the matter and conduct of his work, with a concife account of what has been advanced on the fubject by ancient and modern writers-Setting out with the ufual comparifons between mufic, painting, and poetry, he proceeds as

follows.

"Seeing therefore that music has its foundation in nature, and that reafon recognizes what the fenfe approves, what wonder is it, that in all ages, and even in the leaft enlightened of mankind, its efficacy fhould be acknowledged; or that, as well by thofe who are capable of reafon and reflection, as thofe who feek for no other gratifications. than what are obvious to the fenfes, it should be confidered as a genuine and natural fource of delight? The wonder is, that lefs of that curiofity, which leads men to enquire into the history and progrefs of arts, and their gradual advances towards perfection, has been exercised in the inftance now before us, than in any other of equal importance.

If we take a view of thofe authors who have written on mufic, we fhall find the comprehended under three claffes, confifting of thofe who

who have resolved the principles of the fcience into certain mathematical proportions; of others who have treated it fyftematically, and with a view to practice; and of a third, who, confidering found as a branch of phyfics, have from various phænomena explained the manner in which it is generated and communicated to the auditory faculty. But to whom we are indebted for the gradual improvements of the art, at what periods it flourished, what checks and obftructions it has at times met with, who have been its patrons or its enemies, what have been the characteristics of its mott eminent proteflors, tew are able to tell. Nor has the knowledge of its precepts been communicated in fuch a manner as to enable any but fuch as have devoted themselves to the study of the fcience to understand them. Hence it is that men of learning have been betrayed into numberlefs errors refpecting mufic; and when they have prefumed to talk about it, have discovered the groffelt ignorance. When Strada, in the perfon of Claudian, recites the fable of the Nightingale and the Lyrift, how does his invention labour to defcribe the contest, and how does he err in the confufion of the terms melody and harmony; and in giving to mufic either attributes that belong to it, or which are its least excellence! and what is his whole poem but a vain attempt to excite ideas for which no correfpondent words are to be found in any language? Nor does he, who ta ks of the genius of the world, of the firit beauty, and of univerfal harmony, fyminetry, and order, the fublime author of the Characteristics, difcover much knowledge of his subject, when after afferting with the utmoft confidence that the ancients were acquainted with parts and fymphony, he makes it the teft of a good judge in mufic that he understand a fiddle*.'

"Sir William Temple fpeaking of mufic in his Effay upon the ancient and modern Learning, has betrayed his ignorance of the fubject in a comparison of the modern mufic with the antient; wherein, notwithstanding that Palestrina, Bird, and Gibbons lived in the fame century with himfelf, and that the writings of Shakespeare, and the Paradife Loft were then extant, he fcruples not to affert that the science is wholly loft in the world, and that in the room of mutic and poetry we have nothing left but fiddling and rhyming?'

"Mr. Dryden, in those two admirable poems, Alexander's Feaft, and his leffer Ode for St. Cecilia's day, and in his Elegy on the death of Purcell, with great judgement gives to the feveral intruments mentioned by him their proper attributes; and recurring perhaps ta the numerous common-places in his memory respecting mufic, has defcribed its effects in adequate terms; but when in the prefaces to his operas he fpeaks of recitative, of fong, and the comparative merit of the Italian, the French, and the English compofers, his notions are fo vague and indeterminate, as to convince us that he was not maí. ter of his fubject, and does little elfe than talk by rote.

"Mr. Adhton, in thofe fingularly humourous papers in the Spectator, intended to ridicule the Italian opera, is necellitated to speak of mufic, but he does it in fuch terms, as plainly indicate that he had no judgment of his own to direct him. In the paper, Numb. 18, the

* Vide Characteristics, vol. III. page 263, in not. 269.11

highest

highest encomium he can vouchsafe mufic is, that it is an agreeable entertainment; and a little after he complains of our fondness for the. foreign mufic, not caring whether it be Italian, French, or High Dutch, by which latter we may fuppofe the author meant the music of Mynheer Hendel, as he calls him.

Our author proceeds to quote a paffage from No. 29 of the Spectator, refpecting Recitative, on which he obferves that,

"Whoever reflects on these fentiments must be inclined to question as well the goodness of the author's ear as his knowledge of the fubject. The principle on which his reafoning is founded, is clearly that the powers of mufic are local; deriving their efficacy from habit, cuftom, and whatever elfe we are to understand by the genius of a people; a pofition as repugnant to reafon and experience as that which concludes his difquifition, viz. that what is harmony to one ear may be diffonance to another;' whence as a corollary it must neceffarily follow, that the fame harmony or the fame fucceffion of founds may produce different effects on different perfons; and that any one may be excited to mirth by an air that has drawn tears from another.

With due deference to our author, (who yet moft certainly underftands mufic better than we can pretend to do) we think he is too ftrict on Mr. Addifon's loofe acceptation of the term mufic. It is plain he meant, in the above paffage, to confine

it

However the Italian method of acting in Recititavo might appear at first hearing, I cannot but think it more juft than that which prevailed in our English Opera before this Innovation; the Tranfition from an air to Recitative Mulic being more natural than the paffing from a Song to plain and ordinary Speaking, which was the common method in Purcell's operas.

The only Fault I find in our prefent Practice, is the making use of the • Italian Recitativo with English words.

To go to the Bottom of this Matter, I muft obferve that the Tone, or, as the French call it, the Accent of every Nation in their ordinary Speech is altogether different from that of every other People, as we may fee even in the Welth and Scotch, who border fo near upon us. By the Tone or Accent I do not mean the pronunciation of each particular Word, but ⚫ the Sound of the whole Sentence. Thus it is very common for an Englith gentleman, when he hears a French Tragedy, to complain that the Actors all of them speak in a Tone; and therefore he very wifely prefers his own Countrymen, not confidering that a Foreigner complains of the fame Tone in an English Actor.

For this Reafon, the Recitative Mufic in every Language should be as ⚫ different as the Tone or Accent of cach Language; for otherwile what • may properly exprefs a Paffion in one Language, will not do it in another. Every one that has been long in Italy knows very well that the Cadences ⚫ in the Recitativo bear a remote Affinity to the Tone of their Voices in or⚫dinary Converfation; or, to fpeak more properly, are only the Accents of their Language made more Mufical and Tuneful.

Thus the Notes of Interrogation or Admiration in the Italian Mufic, if one may fo call them) which refemble their Accents in Difcourfe on fuch Occafions, are not unlike the ordinary Tones of an Englith Voice when we are angry; infomuch that I have often feen our Audiences extremely

it to mere Recitativo, whereas Sir John Hawkins applies it to air alfo. If we are not mistaken there is a wide difference between the mufic, as applied to the melody of air; and the chant of Recitative. The latter, as Rouffeau juftly obferves, approaches perfection in proportion as it approaches the proper tones of declamation: now, Mr. Addifon truly remarks thofe tones are different in different languages: but we do not conceive it thence follows that the melody of air, or the "power of mufic" in general, is therefore local.-In mentioning the parallel, which hath been so often drawn between ancient and modern mufic, Sir John Hawkins, very juftly in our opinion, gives the preference to the latter. On this head, he very pertinently obferves, that,

"We can form ideas of the perfection of harmony and melody, and of the general effect refulting from the artful combination of mufical founds, from that mufic alone which we have actually heard; and when we read of the mufic of Timotheus or Antigenides, we must either resemble it to that of the most excellent of the modern artists, or forbear to judge about it; and if in the comparifon fuch critics as Ifaac Voffius, Sir William Temple, and fome others, reject the music of the moderns as unworthy of attention or notice, how egregioufly are they deceived, and what do they but forego the fubftance for the fhadow?"

tremely mistaken as to what has been doing upon the Stage, and expecting to fee the Hero knock down his Meffenger when he has been asking him a queftion; or fancying that he quarrels with his Friend when he only bids him Good-morrow.

For this Reafon the Italian artifts cannot agree with our English muficians in admiring Purcell's Compofitions, and thinking his Tunes fo wonderfully adapted to his words, becaufe both thefe Nations do not always exprefs the fame Paffions by the fame Sounds.

I am therefore humbly of opinion that an English Composer should not follow the Italian Recitative too fervilely, but make ufe of many gentle Deviations from it in Compliance with his own Native Language. He may copy out of it all the lulling Softnefs and Dying Falls, (as Shakefpeare calls them) but should ftil remember that he ought to accomodate himself to an English Audience, and by humouring the Tone of our Voices in ordinary Converfation, have the fame Regard to the Accent of his own Language, as thofe Perfons had to theirs whom he profeffes to imitate. It is obferved that feveral of the Singing Birds of our own Coun⚫try learn to fweeten their Voices, and mellow the Harfhnefs of their natural Notes by practiting under thofe that come from warmer Climates. In the fame manner I would allow the Italian Opera to lend our English Mufic as much as may grace and foften it, but never entirely to annihilate and deftroy it. Let the Infufion be as ftrong as you pleafe, but fill let the Subje-matter be English.

A Compofer fhould fit his Mufic to the Genius of the People, and confider that the Delicacy of Hearing and Taffe of Harmony has been formed upon those Sounds which every Country bounds with. In short, that "Mufic is of a relative Nature, and what is Harmony to one Ear may be Difonance to another.'

VOL. V.

S

After

After exploding the mode of argument in ufe with various writers on this fide the queftion, he proceeds,

"But as a weightier argument in favour of modern mufic, at least fo far as regards the improvements in theory and practice that neceflarily refult from the investigation of new principles and the difcovery of new combinations, may be drawn from the natural courfe and order of things, which is ever towards perfection, as is feen in other fciences, phyfics and mathematics, for inftance; fo that of mufic it may be faid, that the difcoveries of one age have ferved as a foundation for improvements in the next; the confequence whereof is, that the fund of harmony is ever encreafing. What advantages muft accrue to mufic from this circumftance, may be difcerned if we enquire a little into those powers which are chiefly exercifed in practical compofition: The art of invention is made one of the heads among the precepts of rhetoric, to which mufic in this and fundry inftances bears a near refemblance; the end of perfuafion, or affecting the paffions, being common to both. This faculty confifts in the enumeration of commonplaces, which are revolved over in the mind, and requires both an ample ftore of knowledge in the fubject upon which it is exercifed, and a power of applying that knowledge as occafion may require. It differs from memory in this refpect, that whereas memory does but recall to the mind the images or remembrance of things as they were first perceived, the faculty of invention divides complex ideas into thofe whereof they are compofed and recompounds them again into different fashions, thereby creating variety of new objects and conceptions: Now the greater the fund of knowledge above fpoken of is, the greater is the fouree from whence the invention of the artist or compofer is fupplied; and the benefits thereof are feen in new combinations and phrafes capable of variety and permutation without end."

The author goes on to trace the progrefs of mufic, which, hẹ obferves, naturally divides itself into the two branches of fpeculation and practice, each, of which requires a distinct and feparate confideration. From the ftate of mufic among the Greeks and Romans, the Hiftorian proceeds to the feveral events moft worthy of attention in the first establishment of a musical system, viz. the introduction of mufic into the Church fervice, and the ufe of dramatic mufic; under which heads the moft interefting intelligence refpecting the fubject may be comprehended,

(To be continued.)

A Phiê