sing the anthem. Some eminent musicians, Sir William Jones observes, have been absurd enough to think of imitating laughter and other noises; but if they had succeeded, they would not have made amends for their want of taste in attempting it; for such ridiculous imitations must necessarily destroy the spirit and dignity of the finest poems.' This discerning and elegant writer most likely points at the song and chorus, Haste thee, nymph,' in Handel's setting of Milton's L' Allegro, in which is the line, And Laughter holding both his sides.' The singers in this, it must be allowed, never baulk the intention of the composer, but affect to laugh almost convulsively. To carry out the design to its utmost extent, they should cast away their books, press their ribs firmly with both hands, and, by adding action to sound, complete the living picture. In another song by Handel, which was once very popular, in the oratorio of Semele, is a remarkable instance of a mistaken attempt at imitation. The words are

The morning lark to mine accords his note,

And tunes to my distress his warbling throat.' These lines (foisted into Congreve's poem) are silly enough; but the composer has rendered them perfectly ludicrous, by one of those long-winded divisions which were the besetting sin of the age, on the word warbling. In the midst of her distress, Semele and two fiddles-the latter representing the bird-strive who shall best mimic the soaring songster, till the lady is obliged to yield, from pure exhaustion. The mention of the lark has entrapped many a composer; the musical follies committed in his name are innumerable. Handel's song, 'Sweet Bird,' from Il Penseroso, always has been, and most likely always will be, admired as music, and it affords an opportunity for the display of talent in the singer and the flute-player, but it cannot stand the test of criticism. The same objection exists to this as to the air just noticed; the divisions are in themselves absurd, but as imitations are still more so. Surely the composer must have been aware that the note of the nightingale is the simplest that is practised by the feathered race, yet he has here given the melancholy bird sounds which, as regards variety, rapidity, and compass, only able performers can produce from a fine voice and a perfect instrument. Handel's supremacy in the art renders him especially liable to animadversion when misled by an erroneous conception of the words; but he has been charged with many supposed imitations which he never contemplated, such as the whipping-chorus, the rocking-chorus, &c. We have however said as much as is necessary on this part of our subject.

the sublime chorus in Israel in Egypt, beginning, He sent a thick darkness over all the land,' the accompaniments to which, assisted by the words, produce on persons suscepti ble of musical impressions, all that solemnity of effect, not unmixed with awe, intended by the author.

Haydn, though sometimes ambitious of achieving_by musical means more than the art can accomplish, was often most happy in indirect imitation by instrumental accompaniments; witness the magnificent burst of sound in the first chorus--to which we have just alluded-in The Cren tion, at the words, and there was light.' Witness also his musical picture, in the same oratorio, of the rising sun, the slow swell of the instruments in ascending notes describing the gradual progress of the luminary towards the horizon, and the full power of the band depicting its refulgent splendour. And how beautifully the composer contrasts with the solar blaze, the soft, serene beams of the comparatively small orb which reflects its borrowed light! Madame de Staël heard the first of these most masterly compositions performed at Vienna, in a manner,' she tells us, worthy of the great work, and describes the sound of the combined voices and instruments as a terrible noise! She adds, that at the appearance of light it was necessary to stop one's ears. We forgive the bad taste for the sake of the wit. This generally sagacious and acute, and always bril liant, writer, is quite an Italian in her musical criticism: she says that the Germans put too much mind in their works; they reflect too much on what they are doing.' Of Mozart, whose illustrations of the poet are enumerated among his excellencies by most critics, Madame de Star speaks in what we consider highly laudatory terms, but by which she means to express some degree of disapprobation She thinks that of all musicians he has shown most skill in "marrying" the music to the words: that in his operas particularly Don Giovanni, he makes us sensible of all the effect of dramatic representation: that this ingenious alliance of the musician and poet gives us a sort of pleasure, but it is a pleasure which springs from reflection, and that does not belong to the wonderful sphere of the arts.' (Dx Allemagne.) The alliance' here complained of could not have been alleged as a fault in Rossini's earlier works, i beautiful as some of them are in other respects; though the air La Calunnia,' the first finale in Otello, and two three other things, offer as fine examples of what is meant by musical imitation as can be found. But in his second style'-the manner in which his later operas are writtenhe seems to have been infected, as Madame de Staël would have said, by German intellectuality. We know not if th In the accompaniment to vocal music, much greater free-highly-talented lady whose judgment in music we har dom of imitation is allowable than in the voice part: kept ventured to impugn was acquainted with the compositions within those bounds which good sense and cultivated taste of Weber; if she ever heard his Freischütz or Oberon, b prescribe, it affords very efficient aid, by giving greater force must have been placed by her very high on the list of the to the poetry, and contributing to the completion of the who damage and degrade music by rendering it expres general design. It also adds harmony to song, a most im- sive,-who, as Pope ironically says, in some lines comp portant, if not an indispensable support. Nearly all that mentary to Handel, imitation can do, should-as the elder Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh, in some admirable remarks on music has observedbe assigned to the accompaniments, as these, on account of the greater compass and variety of instruments, are better adapted to such a purpose than the voice, which ought to be left at liberty to express the sentiments. If Handel has sometimes failed in imitations by the voice, he has often succeeded in those by the accompanying instruments. We need but refer in proof to his beautiful song in Il Pen

seroso-

Oft on a plat of rising ground

I hear the far-off curfew sound,'

11 meanly borrow aid from sense.'

MUSIC, which is both a science and an art, is divide into Speculative or theoretical, and Practical. Speculatii. Music explains the nature of musical sounds; shows, demonstrating their ratios, how they are related to es other; and investigates their physical and moral effects whe in a simple or in a combined state: it is, in few words, philosophy of the art. Practical Music is the application theoretical principles,-the proper conduct of sounds as their progression, duration, union, and adaptation to work voices, and instruments, and is the art of composition. T performer, who merely executes, stands in the same relat to music as the actor does to the drama, or the reciter the poem: though he requires, in order to excel, conside able knowledge of the subject and superior taste, yet be but an operator-a singer or a player, and not, strat speaking, a musician.

where he has imitated the bell by the deep-toned strings of the bases, confining the voice to those notes of pleasing, contemplative melancholy, the idea of which the words so completely excite. The same skill and discrimination are shown in the song of Galatea, Hush! ye pretty warbling quire,' in which the flute imitates the birds, leaving the Speculative Music is subdivided into Acoustical, Mathers. singer to express in simple sounds that languishing tender-tical and Metaphysical. [ACOUSTICS; HARMONICS; SOUN ness indicated by the poetry. Handel was the first who TEMPERAMENT.] Practical Music, into Vocal and Inst endeavoured to excite the idea of light through the agency mental, the several kinds of which are noticed under th of musical sounds: his chorus in the oratorio of Samson, respective heads. The chief component parts of practi 'O first created beam!' was written with this design; and music are, MELODY, HARMONY, and RHYTHM, to which a moreover suggested to Haydn that grand composition on refer. See likewise ACCENT, AIR, CHORD, COMPOSITIC the same subject which is admitted to be one of his noblest COUNTERPOINT, MODULATION, THOROUGH-BASE, TI triumphs. But the still bolder attempt of the former great &c. master was to convey to the mind, through the same medium, a notion of darkness. With this view he composed

MUSIC, HISTORY OF The origin of music is invol in an obscurity which no ingenuity, no labour, has hither

been able to dispel; analogy and conjecture therefore have I by Dr. Burney, who gives a wood-cut of it, by which it supplied the want of facts, in the absence of any assistance appears that it was nearly the same as the Neapolitan except what doubtful histories and the fables of mythologists Calascione of the present day. It had only two strings, but, have afforded, which at best have held out but a dim light, being provided with a long neck, was capable of producing and more often misled than aided the inquirer in his re- that series of sounds which the antients called a heptachord; searches. and if the strings were tuned fifths, like those on the calascione, they would give a complete octave, an advantage which none of the Grecian instruments possessed till many ages later. Montfaucon says that in examining the representations of near five hundred antient lyres, &c., he never met with one in which there was any contrivance for shortening strings, during the time of performance, by a neck and finger-board.' These two instruments then are sufficient proofs of early Egyptian knowledge in the musical art.* That it continued to be cultivated in Egypt under the Macedonian dynasty there can be no doubt. Athenæus, in his account of a Bacchic festival given by Ptolemy Philadelphus-the munificent patron of all the liberal and useful arts, who made Egypt the mart of the world-tells us that more than six hundred musicians were employed in the chorus, and that among these were three hundred performers on the cithara, or lyre.

It has been supposed by some writers whose names stamp a value on all that has proceeded from them, that song and speech are coeval, an opinion which will hardly be disputed, if by song are meant sounds which, though vocal and sustained, are devoid of rhythm, governed by no scale, and consequently productive of no melody, in the modern acceptation of the word: but if the term is intended to signify a regular system of tunable, measured notes, then we shall not hesitate to say, that such advance towards art could only have been made by people proceeding fast in civilization, and communing through the medium of a language adequate to all the ordinary purposes of man in a social

state.

We are told by Lucretius, in a passage often quoted from the fifth book of his poem De Rerum Natura (Of the Nature of Things), that the birds taught man to sing, and that the invention of musical instruments of the inflatile kind was suggested to him by the sounds produced from reeds when the western wind blew over them.

the birds instructed man,

And taught him songs before his art began.
And while soft evening gales blew o'er the plains,
And shook the sounding reeds, they taught the swains;
And thus the pipe was fram'd, and tuneful reed.'

This has certainly the merit of being very poetical, whatever reliance the historian may place on it. The same notion concerning wind instruments is found in Ovid's beautiful account_of_the_transformation of the nymph Syrinx into reeds. But Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic doctor,' cited by the good Padre Giambattista Martini, in his Storia della Musica, disdains to follow the example of the heathen author of the Metamorphoses,' or the disciple of Epicurus, and leaves the origin of music to chance; on the contrary, the noble Italian saint informs us that the first man was endowed by the Creator with every kind of knowledge, and that he excelled in music, as well as in all other arts and sciences.

Of the music of the Hebrews, nearly all that is known is to be collected from the Scriptures, and the Bible is in the possession of every one. There we meet with the first recorded song, which Moses sang at the head of the tribes, after the miraculous passage of the Red Sea. To this responded Miriam the prophetess, having a timbrel or tambourine in her hand, and being attended by all the women, carrying the same instruments, and dancing. Music formed an essential part of every Jewish ceremony. The priesthood were musicians by office, which was hereditary: they were four thousand in number, divided into bodies, each of which had its chief or leader. At the dedication of Solomon's temple, a prodigious band of priests, blowing trumpets, attended. Josephus tells us that 200,000 musicians were engaged; but as his statement is unsupported by scriptural history, we may venture to consider it as a mistake arising from some misapprehension, or else as a manuscript error. A Hebrew writer enumerates thirty-six musical instruments that were kept in the sanctuary, on all of which, he says, the prophet-king David could play. These are reduced to thirty-three by another account. It is worthy of remark that many of them, under other names, are still met with in the East and in Egypt, and, as far as can be ascertained, very little changed from their original form. Martini has given, from a manuscript of 1599, what he believes to be specimens of the melodies sung by the Jews to certain Psalms; but they are printed in the obsolete notation, without bars, and having no words added to them by which the measure might perhaps have been made out, it is impossible to enter thoroughly into their meaning.

The Music of the Greeks has engaged the notice of so many searching antiquaries and patient mathematicianssuch profound learning and unwearied labour have been bestowed on it-it has provoked so much controversy, and the dispute has proved so barren, that we enter on the subject reluctantly, if not fearfully; and though bound to give it as much attention as a matter of some importance is entitled to, yet we do not deem it expedient or feel inclined to afford it more than is rigorously its due. Dr. Burney, who had devoted months, if not years, to the inquiry, declared to a friend, a few months before his decease, that he never understood the Greek music, or found any one that did understand it.'

But quitting the ingenious guesses and fictions of poets and the reveries of enthusiasts, we find Jubal, the seventh in descent from Adam, mentioned in Scripture as the father of such as handle the harp and organ.' These terms however must not be understood quite literally; they are generic, and signify all instruments of the stringed and tube kind. The different versions vary in the translation of the original: the French render the word harp by violon. Though the earliest authentic record of music extant is that in Genesis, yet it is nearly certain that the Jews acquired their knowledge of it from the Egyptians. That Moses himself was educated by Pharaoh's daughter as her own son, and was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,' is stated in the Acts of the Apostles; and Clemens Alexandrinus adds, that he was instructed by them, in his maturer age, in arithmetic, geometry, rhythm, harmony, but, above all, in medicine and music.' The whole generation of the Israelites led forth by the lawgiver from their captivity were born in Egypt, in which it seems to be agreed music as an art originated; though Diodorus Siculus even denies that it was ever practised there: but his assertion is not only in opposition to Herodotus, and at utter variance with what Plato says, who travelled into that country to become ac- But before proceeding further, we think it right to say, quainted with the arts and sciences, but is proved by modern with all possible respect for those who have toiled in this discoveries to be the very reverse of truth. The fresco painting unproductive field, that, after a diligent investigation of the of a harp, found by Bruce in an antient tomb near the ruins of subject, on which we entered with an unprejudiced mind, Thebes, which is undoubtedly of very high antiquity, is an it is our decided opinion that what is now called Greek indisputable proof of the progress made by the early Egyp-music has hitherto proved perplexing chiefly, if not solely, on tians in music. In form, dimensions, and ornament, this instrument might be mistaken for one of modern date, insomuch that when a drawing of it was first shown in London, considerable doubts were entertained of its fidelity. Forty years after, however, M. Denon bore testimony to the truth of Bruce's description and the accuracy of his sketch; since which Rosellini's Monumenti dell' Egitto, a splendid work published in 1832, has confirmed all that the two former had said on the subject. Another instrument, which is found sculptured on an Egyptian obelisk brought to Rome by Augustus, furnishes additional evidence of the state of music in Egypt in the remotest times. It is fully described

account of the term having been misunderstood. We believe that by moúsike (μovoin) the Greeks meant poetry sung, with some sort of accompaniment, and that the moderns have fallen into error by overrating the importance of the melodic part, treating this as the principal, and poetry only as an ally.

Music was a comprehensive term with the Greeks, embracing among other things which we shall have occasion

There are some Egyptian paintings in the British Museum, which were brought from the grottoes in the western hills of Thebes. In one of them (No. 179) a female figure is represented blowing the double pipe, and another to be playing on a musical instrument. (Lib. of Entertaining Know ledge: British Museum, vol, ii., p. 76.)

to mention, melody (Melopara-literally the making, or com- |
position, of the song) and poetry. There is no one, M.
Villoteau remarks, who, after an attentive perusal of the
antient writers, is not convinced that eloquence, poetry, and
melody were, in early times, governed by musical princi-
ples; that they were taught by the same master, and that
the three arts were but one science. The goddess Per-
suasion,' says Lord Shaftesbury, must have been in a
manner the mother of poetry, rhetoric, music, and the other
kindred arts;' and tradition, he adds, 'could not better re-
present the first founders of large societies than as real
songsters..
Nor can it be doubted that the
same artists who so industriously applied themselves to study
the numbers of speech, must have made proportionable im-
provements in the study of mere sounds and natural har-
mony.' The Greeks never separated poetry from melody;
the poet himself set the notes to his own verses, and in the
early times sang them at the public games and festivals.
The Greek tragedies were operas, observes Payne Knight,
meaning, we presume, that they were in a kind of reci-
tative; and he is borne out in his assertion by the best
authorities. Aristotle, in his treatise on poetry, considers
the music of tragedy as one of its most essential parts.
The nature of this music is indicated by several writers,
but is more clearly pointed out by Philodemus than by any
other, in his work in abuse of music (one of the papyri
found in Herculaneum, unrolled and published at Naples
in 1793), wherein it is described as a melody nearly_ap-
proaching ordinary speech; that is to say, recitative. Ho-
race calls Apollo the singer. The antient poets give us to
understand that their verses were sung, and this is to be
construed literally in the case of the Greek poets. Homer,
according to tradition, sang his own epics. But it is need-
less to multiply proofs of a fact so generally received.

effects said to have been wrought by antient music; for it is impossible that Plato should have been thinking of mere vocal melody and the sounds of mean and imperfect instruments, when he said that no change can be made in music without affecting the constitution of the state, an opinion in which Aristotle acquiesced, and Cicero afterwards adopted: -it is not to be credited that the laws of Lycurgus, set to measured sounds by Terpander, were turned into a song, or that this Lesbian musician quelled a sedition in Sparta by singing some pretty air to the mob:-it is absurd to suppose that when Polybius tells us of a savage nation civilised by music, he means to say, by coarse pipes and guitars; and not less ridiculous is it to imagine that men were raised to the rank of chiefs and the dignity of legislators, solely on account of their taste in singing, or their skill on the lyre and the flute.

We cannot quit the subject of the vocal music of Greece, without adding a few words concerning the Greek Nomes and Scolia. The former (from róμos, nomos, a law) were so called, says Plutarch, because they were not allowed to transgress certain melodic rules by which they were charac terised, and were at first hymns to the Gods. The latte: were songs of a less restrained kind, sung at banquets and entertainments, by great proficients; hence Hesychius derives the term from rodios (skolios, difficult to sing). But others think that the word should be rendered literally,crooked, following a tortuous course-because, at table, did not pass regularly, but only to those who were skilfu singers. Plutarch, on the authority of Pindar, tells us that the scolia were invented by Terpander. Dr. Burney has an entertaining chapter on the subject, vol. i., 464; bu the reader will find it more learnedly discussed in Potter's 'Antiquities,' ii. 403.

Admitting, then, that Greek poetry of all kinds, religious, As to the instrumental music of the Greeks, we confe epic, dramatic, &c., was really sung, and perhaps granting, our inability to treat the subject in a satisfactory manner what many believe, that oratory partook much of the nature The accounts given of it by the ancient writers are eithe of song, let us inquire what was meant by the word singing. so suspicious or so indefinite, that nearly all our labour it It is not to be imagined that Homer, Tyrtæus, Pindar, &c. endeavouring to gain some knowledge of its nature has bee were singers, in our acceptation of the word; the supposi-expended in vain. Having Bianchini's learned work c tion is too absurd to be entertained for a moment. But even ancient instruments before us, we are enabled to form som allowing them to have been as perfect in the vocal art as the opinion of their capabilities, and our opinion is not in the moderns are, would they have condescended to deliver their favour. They appear to have been rude, and suited only t poetry in long flights of notes, in divisions, in trills, and in music of the simplest description. passages that render it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get at the sense? If, however, they had attempted to make their heaven-bred poesy' subservient to song, would they have found a patient audience?-Assuredly not; for the animating appeal, the interesting narrative clothed in poetical language, the pathetic description, were what the Greeks delighted in, and certainly would not have surrendered for the sake of a tune. Moreover, it must be recollected, and is a very important consideration, that when the art of printing was unknown, and manuscript copies of poems, &c. were unattainable by the people at large, on account of the expense, the multitude had no means of becoming acquainted with the productions of their poets but by hearing them recited; and as crowds assembled for this purpose, the best mode of rendering the voice of the reciter audible to many, and these congregated in open places, was, to pitch it rather high, and confine it to a small number of fixed musical notes. Such is still the practice, and with the same intent, in all cathedrals, and is called chanting, a usage which has doubtless been transmitted from the remotest ages. Such too is the method adopted by the improvvisatori, whose art, we are persuaded, is of the highest antiquity, and whose singing, it is our belief, much resembles that of the ancient Greeks in delivering their verses. Those extemporaneous poets always require an instrumental accompaniment of a simple kind, to keep the voice in tune, and, as they confess, to animate them. The Greek reciters also were accompanied, either by the lyre or the flute, and probably for the same purposes. The flute was the companion of elegiac poetry; the lyre of the epic and

the ode.

By what is called Greek music, therefore, we understand the union of poetry and music, the former of the two exercising the greatest sway over the mind, because expressing noble sentiments-gracefully inculcating religion and morality-teaching obedience to the laws-exciting generous feelings-and inspiring patriotism and courage by the praise of those who had distinguished themselves by their public services and their valour. It is thus we account for the

The Musical scale, or disdiapason, of the Greeks com prised two octaves, the lowest note of which was A, the firs space in the base of the moderns. This was divided in: five Tetrachords, or subdivisions of four sounds in each, tr extremes being at the distance of a fourth. [TETRACHORS And it must here be observed, that the antient lyre had b four strings; the first and fourth fixed, the middle ones ad | mitting of being tightened or relaxed according to the gen of the melody. Two conjoint tetrachords, with one add tional note, formed the Octachord, or octave, to which th improved lyre extended. The three different divisions the tetrachord produced as many Genera [GENERA], th Diatonic, the Chromatic, and the Enharmonic; which se The first was composed of the sounds which the moder name E, F, G, A; the second of E, F, F#, A; the third E, EX, F, A. The notes, or sounds, were represented b the letters of the alphabet, great and small, which, in orde to extend their application and distinguish the vario modes, were placed in different positions-the direct, the averted, the inverted, and the horizontal; and these wer as occasion required, altered in form. The time, or dur tion, of the notes was known by the long and short syllab's to which they were set; the long syllable was in durat as two; the short as one. But we know only the comparati times of these; of the positive lengths of notes we reme in ignorance. The movement however of Greek music supposed to have been slow. The Modes were, accord. to Alypius, fifteen in number: Aristoxenus makes the thirteen, each a semitone distant from the next in ord Under the word MODE we have given the table of Alvp we here insert that of Aristoxenus, the oldest of the Gr writers on music, which commences with the Hypodora the lowest.

logue on Music' much information concerning antient It is remarked by Dr. Burney, that even during the Greek music is to be found, but not of the most valuable Augustan age the Romans had no sculptor, painter, or kind. Aristides Quintilianus wrote a treatise on music, musician, and but one architect, Vitruvius; those, he says, printed in the collection of Meibomius, which has proved a who have been celebrated in the arts at Rome having useful work to all subsequent writers on the subject. He been Asiatics or European Greeks, who came to exercise was enthusiastic and fanciful, but in matters of fact and such arts among the Latins as the Latins had not among calculation is worthy of confidence.. themselves. This custom was continued under the succes sors of Augustus; and those Romans who were prevented from going into Greece contrived in a manner to bring Greece to Rome, by receiving into their service the most able professors of Greece and Asia in all the arts.' The Roman writers on music are few, and almost worthless. Vitruvius, in his work on architecture, treats of the sound of the voice, of reverberating vases, and of a waterorgan; but no one has yet been able to discover what he means by this instrument. He also endeavours to make plain the harmonical system of Aristoxenus, though he acknowledges the difficulty of the task. St. Augustin wrote on rhythm and metre; Boethius devotes five books to music, merely to explain the principles of harmonics; and Aurelius Cassiodorus treats of music, among other things, but his work, or sketch, is said to consist of little more than some general definitions and divisions, There is every reason to conclude that music remained stationary till the tenth or eleventh century. The Romans, having borrowed the art from Greece, seem to have been convinced of its perfection in the state in which they received it, for there is no evidence of their having attempted to enlarge its narrow boundaries, or in any way to improve it; though a people of more ingenuity and taste would have advanced it at least a few steps towards that point which it slowly has attained.

The Romans acquired all their knowledge of the arts and sciences from the Greeks; their music therefore in no way differs from that of the latter; though they must have had some kind of song before any direct intercourse had taken place between them and the polished nations of Greece. It is certain that the art was never advanced by that warlike people, notwithstanding the share it had in all their religious ceremonies and public games, and the use made of it to animate their troops and add effect to their triumphs, and though it formed an essential part of their theatrical exhibitions of every kind, and was even adopted, or affected to be adopted, as a profession by one of their emperors. The importance of music in the estimation of the early Romans is shown by a regulation attributed to Servius Tullius, who, in dividing the people into classes, directed that two whole centuries should consist of trumpeters, blowers of the horn, &c., and of such as, without any other instrument, sounded the charge. It is further proved by a law of the Twelve Tables, which limited the number of players on the flute at funerals to ten. And another of those laws enacted, that at the praises of honoured men in the assemblies of the people, there should be mournful songs accompanied by a flute. But a passage in Livy leaves no doubt on this subject, and being as curious as it is illustrative, we shall give it entire, availing ourselves of Dr. Burney's translation. 'I should omit a circumstance,' he says, 'hardly worth mentioning, if it did not seem connected with religion. The Tibicines (or flute-players), taking offence at the preceding censors for having refused them the privilege of eating in the temple of Jupiter, according to custom, withdrew in a body to Tibur (Tivoli), so that there were no performers left to play before the sacrifices. This created religious scruples in the minds of the senators, and ambassadors were sent to Tibur to persuade the fugitives to return to Rome. The Tiburtines promised to use their utmost endeavours to this end, and first summoning the discontented band before their senate, exhorted them to return to Rome: but finding them deaf to reason or entreaty, they had recourse to an artifice well suited to the dispositions of these men; for, on a certain festival, they were all invited, under pretence of assist-improved the chant of the church, by the admission of four ing in the celebration of a feast. As men of this profession are generally much addicted to wine, they were supplied with it, till, being quite intoxicated, they fell fast asleep, and in this condition were flung into carts, and carried to Rome, where they passed the remaining part of the night in the Forum, without perceiving what had happened. The next day, while full of the fumes of their debauch, upon opening their eyes they were accosted by the Roman people, who flocked about them, and having been prevailed upon to stay in their native city, they were allowed the privilege of strolling through all the streets in their robes, three days in every year, playing on their instruments, and indulging in those licentious excesses which are practised on the same occasion to this day' (that is, to the time of Augustus). The privilege of eating in the temple was also restored to such as should be employed in playing before the sacrifices.' This happened 309 B.C. "The Roman flute-players,' Burney adds, were incorporated, and formed into a college or company.' Ovid, in his Fasti,' (lib. vi.), acknowledges the importance of the Tibicines, and repeats in verse the above story of Livy, but drops the scruples of the Patres Conscripti.

That the Roman drama was in some way musical, is proved by the title, or didascalia, prefixed to each of Terence's plays. A further proof of this is found in the Institutes of Quintilian, where, after showing the necessity of instructing children in music, he adds, that he does not desire that they should learn such music as prevails on the stage, the modulations of which are so intermixed with impudence and wantonness, that they may justly be charged with having extinguished the poor remains of manly courage which had been left.' That the theatrical of the Romans was similar to that of the Greeks to be little doubt; that it was distorted by the n Quintilian's time is very likely.

In the primitive Christian church the service consisted partly of music, which is supposed to have been chiefly that of the Greeks, with an admixture of Hebrew melody. Menestrier conjectures that the early ecclesiastical manner of singing was like that of the ancient theatre, and Dr. Burney concurs in this opinion; though we cannot but think more likely that the songs of Zion,' as performed in the Jewish temple, and the chanting of the hymns at the Pagan altars, were chosen as vocal models for devotional purposes, rather than the airs, or recitatives, in which the comedies of Plautus and Terence were delivered. Towards the end of the fourth century, St. Ambrose digested a musical service for the church of Milan, which is called the Am brosian chant, and was founded on four of the Greek modes. About the year 600 Gregory the Great enlarged and much other modes, and gave it that form which it still retains in the Catholic service, and in which it is known by his name. According to Bishop Stillingfleet, music was introduced into the English church by St. Augustin, in the latter part of the sixth century, and was subsequently much improved by St. Dunstan, an excellent musician, who, it is said, furnished some few churches with an organ.

The organ-the most majestic and comprehensive of all musical instruments in its present almost perfect state-is supposed to have been an improvement of the hydraulicon. or water-organ, of the Greeks. The first mentioned in musical-history was sent, in 757, as a present to King Pepin, from the Byzantine emperor Constantine Copronymus. In the tenth century the organ was in use in several parts of Europe; but it is reasonable to conclude that it was then exceedingly simple, possessing little power, and rude in mechanism: nevertheless, it may fairly be assumed that the invention of the organ hastened the discovery or practice of harmony. [ORGAN.]

To Guido, of Arezzo, we are indebted for many of those improvements in music which led to our present system; though the origin of counterpoint has been erroneously ascribed to that active and ingenious ecclesiastic. [GUIDO) Magister Franco, a member of the cathedral of Cologne in the eleventh century, is considered as the inventor of what in the middle ages was called Cantus Mensurabilis, which meant, notes showing, by their forms, their time or duration. Most of those, however, have fallen into disuse, for the shortest in his table is the semibreve. Neverthe less his system, carried out further by De Muris, and by degrees extended, till it has proceeded to an extravagant length-is that of the present day, and is so sound in principle that it probably will never be abandoned.

From the eleventh to the fifteenth century, scarcely anything is known of the progress of music. For its history