the fame words, the running of long extravagant divifions upon one fyllable, and the fetting of words to music that have no meaning.

"If I were entitled to fuggeft any rules in this art, I would humbly propofe, (and a great musician and ingenious writer feems to be of the fame mind *), that no imitation fhould ever be introduced into mufic purely inftrumental. Of vocal melody the expreffion is, or ought to be, afcertained by the poetry; but the expreffion of the beft inftrumental music is ambiguous. In this, therefore, there is nothing to lead the mind of the hearer to recognife the imitation, which, though both legitimate and accurate, would run the risk of being overlooked and loft. If, again, it were fo very exact, as to lead our thoughts inftantly to the thing imitated, we should be apt to attend to the imitation only, fo as to remain infenfible to the general effect of the piece. In a word, I am inclined to think, that imitation in an inftrumental concerto would produce either no effect, or a bad one. The fame reasons would exclude it from inftrumental folos; provided they were fuch as deserve to be called mufic:-if they be contrived only to fhow the dexterity of the performer, imitations, and all poffible varieties of found, may be thrown in ad libitum; any thing will do, that can affonith the audience; but to fuch fiddling or fingering I would no more give the honourable name of mufic, than I would apply that of Poetry to Pope's "Fluttering fpread thy purple pinions," or to Swift's Ode on Ditton and Whifton.

We are very forry that the limits to which we are confined prevent our pursuing the detail, in which this difcerning and excellent writer displays the jufteft tafte for true mufic and mufical expreffion.-There is one circumftance, however, in which, we think, he errs. He fays, "In fweetness of tone, the belt finger is not fuperior, and fcarcely equal, to an Eolus' harp, "to Fischer's hautboy, or to Giardini's violin.”—Now we conceive that the best human pipe is the sweetest and most melodious of all mufical inftruments, and that all inanimate inftruments approximate to perfection as they approach that melody. Not that we controvert the argument in which this affertion is introduced on the contrary, we efpouse it, and it is for that very reafon we join him in our diffatisfaction that a human "creature fhould [by imitating fuch inftruments] dwindle into mere wood, wire, and cat-gut."

In the third fection Dr. Beattie confiders "How the pleafures we derive from mufic are to be accounted for." And here we cannot help expreffing, not only our admiration, but our approbation, of Dr. Beattie's philofophy. In matters whofe firit principles depend on refinement of tafte, the Doctor is a true tafty philofopher: in those which depend on our groffer feelings, he is more the man of fentiment than of reafon.

* Avifon.

In

Is not this indeed confeffed by Dr. B. in faying the most perfect of all musical inftruments is the human voice? See page 4 of the prefent article.

In fection the third, of thefe Remarks, he makes reflections, which he modeftly ftyles conjectures, on fome peculiarities of national mufic.

"There is a certain ftyle of melody peculiar to each mufical country, which the people of that country are apt to prefer to every other ftyle. That they should prefer their own, is not furprising; and that the melody of one people fould differ from that of another. is not more furprising, perhaps, than that the language of one people fhould differ from that of another. But there is fomething not unworthy of notice in the particular expreffion and ftvle that charac. terife the mulic of one nation or province, and diftinguish it from every other fort of mufic. Of this diverfity Scotland fupplies a ftriking example. The native melody of the highlands and western ifles is as different from that of the Southern part of the kingdom, as the Irish or Erfe language is different from the English or Scotch. In the conclufion of a difcourfe on mulic as it relates to the mind, it will not perhaps be impertinent to offer a conjecture on the caufe of thefe peculiarities; which, though it thould not (and indeed I am fatisfied that it will not) fully account for any one of them, may however incline the reader to think that they are not unaccountable, and may also throw fome faint light on this part of philofophy.

"Every thought that partakes of the nature of paffion has a correfpondent expreffion in the look and gesture: and fo ftrict is the union between the paffion and its outward fign, that, where the former is not in fome degree felt, the latter can never be perfectly natural, but, if affumed, becomes aukward mimicry, instead of that genuine imitation of nature, which draws forth the fympathy of the beholder. If, therefore, there be, in the circumstances of particular nations or perfons, any thing that gives a peculiarity to their paffions and thoughts, it seems reafonable to expect, that they will also have fomething peculiar in the expreffion of their countenance, and even in the form of their features. Caius Marius, Jugurtha, Tamerlane, and fome other great warriors, are celebrated for a peculiar ferocity of afpect, which they had no doubt contracted from a perpetual and unrestrained exertion of fortitude, contempt, and other violent emotions. Thefe produced in the face their correfpondent expreffions, which, being often repeated, became at laft as habitual to the features, as the fentiments they arofe from were to the heart. Savages, whofe thoughts are little inured to controul, have more of this fignificancy of look, than thofe men, who, being born and bred in civilized nations, are accustomed from their child bood to fupprefs every emotion that tends to interrupt the peace of fociety. And while the bloom of youth lafts, and the smoothness of feature peculiar to that period, the human face is lefs marked with any strong character, than in old age:-a peevifh or furly tripling may elude the eye of the phyfiognomift; but a wicked old man, whofe vifage does not betray the evil temperature of his heart, muft have more cunning than it would be pruden: for him to acknowledge. Even by the trade or profeffion the human countenance may be characterised. They who employ themselves in the nicer mechanic arts, that re

quire

quire the earnest attention of the artist, do generally contract a fixednefs of feature fuited to that one uniform fentiment which engroffes them while at work. Whereas, other artifls, whofe work requires lefs attention, and who may ply their trade and amuse themfelves with converfation at the fame time, have for the most part fmoother and more unmeaning faces: their thoughts are more mifcellaneous, and therefore their features are lefs fixed in one uniform configura tion. A keen penetrating look indicates thoughtfulness and fpirit: a dull torpid countenance is not often accompanied with great faga city.

This, though there may be many an exception, is in general true of the vifible figns of our paffions; and it is no lefs true of the audible. A man habitually peevish, or paflionate, or querulous, or imperious, may be known by the found of his voice, as well as by his phyfiognomy. May we not go a flep farther, and fay, that if a inan under the influence of any paffion were to compofe a difcourfe, or a poem, or a tune, his work would in fome measure exhibit an image of his mind? I could not easily be perfuaded, that Swift and Juvenal were men of fwect tempers; or that Thompfon, Arbuthnot, and Prior were ill-natured., The airs of Felton are fo uniformly mournful, that I can not fuppofe him to have been a merry, or even a chearful man. If a mutician, in deep affliction, were to attempt to compofe a lively air, I believe he would not fucceed: though I confefs I do not well understand the nature of the connection that may take place between a mournful mind and a melancholy tune. It is cafy to conceive, how a poet or an orator fhould transfufe his paffions into his work: for every paffion fuggefts ideas congenial to its own nature; and the compofition of the poet, or of the orator, muft neceffarily confit of thofe ideas that occur at the time he is compofing. But mufical founds are not the figns of ideas; rarely are they even the imitations of natural founds: fo that I am at a lofs to con ceive how it fhould happen, that a mufician, overwhelmed with forrow, for example, should put together a feries of notes, whofe expreffion is contrary to that of another feries which he had put toge ther when elevated with joy. But of the fact I am not doubtful; though I have not fagacity, or knowledge of mulic, enough to be able to explain it. And my opinion in this matter is warranted by that of a more competent judge; who fays, fpeaking of churchvoluntaries, that if the organist do not feel in himfelf the divine "energy of devotion, he will labour in vain to raise it in others. "Nor can he hope to throw out thofe inflantaneous thoughts, which "fometimes far exceed the best concerted compofitions, and which "the enraptured performer would gladly fecure to his future ufe

46

and pleafure, did they not as fleetly efcape as they arife." A man who has made mufic the study of his life, and is well acquainted with all the best examples of ftyle and expreffion that are to be found in the works of former matters, may, by memory and much practice, attain a fort of mechanical dexterity in contriving mufic fuitable to any given paffion; but fuch mufic would, I prefume, be vulgar and fpiritlets,

* Avifon on Mufical Expreffion, pag. 88, 89.

fpiritlefs, compared to what an artift of genius throws out, when under the power of any ardent emotion. It is recorded of Lulli, that, once when his imagination was all on fire with fome verfes defcriptive of terrible ideas, which he had been reading in a French tragedy, he ran to his harpsichord, and ftruck off fuch a combination of founds, that the company felt their hair stand on end with horror. "Let us therefore fuppofe it proved, or, if you pleafe, take it, for granted, that different fentiments in the mind of the mutician will give different and peculiar expreflions to his mufic;-and, upon this principle, it will not, perhaps, be impoffible to account for fome of the phenomena of a national ear."

It is on this principle our author proceeds to account for the Scotch tafte for mufic, and the peculiar ftyle of their fongs. On this head he differs, alfo, from the general notion.

"It is a common opinion, that the fe fongs were compofed by David Rizzio, a musician from Italy, the unfortunate favourite of a very unfortunate queen. But this must be a mistake. The style of the Scotch mufic was fixed before his time; for many of the best of thefe tunes are afcribed by tradition to a more remote period. And it is not to be fuppofed, that he, a foreigner, and in the latter part of his life a man of bufinefs, could have acquired or invented a style of musical compofition fo different in every refpect from that to which he had been accustomed in his own country. Melody is fo much the characteristic of the Scotch tunes, that I doubt whether even bafles were fet to them before the prefent century; whereas, in the days of Rizzio, Harmony was the fashionable ftudy of the Italian compofers. Paleitina himfelf, who flourished about two hundred and fifty years ago, and who has obtained the high title of Father of Harmony, is by a great mafter* ranked with thofe who neglected air, and were too closely attached to counterpoint; and at the time when Rizzio was a student in the art, Paleftina's must have been the favourite mufic in Italy. - Befides, though the ftyle of the old Scotch melody has been well imitated by Mr. Ofwald, and fome other natives, I do not find that any foreigner has ever caught the true fpirit of it. Geminiani, a great and original genius in this art, and a profeffed admirer of the Scotch fongs, (fome of which he published with accompaniments,) ufed to fay, that he had blotted many a quire of paper, to no purpofe, in attempting to compofe a fecond Brain to that fine little air which in Scotland is known by the name of The broom of Cowdenknows. -To all which we may add, that Taffoni, the author of La Secchia rapita, fpeaks of this mulic as well esteemed by the Italians of his time, and afcribes the invention of it to James King of Scotland :—which a foreigner might naturally do, as all the Scotch kings of that name, particularly the fit, third, fourth, and fifth, were killed both in mufic and poetry.

"But though I admit Taffoni's teftimony as a proof, that the Scotch mufic is more ancient than Rizzio, I do not think him right in what he fays of its inventor. Nor can I acquiefce in the opinion VOL. V.

C

*Avifon on Mufical Expreflion, pag. 49, 51.

of

of those who give the honour of this invention to the monks of Melrofe. I rather believe, that it took its rife among men who were real fhepherds, and who actually felt the fentiments and affections, whereof it is fo very expreffive. Rizzio may have been one of the first, perhaps, who made a collection of thefe fongs; or he may have played them with more delicate touches than the Scotch mufi, cians of that time; or perhaps corrected the extravagance of certain paffages; for one is ftruck with the regularity of fome, as well as amufed with the wildness of others:-and in all or any of thofe cafes, it might be faid with truth, that the Scotch mufic is under obliga. tions to him-but that this ftyle of paftoral melody, fo unlike the Italian, and in every respect fo peculiar, thould have been established or invented by him, is incredible; nay, (if it were worth while to affert any thing fo pofitively on fuch a fubject,) we might even fay impoffible.

"The acknowledged and unequalled excellence of the Italian mufic, is one of thofe phenomena of a National Tafle, that may in part be accounted for. Let us recollect fome particulars of the hiftory of that period, when this mufic began to recommend itfelf to general notice,

"Leo the Tenth, and fome of his immediate predeceffors, had many great vices, and fome virtues; and we at this day feel the good effects of both for Providence has been pleafed, in this inftance, as in many others, to bring good out of evil, and to accomplish the moft glorious purpofes by means that feemed to have an oppofite tendency, The profufion, and other more fcandalous qualities of Leo, were inftrumental in haftening forward the Reformation: to his liberality and love of art we owe the finest pictures, the finest mufical compofitions, and fome of the finest poems in the world.

"The fixteenth century does indeed great honour to Italian genius, The ambition of Alexander the Sixth, and Julius the Second, had raifed the Papal power to higher eminence, and fettled it on a firmer foundation, than had been known before their time. Leo, therefore, had leifure to indulge his love of luxury and of art; and the Italians, under his adminiftration, to cultivate the arts and fciences, which many other favourable events confpired to promote, Printing had been lately found out: the taking of Conftantinople by the Turks had made a difpertion of the learned, many of whom took refuge in Italy; Leo found, in the treafures accumulated by Julius the Second, and in the ample revenues of the pontificate, the means both of generality and of debauchery: and when the Pope, and the houfes of Medici and Montefeltro, had fet the example, it became the fashion all over Italy, to patronife genius, and encourage learning. The firft efforts of a literary fpirit appeared in tranflating the Greek authors into Latin; a tongue which every scholar was ambitious to acquire, and in which many elegant compofitions, both verfe and profe, were produced about this time in Italy. Fracaftorius, Sanazarius, Vida, diftinguished themfelves in Latin poetry; Bembo. Cafa, Manutius, Sigonius, in Latin profe. But genius feldom dif plays itself to advantage in a foreign tongue, The cultivation of the

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