* vilify and degrade this most honourable Art. Let none despise as futile, condemn as igfignificant, or impeach as impious, a Faculty bestowed on man for the most fublime and facred purposes, confecrated to the most auguft offices of Religion, and fanctioned by the authority and example of God him• felf. - Definant itaque ex quorundam hominum vitio, qui rebus optimis peffime abutuntur, honeftiffimæ facultati invidiam conflare: definant eam artem, ut in fe levem futilemque contemnere, ut profanam atque etiam impiam criminari, quam in fanctimos ufus Dei ipfus munere hominibus conceffam fuiffe videmus, Deique ipfus autoritate atque exemplo auguftiffimis minifteriis confecratam. Lowth Poet. Præl. ii. CHAP. CHAP. XIII. Of Music in General. UCH criticism and philofophy have MUCH been employed upon this moft elegant and efficacious Art, fince the days of Aristotle: yet the rationale of Music feems to be more complicated and involved in myftery, and more difficult to be analyzed,' than that of any other part of learning. It is certainly a compound of Sound and Motion; and fo far as their mensuration and proportion are concerned in producing the · Οὔτε γὰρ, τίνα ἔχει δύναμιν ῥᾴδιον περὶ αὐτής διελειν, ἔτε τίνος δεῖ χάριν μετέχειν αὐτῆς. Ariftot. De Repub. lib. viii. cap. 5. effect, effect, it is to be confidered as a geometrical fcience, akin to Mechanics and Afronomy. Terminating, however, neither in Speculation nor in Action, but in Effect, it is an Art akin to Poetry and the rest, and derives its energy from the fame general Principle of Imitation, which represent the different paffions and emotions of the mind by the means of its rythms, and of the order and fucceffion of its founds. The Effect of Mufic on the human frame is truly wonderful: and, in its philofophical analyfis, it should, I think, be confidered as * Σχεδὸν δὲ συνώνυμοί εἰσι τούτων τῶν ἐπισημῶν ἔνιαι" οἷον, αερολογία, ἥτε μαθηματικὴ, καὶ ἡ ναυτική· καὶ αρμονική, ήτε μαθηματικὴ, καὶ ἢ κατὰ τὴν ακοήν. Ibid. Analyt. Poft. lib. i. cap. 13. See Cap. i. De Poet. ε Εςι δ' ὁμοιώματα μάλισα παρὰ τὰς ἀνηθινὰς φύσεις ἔν τοῖς ῥυθμοῖς καὶ τοῖς μέλεσιν ὀργῆς καὶ πραότητος· ἔτι δ ̓ ἀνδρίας καὶ σωφροσυνὴς, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐναντίων τέτοις, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἠθικῶν. Ibid. de Repub. lib. viii. cap. 5. See the latter end of the chapter—Εκ μὴν ἔν τέτων φανερὸν, ὅτι δύναται ποιόν τι τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἦθος ἡ μουσική ή παρασκευάζειν. d • Ἐν δὲ τοῖς ΡΥΘΜΟΙΣ, καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν φθογγὼν ΤΑΞΕΙ. Ibid. De Mufica § 19. Prob. 27. a com a compound of Art and Science; which complex view might, probably, facilitate the knowledge of the rationale of its powers and mode of operation, and help to ascertain with precifion the specific nature of its IMITATION, which varies in every Art, is more immediate or more diftant, more direct or indirect, according to the different Means which they employ. And with this chort hint to the Mufical philosophex if he may think it worth improving, I fhall conclude this general remark on the Art of MUSIC. X & Su Avison on I CHAP. XIV. Of the ARISTOTELIAN Logic. SHALL conclude this lecture on Poetry with an Obfervation arifing out of the fubject now before me, though it may not probably meet the conviction, nor perhaps the approbation, of many of my learned hearers but as, in my humble conception, it may be of great importance to the cause of Truth in general and to the advancement of every part of Learning, it shall be fairly and freely made. THE two higheft fpecies of Poetry, the Dramatic and the Epic, particularly the former, have been analyzed by Ariftotle, as was obferved, |