person is no less pleased with an harmonious concert than he who has calculated the relation of all its parts; what has hitherto been said, may therefore be more ingenious than solid.

We cannot help acknowledging, that we are rather inclined to think so; and it appears to us, that the celebrated experiment on the resonance of bodies, may serve to account, in a still more plausible manner, for the pleasure arising from concords; because, as every sound degenerates into mere noise when not accompanied with its twelfth and its seventeenth major, besides its octaves, is it not evident, that when we combine any sound with its twelfth, or its seventeenth major, or with both at the same time, we only imitate the process of nature, by giving to that sound, in a fuller and more sensible manner, the accompaniment which nature itself gives it, and which cannot fail to please the ear, on account of the habit it has acquired of hearing them together? This is so agreeable to truth, that there are only two primitive concords, the twelfth and the seventeenth major; and that the rest, as the fifth, the third major, the fourth, and the sixth are derived from them, know also, that these two primitive concords, are the most perfect of all, and that they form the most agreeable accompaniment that can be given to any sound, though on the harpsichord, for example, to facilitate the execution, the third major and the fifth itself, which with the octave, form what is called perfect harmony, are substituted in their stead. But this harmony is perfect only by representation, and the most perfect of all, would be that in which the twelfth and the seventeenth were combined with the fundamental sound and its octaves; Rameau, therefore, adopted it as often as he could in his choruses. We might enlarge farther on this idea; but what has been already said will be sufficient for every intelligent reader.

We

Some very extraordinary things are related in regard to the effects produced by the music of the ancients, which, on account of their singularity, we shall here mention. We shall then examine them more minutely,

and shew that in this respect the modern music is not inferior to the ancient.

Agamemnon, it is said, when he set out on the expedition against Troy, being desirous to secure the fidelity of his wife, left with her a Dorian musician, who, by the effect of his airs, rendered fruitless for a long time, the attempts of Ægisthus to obtain her affection; but that prince having discovered the cause of her resistance, got the musician put to death; after which he triumphed, without difficulty, over the virtue of Clytemnestra.

We are told also, that at a later period, Pythagoras composed songs or airs capable of curing the most violent passions, and of recalling men to the paths of virtue and moderation. While the physician prescribes draughts for curing bodily diseases, an able musician might therefore prescribe an air for rooting out a vicious passion.

The story of Timotheus, the director of the music of Alexander the Great, is well known. One day, while the prince was at table, Timotheus performed an air in the Phrygian taste, which made such an impression on him, that being already heated with wine, he flew to his arms, and was going to attack his guests, had not Timotheus immediately changed the stile of his performance to the Sub-Phrygian. This change calmed the impetuous fury of the monarch, who resumed his place at table. This was the same Timotheus, who at Sparta experienced the humiliation of seeing publicly suppressed four strings which he had added to his lyre. The severe Spartans thought that this innovation would tend to effeminate their manners, by introducing a more extensive and more variegated kind of music. This at any rate proves, that the Greeks were convinced that music had a peculiar influence on manners; and that it was the duty of government to keep a watchful eye over that art.

Who indeed can doubt that music is capable of producing such an effect? Let us only interrogate ourselves, and examine what have been our sensations on

hearing a majestic or warlike piece of music, or a tender and pathetic air sung or played with expression. Who does not feel that the latter tends as much to melt the soul and dispose it to pleasure, as the former to rouse and exalt it? Several facts in regard to the modern music, place it in this respect on a level with the ancient.

The modern music, indeed, has had also its Timotheus, who could excite or calm at his pleasure the most impetuous emotions. Henry III. king of France, having given a concert on occasion of the marriage of the Duke de Joyeuse, Claudin le Jeune, a celebrated musician of that period, executed certain airs, which had such an effect on a young nobleman, that he drew his sword, and challenged every one near him to combat; but Claudin, equally prudent as Timotheus, instantly changed to an air apparently Sub-Phrygian, which appeased the furious youth.

What shall we say of Stradella, the celebrated composer, whose music made the daggers drop from the hands of his assassins? Stradella having carried off the mistress of a Venetian musician, and retired with her to Rome, the Venetian hired three desperadoes to assassinate him; but fortunately for Stradella they had an ear sensible to harmony. These assassins, while waiting for a favourable opportunity to execute their purpose, entered the church of St. John de Latran, during the performance of an oratorio, composed by the person whom they intended to destroy, and were so affected by the music that they abandoned their design, and even waited on the musician to forewarn him of his danger. Stradella, however, was not always so fortunate; other assissins, who apparently had no ear for music, stabbed him some time after at Genoa: this event took place about the year 1670.

Every body almost has heard, that music is a cure for the bite of the tarantula. This cure, which was formerly considered as certain, has by some been contested; but, however this may be, Father Schott in his works, gives the tarantula air, which appears to be very dull, as well as that employed by the Sicilian

fishermen to entice the thunny fish into their nets.But it is probable, that fish are no great connoisseurs in music.

Various anecdotes are related respecting persons whose lives have been preserved by music effecting a sort of revolution in their constitutions. A woman being attacked for several months with the vapours, and confined to her apartment, had resolved to starve herself to death: she was, however, prevailed on, but not without great difficulty, to see a representation of the Serva Padrona, at the conclusion of which she found herself almost cured; and renouncing her melancholy resolution, was entirely restored to health by a few more representations of the like kind.

There is a celebrated air in Switzerland, called Ranz des Vaches, which had such an extraordinary effect on the Swiss troops in the French service, that they always fell into a deep melancholy when they heard it; Louis XIV. therefore, forbade it ever to be played in France, under the pain of a severe penalty. We are told of a Scotch air, which has a similar effect on the natives of Scotland.

Most animals, and even insects, are not insensible to the pleasure of music. There are few musicians, perhaps, who have not seen spiders suspend themselves by their threads in order to be near the instruments. We have several times had that satisfaction. We have seen a dog, who at the adagio of a sonata, never failed to shew signs of attention, and some peculiar sensation by howling.

The most singular fact, however, is that mentioned by Burney, in his History of Music. This author relates, that an officer being shut up in the Bastille, had permission to carry with him a lute, on which he was an excellent performer; but he had scarcely made use of it for three or four days, when the mice issuing from their holes, and the spiders suspending themselves from the cieling by their threads, assembled around him to participate in his melody. His aversion to these animals made their visit at first disagreeable; and induced him to lay aside this recreation; but he soon

was so accustomed to them, that they became a source of amusement.

We have learned from persons worthy of credit, now in London, that during their residence in the Levant, they have witnessed the influence of certain Greek songs on the oxen, which the Greek farmers employ in agriculture.

Those who have seen at Bartholomew fair, in Smithfield, two elephants follow exactly the measure of the tunes played at the entrance of the place where they were kept, and humour all their variations, by the motion of their head and trunk, will find no difficulty in believing what Buffon has said respecting the singular taste of these animals for harmony.

In a word, without deciding whether the fables of Amphion and Arion may not, in some measure, be founded on truth, we know that the noisy sound of trumpets, and the harmony of military instruments, excite the courage of soldiers, and the ardour of horses; and the directors of caravans take care to be accompanied on their march, by performers on different instruments, the music of which has such an effect on their camels, that they are better enabled to sustain the fatigue they must undergo in traversing the burning desarts of Arabia or Africa.

OF THE PROPERTIES OF CERTAIN INSTRUMENTS, AND PARTICULARLY WIND INSTRUMENTS.

We are perfectly well acquainted with the manner in which stringed instruments emit their sounds; but erroneous ideas were long entertained in regard to wind instruments, such as the flute; for the sound was ascribed to the interior surface of the tube. The celebrated Euler first rectified this error, and it results. from his researches,

1st. That the sound produced by a flute, is nothing else than that of the cylinder of air contained in it. 2nd. That the weight of the atmosphere, which compresses it, acts the part of the stretching weight.

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