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 artists, whofe work requires lefs attention, and who may ply their trade and amuse themselves with converfation at the fame time, have for the most part smoother and more unmeaning faces: their thoughts are more mifcellaneous, and therefore their features are lefs fixed in one uniform configuration. 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 audi. A man habituaily peevith, or paflionate, or querulous, or im perious, may be known by the found of his voice, as well as by his phyfiognomy. May we not go a fep farther, and fay, that if a iman under the influence of any paffion were to compofe a discourse, or a poem, or a tune, his work would in fome measure exhibit an image of his mind? I could not eafily be perfuaded, that Swift and Juvenal were men of fweet 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 eafy 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 compolition of the poet, or of the orator, must 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 should happen, that a mufician, overwhelmed with forrow, for example, should put together a ferics 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 organift" do not feel in himself the divine "energy of devotion, he will labour in vain to raise it in others.

Nor can he hope to throw out those inflantaneous thoughts, which *fometimes far exceed the bett concerted compolitions, and which "the enraptured performer would gladly fecure to his future ufe

and pleasure, 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 expreflion that are to be found in the works of former mailers, may, by memory and much practice, attain a fort of mechanical dexterity in contriving mulic fuitable to any given paffion; but fuch mufic would, I prefume, be vulgar and fpiritlefs,

Avifon on Mufical Expreffion, pag. 88, 89.

piritlefs, compared to what an artist of genius throws out, when under the power of any ardent emotion. It is recorded of Lulli, that, cace 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 musician will give different and peculiar expreffions to his mufic;—and, upon this principle, it will not, perhaps, be impollible 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 thefe 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 ftyle 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 ftyle of musical compofition fo different in every refpe&t from that tá which he had been accustomed in his own country. Melody is fo much the characteristic of the Scotch tunes, that I doubt whether eren baffes were fet to them before the prefent century; whereas, in the days of Rizzio, Harmony was the fashionable ftudy of the Italian compofers. Paleftina him felf, who flourished about two hundred and fifty years ago, and who has obtained the high title of Father or Harmony, is by a great mafter* ranked with thofe who neglefed nir, and were too closely attached to counterpoint; and at the time whe Rizzio was a Ytudent in the art, Palefiina's muft have been the favou¬ rite mufic in Italy.Befides, though the style of the old Scotch melody has been well imitated by Mr. Ofwald, and fome other na-. tives, I do not find that any foreigner has ever caught the true f Fric of it. Geminiani, a great and original genius in this art, and profeffed admirer of the Scotch fongs, (fome of which he publisheff with accompaniments,) ufed to fay, that he had blotted many a quite of paper, to no purpofe, in attempting to compofe a fécond ran to that fine little air which in Scotland is known by the notio 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 eltemed by the Italians of his time, and afcribes the invention it to Jases King of Scotland :—which a foreigner might naturally of, Scotch kings of that name, particularly the first, third, fou. k, mud ffth, were filled both in mulic and poetry.

sau the

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

C

Avifon on Mufical Expreffion, pag. 49, 51,

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 expreflive. Rizzio may have been one of the firft, perhaps, who made a collection of thefe fongs; or he may have played them with more delicate touches than the Scotch muficians 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 wildnefs of others:-and in all or any of those cafes, it might be faid with truth, that the Scotch mufic is under obligations to him but that this ftyle of paftoral melody, fo unlike the Italian, and in every refpect 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 Tafte, that may in part be accounted for. Let us recollect fome particulars of the hiftory of that period, when this music began to recommend itself 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 administration, 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 generolity 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 fcholar was ambitious to acquire, and in which many elegant compofitions, both verfe and profe, were produced about this time in Italy. Fracaftorius, Sanazarius, Vida, diftinguithed 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

Tofçan

Tofcan language, fince the time of Petrarcha, who flourished one hundred and fifty years before the period we speak of, had been too much neglected; but was now refumed with the most desirable fuccefs; particularly by Taffo and Ariosto, who carried the Italian poetry to its highest perfection.

"The other fine arts were no lefs fortunate in the hands of Raphael and Palestina. What Homer was in poetry, these authors were in painting and mufic. Their works are ftill regarded as ftandards of good taste, and models for imitation and though improve ment may no doubt have been made fince their time, in fome infe rior branches of their refpective arts, particularly in what regards delicacy of manner; it may with reafon be doubted, whether in grandeur of defign, and ftrength of invention, they have as yet been. excelled or equalled. Greece owed much of her literary glory to the merit of her ancient authors. They at once fixed the fashion in the feveral kinds of writing; and they happened to fix it on the immoveable basis of fimplicity and nature. Had not the Italian mufic in its infant ftate fallen into the hands of a great genius like Paleftina, it would not have arrived at maturity fo foon. A long fuccef fion of inferior compofers might have made difcoveries in the art, but could not have raised it above mediocrity: and fuch people are not of influence enough to render a new art refpectable in the eyes, either of the learned, or of the vulgar. But Palestina made his art an object of admiration, not only to his own country, but to a great part of Europe. In England he was ftudied and imitated by Tallis, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. All good judges were fatisfied, that this fyftem of harmony was founded on right principles; and that, though it might perhaps be improved, nothing in the art could be a real improvement, which was contradictory to it.

"In the age of Leo, a genius like Palestina must have been diftinguished, even though the art he profeffed had gratified no impor tant principle of the human mind; but as his art gratified the reli gious principle, he could not fail, in thofe days, and among Italians, to meet with the highest encouragement. In fact, music fince that time has been cultivated in Italy with the utmost attention and fuc cefs. Scarlatti, Corelli, Geminiani, Martini, Marcello, were all men of extraordinary abilities; and any one of them, in the circumstances of Palestina, might perhaps have been as eminent as he. Need we wonder, then, at the unequalled excellence of the Italian mufic?

"But other caufes have contributed to this effect. Nobody who understands the language of modern Italy, will deny, that the na tives have a peculiar delicacy of perception in regard to vocal found. This delicacy appears in the fweetness of their verfe, in the cadence of their profe, and even in the formation and inflexion of their words. Whether it be owing to the climate, or to the influence of the other arts; whether it be derived from their Gothic ancestors, or from their more remote forefathers of ancient Rome; whether it be the effect of weakness or of foundnefs in the vocal and auditory organs of the people, this national nicenefs of ear must be confidered as one caufe of the melody both of their speech and of their music. They C 2

are

are mistaken who think the Italian an effeminate language. Soft it is, indeed, and of eafy modulation, but fufceptible withal of the utmoft dignity of found, as well as of elegant arrangement and nervous phrafeology. In history and oratory, it may boaft of many excellent models: and its poetry is far fuperior to that of every other modern nation, except the English. And if it be true, that all mufic is originally fong, the moft poetical nation would feem to have the fairest chance to become the most mufical. The Italian tongue, in ftrength and variety of harmony, is not fuperior, and perhaps not equal, to the English; but, abounding more in vowels and liquidfounds, and being therefore more easily articulated, is fitter for the purpofes of mufic: and it deferves our notice, that poetical numbers were brought to perfection in Italy two hundred years fooner than in any other country of modern Europe."

We are perfuaded Dr. Beattie here fpeaks from what he knows the English language capable of being applied to, rather than from what it generally has been. He must be fenfible that

nothing can be more execrable than the English verfes (as they are called) of late years fet to mufic.-If words were properly chofen, it were not impofiible to fhew, that even English poetry might be fet to mufic with as much advantage as the Italian. But this choice of words is not to be made by fidlers, harpfichord thrummers, and mere mufical compofers. It were to be wifhed, that a poct of Dr. Beattie's tafte for mufical expreffion would give an example of the kind. At the fame time, we cannot help expreffing our hopes, while we ceafe with extreme reluctance from farther quotation, that the public will be foon favoured with an edition of thefe annexed Effays, in an octavo. form, for the ufe of thofe who poffefs the Effay on Truth in that fize; in order that fuch as, with ourselves, do not altogether relifh Dr. Beattie's Dr. Reid's common-fenfe, may be happily convinced that he poffeffes every other kind of fente, notwithstanding he be too refined for the plain refult of the fimple underftanding of mere rational beings.

Dialogues Meraux et Amufants, en Anglois et François, pour l'Etftruction de la Jeunese: Or, Moral and entertaining Dialogues, in English and French, for the Improvement of Youth. By Madame Fauques De Vauclufe. 12mo. 2 vols. 6s. Dilly.

The ingenious author of thefe Dialogues profefics that the compofed fometimes in English and fometimes in French: tranflating from each as literally as elegance would permit. To do her juftice in both, we must confefs we cannot always