pipe, told him that he could make a melancholy man merry, a lover more enamoured, and a religious man more devout. Ismenias the Theban, Chiron the Centaur, Clinias, and Empedocles, are said to have cured many diseases by the power of Music alone. Timotheus, the musical son of Thyrsander, performed harmonic wonders in the court of Alexander ; and we have the authority of holy writ, that the harp of David refreshed the mind, and drove away the evil spirit from the bosom of king Saul. There is no

mirth without music. A table, as the Son of Sirach truly observes, without Music, is little better than a manger; for Music at meals is like a carbuncle set in gold, or the signet of an emerald highly burnished.

Cleopatra observes, that " Music is the food of those who trade in love." It was her sweet voice, more than any other of her enticements, that enchanted the heart of Antony, caused him to think the world well lost when put in competition with her charms, and transformed the triple pillar of the state into a strumpet's fool :

The song was death, but made destruction please.

Aristronica, Onanthi, and Agathocleia, the celebrated Samian syrens, led kings in triumph by the powers of their delightful tones; and Petronius observes of Laïs, that she sung so sweetly, as to charm the air, and enchant the senses of all who heard her. wise and temperate Ulysses was forced to bind himself to the mast of his vessel, the better to resist the danger to which he was exposed by the songs of the

syrens.

Celestial music warbled from their tongue,
And thus the sweet deluders tun'd the song:
Oh! stay, O pride of Greece! Ulysses! stay!
Oh! cease thy course, and listen to our lay!
Blest is the man ordain'd our voice to hear;
The song instructs the soul, and charms the ear.
Approach! thy soul shall into rapture rise!
Approach! and learn new wisdom from the wise!
While thus the charmers warbled o'er the main,
His soul took wing to meet the heavenly strain;

The

He gave the sign, and struggled to be free,
But his brave crew row'd swift along the sea,
Added new pow'rs, nor stopp'd their rapid way,
Till, dying off, the distant sounds decay;

Then scudding swiftly from the dang'rous ground,
The deafen'd ear unlock'd, the chains unbound.

But it is only the syren songs that are thus pregnant with mischief; for nothing so much enlivens and adorns the fair face of virtue, as the chaste touches of sweet and modest harmony:

Let not, sweet maid, th' heroic throng,
Rude rushing forth in loose desire,
Thy virgin dance, or graceful song,
Pollute with lyric raptures dire.
O fair! O chaste! thy echoing shade
Let no heroic sounds invade;
Nor let thy strings one accent move,
Except what earth's untroubled ear
Midst all her social tribes may hear,

And heav'n's unerring throne approve.

Music furnishes us with innumerable pleasures, either in solitude or society. The loveliness of solitude is cheered, and the fatigues of labour are lightened, by the pleasure of singing; and where friends and companions meet around the gay and festive circle, the social concert, and the united chorus, excite and warm into action every friendly feeling and every benevolent emotion. Martial Music inspires the soldier with courage, and the patriot with redoubled zeal in his cause; it sometimes infuses bravery into the most timid dispositions, and thus triumphs over

nature:

"An old officer who served under the Duke of Marlborough, was naturally so timid as to shew the utmost reluctance to an engagement, until he heard the drums and trumpets; when his spirits were raised to such a degree that he became most ardent to be engaged with the enemy, and would then expose himself to the utmost dangers."

By Music, minds an equal temper know;
Nor swell too high, nor sink too low :
If in the breast tumultuous joys arise,
Music her soft assuasive voice applies;
Or, when the soul is press'd with cares,
Exalts her in enlivening airs.

Warriors she fires with animated sounds:
Pours balm into the bleeding lover's wounds:
Melancholy lifts her head,
Morpheus rouses from his bed,

Sloth unfolds her arms and wakes,
List'ning Envy drops her snakes;

Intestine war no more our passions wage,
And giddy factions hear away their rage.
But when our country's cause provokes to arms,
How martial Music every bosom warms!
So when the first bold vessel dar'd the seas,
High on the stern the Thracian rais'd his strain:
While Argo saw her kindred trees
Descend from Pelion to the main;
Transported demi-gods stood round,
And men grew heroes at the sound,
Inflam'd with glory's charms:

Each chief his sev'nfold shield display'd,
And half unsheath'd the shining blade;

And seas, and rocks, and skies rebound-
To arms! to arms! to arms!

РОРЕ.

Sacred Music touches the finest chords of piety, inspires the soul with the most sublime sentiments, and feelings of devotion, and commands the heavenly ear to listen to mortal strains:

When the full organ joins the tuneful quire,
Th' immortal pow'rs incline their ear:
Borne on the swelling notes, our souls aspire,
While solemn airs improve the sacred fire;

And angels lean from heav'n to hear.

РОРЕ.

It has been observed, that the delight we receive from agreeable melody, might be referred to the very same principle which takes place in all the fine arts, namely, to our love of variety under certain restrictions, in a succession of musical sounds.

Some portion of variety is necessary in every thing that pleases us; and in melody, the greater that variety is, without confusion, provided it passes in succession from note to note by concinnous and harmonic intervals, the greater is the pleasure it affords us.

Des Cartes says, "Amongst the objects of sense, that is not the most grateful to the mind which is most easily perceived, nor that, on the contrary, which is

apprehended with much difficulty; but that which is perceived, not so easily as that the natural desire of pursuit (whereby the senses are carried towards their proper objects) is checked by an immediate attainment, nor yet so hardly, as that the senses are thereby tired; and, finally, we may observe that variety is the most grateful in all things. Certain I am, that it is the source of our delight, in whatever is addressed to the fancy or imagination, and that it appears to be the great principle of beauty in the works of nature."

We shall close this chapter on Harmony with some slight notice of "the Music of the spheres," a doctrine of great antiquity, to which allusion is made in the thirty-eighth chapter of Job-"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy."

Among the ancient writers, this was a favourite subject of philosophical inquiry. Pythagoras and Plato were of opinion that the Muses constituted the soul of the planets in our system; and the disciples of both these celebrated philosophers supposed the universe to be formed on the principles of harmony. The Pythagoreans maintained an opinion which many of the poets have adopted, that Music is produced by the motion of the spheres in their several orbits; that the names of sounds in all probability were derived from the seven stars. Pythagoras says, that the whole world is made according to musical proportion. Plato asserts, that the soul of the world is conjoined with musical proportion. Sir Isaac Newton was of opinion, that the principles of harmony pervade the universe, and gives a proof of the general principle, from the analogy between colours and sounds. From a number of experiments made on a ray of light with the prism, he found that the primary colours occupied spaces exactly corresponding with the intervals which constitute the octave in the division of a musical chord; and hence he has obviously shewn the affinity between the harmony of colours and musical sounds.

Shakspeare, Milton, Dryden, Mason, and other eminent poets, all seem to favour the Pythagorean

system. The first of these, whose vast mind grasped the whole creation with its internal mechanism at once, thus happily alludes to the subject in his play of " The Merchant of Venice :"

There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,

But in his motion like an angel sings,

Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubim :
Such harmony is in immortal sounds!
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth close us in, we cannot hear it.

CHAP. XXXIX.

PAINTING..

The painter dead, yet still he charms the eye;
While England lives, his fame can never die!
GARRICK.

PAINTING is the source of innumerable pleasures. The art of Painting gives the most direct and expressive representation of objects; and it was, doubtless, for this reason employed by many nations, before the art of writing was invented, to communicate their thoughts, and to convey intelligence to distant places. The pencil may be said to write a universal language; for every one can instantly understand the meaning of a painter, provided he be faithful to the rules of his art. His skill enables him to display the various scenes of nature at one view. Silent and uniform as is the address which a good picture makes to us, yet it penetrates so deeply into our affections, as to appear to exceed the powers of eloquence.

"By the aid of the pencil is preserved the resemblance of the parent we revere, the child we love, and the benefactor we honour. Although separated from such objects of our regard by extensive provinces and vast oceans, their lively portraits place us still in their company; and even though they are cut off by death, and are mouldering in the tomb,