5 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



race in all times ; so much so that we wonder how life could ever have 

 been passed without it. In the earlier stages it was united with poetry, 

 and the poetical element was of equal power with the musical accom- 

 paniment, if not of greater. As the ethical instructors of mankind 

 have always disavowed the pursuit of pleasure as such, and allowed 

 it only as subsidiary to morality and social duty, the question with leg- 

 islators has been what form of music is best calculated to educe the 

 moral virtues and the nobler characteristics of the mind. It was this 

 view that entered into the speculative social constructions of Plato and 

 Aristotle. Now, undoubtedly the various modes of music oj^erate very 

 differently on the mind : every one knows the extremes of martial and 

 ecclesiastical music ; and fancy can insert many intermediate grades.* 



For the moment, a musical strain exerts immense power over the 

 mind, to animate, to encourage, to soothe, and to console. But the 

 facts do not bear us out in attributing to it any permanent moral in- 

 fluence ; nothing is more fugitive than the excitement of a musical 

 performance. Excepting its value as a substantive contribution to the 

 enjoyment of life, I am not able to afBrm that it has any influence on 

 education, whether moral or intellectual. Certainly, if it has any effect 

 in the moral sphere, it has none that I can trace in the sphere of intel- 

 lect. As a recreative variety in the midst of toil, it deserves every 

 encomium. In those exercises that are half recreative, half education- 

 al, as drill and gymnastic, the accompaniment of a band is most stimu- 

 lating. In the Kindergarten it is well brought in, as the wind-up to 

 the morning's work. But music during ordinary lessons, or any sort 

 of intellectual work, is mere distraction, as every one knows from the 

 experience of street bands and organs. 



Excess in the pleasures of music, like every other excess, is un- 

 favorable to mental culture. But some of the baost intellectual men 

 that ever lived have been devotees of music. In the case of Luther it 

 seems to have been incorporated with his whole being ; Milton invoked 

 it as an aid in poetic inspiration. These were men Avhose genius large- 

 ly involved their emotions. But the musical enthusiasm of Jeremy 

 Bentham could have no bearing on his work, further than as so much 

 enjoyment. 



Poetry is music and a great deal more. Its bearings are more nu- 

 merous and complicated. In the ruder stages of music, when it ac- 

 companied poetry, the main effects lay in the poetry. The poetic form 

 — the rhythm and the metre — impresses the ear, and is an aid to mem- 



' Plato, in the "Republic," wisbing to train a vigorous and hardy race, interdicted 

 not simply the unfavorable musical strains, but the instruments most adapted to these. 

 He permits only the lyre and the harp, with the Pan's pipe for shepherds attending their 

 flocks ; forbidding both the flute and all complicated stringed instruments. Disallowing 

 the lugubrious, passionate, soft, and convivial modes of music, he tolerates none but the 

 Dorian and the Phrygian, suitable to a sober, resolute, courageous frame of mind ; to 

 which also the rhythm and movement of the body are to be adapted (Grote's " Plato," 

 iii., 19C). * 



