12 JOHN EBADE ON 



music have the same origin and evolution as the others." Primitive language required 

 gesture and pantomime to supplement and reinforce it whenever strong emotion had to 

 be expressed. " Thus speech, gesture, and song, in the larger sense of the word had their 

 origin together." ' In turn, vocal modulation and rhythmic movement were used to stimu- 

 late emotion. Song, in its comprehensive sense, was, moreover, in unison with a tendency 

 that pervades all nature. The music of the spheres is not a mere fancy, but the state- 

 ment of that cosmic law of regular succession and rhythmic motion which constitute the 

 harmony of the universe. Granted that tendency, how or when did singing become 

 differentiated from ordinary speech ? No savage race, of which there is any record, has 

 been destitute of some kind of chant or chorus, of some kind of instrument, wind, stringed, 

 or of percussion. Something like Pan's pipes has been found in the caves of the Pyrenees, 

 and whistles have been repeatedly met with among the remains of Neolithic man. The 

 " kist o' whistles" of religious prejudice is a recognition of the course of development. 

 The twang of the tense bowstring suggested j)ossibly the earliest form of the class of 

 stringed instruments. As for those of percussion, the sound of the foot in the dance would 

 prompt their simplest form. 



It would appear, then, that if we look for the rude beginning of poetry, we must 

 search for the very earliest infancy of human speech. Dr. Tylor has shown, by examples 

 from saA^age tribes, that simple prose and measured Averse and chanted song, distinct though 

 they may seem and be to the educated, civilised man, are found, on careful examination, 

 to shade off into each other, the mode of utterance marking the temper of the speaker and 

 makino- all the difference. The dignity and music that emotion sometimes imparts to 

 words, which if uttered calmly would have no special force, is well-known. Earnestness 

 and passion, with voice and gesture corresponding, will make the merest commonplace 

 eloquent ; while in choruses, even meaningless syllables may be effectively used. Nor is 

 this usage confined to untutored savages ; on the contrary, it finds equal favour in the 

 heart of civilisation. "We are thus constantly reminded of the humble origin of that art 

 of poetry which we still call divine, and which is no less admirable for the rudeness of its 

 cradle. Eather, indeed, it should excite our wonder that what Dr. Tylor calls the " arts of 

 pleasure" should have any place, however scanty, in the hard lot of those primitive men. 

 Emile Souvestre, in his pleasant " Causeries historiques et littéraires," smiles at those 

 philosophers who imagine for mankind a career in accordance with economic maxims. 

 First, they say, community of wants having drawn together the scattered nomads of the 

 ancient world, they would p)ractice agriculture, and provide for themselves settled habita- 

 tions. Then, in due course, would follow the various industries, the growth of cities, 

 navigation, commerce, and, finally, having laid the foundation of material prosperity, those 

 prudent people Avould turn their attention to the subject of poetry and the other fine arts. 

 But human nature chose a different course. Instead of supplying the material wants first 

 and then turning its thoughts to testhetic superfluities, primitive mankind often gave the 

 latter precedence. The saA^age might do without shoes, but he could not do withoirt orna- 

 ments ; he might haA^e neither house nor funds, but he must have his dances and his 

 sono-s. So true was it from the first that man could not live by bread alone. The law 

 of nature, not only in its legal acceptation, but in its larger scientific sense, proved to be 

 something quite different from that which long venerated authority had decreed. 



Mytli and Science, ch. viii. 



