64 On RTtHMICAL MEASURES. 



This procefs of dividing and fubdividing, of compounding 

 and fupercom pounding fmall intervals or units of time, as I 

 have now ftated it, appears, at firft view, to be extremely com- 

 plicated. The whole, however, is undoubtedly gone through 

 by every one who executes a piece of regular mufic in juft 

 time, and by every one who hears a piece of mufic, and per- 

 xeives the meafure of it ; and this apparently without any la- 

 bour or exertion of the mind. Perhaps the procefs, by which 

 we perceive the relations in tone, which mufical founds bear to 

 each other, is (till more complicated, and yet this goes on even 

 without our confcioufnefs. 



When we hear a piece of mufic, we firft mark the fingle 

 intervals or units of time ; afterwards, from the fuperior de- 

 gree of force with which the accented notes are expreflTed, or 

 from fome circumftances in the found or the rythm which 

 draw the attention to thefe notes, we very quickly difcover, how 

 many intervals are contained in each of the equal parcels, ac- 

 cording to which the meafure is conftrudled. Having efta- 

 bliflied this, we can with great eafe go along with the perform- 

 er, and feel the proportional duration of every note. We are 

 provided with a ftandard or fcale, to which we can refer the 

 moft minute divifions that can be made, and by which we can 

 meafure the longefk notes that may occur. If we are unac- 

 quainted with the piece, and do not at firft perceive the mea- 

 fure, we are kept, during all that time, in a difagreeable ftate 

 of fufpenfe, and are unable to liften with any degree of pleafure 

 or fatisfadtion. 



The meafure is moft eafily perceived when the bars natu- 

 rally combine into twos or fours, and when of thefe combina- 

 tions the whole or each part of the piece contains a determinate 

 even number. In this manner, the fimple popular airs, fuch 

 as marches, gavots and minuets, are conftrudted. There are 

 very few who cannot eafily perceive and relifh the meafure in 

 fuch airs. This regular ftrudlure, however, is not obferved 



in 



