308 A Private Soldier's Account of the Battle ofWatei'loo. [Noy. 1, 



taken plcaaurc in it in any but a poetical analogy which, in my humble opinion) 

 fgjip, exists between oratory ami poetry and 



If every one of common sense can be music; nor should I conceive any other 

 taun-ht the mecl-.anical construction of doctrine could Buppbrt such a propo* 

 poelical numbers, surely any one of com- 

 mon sense may be taught the relative 

 quality and significations of musical 

 tones, and tliereby be brought to be a 

 very correct performer, or critic; yet 

 might such persons be very far from pos- 

 sessing? what is called a musical ear, or, 

 in other words, that innate and natural 

 purity of feeling, which must ever be 

 requisite to mark the man of genius, in 

 •whatever pursuit he may think proper 

 to adopt. To carry the subject still far- 

 ther, harmony, though perhaps more 

 ffcnerally understood as relating to sound, 

 ;..,„!., .niinnf lie SO exclusivelv. The 



surely caunot be so exclusively 

 painter, the sculptor, and the architect, 

 arc each inilucuced by its power; indeed 

 nothing is more- common in speaking of 

 a picture or building, to dwell particu- 

 larly on the iiarmony of parts, light, and 

 shade, colouring, solid, and space, &c. 

 lu short, harmony seems to be the phy- 

 sical source of every thing that is dc- 

 li"-htful ; and all persons, more or less, 

 arc alive to its eflects, though compara- 

 tively few are aware of the nature of 

 their own feelings. It is the pre-eminent 

 possession of this sensibility that distm- 

 ruishes the man of superior intellect ; all 

 persons have some, but few to that ex- 

 tent as to manifest itself as a natural or 

 peculiar gift. ... 



If then I should maintain this posi- 

 tion, that harmony is necessary to every 

 thing that is pleasing, I cannot think it 

 chimerical to suppose, that oratory and 

 roetrv, which, from their nature, seem to 



stand' next to music (as being convey 

 through tlie operation of sound), should 

 derive their properties from the same 

 source. He might be asked, according 

 to such a system, why every great pain- 

 ter or poet were not musicians, or protts- 

 sors alike of each of the sciences? 'I'othis 

 I would reply, that the want of inclina- 

 tion, not ability, was the reason ; a sort of 

 indefiiicahle sensation, which some peo- 

 ple have called sympalliies and antipa- 

 thies, have induced them to adopt some, 

 to the exclusion and neglect of others. 



Melody seoms exclusively the pro- 

 perty of sounds, but harmony is an uni- 

 versal principle, and, as I liave before 

 said, is the only means by which melody 

 can be produced. 



Perhaps some of the above remarks 

 may appear rather extraneous, but 1 

 havo been anxious to establish the uni- 

 versality of harmony, as a basis for that 



sition. 



Undoubtedly there is a material diP- 

 ference between words and musical 

 tones: a musical interval is a simple 

 sound; a word, a compound one; an in- 

 terval is but a modulation of a tone, but 

 words frequently contain several distinct 

 sounds. As according to the different 

 arrangements of music so is the different 

 quantity or quality of notes required to 

 make the harmony complcat: in lik« 

 manner, why may not certain quantity 

 of words, measured partly by purport 

 and partly by quantity, be equally 

 formed into divisions or bars, subservient 

 to the immutable laws of harmony, al- 

 though on a more widely extended scale 

 than music in general ? 



To conclude, if then harmony is tli© 

 main prhiciple alike of music and poe- 

 try, and .sounds in all their varied modifi- 

 cations the constituent parts, I should 

 humbly presume, such relationship sulfi- 

 cicnt to ground au analogy between the 

 two. J. 11. 



July 24, 1816. 



To the Editor of the Monthly MagayiiH. 



SIR, 



HEREWITH you have some 

 anecdotes of the battle of Water- 

 loo, never publislied. It appears plain, 

 that Bonaparte, by dint of his cannon 

 and cavalry, (whose attacks compelled 

 formation of squares, and prevented an 

 earlier charge of bayonets,) ex pected that 

 he should .so thill the I'ritish troops, as id 

 render final resislance unavailing; but 

 he lost so many of his cavalry in this 

 atteini)t, that his guards were cut to 

 pieces in the final attack of the English 

 by the bayonet and Lord Uxbridge's 

 dragoons. Clericus. 



Copy of a Letter from John Lewis, « 

 •private in the Qbth Regiment of RiJiC 

 Coi-ps, to his Parents at Axmiiislcr. 

 France, awl not only that hitinParis, 



thank God. July 8, 1815. 



Dear Father and INIotlier, 

 I make no doubt but you have heard 

 of the glorious news, and I suppose you 

 thought I was killed or wounded, but 

 yesterday is the first day we have hailed 

 since the beginning of the battle on thd 

 18th of June, and my hands are swelled 

 so with walking day and night, that I 

 scarce can hold my pen. I do not kno\V 

 what tue Engliib Newspapers say aboirt 



th« 



