to what Extent, and hoiv most readily attainableP" 39 



perfection) the basis of our harmonical edifice? I surveyed then 

 our common chord with attention; and soon recollected an obser- 

 vation '.Ahich I had somewhere read or heard of, viz. that it (our 

 common chord, the basis of our system) is composed of an hetero- 

 geneous mixture, which passes for proportion, but which nothing 

 short of custom could have reconciled to cars naturally chaste 

 and susceptible of sublimity. 



Whether, and how far, this charge can be established is the 

 first object for discussion. Let us represent our chord major 

 by the letters C E G c, and the respective relations of the whole 

 will stand as follows : 



E is related to C as a 3d major. 



G .. .. C .. 5th. 



c .. .. C .. Sth. 



G . . . , E . . 3d minor. 



c . . . . E . . 6th minor. 



c .. .. G .. 4th. 

 Thus it would appear that within our chord major are con- 

 tained no less than six various relations — a 3d minor, 3d major, 

 4th, 5th, 6th minor, and an octave. 



The same or nearly the same may be said of our chord minor. 

 It consists of two thirds (both minor and major), a 4th, 5th, 

 6th major, and an octave ; — and so far the accusation of " he- 

 terogeneous" is not without foundation. To this accusation, how- 

 ever, I cannot yield mv unqualified assent, as will be shown in 

 the sequel ; and in the mean time, then, I shall proceed. 



How happens it that the fourth, all perfect as it is, cannot 

 find a situation within these chords? — Because the total derange- 

 ment of our partial proportions must follow : insert it in its 

 place, (between the major 3d and fifth,) and does it not become 

 a semitone to the former, and a second to the latter ? — discords 

 too gross for even the Hottentot to suffer. View it between the 

 minor 3d and 5tU, and does it not become the second of both? 

 Such is the fact. 



But why should we not estimate a given fundamental, its 4th, 

 (Jth, and Sth, viz. CFAc as a perfect chord? Here lies one, and 

 not the onlv defect of our harmony. Wc are dependent upon 

 the extraneous circumstance of a contiguous third for the very 

 existence of our kev-note ; as in the present case, where A the 

 sixth becoming a third to F, we cannot force ourselves to ac- 

 knowledge the fundamental C ; sooner submitting even to F it- 

 self — or, what is tantamount, to tlie octave below it. 



What shall now be said to the agency oi forte ? If F and A 

 be struck^vvith greater force than C, the matter is still more ef- 

 fectually decided — C is completely balrished from its situation. 

 This proceeding indeed, I mean the operation oi forte, will 

 C 4 ccpially 



