I 



[ 321 ] 



LVl. On the Question '• Whether Music is necessary to the 

 Orator, — to U'hat Extent, and how ynost readily attainable P" 

 By Henry Upjngton, Esq, 



[Continued from p. ISG.] 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



^ -. Blah's Hill, Coik, April 12, 1818. 



|SiR, — J\1y former letters, the last of which has been published 

 in your Magazine for March, were almost exclusively confined to 

 a cursory survey of harmony, and tlie particular analysis of cur 

 modern intervals. To these letters occasional reference may 

 perhaps be requisite ; but in themselves they are obviously in- 

 sufficient for any final deduction with regard to our oratorical 

 question. They merely point out — what very few persons could 

 have supposed — the superiority of the fourth, as well as the ex- 

 cellent proportions of the minor 3d and minor 6th ; and indicate 

 the apparent danger of cultivating harmony, when dignity, which 

 is decidedly hostile to every species of jingle, shall become the 

 object of the speaker. In place therefore of obtruding any pre- 

 mature and perhaps ill-founded opinions upon the public, I have 

 considered it an indispensable task to analyse the genius of our 

 speech itself, as connected with tone, time, and forte; proceed- 

 ing with all the necessary caution of a careful experimenter;— 

 first, by calling to my assistance the most discriminating ear of 

 all my acquaintance ; and secondly, by selecting an eligible per- 

 son as the subject for investigation. 



Awars of the almost insurmountable difficulty of measuring 

 the intervals of speech ; and determined that no favourite theory 

 whatevershould influence mv judgement,! availed myself the more 

 readily of the abilities of my musical friend — having previously 

 ascertained the accuracy of his ear by a satisfactory test*. 



• Experiment. I divided the scale of my 30-inch monochord, described 

 ill your Magazine for November, agreeably to the various intervals of our 

 octave, as found on our piano-fortes ; that is — taking the open wire as the 

 fundamental, 1 marked across the surface of the board, a certain number of 

 lines, every one of which exactly corresponded with every semitone be- 

 tween that fundamental and the centre of the wire or octave. In this ope- 

 ration I was merely guiiled by the ear of my associate, strictly conforming 

 to those distances which he considered perfect. Now, having interposed a 

 screen between him and the monochord, I struck the open string or wire 

 for half a dozen times, more or less as he deemed expedient ; v>hen promptly 

 introducing the bridge ut any previous line I thought proper, I sounded 

 that interval, which he never failed to recognise : and what is more, when- 

 ever I committed an error by placing the bridge even one quarter of an 

 inch short of, or beyond the destined mark (which I frequently did, to try 

 liirn), he was equally certain whether that interval was too sharp or too flat, 

 although its deviation from accuracy could oot have exceeded the one-fifth 

 ef a semitone. 



Vol. .5 1 . No. 2\ I . May 1818. X Being 



