456 " Whether Music is Jiecessary to the Crjtur, 



compass of this gentleman was found bv experiment to exceed 

 an octave ', yet during the same sentiment, as well as could be 

 judged, he scarcely ever surpassed the boundary of the Jiftk, 

 from extreme to extreme; and very rarely, at any one time, ex- 

 pressed a more distant interval than the fourl/i. 



He frequently repeated the preceding note (occasionally even 

 Ihrce or four times) ; and, ali cases considered, perhaps the one 

 lialf or nearly the one half of his variations consisted of perfect 

 and imperfect semitones. The tone usually styled a secbnd 

 was the next : then followed the minor 3d ; and lastly, the 

 fourth. 



The minor 3d, singular as it may appear in theory, which con- 

 fines it to the serioua, was novi' and ti)en distinguishable even in 

 the cheerful though bordering on the joy oris ; while oji the con- 

 trary, the major 3d, which evidently characterizes the jovous, was 

 very rarely perceptible — the interval which may be said to re- 

 present it being too flat*. The fourth (which was nearly as 

 frequent as this imperfect major 3d, although much less fre- 

 quent than the minor 3d) was almost exclusively confined to the 

 bold and majestic ; and the fifth was hardly ever struck at all. 



No governing key-note, to which as in music the various in- 

 tervals are referrible, cou'd in any one instance be discovered ; — 

 what is popularly styled the change of key appearing no more 

 than an alteration oi pitch, and a certain uudefinable series ap- 

 pertaining to that sentiment which produced the alteration. 

 Neither was there any particularly predominating note, in which 

 the mass of his syllables could be said to have been expressed f. 



To return to the extremes, or general boundary of the me- 

 lody. Whenever, in the progress I of a period, he surpassed the 

 fji/i, it was generally occasioned by some such word as tolerable, 

 usefulness, olijectinnaljle,&ic. — whose stress being seated too re- 

 mote from the final syllable, produced an apparent difficulty of 

 sustentatiou, which precipitated his voice much lower than good 



• Wnctberthe serious (shall I call it trnpc?) disposition of the SpEAKta 

 may have caused this seemingly inappropriate intonation, I shall not ven- 

 ture to decide. The sprightlj' joyous comedian who excels in his professlcn, 

 has the major 3d at his command. 



+ Individual shorh clauses, alwtraotedly taken, did very often exhibit a pre- 

 dominating note — which note may not improperly be called the common, 

 tone of tho.se clauses ; a term familiar to the ancients. 



Take an instance of this common tone exemplified in C natural ; viz. 



m^ 



\ Thr lermhiathig syllable of his periods occasionally reached an sddi- 

 tioniil semitone, and consequently extended his boundary to a minor fi'h. 



taste 



