DREAMS AND ILLUSIONS. 317 



even in one who has abandoned these ancient illu- 

 sions, if he surrenders himself for a while to his 

 natural instinct. It has often happened that a man 

 who listens to a melodious and beautiful piece of 

 music is gradually aroused and excited by its sweet 

 power, so as to be carried away into a world of new 

 sensations, in which all our sentiments and affec- 

 tions, our deepest, tenderest, and dearest aspirations 

 blossom afresh in our memory, and are fused into 

 and strengthened by these harmonies ; we seem to be 

 transported into ethereal regions, and unconsciously 

 sm render ourselves to their influence. This kind of 

 natural ecstasy is not produced merely by the physio- 

 logical effects of music on the organism, by the edu- 

 cation of our sense of beautv, and of our reminiscences 



*/ * 



of earlier mythical emotions, but also by the innate 

 impulse which still persists, leading us to idealize 

 and vivify all natural phenomena, and also our own 

 sensations. 



But if among the common people, the devout, and 

 occasionally also among people of culture, this highest 

 art is not divested of its mythical environment, which 

 still persists, although in a more ideal form, yet it 

 has followed and still follows the general evolution of 

 human ideas. The art of music was identified with 

 song and with the mythical personality ascribed to 

 it, of which these instruments were the extrinsic and 

 harmonious echo ; at first, like the other arts, it 

 was a religious conception and entity pertaining 



