aid ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book III. 



ihould be by imitation, efpecially if we confidcr that tlic fcnfe of the 

 beautiful is congenial to man, as well as to every other intelligent 

 being : And as the fongs of birds are beautiful, as well as pleafant, 

 there was nothing more natural than that the imitation of them fhould 

 be among the firil things that he pradifed of the imitative kind. And 

 this origin of the art will account for the mufic of the barbarous na- 

 tions, fuch as the Hurons in North America and the people of Chili in 

 South America, rifmg no higher than a fourth, the greateft height 

 to which the mufic of the birds rifes. 



This was the firfi; beginning of the pra£llce of mufic ; from which 

 I think it appears, that language was a much greater Invention than 

 mufic : Firft, as we have created the materials of which language 

 is compofed, that Is, articulate founds ; whereas Nature lias fur- 

 nifhed us the materials of mufic : And, 2dly, becaufe we formed a 

 mufic in imitation of birds ; whereas we could not form language 

 by imitation of any other animal. But though the invention of 

 language, and the firft practice of It, was certainly much more dif- 

 ficult than the invention and firft pradlce of mufic, the formation of 

 mufic Into an art was certainly a great work of genius, and may, I 

 think, be compared to the formation of language Into an art from 

 the rude ftate in which it was when firft pradifed by men. But 

 though the invention of language was very much more difficult than 

 that of mufic, and which makes language the greateft art among 

 men as well as the moft ufeful, yet the formation of mufic, after It 

 was Invented and pradlfed In Imitation of the birds, into an art, 

 was, as I have fald, a very difficult work, and fuch as could not 

 have been performed except by men who had made confiderable 

 progrefs In other arts and fciences. In order to make an art of mu- 

 fic, as well as to make an art of any other fubjed. It is neceflary to 

 know what the fubjed is, and to analize it Into the different parts of 



which. 



