MELOE MELPOMENE. 



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effect. Tliis whole must be such that the hearer is 

 kept constantly interested, and can give himself up, 

 with pleasure, to the impressions which he receives. 

 The particular qualities of a good melody are these : 

 It is indispensable that it should have one chief and 

 fundamental tone, which receives proper gradations 

 by a variation adapted to the expression. This can 

 be effected only by letting the tones proceed accord- 

 ing to a certain scale ; otherwise there would be no 

 connexion between them. The chief tone, again, 

 must be appropriate to the general idea to be ex- 

 pressed, because every kind of tone has its own 

 character, and the finer the ear of the composer is, 

 the better will he always discover tiie tone wanted. 

 In very short melodies, or tunes, consisting merely of 

 a few chief passages, the same fundamental tone may 

 remain throughout, or perhaps pass over into its 

 dominante ; but longer pieces require change of tone, 

 that the harmony also may receive modifications ac- 

 cording to the feeling. Thirdly, a good melody re- 

 quires rhythm. A regular advance from one part to 

 another, whether in music or motion (dancing), af- 

 fects the mind agreeably, whilst irregular progress 

 fatigues. The love of rhythm is one of the most 

 general feelings of human nature. We find rhythm 

 everywhere, and to music it is quite indispensable, 

 as tones without regularity of measure would dis- 

 tract and weary. Hence music is divided into 

 portions or bars ; these, again, are divided so as to 

 prevent monotony, without disturbing the general 

 regularity. Accents are given to certain parts, and 

 it is possible greatly to assist the expression of feel- 

 ing, by slow or quick, gay or solemn movements, 

 and by the variety of accents, and the even or uneven 

 time. Much might be said respecting the skill of 

 the composer to adapt his music, not only, in general, 

 to the idea to be expressed, but also, in song, to the 

 single words, to the pause, which the hearer wishes 

 here, or the speedy movement, which he desires in 

 other places ; the necessity of the repetition of words, 

 if the feeling is long and varied, while the word is 

 short; the childish impropriety of representing, as 

 it were by imitative sounds, the ideas presented by 

 particular words, which is much the same as if a 

 declaimer, every time that he pronounces the word 

 ocean, were to endeavour to represent the roaring of 

 the waves ; the parts where dissonances are admis- 

 sible, &c. ; but it would carry us much beyond our 

 limits. 



MELOE. These insects have the elytra, or wing 

 covers, short, extending about half the length of the 

 body ; the antenna?, or feelers, are jointed, of which 

 the middle divisions are the largest. They are slow 

 and heavy in their motions, and have a large head. 

 They feed on the leaves and flowers of different 

 vegetables. They do not occur in as large num- 

 bers as some of the genera closely allied to them, 

 viz., cantharis and lytta, but have in common with 

 these insects, the property of blistering the human 

 skin. Linnaeus included the well-known and valu- 

 able Spanish fly in this genus ; but it was very pro- 

 perly separated from it by Fabricius, and placed in 

 the genus cantharis, of which it forms the type. 

 (See Cantharides.) These insects emit an oleaginous, 

 yellowish, or reddish liquid, from some of the joints 

 of their feet. In some parts of Spain, they are used 

 in place of the cantharides, or mixed with them. Mr 

 Latreille is of opinion that these are the insects 

 spoken of by ancient writers, under the name bupres- 

 tis, and which they considered as very injurious to 

 cattle, and as often causing their death when swal- 

 lowed with their food. The M. proscarabwus, which 

 is a native of Europe, exudes a large quantity of a 

 fat, oily matter, which has been highly recommended 

 as a stimulating application to poisoned wounds. 



There are many species of this genus found in the 

 United States of America, the largest of which is 

 the M. purpureus. Mr Say has described many of 

 them in the Journal of the Academy of Natural 

 Science, to which we refer for detailed accounts of 

 them. As these insects possess the vesicating pro- 

 perty to a considerable degree, they might, where 

 they occur in sufficient quantities, form a very good 

 substitute for the cantharides of the shops. 



MELON. The musk-melon is the product of the 

 cucumis melo, a rough, trailing, herbaceous plant, 

 having rounded, angular leaves, and yellow, funnel- 

 shaped flowers. Though originally from the warmer 

 parts of Asia, its annual root and rapid growth enable 

 it to be cultivated in the short summers of north- 

 ern climates ; but the flavour of the fruit is much 

 heightened by exposure to a hot sun. The form of 

 the fruit is, in general, oval, but varies exceedingly 

 in the different varieties, which are very numerous. 

 In some, the external surface is smooth ; in others, 

 rugged or netted, or divided into segments by longitu- 

 dinal grooves. The odour of the fruit is delightful. 

 The flesh is usually yellow, and has a sugary and 

 delicious taste. It has been cultivated in Europe from 

 time immemorial. 



The water-melon is the product of the C. citrullus, 

 a vine somewhat resembling the preceding, but hav- 

 ing the leaves deeply divided into lobes. It is smooth, 

 roundish, often a foot and a half in length, and has a 

 thin, green rind. The seeds are black or red. The 

 flesh is usually reddish, sometimes white, icy, nwi 

 has a sugary taste ; it melts in the mouth, and is 

 extremely refreshing. It is cultivated, to a great 

 extent, in all warm countries of both continents, and 

 even in high northern latitudes. It serves the Egyp- 

 tians for meat and drink, and is the only medicine 

 used by them in fevers. These two plants, together 

 with the cucumber, gourd, &c., belong to the natural 

 family cucurbitucecs. 



MELOS (now Milo) ; an island of the JSgean 

 sea, about sixty square miles in extent, with about 

 500 inhabitants. The island has a wild, uncultivated 

 appearance, sulphureous springs abound, and vol- 

 canic exhalations burst from the rocky and sterile 

 soil. Oil, wine, cotton, and fruits, such as oranges, 

 melons (which derive their name from the island), 

 figs, &c., are produced. Lon. 24 22' E. ; lat. 36 

 40' N. The chief town, Milo (formerly Melos), is 

 now occupied by only forty families. In 1814, baron 

 von Haller discovered on the site of the ancient city, 

 an amphitheatre of marble, with numerous fragments 

 of statues and columns, which were bought by the 

 present king of Bavaria. In the vicinity, a Greek 

 peasant has since found (1820), a statue of Venus, 

 with three Hermes, figures three feet high, which 

 were bought by the marquis de la Riviere, French 

 ambassador at Constantinople, and are now in the 

 royal museum at Paris. The Venus is of the 

 finest Parian marble (Grechetto], to which the col- 

 our of ivory has been given ; it is called by the 

 Parisian amateurs, la Femme du Torse. Though 

 much injured, the head is not separated from the 

 body. As she held the apple, she was a Venus vic- 

 trix ; and she appears to have been modelled after 

 the naked Venus of Praxiteles. See Clarac's and 

 de Quincy's Descriptions (Paris, 1821); others have 

 supposed it to be a statue of Electra. See Venus. 



MELPOMENE ; one of the Muses, daughter of 

 Jupiter and Mnemosyne. She presided over tragedy. 

 Horace has addressed the finest of his odes to her, as 

 to the patroness of lyric poetry. She was generally 

 represented as a young woman with a serious coun- 

 tenance. Her garments were splendid ; she wore a 

 buskin, and held a dagger in one hand, and in the 

 other a sceptre and crowus. 



