678 



MUSIC. 



following it very exactly in its modulation and its 

 time. Still the power of music could not have 

 been slight or unimportant ; for it is not merely, 

 nor principally, by the pleasure it affords the ear, 

 that it produces its effects ; but by the natural ex- 

 pression of emotion or passion, thus appealing to 

 and exciting feelings which may be of the most 

 intense energy. Such effects may be produced by- 

 music of a simple character, as well as by that of 

 a complicated and scientific kind. Expression can 

 be given to the wild war-hoop of the Indian, as 

 well as to the elaborate composition of the Europ- 

 ean ; and expression never fails to excite a corres- 

 ponding emotion in the breast of the auditor. In 

 speaking and thinking, therefore, of the strange 

 and astonishing effects ascribed to ancient music, 

 which, after all due allowance for poetic exagger- 

 ation, will still remain very great, it should be con- 

 stantly borne in mind, that these effects are due, 

 not to scientific combinations of sound, but to natu- 

 ral strong expression, which exercises its sympa- 

 thetic power in proportion to its naturalness, rather 

 than its abstract science It is, indeed, the aim of 

 all true science in music to give to those studied 

 combinations which please the cultivated musical 

 intellect, that various and true expression which is 

 able to touch the heart of every hearer, whether 

 skilled or not in the charming art. Nothing is so 

 barren, so tedious, so utterly vexatious, as a long, 

 laboured, scientific piece of harmony, in which ex- 

 pression is either wanting or indistinct. It is ad- 

 dressed, not to a mixed audience, but to the scien- 

 tific composer only, who alone can appreciate the 

 great difficulties conquered, or the immense labour 

 bestowed ; and one might as well attempt to please 

 an assembly by a dissertation on the differential 

 calculus, intelligible to the mathematician only, as 

 by such a musical composition. 



This fact seems to have been lost sight of in the 

 interminable discussions which have taken place 

 respecting the musical attainments of the ancients. 

 It has been inferred from the extraordinary stories 

 which have come down to us of its effects, that it 

 must have been very elaborate, scientific, and 

 skilfully complicated ; and, on the other hand, it 

 has been inferred, from the obvious, acknowledged 

 simplicity of the instruments in use, and the seem- 

 ing imperfection of the ancient scale, with the 

 uncertainty respecting the means of combination of 

 sounds then understood, that all those stories were 

 mere fables, absolute inventions of the fathers of 

 history and poetry. Neither inference is necessary ; 

 and if it be recollected that the effect of music 

 does not depend upon its scientific arrangement, so 

 much as on its expressive simplicity, the accounts 

 of its effects, however wonderful, may be easily 

 reconciled with the comparative rudeness of the 

 instruments by the aid of which those effects were 

 produced. It may be remarked, too, that one in- 

 strument was then in use, which, there is no reason 

 to doubt, was as perfect as it is at the present mo- 

 ment ; capable of producing the same thrilling 

 tones, the same touching cadences, the same variety, 

 strength, and delicacy of expression. That these 

 powers should have lain dormant among people of 

 luxurious tastes and intellectual refinement, is al- 

 together incredible, whatever may have been the 

 artificial divisions of the gamut, or however im- 

 perfect the means of recording the tones of the 

 human voice. 



There was a long period, however, in the his- 

 tory of the world, when luxury and refinement did 



not exist ; and when, without doubt, music was in 

 the same imperfect and rude state as the other arts 

 of life. It is certain, that no very rich combina- 

 tions of harmony could have been made by those who 

 were acquainted with no other instrument than the 

 timbrel, just mentioned, and the trumpet. Moses, 

 who had been carefully trained in all the leaining 

 of the Egyptians, in which music was deemed 

 worthy to hold a place, caused two silver trumpets 

 to be made " for the calling of the assembly, and 

 for the journeying of the camps;" and no other 

 instrument of music is mentioned throughout the 

 history of the Hebrew legislator. It would be 

 rash to infer that nothing else was known, at this 

 period, to the. Egyptians; for the condition of the 

 Israelites scarcely permitted them to give much 

 attention to the superfluities of life, and, though it 

 is impossible to fix the date of their invention, it 

 is well known that several other instruments were 

 in use among the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. 

 The lyre, the pipe, the kettle-drum, and the sis- 

 trum are reckoned by Burgh the only instruments 

 of that people ; but to these must be added the 

 trumpet and timbrel, as it is scarcely probable that 

 Moses invented them, and an instrument of two 

 strings, somewhat resembling the mandolin in 

 shape and size, described by Dr Burney from a 

 figure on an ancient obelisk. It is known, too, 

 that the learned men of Egypt early made pro- 

 found mathematical calculations respecting the pro- 

 portions of sounds, a study implying some acquain- 

 tance with the vibrations of musical strings ; but, 

 as historians in those days were less careful than 

 writers of a later time to fix the dates of events, it 

 is impossible to speak with the desirable precision ot 

 the order of invention of musical instruments, as 

 well as of many other things still more important. 

 All we can do is to observe, that at certain periods 

 progress in the art is perceptible, and the most 

 thorough investigation could lead to nothing more 

 than a conjecture as to the year or even the cen- 

 tury of an invention. 



Fiom the time of Moses no mention of music is 

 made, in the history of the Hebrews, till the reign 

 of Saul ; with the exceptions of the song of De- 

 borah and Barak, which does not appear to have 

 been accompanied by instruments ; and the timbrel 

 of the unhappy daughter of Jephthah, who went 

 to meet bermore unhappy father "with timbrels and 

 with dances.'' In the hands of David we first 

 hear of the harp, and in the use which he made of it 

 we firrJ perhaps an early instance of the instrument 

 being played independently, and not simply as an ac- 

 companiment to the voice and the poetry, which seem 

 to have constituted a principal part of the charm of 

 ancient music. We find, too, a striking resemblance 

 in the effect produced by the minstrelsy of the He- 

 brew shepherd boy, and that of our own contempo- 

 rary music; a resemblance which shows, that, if 

 the human heart had the same feelings and affec- 

 tions then as now, the music which produces like 

 effects cannot be very dissimilar in its character. 

 " And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from 

 God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and 

 played with his hand : so Saul was refreshed, arid 

 was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." 

 How many a melancholy spirit has been cheered, 

 how many a sorrowing heart has been soothed by 

 the irresistible charm of music in later days. And 

 it has often occurred to us that the moody gloom, 

 which, like Saul's, amounts almost to madness, 

 might be chased from the soul, and greatly allevU 



