EVOLUTION OF MUSIC AND POETRY. 27 



Ionian, Phrygian, ^olian, and Lydian — answering to our 

 keys ; and of these there were ultimately fifteen. As yet, 

 however, there was but little heterogeneity in the time of 

 their music. 



Instrumental music during this period being merely the 

 accompaniment of vocal music, and vocal music being com- 

 plete! y subordinated to words, the singer being also the poet, 

 cliantinghis own compositions and making the lengths of his 

 notes agree with the feet of his verses, — there unavoidably 

 arose a tiresome uniformity of measure, which, as Dr. Bur- 

 neysays, "no resources of melody could disguise." Lacking 

 the complex rhythm obtained by our equal bars and unequal 

 notes the only rhythm was that produced by the quantity of 

 the syllables and was of necessity comparatively monotonous. 

 And further, it may be observed that the chant thus result- 

 ing, being like recitative, was much less clearly differen- 

 tiated from ordinary speech than is our modern song. 



Nevertheless, in virtue of the extended range of notes 

 in use, the variety of modes, the occasional variations of 

 time consequent on changes of metre, and the multiplica- 

 tion of instruments, music had, towards the close of Greek 

 civilization, attained to considerable heterogeneity — not 

 indeed as compared with our music, but as compared with 

 that which preceded it. As yet, however, there existed 

 nothing but melody : harmony was unknown. It was not 

 until Christian church-music had reached some development, 

 that music in parts was evolved ; and then it came into 

 existence through a very unobtrusive differentiation. Diffi- 

 cult as it may be to conceive a priori how the advance 

 from melody to harmony could take place without a sud- 

 den leap, it is none the less true that it did so. The 

 circumstance which prepared the way for it was the em- 

 ployment of two choirs singing alternately the same air. 

 Afterwards it became the practice — very possibly first 

 suggested by a mistake — for the second choir to com- 



