28 



On Musical Temperament. 



piece would render the labour of ascertaining the relative fre- 

 quency of different signatures very tedious, it was thought best 

 to consider all those modulations which are too transient to be 

 indicated by a new signature, as belonging to the same key. 

 This will account for the occurrence of the chords in the fol- 

 lowing table, which are affected by flats and sharps. 



The minim, or the crotchet, was taken for unity, according 

 to the rapidity of the movement. Bases of greater or less 

 length had their proper values assigned them ; although mere 

 notes of passage, which bore no proper harmony, were gene- 

 rally disregarded. The scores were taken promiscuously 

 from all the different keys ; and were reduced, when taken 

 down, to the same touic ; the propriety of which will evidently 

 appear from the foregoing remarks. The following table con- 

 tains the result of the investigation. 



TABLE I. 



