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on paper wonder whence its bca\ity and cffeft could arife, and 

 whicli owes its reputation more to the manner in which it is 

 performed than to the conipolition ; the fame miific is many 

 timen repeated to diifercnt words, and tlie fingers liave, by 

 tradition, certain cnftomn, expreflions, and graces of con- 

 vention (eerie efprc[]'iom c Griippi), wliich produce great ef- 

 feds, fueh as fwelhng and diniiniihing the founds akogether, 

 accelerating or retarding the meaiurc at fomc particular 

 words, and finging fome entire verfe; quicker than others. 

 This information was furnilhed to the autlior hv fignor San- 

 tarelli, the pope's maelho di capella. And Andrea Adami 

 afferts, in his Offer-oal'tiim per ben rc^. il coro Jella C.ip. Pont. 

 171 1, p. 36, " that after feveral vain attempts by preceding 

 compofers, for more than a hundred years, to fct the fame 

 words to the fatisfnftion of the lieads of the church, Gre- 

 orio Alltgri fncceeded fo well as to merit eternal praile ; 

 or with few notes, well modulated and well underllood, he 

 compofed fuch a Miferere as will continue to be fung on the 

 fame days, every year, for ages yet to come ; and one that 

 is conceived in fuch juil proportions as will ailonilh future 

 times, and raviih, as at prefent, the foul of every hearer. 



However, fome of the great effeds jirodneed by this 

 piece may, perhaps, be juilly attributed to the time, place, 

 and folemnity of the ceremonials uled during the perfonn- 

 ance : the pope and conclave are all proilrated on the 

 ground ; the candles of the chapel and the torches of the 

 baluilradc are extinguilhed one by one ; and the lall verfe of 

 this pfahii is terminated by t\vo choirs ; the maellro di ca- 

 pella beating time flower and flower, and the Angers dimi- 

 nilhing or rather extinguilhing the harmony, by little and 

 little, to a i)erfecl: point. 



It is likewife performed by ielecl voices, who have fre- 

 quent rehearfals, particularly on the Monday in Pafilon 

 week, which is wholly fpent in repeating and polifliing the 

 performance. 



This conipofition ufcd to be held fo facred, that it was 

 imagined excommunication would be the confequence of an 

 attempt to tranfcribe it. 



Padri Martini faid that there were never more than three 

 copies of it made by authority, " one of which was for the 

 emperor I^eopold, one for the late king of Portugal, and the 

 other for himlelf." Of this lall he favoured the author with 

 a tranfcript at Bologna, and fignor Santarelli indulged him 

 with another from the archives of the pope's chapel. Upon 

 collating thele two copies, they were found to differ very little 

 from'each other. — Picfent ftate of Miific in France and Italy. 



Before we quit a fubjeCl fo interelling to the lovers of 

 church mufic, we fhall add the following anecdote, with 

 which we were likewife favoured by fignor Santarelli. 



" The emperor Leopold the flrft, not only a lover and pa- 

 tron of mufic, but a good compofcr himfelf, ordered his 

 anibaflador at Rome to entreat the pope to permit him to 

 have a copy of the celebrated Miferere of Allegri, for the 

 ufe of the Imperial chapel at Vienna ; which being granted, 

 a copy was made by the fignor raaellro of the pope's cha- 

 pel, and fent to the emperor, who had then in his fervice 

 fome of the iirtt fingers of the age ; but, notwithftandiug 

 the abilities of the performers, this compofition was fo far 

 from anfwering tiie expeifations of the emperor and his 

 court in the execution, that he concluded the pope's maef- 

 tro di capella, in order to keep it a myftery, had put a 

 trick upon him, and fent him another compofition. Uj>on 

 which, in great wrath, he fent an exprels to his holincfs, 

 with a complaint aguinft the maeflro di capella, which oc- 

 cahoued his immediate difgrace, and difmifTion from the 

 fervice of the papal chapel ; and in fo great a degree was 

 the pope ofEended, at the fuppofed impofitioii of his com- 



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pofcr, that, for a long time, he woidj neither fee him nrr 

 hear his defence. However, at length, the poor mtiii got 

 one ol the cardinals Id tdci^d his caufe, and to acquaiiit his 

 holinefs that the (lyle of lingi.ig in his chapel, particularly 

 in pertorming the Mijerere, was fuch as could not be tx- 

 preflcd by notes, nor taught nor traiifmittcd to any oilier 

 place, but by example, for which reafon the piece in quef- 

 tion, though faithfully tranfcribed, mull fail in its elfeft 

 when performed cU'ewlurc. His holinefs did not under- 

 Hand muflc, and could hardly comprc-hend how the fame 

 notes (llould found fo differently in different places ; hmv- 

 cver, he ordered his maeflro di capella to write down his 

 defence, in order to be fent to Vienna, which was done ; 

 and the emperor, feeing no t)ther way of gratifying his 

 wilhes with refpcc't to this compofition, begged of the 

 pope that fome of the niulicians in the fervice of his holi- 

 nefs might be fent to Vienna, to inllrutt thofe in the fervice 

 of his chapel how to perform the Miferere of Allegri, in 

 the fame cxpreHlve manner as in the Siltine chapel at Rome, 

 which wa,-, granted. liut, before they arrived, a war broke 

 out with the Turks, which called tlie emperor from \'i- 

 enna ; and the Miferere has never y.t, ])erhaps, been truly 

 performed but in the pope's chaptl. 



With refpecl to the intrinlic woith of this renowned Mi- 

 ferere, as a mufieal phenomenon, we know that more fublimc 

 compofitions have been produced, liiice Allegri's time, by 

 muficians of fuperior genius ; but the words were thought 

 by the heads of the Romilh church to be let with fo much 

 more propriety, reverence, and cffeft, than by any formeT 

 ccclcfiartical compofer whoi'e productions had been allowed 

 admifllon into the fer\-ice of the papal chapel during the 

 holy week, that, belides the manner in which it was per- 

 formed, its merit was perhaps fomewhat exaggerated in 

 imagination by the mylleiy with which it was feduloufly 

 prcferved from profane examination. 



Allegri, Antonio. Sec Corrf.gio. 



ALLEGRINI, Francesco, an engraver, who lived at 

 Florence, and flouriflied in 1760. By him we have many 

 poi-traits, from different mailers. The image of St. Francis 

 d'AlTile is lield in high eflinidlion at Sienna, in the church 

 named I'Alberino. Strutt. 



ALLEGRO, Ilal. Miifi:, denotes gay, cheerful, quick. 

 The force of this term is augmented by the wcjids p'lii, cxjfai, 

 and the fuperlativc degree of comparifon, as put nUcro, 

 more quick ; iille^ro nffui, and alle^ri/Jtmo, very quick. It 

 has likewife its diminutives, as poeo allegro, and allegretto, a 

 little gay, cheerful, or quick, allegro is the degree of time 

 between Andante and Presto, which fee. 



ALLEIN, Richard, in B'wgmpky, a nonconformifl 

 divine, was born at Dichet, in Sonierfetlhire, in 161 1, edu- 

 cated by his father, who was rector of the parifh, and en- 

 tered a c(nnmoner at St. Alhan's Hall, Oxford, in 1627. 

 Having taken the degrees of bachelor and mailer of arts in 

 the Univerlity, he became firll, affiflant preacher to his fa- 

 ther, and afterwards, viz. in 1641, reclor of Batcomb, in 

 Somerfetfhire, where he faithfully difcharged his duty. Hav- 

 ing received from his father a bias towards the fentimcnts of 

 the Puritans, he attached himfelf to that party, and zea- 

 loufly lupportcd the folemn league and covenant, though he 

 dilapproved the enthufiallic fpirit of. fome of its adherents ; 

 as appears by a paper printed in 1^48, and entitled, " The 

 teflimony of the niiniilry of Somcrfetllare to the truth of 

 Jefns Chrill, and to the folemn league and covenant." In 

 1654 he was employed as alTiltant to the commiflioners ap- 

 pointed by parliament for ejecling fcandalous miniih"'; t • 

 the refloration he manifelled an inclination to yield tV^n 

 to the government ; but unable confcientioufiy to comply 



with 



