It H V 



R H Y 



In (o difficult a tribe, we dare not anfwer lor the per* 

 mancncy of this genus, not having teen a fpecimen. The 

 plant may poflibly be known to botaniits, under fome other 

 name and genus. 



RHYNCOTHECA, from ,\.-/;ec ; -, a teal; and &tuot, a 

 capful-, on account of its beaked or pointed feed-vellel. De 

 is Gloffaire de Botanique, 402. Fl. Peruv. 71. 

 RHYNDACUS, in Ancient Geography, a river of 

 Afiatic Myfia, according to Pomponius Mela, who places 

 ks fource in mount Olympus. According to Pliny it had 

 been denominated Lycus. — Alfo, a town of Alia, between 

 Phrygia and the Hellefpont. Stcpii. Byz. 



R1IYNE, in Botany, a name ufed by iome authors for 

 the camphor tr 



RHYPJE, Rll'E, or Rbypei, in Ancient Geography, a town 

 of the Peloponnefus, in Achaia, the territory of which was 

 denominated Rhypidis. According to Strabo it was N. of 

 Helice, and at fome diftance from the coalts of the gulf of 

 Corinth. Paufanias fays that in his time they could only 

 perceive the ruins of Rhypic, 30 miles from iEgium. 

 Homer calls this town Repe. 



RHYPARA, an illand fituatcd near that of Samos. 

 Pliny. 



RHYPTICS, Riiiitics, *Pt«rrixd, in Medicine, deter- 

 gent . orcleanfers. See Detergent. 



RHY8SADIUS, in Ancient Geography, a mountain of 

 Africa, in Lybia interior, in which Ptolemy places the 

 lource of the river Stachir. 



RHYSTROM, in Geography, a river of Holitein, 

 which runs into the Elbe at Gluckltadt. 



RHYTHM, RHYTHMUS, , in Mufic, the va- 



riety in the movement, as to the quicknefs or (lownefs, and 

 length and ihortnefs, of the notes. 



Or the rhythmus may be defined, more generally, the 

 proportion which the parts of a motion bear to each other. 

 In ancient poetry rhyth or rhythm denote; the meafure 

 1 feet, or the number and combination of long and 

 filort fyllables, called alfo metre and quantity. 



A continued motion in every organized body that is ca- 

 ble of rhythm, is fuiceptible or fome kind of meafure. 

 ifure marks the Several parts of motion, and enables 

 us to judge of their proportions. It is to point out thefe 

 proportions that the Gr , j many other terms, have 



made ufe of pi '''«, which they pplicd to 



different purpofes. They have not only cxprcilcdby 1 

 kind of cadence, or vibration of the wi , lit of 



birds; the it of the feet in the progrefiive motion of 



animals; and 1 tures, figures, and Heps of dam 



but every fpecies oi regular motion, Inch as is obfervable in 

 the beating of 1 ; ilfe, and in refpiration. They have 

 even abufed the original import of the word fo tar as to 

 apply it to things abfolutely motionlefs and inanimate ; fuch 

 as works in painting and fculpture, in which they have 

 called that fymmi try and juft proportion which reigns in all 

 the parts by chi rhythm. 



But the moll common application of this term has bi n 

 t-i exprefs the time or duration of many founds heard in 

 (Eon ; whether thefe founds are mufical, and inch as 

 are prod iced bv voices and inll runicnts, 01 without any de- 

 tern i torn as in the ftrokeoof a hammer upon an anvil ; 



■ ting of a drum ; and in the articulations of the 

 .'in iji: eh, in repeating poetry, or pro- 

 nouncing an oration. 



But oar enquiril 3 here fllall be confined to that fpecies of 

 rhythm, which more particularly cono nut melody, and 

 which merits difculfiou the inure, on account of it« great 



importance in mufic, and of the darknefs in which k is 

 ulually involved by writers on the fubjett. 



From the ftrict union of poetry and mufic among the 

 ancients, which feem to have- been almofl infeparabfe, an 

 offence againlt time or rhythm was unpardonable, as it not 

 only dellroyed the beauty of the poetry, but fometimes 

 even the meaning of the words of which it was compofed. 

 To ctxv oi t -a /.coucrixoi; u (.'i/S^o., fay the Greeks \ it was the 

 principal point in their mufic, without which they regarded 

 melody as wholly unmeaning and lifelefs. Hence Plato re- 

 fufed the title of mulician to every one who was not per- 

 fectly veiled in rhythm, as we fhould now to a bad timujl. 

 It is of luch importance, that, without it, mufic can have 

 no power over the human paffions. Pythagoras, according 

 to Martianus Capella, ufed to call rhythm, in mufic, the 

 male, and Melos the female; and Doni has compared rhythm 

 with defign, in painting, and Melos to colouring. It is 

 certain that an ordinary melody , in which the time is ftrongly 

 marked, and the accents are well placed, has more effect 

 than one that is deficient in thofe particulars, though more 

 refined and uncommon, and fet off with all the richnefs of 

 harmony, and learning of modulation. 



IfaacVoflius, in his Differtation " De Poematum Cantu, 

 et viribus Rhythmi," has attributed to rhythm all the 

 miraculous powers of ancient malic. 



As vocal mufic was chiefly cultivated among the ancient 

 Greeks, the firft part of thefe rhythmical obfervations (hall 

 be confined to lyric poetry. 



Arillides Quintilianus defines mufical rhythm ovrnft* en 

 Xfomt xostoi Tu-ii rs;i. ,-.■.■'.:. ).■.:■■. m ; "the ai'Icmblagc of many 

 parts of time, which preferve a certain proportion with 

 each other ;" which, fince the ufe of bars in mufic, mav 

 be called aliquot parts of a meafure, or a given portion of 

 time. For the better underftanding of this definition, it is 

 neceffary to remember that the mufic in quellion was con- 

 ftantly fung to verfes, the words of which were all compofed 

 of long and Jbori Syllables ; that the (hort fy liable was pro- 

 nounced as quick again as the long, and the (hort fyllablc 

 being regarded as one part or portion of this meafure, the 

 long was equal to two ; fo that, consequently, the found 

 which was applied to the long fyllablc, ua . equal in duration 

 to two fuch lounds as were lung to (hort fyllables, or, in 

 other words, tl qual to two portions of 



time, and the other to one. It mull likewife be rcmem- 

 d that the verfes thus fung, were compofed of a certain 

 - r of feet, formed by thefe long and (hort fyllabh a 

 differently combined, and that the rhythm of the melody 

 was regulated by thefe feet ; as, will their length, 



they were always divided into two parts, equal or unequal, 

 firft of which v.. . , . ion, and the fecond 



1 defreffion. A Jlot in poetry feems to anfwer to ^ lar 

 in muln . A time, ai icients, was a proportion 



ol tint foot or bar ; as, with us, a bar is divided into ac- 

 cented and unai rts. In like manner the rhythm 

 ol the melody, correfponding with thefe feet, was divided 

 nit' 1 1 \ [, which we now call the dawn 

 and up pai ts ol a bai d by beating down the hand or 

 foot, and lifting ,.' up. Thus Far concerns vocal rhythm ; 

 w hat follow beloi 0.1 ,"/ un tntal. 



As the no ienl mufic were conftantly written 



over eat li Syllable of the verfes which wire to be fung; as 

 the quantity of each of thefi fyll rfeftlj known 



i" mufi 1 ; . id . tin- duration of each found was re- 

 gulated by the fyUables; it did not feem necefiary that the 



time fhould be marked by any particular fign or character. 

 However, lor lie- cale and convenience oi tin- mufician, a 



canon, 



