SHAKSPEARE. 



«' Where fhould this mufic be, i' th' air or earth ? 

 It founds no more : and fure it waits upon 

 Some god o' th' ifland." 



And afterwards : 



" This is no mortal bufinefs, nor no found 



That the earth owns : I hear it now above me.' 



Queen. " Firft rehearfe this fong by rote, 

 To each word a warbhng note ; 

 Hand in hand, with fairy grace, 

 Will we iing, and blefs this place." 



" Two Gentlemen of Verona." 

 Though this comedy furnilhes fewer occafions for mufic 

 than the two preceding dramas, yet muficians are employed 

 in it as well as mufical allulions. As Ben Jonfon, in his 

 mafque of " Cynthia's Revels," fpeaks of the gamut or 

 fyllables of folmifation, vt, re, mi, fa, Jul, la, which pfalm- 

 fingers had made well known to his audience ; fo Shak- 

 fpeare, in this play, ad i. fc. 3. introduces all the mufical 

 terms then in ufe : as, a tune, a «o/c, a light, a heavy tune, 



-„ _^ >_ - r 1 burden, melodious, to reach high, keep in tune, fing out, too 



play. Dr. Wilfon, who refet and publifhed two of them, p^^p^ too flat, concord, harfl} defcant, the mean ba/e, isfc. 

 tells us, in his "Cour^Ayres, or Ballad:,'' publilhed at Aft iv. fc. lall, there is a laboured dcfcription of the 



Indeed, the ferious part of this moft fanciful play is very 

 fortunately calculated for an opera. Shadwell, in the laft 

 century, made one of it, in the manner of what were then 

 called operas on our ft age. It has been performed of late 

 years more as a mufical mafque, than opera or play, at 

 Drury.lane, to the mufic of the late Mr. T. Linlcy, as it ufed 

 to be to that of Dr. Arne, and others. The fongs in this 



Oxford', 1660, that " Full' fathom five," and " Where the 

 bee fucks," had been firll fet by Robert Johnfon, a com- 

 pofer contemporary with Shakfpeare. 



Aft ii. fc. I. " Enter Ariel playing folemn mufic." 

 We never could underftand this indication : no mufic feems 

 to be heard by the charafters on the ftage, nor do they take 

 any notice of it through the whole feene. Afterwards, 

 when with mufic and a fong he acquaints Gonzalo of the 

 danger he is in, his miflion has meaning. " While you here 

 do fnoring lie," &c. 



Even Caliban talks well about mufic : 



«« the ifle is full of noifcs. 



Sounds and f«eet airs, that give dehght and hurt not." 



Ariel never appears or is employed without mufic, which 

 is fweetly defcribed, and introduced with perfeft propriety. 

 Profpero calls for medicinal mufic : 



" A folemn air, and the bell comforter 

 To an unfettled fancy, cure thy brains." 



" Midfummer Night's Dream." 

 Aft ii. fc. 5. " Come now a roundel, and a fairy fong." 

 If, as Dr. Gray fays, a roundel is " a dance in a ring," a 

 roundelay was the fong and tune to fuch dance ; as ballad, 

 from ballata, Italian ; lo roundelay, from rondclet, old French, 

 rondeau, modern. 



The ideas and language of fairyifm are wonderfully 

 imagined and fupported in this play ; and the ufe afTigned to 

 mufic happy and fercile. 



Aft iv. fc. I. «' Rural m.ufic, tongs, &c." Poker and 

 tongs, n.arrow-bones and cleave'S, falt-box, hurdy-gurdy, 

 &c. are the old national inllruments of mufic on our 

 ifland. 



Queen. " Mufic, ho ! mufic : fuch as charmeth fleep." 



Still mufic, meaning fuch foft and gentle mufic as tran- 

 qu;llizos, foothes, and lulls to mufic. 



Aft V. ic. I. In the lift of fports ready for the nuptial 

 feaft of Thefeus, is »' llie battle with the Centaurs ; to be 



powers of poetry and mufic ; Orpheus's lute, concert, fpelt 

 as now : 



" to their inftruments 



Tune a deploring dump," 



or lament {lamentatione), fung by a wretched and forrowing 

 lover in the dumps. 



Sc. 2. A ferenata, or notturno, is introduced: 



" now muil I to her window. 



And give fome evening mufic to her ear." 



Enter Muficians. 



-now, gentlemen, 



Song. 



Let's tune, and to it luftily." 



Who is Sylvia ? what is fhe ?" 



" Meafure for Meafure." 



&c. 



Though this play has lefs mufic in it than the three pre- 

 ceding, yet at the beginning of aft iv. a fong, from his own 

 Pallionate Pilgrim : " Take, oh, take thofe lips away," n 

 fung to Mariana by a boy, who is fent away on the arrival 

 of the duke, in the charafter of a friar ; when apologizing 

 for the feeming levity of liltening to mufic, file fays ; 



" I cry you mercy, fir, and well could wilh 

 You had not found me here fo mufical." 



To which the duke anfwers : 



" 'Tis good ; though mufic oft hath fuch a charm, 

 To make bad good ; and good provoke to harm." 



This is a heavy charge, which it would not have been 

 eafy for Shakfpeare to fubftantiate, and does not very well 

 agree with what he fays in the " Tempeft," of the innoxiout 

 efficacy of mufic. " Sounds and fweet airs, that give de- 

 light, and hurt not." Mufic may be apphed to licentious 

 poetry ; but the poetry then corrupts the mufic, not the 

 mufic the poetry. It has often regulated the movements 

 of lafcivious dances ; but fuch airs heard, for the firit time. 



fun^ by an Athenian euuMch to the harp." This feems to - without the fong or dance, could convey no impure ideas to 



imply a more ancient practice of caftration for the voice than 

 can be found in opera annals. 



Speakinir of Quince, in the clown's prologue, Hippolita 

 fays, " indeed, lie hath play'd on his prologue, like a child 

 on a recorder ; a lound, but not in government." 



Two fongs alluded to in the lalt fcene of this play are 

 loft. 



Oberon. " And this ditty after me 



Sing and dance it trippingly." 



an innocent imagination ; fo that Montetquleu's aflertion is 

 ftill m force : ihst " mufic is the only one of all the arts, 

 which does not corrupt the mind." 



" Merchant of Venice." 



Aft ii. fc. I. A flourilh of cornets when the Moorifh 

 prince comes in. 



Aft ii. fc. 6. " The vile fqueaking of the wry-neck'd 



Aa 



fife, 



