SHAKSPEARE. 



In " The Taming of the Shrew," no other ufe is made 

 of mufic than to introduce minftrels at the wedding^, and 

 difiiuife Hortenfio in the charafter of a man well feen in 

 mufic, to facilitate his admilfion to the prefence and court- 

 (hip of Bianca ; an expedient, however, which was unfuc- 

 cefsful. 



More fracrments of old ballads are here quoted than in any 

 other of Shakfpeare's plays ; though, as Dr. Warburton 

 faid, " he feemed to bear the ballad-makers a very parti- 

 cular grudge, and often ridicules them with exquifite hu- 

 mour." 



Ih " The Comedy of Errors," mufic has no admiflion or 

 concern. 



" Much ado about Nothing." 



Miific at the mafquerade, aft ii. fc. 2. And in Bene- 

 dift's dainty defcription of fuch an all-accompli(hed woman 

 as could ever incline him to wed, he adds to her qualifica- 

 tions, mufic: " — of good difcourfe, an excellent muficiaii, 

 and her hair of what colour it Ihall pleafe God." Sc. 8. 



Aft ii. fc. 9. The fong, " Sigh no more, ladies, figh 

 no more," is introduced by feveral refleftions on mufic, and 

 the affeftation of fingers. Baltazar, the mufician and fer- 

 vant to Don Pedro, was perhaps thus named from the cele- 

 brated Baltazarini, called " Dc Bcaujoyeaux," an Italian 

 performer on the violin, who was in the higheil fame and 

 favour at the court of Henry III. of France, 1577- In 

 the lalt aft, fc. 8, the epitaph and fong are beautiful, and 

 well calculated for mufic. 



" All's Well that ends Well." 



Aft i. fc. 5. Flourilh of cornets for the king of 

 France's entrance and exit. 



Aft iii. fc 8. A tucket afar off. Ibid. A march afar 

 off. 



Aft V. fc. 3. Sound trumpets. 



Hiftorical plays. " King John." 

 No mufic but trumpets and the din of war. 



« King Richard II." 



Aft 1. fc. 4. Military inflruments are admirably de- 

 fcribed : 



" rous'd up with boift'rous untun'd drums, 



And harlh refounding trumpets dreadful bray." 



Ibid. Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, on being ordered 

 into banifhment, fays : 



" My native Englilh, now I mull forego ; 

 And now my tongue's ufc is to me no more, 

 Than an unllringed viol, or a harp ; 

 Or, like a cunning inltrument cas'd up, 

 Or being open, put into his hands 

 That knows no touch to tune the harmony." 



Aft ii. fc. I. " the tongues of dying men 



Inforce attention, like deep harmony : 



— more are men's ends mark'd, than their lives 



before ; 

 The fetting fun, and mufic in the clofe. 

 As the latt tafte of fweets, is fweeteft lad " 



Ibid. fc. 3. Speaking of John of Gaunt's death : 



«' all is faid. 



His tongue is now a ftringlefs inftrument." 



Aft V. fc. 10. Richard, in his prifon, fayi ; 



" Mufic do I hear ? 



Ha, ha ! keep time : how fow'r fweet mufic is. 

 Where time is broke, and no proportion kept ?" 



Here he plays on raufical terms for feveral lines. 



All inllruments played with the bow, in Shakfpeare's 

 time, were fretted, except violins. 



In " The Taming of the Shrew," aft li. fc. 3, he could 

 not refill the temptation of quibbling on the term fret. 



" Frets call you them,' quoth (lie: I'll fume with 

 them." 



" then call'd me rafcal, fidler. 



And twangling Jack ;" 



alluding to a famous ilreet mufician of the time. 



» Firll Part of Henry IV." 



Aft i. fc. 2. Falftaff fays he's as melancholy as the 

 " drone of a Lincolnfhire bagpipe." 



Aft ii. fc. 3. " An I have not ballads n»ade on you 

 all, and fung to filthy tunes, k-t a cup of fack be my 

 poifon." 



Aft iii. fc. 3. " thy tongue 



Makes Welch as fweet as ditties highly penn'd. 

 Sung by a fair queen in a fummcr's bower, 

 With ra'uiflnng divfion to her lute." 



Induftion. 



" Second Part of Henry IV." 

 Rumour is a pipe. 



Blown by furmifes, jealoufies, conjeftures ; 

 And of fo eafy and io plain a Hop, 

 That the blunt monller with uncounted heads, 

 The itill difcordant wavering multitude. 

 Can play upon it," 



We advanced no farther in hunting through the pleafant 

 wilds of Shakfpeare ; but in dipping accidentally, the fol- 

 lowing pallages Itruck us as worthy of notice. 



" Henry V." Aft i. fc. 2. There is a manifeft allu- 

 lion to the different parts of mufic. 



" For government, though hi^h, and lo'!u, and lowery 

 Put into parts, doth keep in one confent, v 

 Congreeing in a full and natural clofe, 

 Like mufic." 



In " Othello," aft iv. fc. 13. Defdemona fays : 



" My mother had a maid, called Barbara ; 



She was in love ; and he, fhe lov'd, prov'd mad (falfe), 

 And did forfake her : (he had a fong of wiUoiv, 

 An old thing 'twas, but it exprefs'd her fortune, 

 And (he died finging it. That fong, to-night, 

 Will not go from my mind ; I've much ado, 

 Not to go hang my head all o' one fide. 

 And fing it like poor Barbara." 



" King Lear," aft i. fc. 7. " O, thefe eclipfes portend 

 thefe divifions ! fa, fol, la, mi." 



None of the commentators have hitherto been fufficiently 

 (killed in mufic to fee the meaning of thefe fyllables in fol- 

 milation, which imply a feries of founds fo unnatural, that 

 ancient muficians prohibited their ufe. " Mi contra fa elt 

 diabolus." Shakfpeare, however, (hews by the context, 

 that he was well acquainted with the property of the mufical 

 interv.ils contained in the Iritonus, or (harp 4th, which 

 confining of three tones, without the intervention of a 

 femitone, is extremely difficult to fing, and difagreeable 



wheH 



