SONG. 



vttre treated with fiie greateft confideration and refpeft. 

 'The ladies, whofe charms they celebrated, gave them the 

 mod generous and flattering reception ; and fometimes dif- 

 dained not even to liften with compaflion to tales of tender- 

 nefs, and defcriptions of the havock which the irrefillible 

 charms of thefe fublunary divinities of chivalry had made in 

 their hearts. The fuccefs of a few infpired the refl with 

 hope, and excited exertions in the exercife of their art, 

 which impelled them towards perfeftion with a rapidity that 

 nothing but the united force of emulation and emolument 

 could occafion. 



As thefe founders of modern verfification, thefe new poe- 

 tical architefts, cnnftrufted their poems upon plans of their 

 own invention ; and as all clafTical authority was laid afide, 

 either thraugh ignorance or delign, each individual gave 

 unlimited indulgence to fancy in the fubje£t, form, and fpe- 

 cies of his compofition. And it does not appear, during the 

 cultivation and favour of Provencal literature, that any one 

 Troubadour fo far outftript liis brethren in the approaches 

 he made towards perfeftion, as to beconfidered as a model 

 for his fucceffbrs. We find, though military prowefs, 

 hofpitality, Gothic gallantry, and a rage for feafts and 

 revelry prevailed, that talte, refinement, and elegance, were 

 never attained during this period, either in public or pri- 

 vate amufements. The want of originality of compofition 

 is frequently lamented when licence is repreffed by laws, and 

 the wild efTufions of an ardent imagination are bounded by 

 authority ; but the produftions that have been preferved 

 of the Provencal bards, which may be called the offspring of 

 writers in a ftate of nature, feem to prove the neceffity of 

 rule, order, and example, even in the liberal arts as well as 

 the government of a free itate. For the progrefs of taite 

 rauft ever be impeded by the ignorance and caprice of thofe 

 who cultivate an art without fcience or principles. 



During near two centuries after Guido's arrangement of 

 the fcale and invention of the time-table afcribed to Franco, 

 no remnants or records of fecular mufic can be found except 

 thofe of the Troubadours, or Provengal poets. And though 

 in the fimple tunes which have been preferved of thefe bards, 

 no time is marked, and but little variety of notation appears, 

 yet it is not difficult to difcover in them germs of the future 

 melodies, as well as poetry, of France and Italy. Unluckily 

 the poetry and mufic of the Troubadours of Provence were 

 not for a long time called into notice by writers pofielTed 

 of thofe blandilliments of Ityle or manner which fafcinate, 

 and render whatever fubjeft they treat intcrelling to the ge- 

 nerality of readers. Faucliet, Pafquier, and Nollradamus 

 have written in a language that is now become fo uncouth 

 and difficult, that few have the courage to attempt acquiring 

 information or amufement from it ; and Muratori and CreU 

 cembeni, who are refpefted for their diligence andexaftitude, 

 are certainly dry and dull narrators of facts which promife 

 delight to every lover of literature ; nor do we remember, in 

 tonfulting their voluminous writings, ever to have found 

 them guilty of hazarding a fingle reflertion or conjecture 

 that has embelliffied tlie fubjedt, or rendered it amufing. 

 But this cenfure mull not be applied to Sainte-Palaye, Bo- 

 namy, la Ravaliere, and Barbazan, wlio, in the Memoires de 

 Litterature and elfewhere, have not only embeUifhed, but 

 nearly cxhaulted the fubjcA. Indeed, tlie period of Pro- 

 vencal poetry is intcrelling to literature, and the melody to 

 which it was lung is a fubjeft of curious enquiry to a mu- 

 fical hidorian ; for it is generally allowed that the Trouba- 

 dours, by fingiiig and writing in a new tongue, occafioncd a 

 revolution not only in literature but the human mind. 

 And as almoit every fpecies of Italian poetry i> derived 



from the Provencals, fo air, the moft captivating part of 

 fecular vocal melody, feems to have had the fame origin. 

 At lealt the moft ancient ftrains that have been fpared by 

 time, are fuch as were fet to the fongs of the Troubadours. 

 See Troubadours. 



Songs feem in a particular manner to belong to the 

 language of Italy. The ancient Romans were no great 

 fongllers ; and by what degrees the Latin language be- 

 came Italian, would be a tedious and difficult enquiry. We 

 know when the mufical drama or opera was cllablifhed, and 

 confequently when opera airs, with inftrumcnatal accompani- 

 ments, began firft to be cultivated ; but thefe are not the fub- 

 jefts of our prefent refearch : but when national melodies, 

 for fuch every country has, were firft applied to fongs in the 

 Italian language, a dialed which has long been univerfally 

 allowed to be more favourable to finging than any one 

 which the numerous combinations of letters in all alphabets 

 of modern times has produced, we are ignorant. And if the 

 French, Provengal, and Spanifh dialefts can be deduced from 

 the Latin, how much more eafy is it to trace the Italian from 

 that fource ? which is itfelf frequently fo near pure and claflical 

 Latin, that no other change or arrangement of words feems 

 to have been made, than what contributed to its fweetnefs 

 and facility of utterance. 



That the Itahan tongue is derived from the vulgar lan- 

 guage of the ancient Romans, feems the opinion of the beft 

 critics ; but to difcover and point out by what degrees it 

 was fmoothed and polifhed to the ftate in which Dante, 

 Petrarca, and Boccaccio found it in the fourteeenth cen- 

 tury, would require more time, and occupy more fpace in 

 this article, than the fubjeft feems necellarily to require. 

 However, as the Italian language has been truly allowed to 

 be more mufical in itfelf when merely fpoken with purity, 

 than any other in Europe, an enquiry into the caufes of its 

 natural melody and mellifluence does not feem foreign to the 

 fubjeft of the prefent article. 



Muratori (Difl'ert. 32.) has given innumerable paffages 

 from authors of the eighth and ninth centuries, to prove, 

 that after the Franks and Germans were fettled in Italy, 

 articles were ufed in the Latin language inftead of pronouns 

 and changes of termination, in order to fave the trouble of 

 infledling the cafes in nouns ; but pretends not to fay what 

 this vulgar language was, or whether the clergy preached 

 to the common people, or merchants carried on their corre- 

 fpondence in Latin or Itahan. 



The learned Maffei allows the Provencal, French, Spanifh, 

 and Italian languages, to be defcendants from the L.itin, but 

 denies that the ancient inhabitants of Italy adopted any 

 words from the Goths or Huns who invaded them. The 

 genius of the German, Francic, or Teutonic language, which 

 was fpoken by the Lombards, was fo diametrically oppofitc 

 to that of the Italians, that it feems incredible there fhould 

 have been any exchange or union of dialedts between them : 

 the one being as remarkable for its numerous confonants and 

 harrti terminations, as the otiicr for its open vowels and mel- 

 lifluous endings. As it is the opinion of this profound 

 critic that the Romans had always a vulgar dialeft, lefs gram- 

 matical and elegant than that of the fenate and of books, ho 

 fuppofes the French, Spanifli, and Italian languages to have 

 been different modifications of this ruftic, plebeian dialctt. 

 But it is as difficult to alTigii a reafon for all thefe daughters 

 of one common mother being fo diffimiiar, as it is to account 

 for the little refembiance tiiat is frequently found between 

 other children of the fame parents. And why the French 

 language Ihould have fo many nafal endings, the Spanifh 

 fo many fibillating, and the Italian alone have none but 

 4 vucal 



