U N I 



TJius, if I take a leafe of land upon a certain rent, and 

 afterwards buy the fee fimple ; this is an unity of pofTefiion, 

 by which the leafe is cxtinguiflied : by reafon I, wlio before 

 had only the occupation for my rent, am now become lord 

 of the fame, and am to pay rent to none but myfelf. 



Unity of poflellion amounts to the fame with what civi- 

 lians called confoUdation ; whicli fee. 



The unity of a joint eftate is fourfold, -viz. unity of in- 

 tereft, the unity of title, the unity of time, and the unity 

 of pofTefiion ; or, in other words, joint-tenants have one 

 and the fame intereft, accruing by one and the fame con- 

 veyance, commencing at one and the fame time, and lield 

 by one and tlie fame undivided pofleffion. See Blackil. 

 Com. b. ii. 



Unity of a Sentence, in Grammar and Rhetoric. See 

 Style. 



Unity of Melody. This is an ingenious idea, which we 

 think merits a place among mufical deliderata : it was firft 

 fuggefted and recommended by Roufieau, in his Letter on 

 French Mufic, 1751, and afterwards enforced in his Mufi- 

 cal Diftionary, in the following manner. " There is in all 

 the fine arts fome objeft of unity, or fymmetry, the fource 

 of intellectual pleafure : for attention divided by two dif- 

 ferent objefts, has no repofe ; and when two objefts occupy 

 us at once, it is a proof that the mind is fatisficd with 

 neither. (Baretti ufed to fay that two misfortunes were 

 better than one, beccaufe they divided the attention. ) 

 There is in mufic a fucccffive unity with refpeft to the fub- 

 jeft, by which all the parts well combined conftitute a 

 whole, whence we perceive the enfemble and all its relations. 



" But there is another more refined and more fimultaneous 

 obje£t of unity, whence there infenfibly arifes the energy 

 of mufic and force of its expredions. 



" When I hear our pfalms fung in four parts, I begin to 

 liften with great delight at tiie full and nervous harmony ; 

 and the firft chords, when they are perfeftly in tune, atfcft 

 me even to fliivering ; but before I have lillened many mi- 

 nutes to the reft, my attention diminifhes, till by degrees I 

 am ftunncd with the noife ; I become indiilerent, and, at 

 length, tired with hearing nothing but chords. 



" This does not happen when 1 hear good modern mufic, 

 though the harmony is not fo vigorous ; and I remember at 

 the opera in Venice, a beautiful air well executed never 

 tired me, whatever was its length ; and if repeated, my at- 

 tention was renewed, and I heard it with more intereft the 

 fecond time than the firft. 



" This difference arifes from the charattcr of the two 

 muCcs, of which one is only a fiiccclTion of chords, and 

 the other a ferics of fingle founds in melody. Now the 

 pleafure which we receive from harmony, is only that of 

 pure fenfation, and the enjoyment of the fenfcs is always 

 fhort. Satiety and fatigue follow each other very clofely ; 

 but the pleafure from melody, is an interefting pleafure of 

 fentiment which fpcaks to the heart, and which an artift 

 may always fuftain and renew by force of genius. 



" Mufic ought therefore necefTarily to fing, in order to in- 

 tereft, plcafe, and fupport the attention. But in our fyf- 

 tems of chords and mere harmony, can mufic fing, or have 

 any interefting melody ? If each part has itr. own melody, 

 all thefe melodies heard at once, mutually dcftroy each 

 other, and annihilate all melody : if all the parts perform 

 the fame melody, we fhall have no harmony, and the con- 

 cert will be wholly in unifon. 



"The manner in which a mufical inftinft, a certain im- 

 pulfe of genius, has vanquifhed this difficulty without feeing 

 it, and at the fame time turned it to advantage, is very re- 

 markable. Harmony, which, abufed, would fuffocate me- 



U N I 



lody, animates, enforces, and gives it a charafter: the dif- 

 ferent parts, judicioufly arranged, concur in producing the 

 fame effeft, and though each feems to have a melody of its 

 own, from all thefe parts united, wc hear only one and the 

 fame melody. This is what I call unity of melody. 



" Let us now explain how harmony itfelf, far from iujar- 

 ing, concurs in fupporting this unity. Our melodies arc 

 chara6terifcd by our keys and meafures, and our keys are 

 governed by harmony. Whenever the harmony enforces 

 and determines the fentiment of the mode or key and the 

 modulation, it adds to the cxpreffion of the melody, pro- 

 vided it does not cover aad render it infignificant. 



" The compofer's art, therefore, after rendering himfclf 

 a mafter of harmony and modulation, fliould be principally 

 pointed to the unity of melody. 1. When the key is not 

 lufficiently determined in the melody, to render it more cer- 

 tain by the harmony. 2. To fcledl and ufe his chords in 

 fuch a manner, that the moft interefting found ftiould be 

 always in the principal melody, and that its intereft ftiould 

 arife from the bafe. 3. To add to the energy of each 

 paffage by harfli chords, if the exprelTion is harfh, and 

 by pleafing chords, if the expreftion is fweet. 4. To pay 

 attention in the ftyle of the accompaniment to the piano 

 and forte of the melody : and 5. To contrive that the 

 melody of the parts of accompaniment do not counteraft 

 the principal, but fuftain, fecond, and give it a more lively 

 and marked accent. 



" The unity of melody particularly requires that two me- 

 lodies equally interefting ihould not be heard at the fame 

 time, but not that the melody fhould never pafs from one 

 part to another. ( In the quartetu of Haydn, Mozart and 

 Pleyel, there is nothing more amuling to the hearers, or 

 more flattering to the performers, than giving the melody 

 alternately to the dift'erent parts, in tl>e way of dialogue. ) 

 But a treatife would be necelTary to fliew in detail the appli- 

 cation of this principle to duos, trios, quartets, chorufcs, 

 and fymphonies. Men of genius will difcover its extent 

 and ufe, and their works will inftruft others. I therefore 

 conclude by afferting, upon the principle which I have been 

 trying to cftabhfh ; firft, that all mufic which does not fing 

 is tirefome, in whatever harmony it may be clothed ; fc- 

 condly, that all mufic in which many different fimultaneous 

 parts are diftinguiftied, is bad, and that there refults from 

 it the fame effeft as from two or more people fpeaking upon 

 different fubjefts at the fame time. From tliis opinion, 

 which admits of no exception, will be pointed out what we 

 ought to think of thofe wonderful compofitions, where one 

 air ferves for an accompaniment to another. 



" It is from this principle of the unity of melody, which 

 the Italians have felt and followed without knowing it, but 

 which the French liave neither known nor followed ; it is, 

 I repeat it, from tliis grand priuciple, that the cffcntial dif- 

 ference of the two mufics arifes ; and it is, I believe, what 

 every impartial judge will allow, who ftiall hften to both with 

 equal attention, if however that is pofTible." 



Unity, in Geography, a town of America, in the diftriifl 

 of Maine and county of Keniicbeck, containing 79'? inha- 

 bitants ; 60 miles N. of Brunfvvick. — AJfo, a town of New 

 Hampfliire, in the county of Clicfliire, containing 1044 in- 

 habitants : N.E. of Charleftown. — Alfo, a lownfhip of 

 Pennfylvania, in Weftmoreland county, containing 2174 in- 

 habitants. — Alfo, a townftiip of Ohio, in the county of 

 Columbiana, containing !S27 inhabitants. 



Unity Bay, a bay on the E. coaft of Labrador. N. 

 lat. 57''8'. W. long. 61° 30'. 



UNIVALVE, in Conehohgy, a genus of ftiells. See 

 CoNCHOLOGV and Suei-ls. 



3 G 1 UNI. 



