I T A L y. 



it ; Co that it may not be broken by tlic lliocks by which it 

 will be threatened, as long as the Mediterranean continues 

 out of its habitual Hate. But we do not hefitate to declare, 

 that we will transfer that crown to one of our children, na- 

 tural or adopted, the moment we arc freed from alarms for 

 that independence which we have guaranteed to the other 

 ftates f)f the Mediterranean." Upon the return of the em- 

 peror to his own dominions, it was announced to him that 

 the Ligurian fenate was waiting for an interview upon very 

 important bufinefs. Accordingly, on the 25th of May, an 

 extraordinary fitting of tlie Ligurian fenate was held, when 

 it was decreed that Genoa, its territories, and dependencies, 

 (hould be annexed to the French empire. In his fpeech ou 

 this occafion, the emperor, having duelt much at large on 

 the advantage which would accrue to tlie continent in gene- 

 ral, and to Genoa in particular, from this addition to his 

 own dominions, added, " I will reahze your expcftations ; 

 I will unite you to my great people. I fliall thereby acquire 

 additional means of rendering that pioteftion more power- 

 ful, which I have always been difpofcd to extend to you. 

 My people will with pleafure receive you. They know 

 that at all times you have been friendly to their armies ; and 

 that you have affiiled them with all your force, and with all 

 your means. They find, moreover, in your territory, ports, 

 and an increafe of maritime power, which is ncceiTary for 

 the fupporl of their lawful rights againfl; the tyrants of the 

 feas. — Doge, and gentlemen of the deputation of the fenate, 

 and people of Genoa, return to your native country : I fliall 

 be there ere long, and will confirm the union which you and 

 my people are about to form." At this meeting of the 

 Italian legiflature, the emperor prefented prince Eugene 

 Beauharnois to them as his reprefentative, and viceroy of 

 Italy; faying, that he himfelf would take an early oppor- 

 tunity of vifiting all the departments of his new kingdom, in 

 order that he might become better acquainted with their 

 various wants. Since that period, in ccnfequence of the 

 fuccefs attendant on the wars between France and A.ullria, 

 which were terminated by the treaties of peace of Prefburg 

 and Vienna, the whole Venetian territory, which pertained 

 to Auilria, the county of Gortz or Goritia, the city of 

 Triefte, Carniola, with its dependencies on the gulf of 

 Triefte, and all the territories lying on the right bank of the 

 Save, from the point wh.ere that river leaves Carniola, along 

 its courfe to where it touches the province of Bofnia, fix 

 diftritts of mihtary Croatia, Fiume, the Hungarian Lit- 

 torale, Auftrian Iliria, together with the iflands dependent 

 tipon the ceded territory, were added to the Italian do- 

 minions of the new emperor and king. On the 20th of 

 March j8i I, Bonaparte had a fon born by his prefent em- 

 prefs, the daughter of the emperor of Germany. To this 

 Ion he inilantly gave the title of " king of Rome," and re- 

 quired his minillers, and the chief perfons under his direc- 

 tion, to render due homage to the infant in his cradle : thus 

 (hewing that he meant the prince Eugene, above noticed, 

 only as his reprefentative till one of his own children (hould 

 be fitted to fway the fceptre of the Itahan kingdom. Cel- 

 larius's Anc. Gcog. Univer. Hill. Anc. and Mod. Geo- 

 graphies of Pinkerton, Play fair, and Smith. Holberg's 

 Univer. Hift. And Public Papers in the feveral volumes 

 of the New Ann. Regiftjr. 



In the fifteenth century, when we firll hear of harmony in 

 four parts, and maffesfct to figurative mufic, it was for the 

 ufe ef the pope's chapel that the greatell efforts of genius in 

 compofitioii were excited among the candidates for favour 

 in that art, by the double certainty of having their labours 

 liberally rewarded, and their productions well performed. 

 A.^d if wc find that many of the compofers of the pontifical 



chapel were Netherlandcrs, and the fingers Spaniards, it 

 docs not neceffarily follow that the Italians had cither coun- 

 terpoint, or the art cf finging, from the Low Countries, or 

 from Spain. The Roman college of fingers had been ella- 

 bliflied and celebrated during fo many ages, that we may as 

 weU imagine thefe foreigners went to Ron'.e to hum mufic, 

 as to h\u-i it. 



We know, in later times, that many of tl:c greatell mu- 

 ficians of Europe have either had their education in Italy, or 

 thought it as necelTary to vifit that country as the ancient 

 Roman philofophers to travel into Greece, or the Grecians 

 into Egypt. Orlando di LafTo, Handel, HalTe, Gliick, and 

 .1. C. Bach, went tliither vt;y early, and m.ay be faid to have 

 formed their ftyles on the bell models of that country. The 

 firll motets of Orlando that were publilbcd at Antwerp, by 

 Tylman Sufato, 1555, were faid to be made "a la nouvelle 

 Cfmpofition d'aucuns d'ltalie ;" as the firft productions of 

 Handel, that were publifhed in England, were faid to be 

 compofed "by an eminent Itnlian mailer;"' Haffe went 

 very young into Italy, and was a fcholar of Alelfandro 

 Scarlatti ; however, his clear and graceful ilyle more re- 

 fembled that of Vinci and Pergolefi, his competitors in the 

 natural, fimple, and elegant manner of writing for the voice, 

 than that of either Scarlatti, his mailer, or Kaifer, his 

 countryman, and firll model. The late excellent compofer, 

 Mr. J. C. Bach, fon and brother of two of the grcateii 

 muficians that ever exifted, is allowed to have been a fine 

 player on keyed inilrumeiits, before he went into Italy ; but 

 his vocal mufic is certainly more in the ftyle of Italy, thaa 

 of his native country. 



If the great muficians of antiquity, whofe names are fo 

 familiar to our ears, had not likewife been poets, time and 

 oblivion would long fince have fwept them away. But 

 thefe having been luckily writers themfelvcs, took a httle 

 care of their own fame ; which their brethren of after-ages 

 gladly fupported f.r the honour of the ccrp. 



But fince writing and practical mufic have become fepa- 

 rate profeffions, the celebrity of the poor mufieian dies with 

 the vibration of his firings ; or if, in condcfcenfion, he be 

 remembered by a poet or hillorian, it is ufually but to blazon 

 his infirmities, and throw contempt upon his talents. The 

 voice of acclamation, and thunder of applaufe, pafs awav 

 like vapours ; and thofe hands which were moll adive in 

 tellifying temporary approbation, fuffer the fame of thole 

 who charmed away their care and forrows in the glowing 

 hour of innocent delight, to remain unrecorded. 



If it be true that the progrefs of mufic in every country 

 depends on the degrees of civilization and culture of otlser 

 arts and fciences among its inhabitants, and on the language 

 which they fpeak, the accents of which furnilh the (IveJeton 

 and nerves ot all vocal melody ; great perfection cannot' be 

 expelled in the rr.ufic of Europe during the middle ages, 

 when t!ie Goths, Vandals, Huns, Germans, Franlvs, and 

 Gaul?, whofe ideas were favage, and language harfii and in- 

 folent, had feized on its moft ti rtile prcvi,nces. All the dia- 

 lecls that are now fuoken ifi Europe are a mixture- of Celtic 

 and Latin ; and as the inhabitants of Italy prefervcd tlia 

 Roman language longer than thofe of other countries remote 

 from the feat of empire, more veiligcs of the Latin tongue 

 dill remain in Italy than elfewhere. For though there are 

 many terms in it that they were forced to receive from the 

 barbarians who invaded ihcm, yet the chief p!.rt of the lan- 

 guage is llill Latin corrupted, and fometimes foftened and 

 improved. And as literature, arts, and refiuemenis, were 

 encouraged more early in Italy at the courts of the Romar. 

 pontilfs, than in any other country, modern mufic has 

 thence beet) furniflied with its fc.de, its ccunterpcint, its beik 



melodies. 



