68 On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 



cipline, indeed, he is enabled to give them a fmooth and uni- 

 form intonation, without marking the fingle times as they 

 pafs, by a fwell or more forcible expreffion ; but flill he is all 

 the while reckoning thofe fingle times in his mind, or attending 

 to the accompaniment by which they are for the moft part di- 

 ftinclly articulated. Thefe lengthened founds, therefore, never 

 are conceived as units or fingle durations, but always as com- 

 pounds. On the other hand, many founds occur in mufic 

 which are too minute to be counted individually. Thefe, 

 therefore, can only be conceived in groups, by being referred 

 to fome longer duration of which they are aliquot parts. This 

 may be farther proved from the following circumftance : In 

 mufical fueceffions, we often find a duration which may be 

 confidered as an unit, divided at one time into fours, and at 

 another time into threes or triplets. Thefe minute times, 

 therefore, will be to one another in the proportion of three to 

 four. If, therefore, it is thought practicable to account fuch 

 fmall time the unit or flandard of a rythmical fucceflion, to 

 which all the other times are to be referred, and by which they 

 are to be eftimated, I would afk, which of the two minute 

 times is to be taken for the unit, in the cafe above defcribed ? 

 If the fmalleft is pitched upon, I would farther afk, by what 

 means are we enabled to exprefs the other accurately, in pro- 

 portion to it as four to three, or to feel this proportion as fub- 

 fifling betwixt them, efpecially as both are fuppofed to be in- 

 capable of further divifion ? The matter feems to be impoffible. 

 Such paffages, however, are, by no means, confidered as diffi- 

 cult or embarrafTing, even by young performers. Thefe 

 fmall times, therefore, are not conceived as units, but as divi- 

 fions, by the fimple numbers four and three, of fome longer 

 duration, which has been often difti nelly marked in the 

 former parts of the piece, and with which the mind is fa- 

 miliar. 



These 



