58 On the Musical Modes 



company in a grove near Shiraz, where he diftindly faw the nightingales 

 trying to vie with the mufician, fometimes warbling on the trees, fome-. 

 times fluttering from branch to branch, as if they wilheJ to approach the 

 mftrument, whence the melody proceeded, and at length dropping on the 

 ground in a kind of extafy, from which they were foon railed, he allured. 

 me, by a change of the mode* 



The aftbnifhing effeds afcribed to rnufick by the old'Greeks, and, in our 

 days, by the Chinefe, Perfians, and Indians, have probably been exaggerat- 

 ed' and embellifhed ; nor, if fuch effeds had been really produced, could 

 they be imputed, I -think, to the mere influence of" founds however com- 

 bined or modified': it may, therefore, be fufpeded, (not that the accounts 

 are wholly fiditious, but) that fuch wonders were performed by rnufick in 

 its largeft fenfe, as it is now defcribed by the Hindus, that is, by the union 

 of voices, injlruments, and atlion ; for fuch is the complex idea conveyed 

 by the word- Sa-ngita, the firnple meaning of which is no more than fym- 

 phony ; but molt of the Indian books on this art coafift accordingly of three 

 parts, gana, vddya, nfitya, or Jong, percujjion, and dancing ; the firft of 

 which includes the meafures of poetry, the fecond extends to inftrumenta! 

 rnufick of all forts, and the third includes the whole compafs of theatrical 

 reprefentation. Now it may eafily be conceived, that fuch an alliance, 

 with the potent auxiliaries of diftind articulation, graceful gefture, and r 

 well adapted fcenery, muft have a flrong general effed, and may, from- 

 particular afibciations, operate fo forcibly on very fenfible minds, as to ex- 

 cite copious tears, change the colour and countenance, heat or chill the 

 blood, make the heart palpitate with violence, or even compel the hearer 

 to ftart from his feat with the look,' fpeech, and adions of a man in ar 

 phrenfys the effed mtift be yet ftronger-, if the fubjed be religi ous, as that. 



