SKETCH OF GABOON. 
451 
of a maniac, taking one hand from the strings, to wave it up and 
down, stretching forth one leg and drawing it up again as if con- 
vulsed, lowering the harp on to the .other foot, and tossing it up 
and down. Whilst the one hand continued playing, he rung forth 
a peal which vibrated on the ear long after it had ceased ; he was 
silent; the running accompaniment served again as a prelude to a 
loud recitative, uttered with the greatest volubility, and ending 
with one word, with which he ascended and descended, far beyond 
the extent of his harp, with the most beautiful precision. Some- 
times he became more collected, and a mournful air succeeded the 
recitative, though without the least connection, and he would again 
burst out with the w^hole force of his powerful voice in the notes of 
the Hallelujah of Handel. To meet with this chorus in the wilds of 
Africa, and from such a being, had an effect I can scarcely de- 
scribe, and I was lost in astonishment at the coincidence, lliere 
could not be a stronger proof of the nature of Handel, or the 
powers of the negro. 
I naturally enquired if this man was in his senses, and the reply 
was, that he was always rational but when he played, when he 
invariably used the same gestures, and evinced the same inco- 
herency. The accompanying notes were caught whilst he was 
singing; to do more than set them down in their respective lengths, 
was impossible, and every notation must be far inadequate. 
As regards the words, there was such a rhapsody of recitative, 
of mournful, impetuous, and exhilarated air, wandering through 
the life of man, throughout the animal and vegetable kingdom for 
its subjects, without period, without connection, so transient, abrupt, 
and allegorical, that the Governor of the town could translate a 
line but occasionally, and I was too much possessed by the music, 
and the alternate rapture and phrenzy of the perfomer, to minute 
the half which he communicated. I can only submit the frag- 
