ber of unmeaning names, fuch as breves> 
femibreves, crotchets ', quavers, Jemt quavers, &c. 
It were much more rational, becaufe more 
intelligible, to call the fimple open circle, a 
note-, when it has a tail, a half-note; when 
the head is filled, a quarter-note j when the 
tails are once tyed, an eighth; twice, afix- 
teenth, &c. Thus the name would exprefs 
the relative proportion of every note, and 
any farther explanation would be unnecef- 
fary. 
So much for Scale, Mode, Key, Cliff, and 
Time. I told you, in a former letter, that 
modern Mufic differs effentially from that 
of the ancients, in the invention of Harmony, 
of which they appear to have been totally 
ignorant. I alfo told you that Harmony is 
the effect of two or more tones founding at 
the fame time. You will now afk, what is 
this Harmony? and which are the tones 
that produce the effect ? 
Mufical Harmony has its foundation in 
a law of Nature: or, in other language, in 
a certain property inherent in peculiar mo- 
difications of matter: it depends on a coin- 
cidence in the vibrations of the founding 
bodies. No two firings vibrate in equal 
times, unlefs they be turned in exact unifon, 
as 
