M A R 
444 MAR 
volume and the fecond, the learned and laborious author 
had advanced but a little way in the hiftory even of an- 
.cient mulic. The firlt volume adheres more clofely to 
the fubjeil of his hiltory than this, which is more mifcel- 
laneous. Chronologically, the author advances no fur¬ 
ther in this volume, which is wholly confined to Greek 
mulic, than the inttitution of the Olympic games. So 
that the period which he defcribes is limited to fabulous 
times. Indeed he defcribes the cuftoms, manners, and 
isles, to which mufic was applied by the molt ancient in¬ 
habitants of Greece, more than the mufic itfelf, of which 
there are no remains to give evidence to the wonderful 
powers afcribed to it. He has a chapter on the origin of 
mufic in Greece, chiefly on the word of the poets ; and 
another chapter on the univerfal ufe of mufic among that 
refined people. In this volume we have, likewife, learned 
.difl'ertatious; one on the Angular qualities afcribed to 
.mulic by the Greeks ; and another on the refpefl which 
they had for this art, and the wonderful effefts faid to 
have been produced by it. In this volume, befides a 
number of learned and elaborate canons, placed in a fimi- 
lar manner to thofe of the firft volume, we have a map of 
ancient Greece and Alia Minor; and in the preface a 
Iketch of the hillory of the early inhabitants of thofe 
countries, who firlt cultivated the fine arts. The third 
volume was publiftied in 1781 ; and it is much to be la¬ 
mented that this w’as the laft volume of his elaborate work, 
which the learned author lived to publifh ! It is the more 
to be lamented, as this indefatigable ecclefiaftic had, with 
incredible pains and confiderable expenfe, collected ma¬ 
terials fufficient for the completion of his whole plan. 
And this third volume advances no further in the hiftory 
of ancient mufic, than the period between the eftabliih- 
ment of the Olympic games of Greece and the time of 
Alexander the Great. The hiltory of Roman mufic only 
was to have occupied the fourth volume. From the ma¬ 
terials of which P. Martini was in pofl'eflion, there is rea¬ 
son to believe that the hiftory of mufic in Italy, where the 
prefent fyftein throughout Europe had its rife during the 
middle ages, and from the time of Guido to the prefent 
period, would have been the molt" valuable prefent to all 
■ Europe which the good father could make; but, in writing 
the hiftory of ancient Greece and Roman mufic, he had 
no other means of information than thofe of which others 
were in pofieffion ; the claflical writers and their commen¬ 
tators. Of thefe, indeed. Martini has availed hirnfelf, it 
will perhaps be faid, to an excefiive degree. In the vo¬ 
lume now before us, we have a long preface, and canons, 
as before. And befides the hiftory of mufic from the firlt 
Olympiad, we have the hiftory of every fpecies of poetry 
that was connected with mufic, with the hiftory of its pro- 
fefl'ors, as well as of the ftage, tragic and comic, and of 
all the poets and phiiofophcrs who cultivated mufic, and 
wrote upon the fubjeft. The volume is terminated with 
another difl'ertation on the miraculous effects afcribed to 
the mufic of the ancient Greeks, with new fadts and rea¬ 
soning. This volume will probably be thought tedious 
by thofe who have read, or are able to read, the original 
authors whence its materials are derived ; to others it is a 
valuable thefaurus of all that can be extracted concerning 
mufic, from the chief writers of high antiquity and au¬ 
thority, that are come down to the prefent times. 
Between the publication of the fecond and third vo¬ 
lumes of his Storia Mufica, P. Martini publilhed a work, 
entitled “ Elfemplare o fia Saggio di Contrappunto,” Bo¬ 
logna, a vols. folio, 1774. This excellent treatife, though 
.written in defence of a method of compofing for the church 
upon canto fermo, now on the decline, yet has given the 
learned author an opportunity of writing its hiltory, ex¬ 
plaining its rules, defending the prnftice, and of inferting 
luch a number of venerable compolitions for the church 
by the greatelt mailers of choral harmony in Italy, from 
the beginning of the fixteenth century to the middle of 
the feventeenth, that we know of no book fo full of in¬ 
formation concerning learned counterpoint, fo rich in an¬ 
cient and Scarce compolitions, noc fo abundant in inftrac- 
tive and critical remarks, as this. 
In 1769, Padre Martini drew up and gave to his difci- 
ples a very fhort trasft, entitled Compendio della Theo- 
ria de Numeri per Ufo del Mufico, di F. Giambatifta Mar¬ 
tini, Minor Conventuale.” In this traft, the good fa¬ 
ther defines the three principal calculations, ratios, and 
proportions, necelfary fora snufician to know in the divi¬ 
sion of the monochord and in temperament: The arith¬ 
metical progrejjion, in which the intervals are equi-diftant. 
The geometrical progrejfion, or feries of numbers in a dupli¬ 
cate ratio. The harmonicalprogrejjion, cor.fifting of a feries 
of numbers. The time of his death is pot known. 
MARTI'NI (Giuleppe San), an exquifite performer on 
the hautbois, and an original and excellent compofer, was 
a native of Milan ; but belt known in England by the title 
of Martini of London, where he arrived in 172.3. His firlt 
public performance there was at a benefit concert, at the 
little theatre in the Haymarket, then called the French 
theatre, from a company of French' comedians being al¬ 
lowed to adt plays therein the French language, to which 
George I. frequently went, as his majefty was not fuffi- 
ciently acquainted with our language to be much amufed 
at our national theatres. In this performance the app’aufe 
he received was fuch, that lie was immediately engaged as 
principal hautbois at the Royal Academy of Mulic, or 
Opera, where he continued to perform during the whole 
time of Handel’s regency. His firft publication in Eng¬ 
land wasadvertifed Oftober6,1730; confiltingcf “Twelve 
Sonatas for two Flutes and a Bafs, being exceeding fine har¬ 
mony Such previous praife is feldotn given to compoli- 
tions that deferve it ; but the public foo.n found that a 
newfpaper eulogium, for once, fpoke the truth. 
About the year 1740, he was taken into the fervice of 
Frederic prince of Wales, was mulic-mafter to the prin- 
cefles, and gave leflons in finging to feverai ladies who 
had the good tafte to be fenfible of his merit; but he per¬ 
formed no more in public after he quitted the opera. 
The concertos which he compofed for hirnfelf were admi¬ 
rable ; full of fire, and new and elegant paflages, in the 
true genius of the inftrument; and the belt judges who 
had often heard him at the opera and in private parties, 
would allow of no parallel in his tone and execution, with 
thofe of any other hautbois-player upon earth. He died 
about the year 1750. And, as a proof of the high admi¬ 
ration with which the public was isnprefled by his. per¬ 
formance, when his books and inftruments were fold by 
auction after his deceafe, a hautbois on which he uled to 
perform, which originally only colt five-and-twenty (hil¬ 
lings, fold for eighteen guineas, to fomebody, who per¬ 
haps imagined, that an inftrument on which Martini ufed 
to play fo delightfully, would almolt play itfelf. 
As a compofer, Martini was poflefied of ail the learning 
of the old fchool, with infinitely more invention, tafte, and 
grace, than any other Italian of his time. His Twelve 
Sonatas for two Violins and a Bafs, dedicated to the prin- 
cefs of Wales, were long in high favour with the public ; 
and his full concertos, when performed at the concert of 
ancient mufic, ftill excite the attention and admiration of 
all true judges. 
MARTINI'CO, one of the largeft of the Caribbee 
iflapds in the Welt Indies, being about 60 miles in length, 
and 30 in breadth, and containing about 260 fquare miles. 
The interior part is hilly, abounding with hillocks or 
lmall eminences, above which are elevated three moun¬ 
tains of confiderable height. The higheft of thefe, called 
Pelee, exhibits appearances of an extinct volcano, and is 
covered with woods that attract the clouds, and occalion 
noxious damps, which render it in a great meafure inac- 
cellible. The other two mountains are in molt parts cul¬ 
tivated. Thefe mountains, and particularly the firlt, fur- 
nilh fprings, from which ilfue the ftreams that water the 
iHand ; thefe are naturally of gentle current, but with the 
.flighted ltorm are changed into torrents. The chief river 
is called Galion, and waters the nortli-ealt part of tfie 
1 illand. 
