M U R I S. 
MU'RIS (John de), a celebrated writer on mufic, to 
Whom the invention of mufical characters is generally 
given, Fabricius, bilhop Tanner, and others, allow him 
to have fiourilhed about the year 1330. He is ftyled by 
fome a doftor and canon of the Sorbonne, by fome a ma¬ 
thematician and philofopher, and by others a chantin' of 
the church of Notre-Dame at Paris. His country is 
likewife difputed : for, though the general opinion be 
that he was born at Meurs in Normandy, whence he had 
his name, yet, by a typographical error, he is called 
Parmigiano in Bontempi, inftead of Parigino, which 
makes him a native of Parma, inftead of Paris. But, 
though he has no title to the invention of the time-table, 
as we lliall foon demonftrate, he muft certainly have been 
a great benefaftor to practical mufic by his numerous 
writings on the fubjeCt, which doubtlefs threw new lights 
upon the art, as may be better imagined now from the 
gratitude of his fucceflors, by whom he is fo frequently 
quoted and commended, than from the writings them- 
felves, which Time, to whom he was fuppoled to have 
been fo great a friend, has rendered totally ufelefs, and 
almoft unintelligible. 
But, though he is entitled to an honourable place among 
muiical worthies, yet, as both his country and profeftion 
have been difputed, all that can be done to gratify the 
reader’s curioiity concerning him, is to give a complete 
lift of his works that are itill preferved in the feveral 
libraries of Europe; and, from their titles and contents, 
to deduce at leaft a probable opinion of other circum- 
ftances concerning him. 
Dr. Burney informs us, that, betides a MS. in the 
Vatican, on the fubjeft of counterpoint, he found there 
three others by de Muris, on the fubjeCt of mufic. The 
firft is a treatile on Time, or Meafured Mufic: Joannis 
de Muris Practica Cantus MenJ'urabilis, pr. quilibet in A vie. 
This traCt is likewdfe in Bene’t college Camb. No. 410. 
The fecond is A Compendium of Counterpoint: Joannis 
de Muris Ars Summaria Countrapuntti, pr. volentibus intro- 
duci. The third, which is among the queen of Sweden’s 
MSS. No. 1718, confifts of Mufical Theorems explained 
in Verfe: Joan, de Muris Theoremata Mufica Verfibus 
explicata. 
In the king of France’s library at Paris, there are two 
copies of his “ Speculum Muficce, or Mirror of Mufic,” 
in feven books, which is the principal and moft ample of 
all his mufical w'ritings. This is the work mentioned by 
Merfennus, Du-Cange, and Rouffeau, and in wdiich they 
all tried in vain, as well as mylelf, (fays Dr. Burney,) to 
find proofs of his having been the inventor of the time¬ 
table. Roufi’eau has given two confiderable quotations 
from this work in his Mufical Diftionary, article Disc ant, 
which de Muris defines ££ The finging extempore with 
one or more perfons in different concords, in fuch a man¬ 
ner as to produce one harmony.” After which he ex¬ 
plains what he means by concords, and the choice that 
fliould be made of them upon thefe occafions. He then 
feverely cenfures the fingers of his time for their igno¬ 
rance and indifcriminate ufe of them: “ If our rules are 
good, with what front," fays he, “ do thole dare to difcant 
or compofe, who are fo ignorant of concords as not to 
know which are more or lefs pleating, which ought to be 
avoided, or moft frequently ufed ; where to introduce 
them, or any thing that concerns the true practice of the 
art ? If they accord, it is by mere chance ; their voices 
wander about the tenor or plain-fong without rule, mill¬ 
ing wholly to Providence for their coincidence. They 
throw founds about at random, as awkward people 
throw ftones at a mark, without hitting it once in 
a hundred times.” Mafter Muris then proceeds to 
■flagellate with great fury thefe. corruptors of the pure 
and fimple harmony of his time. But the Latin of 
this paffage is fo obiolete and monkifh, that it feems as if 
it would fall more naturally into Englilh of the 16th 
century, tnan into that of the prefent times. “ But, 
alas! in thele our dayes, fome do ftryve to glofte over 
VOL. XVI. No. 1106. 
S25 
theyr lacke of ficyll with filly fayenges. This, cry they, 
is the nsivc method of difeantynge, thefe be the new Con¬ 
cordes. Howbeit they grievouily offend thereby both 
the hearing and the underftanding of fuche as be ikylled- 
to judge of theyr defefts ; for, where we look for delight, 
they do induce fadneffe. O incongruous fayenge ! O 
wretched gioffe ! irrational excufe ! O monftrous abufe ! 
moft rude and beftial ignoraunce! to take an affe for a 
man, a goat for a lyon, a ftieepe for a filhe, a fnake for a 
falmone ! For in fuche forte do they confound Concordes 
with difcordes, as ye lliall in no wife difeerne the one 
from the other. O ! if the good old mayfters of former 
time did hear fuche difeanters, what would they fay or do ? 
Out of doubte they wolde thus chyde them, and lay. 
This difcant, whereof ye now make ufe, ye do not take 
it from me; ye do in no wyfe frame your fonge to be con- 
cordaunt with me; wherefore do ye thruft yourfelves in > 
ye do not agree with me ; ye are an adverfary, and a 
lcandal unto me. O that ye wolde be dumb! This is 
not concordynge, but moft doatynge and delyrious dij- 
cordyngc." 
This work, which is written on vellum, in folio, con¬ 
tains fix hundred pages. The firft fentence of the original 
is, ££ Libro tertio de Philofophica Confolatione Boetius 
volens reddere Caufam,” &c. It is divided into feven 
books : the firft of which treats of the invention of mufic, 
and of its divifions, and contains 76 chapters; the fecond, 
of mufical intervals, 123; the third, of harmonics, or 
mufical proportion, 56 ; the fourth, of concords and dif- 
cords, 51 ; fifth, of the ancient tetrachords, divifion of 
the monochord, and doftrines of Boethius, 52 chapters; 
fixth, of the modes and notation of the ancients, of the 
changes made in their fyftem by Guido, and of the eccle- 
fiaftical tones, 113. Book the 7th, of meafured mufic; 
of difcant, in treating of which he has the chapter £! de 
ineptis difeantoribus,” part of which has been given in 
the preceding chapter; of the time-table, moods or divi¬ 
fions of time ; of the folly of placing a tail to the femi- 
breve, by which he feems to mean the minim, without 
naming it; of perfect and imperfeft meafures; andlaftly, 
a parallel between ancient and modern mufic, which 
occupies the laft five of the 45 chapters into Which this 
book is divided, the concluding fentence of which is, 
££ Exempli caufa deferibere tibi volo quorum figuras funt 
in hoc ordine confequentes. Explicit Traftatus Mu- 
ficte, Magiftri Johannis de Muris.” 
Notwithftanding all the nice and fubtle divifions and 
fubdivifions of his feven books into 917 chapters, the 
practical mufician would at prefent profit but little from 
the ftudy of them, as almoft all the doftrines contained in 
the firft five books are fpeculative, and fuch as may be 
found in Ptolemy, Boethius, and other ancient authors, 
whom almoft all the mufical writers of later times have 
copied in pure pedantry, without underftanding them- 
felves what they read, and confequently without con¬ 
veying any ufeful fcience to their readers by what they 
have written. It is only in the two laft books that de 
Muris condefcends to fpeak of the practical mufic of his 
own times: in the fixth book he treats of the ecclefiaftical 
tones, notation, and chants, which John Cotton and 
Walter Odington had done before ; and in the feventh 
he defines cantus menfura’bilis, difcant, moods,, characters 
of the different duration of iounds, as the long, breve, 
femi-breve, and their perfection and imperfeftion. Here 
he employs feveral chapters in refuting fuch as have dif¬ 
puted his doftrines; and laftly, he draws a parallel be¬ 
tween the mufic of the ancients and that of the moderns, 
in order to afeertain their feveral degrees of perfeftion. 
It is in mere charity to the curious in mufical antiquities, 
(fays Dr. Burney,) that we have bellowed fo much pains 
in examining and defcribing this book ; which, though 
of difficult accefs, and more difficult perufal, might tempt 
them, from the celebrity of the author, to explore its 
dark regions, and impajr their eyes and patienqe in fiearch 
of fcientific treafures which it does not contain. 
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