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fmall degree the milk of human kindnefs, are totally in¬ 
different to its charms ; and we learn from hiftory, that 
forne of the greateft tyrants that ever difgraced human 
nature were paffionately fond of it. We have already 
mentioned Nero and Commodus, the Roman emperors ; 
and to thefe we may add, Charles IX. of France, and 
Henry VIII. of England. Henry was a confiderable mu- 
iicinn, both in theory and practice. Lord Herbert of Cher- 
bury fays he was a fcholar, a philofopher, a divine, and 
a curious mvjician; that he compofed two entire maffes 
for the ufe of the royal chapel. There is an anthem of his 
compofition now in ufe, which the late Dr. Boyce has pre- 
ferved in his excellent compilations of cathedral-mufic. 
Mufic, however, has ever been the delight of the moll 
accomplifhed in every civilized country, and has always 
been confidefed the mod elegant amufement of polite 
courts. The Egyptians, the Grecians, the Romans, fuc- 
ceffively cultivated it; and kings, prophets, philofophers, 
and legiflators, have thought it worthy their ftudy and 
lacred patronage. The Greeks, the wifeft and moll phi- 
lofophic race of men to be found in the annals of the 
world, took great care to have their children thoroughly 
inftrufted in its principles ; they thought it of the utmoll 
ufe in forming their minds, and exciting in them a love 
of decency, fobriety, and virtue. Every polilhed nation 
has been found to delight in it, in proportion to the pro- 
grefs it has made in the cultivation of the public tafte ; its 
happy effefts are frequently felt, by its foothing the mind, 
gratifying the fancy, and engaging the affections. Thofe 
■who are enlifted in the more aCtive fcenes of life cannot 
always be employed in bufinefs; men of erudition and 
inveftigation cannot always be engaged in intenfe ftudy; 
nor can the moft gay and aufpicious iituation in life ena¬ 
ble any man to fill up all his hours with equal pleafure 
and fatisfa&ion. He, therefore, who has a tafte for the 
polite arts, has always a fource of inexhauftible amufe- 
ment for his leifure hours ; and is not in danger of being 
a burden to himfelf, or obliged to feek in the company 
of the profligate or diffipated, in folly and vice, a remedy 
for the crofs incidents of life. 
Dr. Blair fays, that the inequality of tafte among men 
is owing, without doubt, in part, to the different frame 
of their natures, to nicer organs, and finer internal powers, 
with which fome are endowed beyond others. But, if it 
be owing in part to nature, it is owing to education and 
culture ftill more. With refpeft to a tafte for mufic, only 
the fimpleft and plaineft compofitions are relilhed at firft ; 
ufe and practice extend our pleafure, teach us to relifh 
finer melody, and by degrees enable us to enter into the 
intricate and compounded pleafures of harmony. To a 
common ear, the fubjeCt of a complex concerto or a 
chorus, as it is carried through the feveral parts, is an 
unmeaning jumble of founds; few but thofe who are ac¬ 
quainted with the principles of fimultaneous harmony, 
or mufic in parts, feel its influence: the ear mult have 
been a long time in the habits of improvement, before it 
can perceive its beauties. It is not the voice of nature, 
but the language of education. 
The public tafte for mufic, as the word is commonly 
applied, was perhaps never in a higher ftate at any period 
than at prefent. The charming mufic lately produced 
may be laid to divide the hearer’s attention between plea¬ 
fure and aftonilhment, and plainly to evince what won¬ 
derful effects may be produced by men of knowledge and 
genius, when patronifed by a kind, liberal, and indulgent, 
public. 
The cynical and morofe, we know, regard 'mufic as a 
luxury, fit only to unbend and enervate the mind ; but a 
celebrated writer fays, “ There is no agreeable fenfation 
we receive either from beauty or fublimity, but what is 
capable of being heightened by the power of mulical 
found.” Montfelquieu, one of the firft names in modern 
philofophy, prefers mufic to all other amufements; he 
lays, in his Spirit of Laws, that “ it is the only one of all 
i 
; i c. 
the arts that does not corrupt the mind.” This is high 
praife indeed. The fame opinion is entertained by Mr. 
Bruce. In a letter from him to Dr. Burney, giving an 
account of fome mufical inftruments which he found in 
Abyffmia, he fays, “ It fhould be a principal objeft of 
mankind to attach the fair lex by every means to mufic, 
as it is the only amufement that may be enjoyed to excefs, 
and the heart ftill remain virtuous and uncorrupted.” 
“ Of all the enjoyments of fenfe (fays an eminent di¬ 
vine) mufic is the leaft fenfual. Its effeCts, if rightly im¬ 
proved, terminate not in the bare pleafure of amufement, 
but feem peculiarly adapted to minds fufceptible of reli¬ 
gious impreflions; its charms being calculated to infpire 
a juft idea of Him who formed the heart to a relifh of fuch 
delights ; who endowed us with capacities to proclaim his 
praifes, and taught us how to raiie our fouls to the rap¬ 
ture of angels.” Han way’s Travels in Perlia, vol. ii. 
Mufic is daily employed in the caufe of humanity ; and 
the force of her pathetic addrefles has frequently opened 
the heart of the mifer, and caufed the beneficent to in¬ 
dulge in an excefs of liberality ; her accents form the ap¬ 
propriate language of affliction ; fhe can fupplicate com¬ 
panion for the diftreffed and unfortunate, and triumph 
with the happy and victorious. In various inftances the 
has been the means of “ relieving the diftreffes of the fa- 
therlefs, and making the widow’s heart fing for joy.” 
She alleviates labour, mitigates pain, and foothes the 
troubled mind : 
Is there a heart that mufic cannot melt ? 
Alas ! how is that rugged heart forlorn ! 
Is there, who ne’er thofe myftic tranfports felt 
Of folitude and melancholy born ? 
He needs not woo the mule ; he is her fcorn. Beattie. 
The mufic of Handel has given bread tothoufands, not 
only in the metropolis, but in many other places where it 
has been performed for charitable purpofes. The meet¬ 
ings at Birmingham, Gloucefter, Hereford, Worcefter, 
Salifbury, Winchefter, &c. See. are indebted to mufic, and 
chiefly to Handel’s, for their fupport. The Royal Society 
of Muficians has accompliffied what few other locieties can 
boaft of, the maintenance of their own poor, by which 
they have taken off a burden from the public. Upon the 
whole, there cannot remain a doubt of its great utility. 
As it has, from the earlieft ages to this day, been intro¬ 
duced into almoft all religious focieties, and been em¬ 
ployed in the fervice of the Almighty, as it is the harbin¬ 
ger of the greateft Chriftian virtue— Charity; and, as it is 
capable of diffufing fo much rational pleafure, we may 
pronounce it a bletfing given us by the beneficent Parent 
of the univerfe, to foothe the rugged path of this mortal 
life; and defigned, when employed in the folemn and ia- 
cred fervice of religion, to allure our fouls to feraphic 
ftrains, and to prepare us for that celeftial concert where' 
myriads of bleffed fpirits continually Hand in the prefence 
of God ; 
And with fongs and choral fymphonies 
Circle his throne rejoicing. * Paradife lojfi. 
Thus, though tranfiently, we have feen how har¬ 
mony in general and in particular is fuited to man’s 
nature, accommodated to his pleafure, improvement, and 
delight, from the lublimeft degree of worlhip of Deity, to 
that of recording the merits and praifeworthy deeds of 
demi-gods, and of ail thofe illuftrious characters who have 
by their virtues and wifdom been benefactors of man¬ 
kind ; how much man is indebted to this fovereign power 
in all circumftances either of profperous or adverfe nature 
to heighten his joy or afford him foothing confolation ; 
to calm the turbulent paflions of his mind ; and, by re¬ 
fining them from all fordid ingredients, to purify and fpi- 
ritualize it in this world, fo as to fit it, in concert with 
religion, for the enjoyment of a more exalted and glo¬ 
rious ftate. 
Of 
