MUSI C. 3!i5 
chinery, and, when wound up, will continue in ailion 
for an hour; by turning the index of the left dial, the 
chronometer is adjufted to any meal'ure required, whilft 
in the lame aftion the tablet fliifts itfelf, and fliows the 
gradation of notes in the required meafure ; and each 
hammer beats the exaft time of the notes over which it 
a< 5 ls. To prevent the confufion that might arifefrom the 
a£tion of all the hammers at the fame time, there is a little 
dud under each to reftrain their motion, fo that any ham¬ 
mer may be (lopped at pleafure by merely (lipping back 
the correfponding llud. The management of this indru- 
ment is very fimple ; but ample indruflions for the ufe 
of it-will be found in a little work publifhed in 1815, 
by the inventor, entitled “ An Introduction to the Mu- 
fical Chronometer, forming a Selection of Airs, &c. from 
the mod cladical Authors in the courfe of which, the 
application and management of the machine are progref- 
fively explained. The inventor lays, “ The clearnefs 
with which this machine demonltrates the principles of 
time renders it a mod important acquifition in the dudy 
of mufic, particularly in the mailer’s abfence, as pupils 
have condant indruCtion before them in the hours of 
private praCtice, when, if necedary, they may afcertain 
the true time of every note they have to play.” 
Maelzel’s Metronome, or Mudcal Time-keeper, is the 
machine mod recently invented, and which has already 
obtained the greatell reputation. We diall therefore de- 
fcribe it at length from the fpecification to the patent. 
The objeCt of this invention is two-fold: id. Itadbrds 
to the compofers of every country the means of indicat¬ 
ing, in a fimple and decidve manner, the degree of quick- 
nefs with which their works are to be executed, adly. 
It accudoms the young praClitioner to a correCt obferv- 
ance of time, which it beats with unerring precifion, and 
according to any velocity required, during the whole 
performance. 
The metronome confids of a portable little obeliflc, or 
pyramid, fcarcely a foot high, the decorated exterior of 
which renders it an ornamental piece of furniture. Its 
interior contains a fimple mechanical apparatus, with a 
fcale refembling that of a thermometer. According to 
what number on this fcale the index is fet to, the audible 
beats produced will be found to embrace the whole gra¬ 
dation of mudcal time, from the lowed Adagio to the 
quicked PreJ'to. The metronomic fcale is not borrowed 
from the meafures of length peculiar to any one country, 
but is founded on the divifion of time into minutes. 
The minute being thus, as it were, the element of the 
metronomic fcale, its divilions are thereby rendered in¬ 
telligible and applicable in every country.. An univerfal 
dandard-meafure for mulical time is thus obtained, and 
its correftnels may be proved at all times- by comparifon 
with a dop-watch. 
At the top of the obelifk is a fmall lid, with a hinge to 
its back. On lifting this lid, the upper part of the front 
of the obelilk is pufhed forward by a fpring, fo as to ena¬ 
ble its being taken out and put afide ; at the fame time the 
deel pendulum, together with the fcale behind it, will 
likewife dy forward into a perpendicular direction, and a 
fmall key be found under the upper lid. This key fits a 
hole contrived about the middle of one of the (ides of the 
obelifk, and with it the clock-work is wound up and the 
pendulum made to move. Its motion may be (lopped at 
pleafure by a fmall brafs bolt fixed to the top. Thefe pre¬ 
parations made, the directions to be given for ufing the 
indrument may be clalfed under two heads. 
A Hiding weight is attached to the rod, or deel pendu¬ 
lum : the higher up this weight is (hifted, the (lower will 
be the vibrations, and viceverja; fo that, when the weight 
correfponds with the number 50, the vibrations will be the 
(lowed pofdble; at 160 they will be the quicked. Thefe 
numbers fiave all reference to a minute of time; viz. when 
the weight is placed at 50, fifty beats, or ticks, will be ob¬ 
tained in each minute ; when at 60, fixty beats in a mi¬ 
nute (i. e. feconds precifely); when at 100, one hundred 
beats in a minute: any dop-watch, therefore, will (how how 
far the correflnefs of the metronome may be depended on. 
The doubles of the numbers on the fcale anfwer to a 
precifely double degree of velocity : thus, if 50 be the 
proper number for a minim, 100 is the number for the 
crotchets in the dime movement; if 60 ferves for crotchets, 
120 expredes the quavers in the fame movement. See. 
The compofer is bed able to judge, from the nature of 
his movement, whether to mark its time by minims, 
crotchets, quavers, &c. Generally (peaking, it will be 
found, that in Adagios it is mod convenient to mark the 
time on the metronome by quavers, in Andantes by crot¬ 
chets, in Allegvos by minims, and in Prejios by whole 
bars. As often, however, as the cafe may admit of fo 
doing, it is defirable that the pendulum (hould be made 
to drike integral parts of a bar, juft as a mailer w'ould 
beat or count the time ; i. e. in 5, 3, and time, the rod 
(hould, whenever podible, beat or one crotchet. In 
§ and | time, the rod diould, whenever podible, beat l, or 
one quaver. This being premifed, fuppofe a compofer 
defires to time a movement in 5 time, which, according to 
the prefent fydem, umuld be called an Allegro; let the 
weight, by way of trial, be placed againft N° 80, and tw'o 
or three bars of the movement be played, to afcertain 
whether, at that number, each beat falls in with the de¬ 
gree of quicknels delired for one minim or two crotchets. 
If it beat too dowly, diift the weight downw'ards, until, by 
tw'o or three trials, a place (fuppofe at 84) has been found 
for the weight, at which the pendulum beats the minim 
in the precile degree of quicknefs contemplated for the 
due performance of the movement : it being well under- 
dood, that in this, as in every other, ca(e, “ each (ingle 
beat, or tick, forms a part of the intended time, and is to 
be counted as fuel); but not the two beats produced by 
the motion from one fide to the other.” At fig. 13, this 
machine is reprefented open and in aftion : a is the fcale 
of numbers defignating the time ; b , the inverted pendu¬ 
lum, with its weight, or regulator; c, c, other lengths of 
the pendulum, or heights of the weight; d, the maho¬ 
gany box containing thewheel-work. 
The following numerous catalogue forms only a part of 
the works that have been confulted in the compilation of 
this article. 
Burney’s and Hawkins’s Hid. of Mufic. 
Eadcott’s Sketches of the Origin, Progrefs, and Edefls, 
of Mufic. 
Roudeau’s Di£l. de Mufique. 
Works of D’Alembert, Rameau, and Marpurg. 
Plutarch de Mufica. Lucian’s Harmonides. 
Burette, Mem. des Infer, et Belles Lettres. 
Mace’s Mtilick’s Monument, 1676. 
Crotch’s Elements of Mufical Compofition. 
Preface to the German Melodies, by Baron Arnim. 
Panharmonicon, (an unpublidted work,) by F. Webb. 
Harris's Dilcourfes on Mufic. 
Daines Barrington’s Mifcellanies. 
Stillingfleet’s Principles and Powers of Harmony, 1771. 
Montucla’s Hid. des Mathematiques, and his edition of 
Ozanam’s Mathematical Recreations.- 
Smith’s Harmonics. Various parts of the Phil. Tranf. 
Brook Taylor’s Metliodus Incrementorum. 
Boethius de Mufica. 
Afiatic Refearches, vol. i. and vii. 
Mudolini’s Treatife on the Theory of Thorough Bafs, 
1798. 
Shields’s Introduftion to Harmony; and Rudiments of 
Thorough Bafs. 
Logier’s Companion to the Patent Chiroplad, 1I314. Se¬ 
quel to the Companion, 1816. Authentic Account 
of the Examination of Pupils, 1818. 
Blewitt’s Treatife on the Organ. 
Gehot’s Treatife of the Theory and Prablice of Mufic. 
Kollmann’s Eday on Mufical Harmony-, 1796; Edayon 
pra&ical Mufical Compofition, 1799 i Pra&ical Q u ij e 
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