103 
3Y aturall Hifiorj: 
■ which the Ancients had, and Nero did fo much efteeme, but are now loft, j 
! And if any Manthinke, that the String of the and the Stmg of the) 
Vsall, are neither of them Equall Bodies 5 And yet produce Tones • he is in j 
an errour. For the Sound is not created betweene the Bow or PleBrum, and 
the String 5 but betweene the String and the Aire ; No more than it isbe- 
tweenc the Finger or Quill) and the String, mother Infiruments. So there 
are (in eife<ft)but three Percujfons that create T9ms • Percujfons of Metalls 
(comprehending (Staff r,and the like •) Percujfons of Aire ^ and Percufiions 
oi'water. 
The Diapafon or Eight in Muficke is the fweeteft Concord • Infomuch,as 
it is in ctfeft anVnifon . Aswee fee.in Lutes, thatare ftrungin the Safe 
Strings with two ftrings, one an Right aboue another 5 Which make but 
as one Sound. And euery Eighth Note in Afcent (as from Eight to Fifteene, 
from Fifteene to twenty two , and fo in infinitum,) are but Scales of Diapafen. 
The C'aufe is darkc, and hath not beencrendred by any ; And therefore 
would be better contemplated. Itfeemeth that Aire, (which is the Sub- 
ievft of Sounds ) in Sounds that are not 7 V*« (which are all 'vuequall,* s hath 
beenc laid)admittcth much Variety 5 Aswee fee in the Voices of Lining 
Creatures ; And likewife in the Voices of feuerali Men ;(for we are capable 
todifeerne feuerali Men by their Voices ;) and in the Coniugation of Letters * 
whence Articulate Sounds proceed j Which of all others are moil various. 
But in the Sounds which we call Tones, (that are ever £quail) the Aire is 
not able to caft it felfe into any fuch variety ; But is forced to recurreinto 
one and the fame Poftureor Figure, onelv differing in Greatnefte and 
Smalnelfc. So we lee Figures may be made of lines ^Crooked and Streighc 
in infinite Variety, where there is Inequality; But Circles, or Squares , or 
Triangles Equilaterall (which are all Figures, of eqnall lines) can dilfer but 
in Greater, or Leller. 
It is to bee noted (the rather left any Man fhould thinke, that there is 
any thing in this number of Eight, to create the Diapafon) that this Com¬ 
putation of Eight, is a thing rather receiued, than any true Computation, 
Fora true Computation ought euer to bee, by Diflribution into eqnall 
( Portions. Now there bee interuenient in the Rife of Eight (in Tones) two 
Beemolls,oi Hal\enotes s Soasif you diuidethe Tones equally, the Eight 
is but leuen whole and eqnall Notes ; And ifyou fubdiuide that into Halfe 
Notcs( as it is in the Stops of a Lute) it maketh the Number of Thirteene. 
Yet this is true • That in the ordinary Riles and Falls of the Voice of 
Man (not meafuring the Toneby whole Notes, and halfe Notes, which 
is the Eqnall Mealure 5) there fall out to bee two Beemols (as hath beene 
faid) betweene the Vnifon and the Diapafon : And this Varying is natural!. 
For if a Man would endeuour toraileorfall his Voice, ftillby Halfe-notes , 
like the Stops of a Lute • or by whole Notes alone,without Halfes - as farre 
as an Eight ; he will not be able to frame his Voice vnto it. Which fheweth 
that after euery three whole Notes Nature requireth, for all Harmonicall 
v fe, one Halfe-Note to be interpofed. 
It is to bee confidered, that whatfoeucr Vertue is in Numbers, for 
. _C onducin g 
