260 
takes away the ability of perceiving other 
objects. He is therefore truly an incom- 
prehenfible and inacceffible light, and 
is profoundly compared to the fun : upon 
which the more attentively you look, the 
more you willbe darkened and blinded ; 
and will only bying back your eyes ftupt- 
fied with excefs of light.” 
I only add, that the Jews appear to 
have afcended no higher in their theolo- 
gy, than the zmmediate artificer of the 
univerfe ; (for the Fehovah of the Jews 
is evidently the fame as the Jupiter of 
the Greeks), and that they differed from 
the above-mentioned theologifts and phi- 
~ Yofophers in this, that the latter fufpend- 
ed every thing from Deity; whereas, 
Mofes introduces a darkne(s on the face 
of the deep, without even infinuaring, 
that there was any caufe of its exiftence. 
Pleafed to find fo able an advocate as 
your correfpondent R. M. for my verfion 
of Hebrews xk 3. I remain, 
Your’s, &c. 
Maner-Place, Walworth. .T.TAaytor. 

To the Editor of tbe Mouthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N Number XI of your amufing and 
inftructing “Magazine, your corre- 
fpondent Y has ventured fome remarks 
on my fketch of the life of Dr. Arne, 
given in your ]Xth Number, which de- 
manda reply from me 3 and which, in- 
deed, I fhould have noticed fooner, had 
any leifure permitted. 
Speaking of my admiration of the 
mafque of Comus, he confeffes, that he 
never heard it ;) but that, upon referring 
to it, he found the very firft fong, “¢ Now 
Pheebus finketh in the weft,’” to be “a 
moft flagrant plagiarifm from Handel; 
the fubjeét, note for note, correfpending 
to “ Come, ever-fmiling Liberty.’ — 
Now, fir, this critic requires tg be in- 
formed, that mufical, like Hteral paf- 
fages, are not always fimilar, becaufe the 
chara¢iers follow in the fame order ; and 
that the fame courfe of notes, varioudly 
barred and accented, may produce very 
diftin&t, and fometimes oppofite effects ; 
aud that the two paflages he has felected 
for comparilon, are (except to the eye of 
apetfon, who fees the fituation of the 
notes, without underftanding theif im- 
port) as unlike as any two he could have 
named : and, inhis aflimilation of “ Nor 
on beds of fading flow’rs,”” to Pergolefi’s. 
Sancta Mater,’” he has equally commir- 
ted himfelf; and, from the fame error in 
Defence of Dr. Arne. 
[April | 
judgment. To know that mufical cha- 
racters may, by their arrangement, be 
fomewhat alike to the eye, yet utterly 
different in performance and eiieét, re- 
quires no profundity of fcience, though 
it appears to be a fecret to your corre- 
fpondent Y. 
Again, he feys, that ‘fof the.opera in 
general,” meaning Comus, “there is 
nothing to admire, except the recitative, 
“ How gentle’ was my Damon’s air.” 
This, befides the impropriety of calling 
the piece an opera, is denying excellence, 
wheresit is as confpicuous, and in as great 
plenitude, as in any performance of the 
fame {pecies and length, that any age or 
country has produced. The overture is 
at once noble and beautiful ; and the airs, 
without exception, are charatierifed by 
the moft ftriking fweetnefs. 
Of the fine and original fongs in the 
opera of Artaxerxes, your correipondent 
only notices, ‘* The foldier tir'd of war's 
alarms,”’ a édravura calculated to catch the 
multitude; but which, in the grand 
points of fcience, elegance of fancy, and 
ftrong diftinction of melody, ranks far 
below many of the fongs in the fame 
piece. The gavot, which clofes the over- 
ture, and which ¥ calls. ‘low and vul- 
gar,” is certainly not equal to the pre- 
ceding movements, yet rifes far above 
the epithets he employs. 
With the Lyric Harmony, which he 
fuppofes I have never feen, I have been 
long acquainted; and am of opinion, 
that inftead of being ‘ vacant and dull,” - 
that colle€tion abounds in beauty of ftyle,. 
and is, in its kind, a ftandard for excel- 
lence :—* Behold the fweet flowers 
around’’—‘* Come, Rofalind’—*“ Blow 
ye bleak winds’’—“ Come, Mira’’—and 
«Ah ! Chloe, why thefe jealous fears ?’” 
—are thefe dull and vacant > Notto ad- 
mire fuch an exquifite aflemblage of me- 
Iodies as the Lyric Harmony, ts, I con- 
ceive, to be moft unhappily deficient in 
tafte and judgment. 
Fer reafons founded upon an intimate 
acquaintance with the numerous compo- 
fitions of this great matter, I much refpeé& 
his fcicnce, and'feel the higheft admiration. 
for his genius 3 and it Is not with afpe~. 
rity, that I remark, how much it is to be: 
lamented, that your correfpendent fhould, 
fo unadvifedly, have committed himfelf, 
by cenfuring that excellence, of which 
he does not appear adequate to judge; 
and which, confequentiy, he camset 
jeitly appreciate. 
Yours, zCy x. 

