296 
as with the fame number of bells, the let- 
ters of the alphabet may be made with 
eafe, and a futicient number of fignals 
may be formed for extraordinary pur- 
poled :’—This pofition 1 deny, although 
E admit, that there are changes fufficient 
for all the letters of the alphabet, and a 
confiderable number remaining for other 
purpofes. 
The combinaticns of ovnds, which may 
be produced by ringing the changes on 
fix bells, are, I believe, 720; whereas the 
combination of appearances with the fame 
number of Telegraphic frames or fhut- 
ters, are no more than fixty-three ; and 
thefe combinations are not to be afcer- 
tained by any known rule (as the changes 
on the bells are found by the rule of per- 
niutation, which is the changing or vary- 
ing the order of things) but by experiment 
only. 
The combination of appearances which 
the ‘telegraph is capable of, ftands thus: 
2 Ls 
3 : 7° different 
4¢ may be exprefled < 15 ways 3 
i 6 
6 I 
57 
to which is to be added the fix pofitions of 
each fingle fhutter, which being no com- 
bination, is nct included in the above 
plan, and the number of indications or 
appearances will be, as before fiated, fixty- 
three.—Y our miftatement feems to arife 
from not having properly difcriminated 
between jovad and fight. For example— 
two bells will preduce two diftinét ex- 
prefitons of found ; vy ftriking one and 
‘two, and two and one; but the fame ef- 
fect cannot be given in appearance to two 
Shutters, which cannot change their 
places. The fhutters Number 1 and 2, 
therefore, may communicate to the 
correfponding Telegraph, the word 
JSoip; but. 2 and x can convey no other 
idea. : 
I doubt not you will find, on a re-ex- 
amination of the fubjeét, fome propriety 
in thefe obfervations, and withing fuece!s 
to ‘your labours of entertainment and ‘ 
inftruction, I am, fir, 
Your's, 6c. 
mie 
1796 
May 4, 1796. 
EE ae 
To the Editor of the Montily Magazine. 
SIR, 
PICWEVER interefting your review . 
of Mufic of the prefent day may be 
to the mufical world, yet, I prefyme, it 
Remarks on Handel's Comp ofition. 
[May 
would not be found lefs aceeptable, were 
you occafionally to extend your critiques 
to the ancient as well as the modern com- 
pofers.— The Abbey Feftivals brought 
forward a rich fund of Handel’s works, 
‘that was very little known before, and a 
great part was entirely new to the pub- 
lic.—Of the Compofers of the prefent 
and laft century, Handel, undoubtedly, 
ftands the moft eminently diftinguithed, 
for his unbounded genius, and extenfive 
works, What has been already pub- 
lithed of his, amounts to more than one 
-hundred volumes, folio; and the unedited 
part has been faid to amount to not lefs 
than eighty volumes of the fame fize ! 
The work of HANDEL’s, to which I 
fhall call your attention in the prefent 
communication, is his ‘“DRYDEN’sSONG 
FoR Sr. Ceciii1a’s Day, apiece which 
I conceive to be one of his completeft 
performances. ‘Though not fo great in 
fize as the * Allegro il Penferofo,”’ or 
“Alexander's Feaft,’ perhaps, it is in 
no refpect inferior in ingenious com- 
pofition. 
This piece opens, by way of overture, 
with nearly the whole of his fifth grand 
concerto. The following recitative is 
finely accompanied: 
From harmony, from heavenly harmony, 
This univerfal frame began ; 
When Nature, underneath a heap of jarring 
atoms lay, 
And could not heave her head. 
The reftraint which appears in the 
viclin parts, from the introduétion of 
flats in the two laft lines, admirably ex- 
s the f f th 13.0 
preffes the force of the words. 
The tuneful voice was heard on high, 
“¢ Arife, ye more than dead !’” 4 
Then cold and hot, and moift and dry, 
In order to their ftations leap. 
The contrivance here is too light and 
whimfical. An univerfal modification of 
nature muit have been truly grand, and 
is not to be expreffed by hopping femi- 
quavers. 
CHORUS. 
From harmony, from heav’niy harmony, 
This univerfal frame began ; 
Thro’ ali the compafs of the notes it ran 
The dizpafon clof:ng full in man *, 
This chorus is well conceived—the 
different chords upon the word harmony 
are fine. . The running up the intervals 

* The diapafon is a fet of pipes im an organ, 
which is confidered as the ground-werk, ot 
principal part of that initrument. 
4 of 
