270 
has elegantly feleéted) “to laff year’s 
_ clouds 3’ that they are merely the pro- 
duétions of the day, poffeffing nothing 
which can give them “ mu/ical immuorta- 
lity”? Can fuch an infinuation, aimed 
at fuch a genius as Haypn, pais with- 
out incurring the difapprobation of every 
mufical connoiffeur ? 
I have remarked,that the muficians of 
the old {chool—thofe who talk of the year 
47, as Z does—that thefe antiquated 
gentlemen, Mr. Editor, are the perfons 
who fo much load with invective the 
mufic of the prefent day. The caufe is 
obvious: from their age, and deficiency 
in. execution, they are unable to perform 
it; and having been bred in common 
chord and common-place_ medulation, 
they cannot underftand ir. ‘The paffion- 
ate touches, and bold tranfitions, of the 
modern mufic, are too quick for their 
perceptions. On the contrary, the young 
and growing mufician, free from the 
prejudices of education, feels, and at 
once acknowledges, its fuperiority over 
the mufic of the early mafters. 
If the modern mufic has a juit claim 
to our attention, ought not its founder 
and inventor to receive our applaufe >— 
“< Tr is the fublime Haypn that has 
fivuck the lyre’’—It is in his works that 
we meet with effeéts fo new, and yet fo 
fcientific; that had Hanne been ftill 
living, he muft have felt, and acknow- 
ledged, his powers and his genius. 
I fhal! conclude with an obferyation of 
ene of your ingenious contributors, who, 
in his valuable paper on Ancient and 
Modern Mufic, remarks, ‘ that the 
«‘ reafon why the grand choruffes of 
| HANDEL are apt to pleafe lefs ac frit 
‘“« than after a few hearings, arifes from 
*© their complexity; and that they con- 
‘* ftantly improve in their effects on re- 
«* petition, as the ear then frequently 
‘© difcovers new beauties or excellencies, 
66 which had before efcaped it.” 
Your's, &c. OMICRON. 
York, Odfeber 10, 1797. 
Ea 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magaxtue. 
SIR,- 
"T is aremarkable trait of the abfence 
- of morals, which long habits of mo- 
ney fpeculations mduce among commer- 
cial people, that it is now become com- 
mon in England to hear men, who pro- 
fefs to be guided by the laws of the de- 
calozue. openly propofe tbe annibilation _ 
of the National Debs! 
That breaking tradefmen, experienced 
Annihilation of the National Debt. 
fOa. 
bankrupts, or rogues by occupation, 
fhould coolly contemplate a fcheme of 
national robbery, is not furprifing ; but 
that men of large landed property, pro- 
feffional lawyers, clergy, maintained by a 
religion, that inculcates honefty, ‘and 
fome Britith fenators, fhould be found 
among the unblufhing approvers of a 
plan, that is fit only to ifue from the 
mouths of Arabian pirates, is truly af- 
tonifhing. , 
It is equally true, that we have never 
yet heard of one real man of honour, 
that could fupport the thought, or would 
even condefcend to difcufs a queftion fo 
inimical to morals and good policy ; for 
that found policy lies in the very lap of 
probity, and, that honefiy is the beft, 
the ableft* fophifts have failed in at- 
tempting to diprove. Whence then 
comes the temptation, that induces the 
thoughtlefs and. the bafe tocemtemplate - 
fuch a {cheme of villany 7 Whence is 
it, that there are many who would feru- 
ple privately to take your watch from 
your fob, who will, deliberately, and 
with the grecdy fmile of gain on their 
countenances, accede to a plan of na- 
tional bankruptcy, wii hout ever reflecting 
on its confequences, or confidering, that 
in this, as in all other failures, the cre- 
ditor will have a rigéz to the laft fhilling 
of the infolvent ? 
For although revenue is raifed by 
taxes, to pay the intereit of our debt, 
no.one, I prefume, will be fo abfurd to 
fuppote, that the public creditor looks to 
the public revenues for any thing be- 
yond the intereft of his capital ?>—for the 
capital itfelf, he looks to the whoie ca- 
pital of the whole nation (his own ftock 
and intereft included), its lands, its 
fhipping, its foreign territories, its 
buiidings, its trade, iss manufaéture, in 
a word, whatever conftitutes its wealth ; 
oa the ftrength of which fecurity, and 
not on the ftreugth or weaknefs of any 
incidental adminiftration, both the na- 
tive and the foreigner lend. - 
This is fo felf-evident a propofition, 
fo decided a truifm, that no Parliament 
would dare to vote againft it, to what- 
ever lengths, in other refpects, they 
may be brought by corruption; and 
none but an inflamed and devoted defpot 
could be found mad enough to cut up- 
this fource of credit, which daily lays 
fuch golden eggs. ; 
Perhaps, for this reafon, has this dan- 
LLP A LD 
* Sce Plato’s Republic. — ‘ 
gerous 
