1310.) 
the deductio; the accompanying great 
amen to the forum or senate, and*back 
again to their houses. he most re- 
spectable attendants, or those who were 
most in favour with the patron, were 
nearest his person, himself either walk- 
ing, or carried in a litter; the others 
going before orafter him. Thus Martial 
informs us, he had attended one Bassus, 
when he waited on widows, to prevail on 
them to leave hima legacy. The same 
ah also mentions no less. a person than 
Paulus, a consul, as extremely assiduous 
in these early morning-visits, and even 
dangling after ktters: so low was the 
consular dignity sunk under the empe- 
rors! Those who led the van in these 
processions went by the derisory name 
of anteamnbulones, and shewed their zeal 
for their patron by clearing ‘the way. 
The third method of insinuating them- 
selves into favour was the assidudtas, 
the very extreme of officiousness and 
servility; not returning home after the 
morning salutation, but waiting on their 
patron the whole day, wherever he went. 
ft is true they were generally of the in- 
digent class who thes loitered away their 
time. A knight er a senator seldom 
condescended so far, unless they were 
candidali tor some employment, and 
then only to some person of distinguished 
interest. The wssiduitas might be per- 
formed by proxy. The train of these at- 
tendants at length becoming inconvenient 
in the streets, the custom was introduced 
of reducing them to a stated number, ac- 
cording to the rank ofthe patron. But this 
judicious practice was over-ruled by the 
tribunes of the people, who delighted 
in having a mob at their heels, huzzaing 
as they went along. ‘The compensations 
which the great made to their followers 
after these servilities, to the poor were 
provisions, and sometimes money; to 
others their interest in obtaining pro- 
motions.—This custom, however, was 
not without its use to the young nobility ; 
it was chiefly introduced, that they who 
aspired to the chief posts under the 
government, might not ouly make inter- 
est among the leading men, but, by fre- 
quenting them, acquire their eloquence, 
their politics, their virtues, or their man- 
ner. The dialogue de causis corrupté 
éloguentie, supposed to have been writ- 
ten by'Cicere or Quintilian, has the fol- 
lowing observations upon this subject: 
*‘Te was formerly a custom for the father 
or relations of any young man of rank 
and education, who was designed to 
hold some distinguished place in the re- 
public, to recommend him to some emi- 
On the Term Iniervatl, as used in Music. 
353 
nent orator, to whom the youth attached. 
himself, paying his court at his house, 
waiting upon him every where, and es- 
pecially attending his pleadings, What. 
glory can be compared to that of orators? 
It is not only the men designed for bue 
siness who value and respect them, but 
every youth whe has any hopes or ex= 
pectations to indulge. The fathers are 
daily, sounding their praises to their chil- 
dren; the very populace pride them. 
selves upon knowing their persons, and 
pointing to them in the streets. The 
first desire of a countryman or foreigner, 
upon his arrival in Rome, is to see those 
men of whom he has heard so much,”— 
Thus the custom originally was not a bad 
one; but it was soon corrupted by ambi- 
tion and by avarice. 0. 
—mg ar 
Fer the Monthly Magazine. 
Farther Observations en the Term ine 
TERVAL, as used in MUSIC. 
Se consequence of a private letter 
received from a friend, I most wil- 
lingly retract my definition of an Inter. 
val, given in the present yolume of the 
Monthly Magazine, ina paper ‘* On cer- 
tain Musical Terms used by the An- 
cients,” page 122, line 5 from the bot- 
tom; defining an interval, ‘* the differ- 
ence between two sounds, as to the 
number of vibrations, or pulses, in a 
given time;” and calling an interval “the 
pitch-difference of two sounds,” instead 
of which, read, the ‘ pitch-ratio.*” 
The 
sted aie ee a 
* Experiments have shewn, (see Concert 
pitch in Dr, Rees’s Cyclopedia) that the pre= 
sent practice of musicians is, to pitch C of the 
tenor cliff-note at such a degree of acuteness 
of sound as is excited by a stretched string 
or other sonorous body, making 240 complete 
vibrations in one second of time; while p E, 
E, and F, when tuned a true minor third 
(without beatings), a true majorthird, and a 
true minor fourth respectively, above suchC, 
make 288, 300, and 320 complete vibrations 
respectively, in the same short space of time: 
their gitcheratios therefore ave 288 300, and 
329, which not being in their lowest terms, 
we divide the first by 48, the second by 60, 
and the last by 8@, and obtain £, 5, and 4, 
for the pitch-ratios of these three concords or 
intervals respectively. These are thesame as 
experiments, and the writings of all correct 
authors, have assigned to them, in lengths of 
strings or String-ratios; only that the frace 
tions are each of them reversed, owing to 
vibrations increasing in quicknessas the length 
of the sounding-string.is decreased. In like 
manner, 360, 384, 400, and 480, have been 
ascertained as the aumber of complete vi- 
brations 
