Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

the city and fanctuary fhall be deftroyed. We might add, that, according to that most probable punctuation, which the ancient Greek interpreters followed Di that the Mefliah himfelf, cut off, fhall destroy the city and fanctuary, with the prince that fhall come. As Matt. xxii. ver. 7. "He fent forth his armies, and deftroyed thofe murtherers." From thefe four particulars it plainly appears, that the modern Jews who expect a Meffiah ftill to come, are grofsly mistaken in the notion of the Meffiah, as were alfo their fore-fathers, who caufed Jefus to be crucified, and, by that means, ignorantly fulfilled what the prophets had foretold concerning him, that he fhould fuffer, and fo enter into his glory."

The notion which the modern Jews have is this: first, that he hall be a pure man, defcending from the feed of David. Secondly, that he is promifed to the Jews only, and not to the gentiles. That he fhall come in the time of the captivity, after the Roman empire is expired. That he fhall fet up a terreftrial monarchy over the whole world, and the benefits which he fhall bring to the Jews fhall be only corporal. That Meffias Davidicus non occidetur. That Meffias, who comes of the line of David, fhall not be flain: but shall conquer and fubdue all nations, and make them fubject to him, and then he fhall fuffer them to live in peace and quiet, who embrace the Jewish religion, and continue in vaffalage and fubjection to the Jews under him.

A regular plan of mufic.

:

PSALMODY, called cantus planus, confifts of five tones, and two half tones, which are the foundation of all forts of mufic: but by a more regular divifion it fhould be faid there are fix notes, of which not only one, but all may be divided into half notes, quarter notes, demi-quarters, and fo on, further than any mortal ear can apprehend. Sound being divisible ad infinitum in the fame manner as space.

This divifion of musical founds, has an analogy or relation with that of colours, of which there are fix forts; white, red, yellow, green, blue, and black. Some indeed divide the colours into feven; the feventh they call purple; but I can't perceive it is otherwife than a mixture more fplendid than brown, grev, and the other mixed colours. Black is faid to be a mere negation of colour, but as it makes an impreffion on the imagination, I overlook the fubtilty in this comparison, and suppose it a colour.

By dividing the mufical notes into fix, as nature directs, the unifound will fall on the seventh note, and fhould, for this reason, be called a feptime, and not an octave, a name occafioned by the two half notes. Mufic is generally fuppofed to confift of three parts; treble, tenor, and bafs. But that the twenty-four letters of the alphabet may find employment in the fcheme of mufic I am propofing, I fhall divide it into four parts, which are the double treble, the treble, the tenor, and the bass, fix notes to each part. The double treble.

treble is hardly practicable: however the fix vowels a, e, i, o, u, y, are to denote it; the a being the highest note of all. The fix afpirations, h, y confonant, j, f, w, v, are to denote the treble. The fix liquids`r, l, s, z, n, m, are to denote the tenor; and the fix mutes, k, g, d, t, b, p, are to denote the bafs. Thus, a, b, r, k, are unifounds; e, c, 1, g, the fame; the c in compofition denotes they confonant, as I fhall explain just now; i, j, s, d, are likewife unifounds to f, x, t, alike; v, w, n, b, in the like manner: y, v, m, p, are alfo unifounds. This is defcribing mufic according to the rules of nature; thereby a tune may be eafily penned from the finger's voice, or the founding of the inftrument, which would be very commodious.

Half tones may be denoted by the figures that denote a half in calculation, or fome briefer character, fuch as a dot added to the letter. Semibreves, minims, crotchets, quavers, femiquavers, demiquavers, and their refts; times, repeats, tyings, divifions of the ftrains, fharps, flats, naturals, fhould also be fignified by characters, that may be quickly penned, fuch as commas, points, dots variously fituated in respect to the letter, that is, the note they belong to. Ofall which a fort of horn-book fhould be made, the compofition of which I recommend to a judicious mafter, that the reading of mufic, fo requifite to allay forrow, and to complete joy, may be more general than it is at prefent.

The letters confidered as notes of mufic fhould be pronounced according to the dictates of nature, and not according to vulgar noVOL. VI.

tions. The a fhould be pronounced full, and not as an e; the e should likewife be pronounced plain, and not as the French i, which found fhould remain with the faid letter i, and not partake of the pronunciation of the Greek dipthong ci, or ci; the o fhould not be pronounced like the dipthong ao as in the word nod, but naturally, as in the very word, word; the u fhould be pronounced as by the Italians, and as ou is pronounced by the English in the word you; the y vowel fhould be pronounced as u in the word pure; the u is always pronouuced fo by the French; the

was anciently pronounced fo by the Greeks, though it differs not as to found in the vulgar alphabets from an i.

The confonants fhould be pronounced in the following manner. with an a or any other vowel, ha, ya, ja, fa, wa, va, thefe are all afpirations, and are the notes of the treble: thee in practice is to take the place of the y confonant, because there is no particular character of the y confonant in any alphabet I know of, unlefs it be the aleph or ajin of the Hebrew: and because there is no occafion for it otherwife; for it differs not in found from the /or the k, being fometimes pronounced as one, and fometimes as the other; the q is not a different letter from the k. The fix liquids and the fix mutes are to be called thus, ra, la, fa, za, na, ma, thefe are the notes of the tenor; and ka, ga, da, ta, ta, pa, thefe are the notes of the bafs. A liquid is a letter, that has an imperfect found independent of a vowel, for which reafon the and zare of that number, though not generally regarded as fuch. Any

other

other vowel may be annexed to the confonants, as the speaker or finger may fancy.

The evolutions of the organs of fpeech, fhew these are the best adapted names of the mufical founds that are in nature, for with the high notes a, ha, ra, ka, which are the first notes of each of the four parts of mufic, the organs of fpeech in pronouncing those letters are elevated, and in pronouncing the enfuing letters in order, the organs of speech defcend gradually in proportion to the fall of the notes, till you come to the laft notes denoted by the letters y (proas the Greek upfilon, or the French u) va, ma, pa, in pronouncing which letters the lips are clofed.

The mufical horn-book I recommend fhould be on one sheet of paper, and on one fide of the sheet, to have a full view of that fcience which will affift the memory, and that it may be pofted as the one leaf almanacks to be an invitation to learn. The compofer of a work of fuch univerfal benefit, will, I hope, be gratified with a premium, although it should not be bid before-hand, after the manner of the Chinese, by whose policy new inventions are rewarded in proportion to their utility, though no previous ordonnance were made for that purpose, whereby useful discoveries are not dormant and unminded, nor ungenerously concealed, so as to die fometimes with the inventor.

A mufical alphabet.

Double treble.
a, e, i, o, u, y.

Tenor.
Ra, la, fa, za,

na, ma.

Treble. ba, ya, ja, fa,

wa, va.
Bafs.

ka, ga, da, ta,

ba, pa. N. B. In compofition, it will be

only requifite to write one letter for each note, half notes to be diftinguished by a dot on the right fide of the letter, for example (d.) More mufic may be learnt by this regular method in a year, than in two years by the irregular.

Remarks on our cathedral and parochial mufic: From Dr. Brown's differtation on Poetry and Mufic.

OUR facred poetry, fung in the

cathedrals, is tranfcribed ftrictly from the holy fcriptures, and most commonly from the book of Pfalms; except only the Te Deum, which is one of the moft ancient and approved hymns of the church. This reftriction, by which no hymns of new invention are admitted as a part of divine service, we owe to the grand reformation. This opened to us the fountain of the facred writings, which had before been locked up, as in Italy. From the fame caufe, our anthems are likewife given in our own tongue; which, though not fo various as the Latin, is yet generally round and fonorous, clearly accented and capable of being adapted to a variety of mufical expreffions. But while we justly admire the facred poetry of our cathedral fervice, muft we not lament the ftate of it in our parochial churches, where the cold, the meagre, the difgufting dulnefs of Sternhold and his companions, hath quenched all the poetic fire, and devout majefty of the royal pfalmift?

The character of our cathedral mufic is of a middle kind: not of the first rank, in the great quality of expreffion; nor yet fo improper or abfurd, as to deferve a general

reprobation.

reprobation. Too ftudious a regard to Fugues, and an artificial counterpoint appears in the old, and too airy and light a turn, to the neglect of a grand fimplicity, in the new: two extremes, which tend equally, though from oppofite caufes, to deftroy mufical expreffion. Yet, there are paffages in Purcell's anthems, which may fairly stand in competition with thofe of any compofer, of whatever country. There are others, who may justly claim a confiderable fhare of praife. Handel ftands eminent in his greatness and fublimity of ftile. Our parochial mufic, in general, is folemn and devout, much better calculated for the performance of a whole congregation, than if it were more broken and elaborate. In country churches, wherever a more artificial kind hath been imprudently attempted, confufion and diffonance are the general confequence. The performance of our cathedral mufic is defective: we have no grand established choirs of priests, as in France, whofe dignity of character might, in a proper degree, maintain that of the divine fervice. This duty is chiefly left to a band of lay-fingers, whofe rank and education are not of weight to preserve their profeffion from contempt. The performance of our parochial pfalms, though in the villages it be often as mean and meagre as the words that are fung, yet in great towns, where a good organ is fkilfully and devoutly employed, by a fenfible organist, the union of this inftrument with the voices of a well-inftructed congregation, forms one of the grandeft fcenes of unaffected piety that human nature can afford. The re

verfe of this appears, when a company of illiterate people form themfelves into a choir, diftinct from the congregation. Here devotionis loft between the impotent vanity of thofe who fing, and the ignorant wonder of thofe who liften.

ра

The anthem, with respect to its fubject, neither needs nor admits of improvement; being drawn from the facred fcriptures. A proper felection of words for mufic is, indeed, a work of importance here: and though in many inftances this will be well made, yet it were to be wifhed, that some fuperior judgment would oversee, and fometimes (negatively at least) direct the compofer, for the prevention of improprieties. A parallel remark will extend itself almost to the whole book of Pfalms, as they are verfified by Sternhold, for the fervice the fervice of parochial churches. There are few ftanzas which do not prefent expreffions to excite the ridicule of fome part of every congregation. This verfion might well be abolished, as it expofeth fome of the nobleft parts of divine fervice to contempt; especially as there is another verfion already privileged, which though not excellent, is however, not intolerable.The parochial mufic feems to need no reform: its fimplicity and folemnity fuit well its general deftination; and it is of power, when properly performed, to raife affections of the nobleft nature.

It were to be wished, that the cathedral mufic were always compofed with a proportioned fobriety and referve. Here, as we have obferved, the whole is apt to degenerate too much into an affair of art. A great and pathetic fimplicity of O 2

ftile,

ftile, kept ever in fubferviency to the facred poetry, ought to be aimed at as the trueft and the only praife. The fame devout fimplicity of manners may be attained in the performance, and ought to be ftudied by the organist and choir their ambition fhould lie in a natural and dignified execution, not in a curious difplay of art. The maxim of Auguftine was excellent, and deferves the ferious attention both of thofe who perform and those who hear; I always think myself blameable, when I am drawn more to the finger than to what is fung." But an additional circumftance feems neceffary, as a means of bringing back church mufic to its original dignity and ufe: we have feen in the course of this differtation, how the feparations follow each other in the decline of the poetic and mufical arts.

And for the fake of the truth, we muft here obferve, that in the performance of cathedral music, a feparation hath long taken place, fatal to its trueft utility. The higher ranks of the church do not think themselves concerned in the performance. It were devoutly to be wished that the mufical education were fo general as to enable the clergy, of whatever rank, to join the choir in the celebration of their Creator, in all its appointed forms the laity would be naturally led to follow fo powerful an example.

An original letter from lord Bolingbroke to Mr. Pope, on the univerfal depravity of mankind ; and the poetry of Addifon.

I

Dear Pope,

Do not know how it is, but the air of Twickenham agrees with

me confiderably better than a refidence in town; and I find a greater fhare of fatisfaction at the bottom of your little garden, than ever I experienced in the bustle of a court.

Poffibly this may proceed from a proper eftimation of your worth, and a juft opinion of all the ambitious coronets, or fawning fycophants I am furrounded with. Certain it is, however, the dignity of human nature leffens in my notion of things, according to the knowledge I have of mankind; and the more intimate I become with the generality of people, the greater occafion I have to defpife them.-The felon at the bar, and the judge upon the bench, are ftimulated by the fame motives, though they act in different capacities; for the one but plunders through a hope of gain; and let me afk if the other would take any pains in the administration of juftice without a reasonable gratuity for his labour.

This you will fay may be carrying things too far, and poffibly it may be fo-yet, though a particular inftance or two may be brought to contradict an obfervation of this kind, they can by no means be produced as arguments against the univerfal depravity. I am greatly pleased with a remark which Swift made a few days ago in a converfation which we had upon this very fubject; I need not tell you how four the dean is in his fentiments of the world; but I think the following declaration is not more diftinguished for its feverity, than fupported by its juftice, "Were we, faid he, to make a nice examination into the actions of every man, we should find one half of the world to be

rogues,

« AnteriorContinuar »