heat: their noftrils are fharp and prepared for refpiration. If the disease increafes, the cheeks are red, the eyes ftand out as in perfons that are ftrangled, and they fnore while they are awake: but the evil comes to a greater height in the time of fleep: the voice is obfcure*, without found, the defire for cold air is great, they walk abroad, nor can any houfe fuffice the purposes of respiration; they breathe in an erect pofture, as if anxious to draw in all the air poffible, and open their mouths greedily, ftill defiring it in greater quantity. The whole face is pale except the cheeks, which are red; a profufe fweat breaks out about the forehead and neck; they are troubled with a conftant violent cough, and eject a fmall, thin, cold matter, fomewhat refembling an efflorescence of froth; the neck becomes tumid on drawing the breath, and the præcordia are revulfed +; the pulfe is fmail, frequent, and oppreffed; the legs are wafted and if the fymptoms ftill increase, the patient is fometimes ftrangled, as in the cafe of epilepfy. But if they wear a more favourable appearance, the cough is fomewhat rarefied, and becomes longer, with an excretion of humid matter in greater quantity; a watery fubftance will be dejected in abundance, the urine will flow copioufly without fediment, the voice will be better formed and more fonorous, attended with refreshing fleep and a remiffion of the præcordia; during the remiffion a pain fometimes paffes to the fcapulæ, the breathing becomes rare and gentle, with a degree of ftrength and afperity of voice; in this manner do the patients efpape death; but during the remiffions, although they walk about in an erect posture, they have evident fymptoms of the disease.'

From

* Obfcure without found ] We here observe a very material fault : in the first place, obfcure without found is tautology, and the fense of the original, yen ) any ʼn pwrr, is by no means adhered to. The true meaning of the word yn in this place is fluctuating, wavering, unfettled; for y, though it properly fignifies moift or watery, is often by the best Greek writers metaphorically put for the fluctuation or wavering of water, or any thing that has that appearance. this we have an example in Pindar's 1ft Pyth. i de xwcow byçov valov awe, of which almost all the interpreters and commentators have made nonfenfe by rendering it, lifts his moift back; and again in Longinus, Sect. 34 where he fpeaks of digreffions that are made to vya πνευμαλί But how Dr. M. could render bygn, obfcure, we know

not.

of

† Præcordia are revulfed.] anoracusa ought to have been rendered drawn up, or contracted, which appears more clearly to be the meaning of Aretaus, fince he afterwards mentions the relaxation, which Dr. M. calis remiffion, of the præcordia when enumerating the fymptoms of the difeale's growing milder or diminishing. "The voice will be better formed and more fonorous, attended with, &c. Better formed, attended with, and and are wholly wanting in the original: but this is not the only place where our Tranflator hath connected

From the foregoing notes our Readers will be enabled to form a general idea of the merits of Dr. Moffat's tranflation, which (excepting a few errors, that, in a work of fuch labour and difficulty as the prefent, may eafily efcape the moft obfervant eye) gives pretty nearly the fenfe of the original: but, although Dr. M. has in many places ftudied to make his language elegant, he has by no means imitated that concifenefs and perfpicuity fo peculiar to his Author, and in which his great beauty chiefly confifts.

ART. IV. A Treatise on the Art of Mufic; in which the Elements of Harmony and Air are practically confidered, and illuftrated by an Hundred and Fifty Examples in Notes, many of them taken from the best Authors: The whole being intended as a Course of Lectures, preparatory to the Practice of Thorough-Bafs and ufical Compofition. By W. Jones. Folio. l. 1s. Printed for the Author.

T has been a matter of long and just complaint, that, in a country where Mufic is extremely cherished; where men of fuperiour abilities in the compofition, and talents in the execution of good Mufic, of every country in Europe, are fure of patronage; where native profeffors are numerous, and where the lovers of the Art, who cultivate both the theory and practice of Mufic, more abound, perhaps, than in any other part of the world, a clear, claffical, well-digefted, and comprehenfive Mufical Code, or fundamental treatife on the moft effential parts of this delightful Art, fhould be wanting in our language.

We had great hopes that this chafm in our literature would be amply filled, and ftudents no longer left to purfue their intricate road without a guide, when we underflood that the treatife before us was the work of a gentleman of leifure, learning, and science, who had already diftinguished himself as an ingenious and diligent enquirer into many curious fubjects of natural hiftory and mechanics.

With these favourable fentiments we undertook the perufal of the work, and fhall, with the utmoft candour, lay before our Readers the fenfations it excited, and the degree of praife that feems due to the Author.

As he explains his plan and intentions in the Preface, we shall let him fpeak for himself:

The first object I had in view when I began the following work, was to prefent a compendious fyftem of the principles of ThoroughBafs and the rules of Modulation to a Lady who has a moft excellent finger upon the harpfichord. But as I proceeded, I was infenfibly drawn on to extend my plan, for the benefit of fome young friends, connected together fentences which are diftinct and feparate. We would, more agreeably to the original, read, the voice is more fonorous; fleep more refreshing; the præcordia (or as the Greek has it hypochondria) relaxed, &c. which preferves in fome mealure the beautiful conçifeness of the Author.

who

who wished to know the reafon of things, and to learn Mufic as fcholars learn other things, by learning the principles of the Art in the first place; which in this Art is contrary to the general practice: and I may fay thus much for the work, fhort and imperfect as it is, that it contains much of that information, which as a student in Mufic I often wifhed to find but never could.

I have been informed, that fome mufical gentlemen who have heard of my defign, have totally mistaken the nature of it; fuppofing it to be a conjectural enquiry into the theoretical foundations of Mufic, fuch as few readers would understand, and which could afford neither entertainment nor improvement to the practitioner: whereas my work, though not profeffing to interfere with Masters and teach the performance of Mufic, which has already been done by Geminiani, Pafquali, Emanuel Bach, and of late by Mr. Bemetzreider, is in fact an elementary Treatife on the Art, which begins with the first rudiments, and explains every thing by examples in Notes. The player of Thorough-Bafs will find a great advantage, and perform to much better effect, if he fees into the principles of his Art. The Voluntary-player will give more fatisfaction to his bearers, if his thoughts are well-connected, and his Mufic properly measured into Claufes and Periods, fo as to fpeak fenfe, and be easily understood. And every admirer of Mufic, who takes the pains to enquire what it is that conftitutes real excellence, will hear good Mufic with more pleasure than if he heard it in ignorance: for the ignorant are very apt to be moft pleased with falfe excellence, and to defpife the true, because their minds are not yet opened and prepared for its effects. If you play an Adagio of Corelli to a perfon who knows nothing of Harmony, you will raife no admiration; for the fame reason, as if you were to read Milton or Shakespeare to a man who does not understand the grammar. But a noify vulgar Allegro, full of impertinence and repetition, or a common Ballad, will ftrike the fancy of the one, as a low comedy or a farce is adapted to the capacity of the other. There is as much incompetent and erroneous judgment in Mufic as in any art whatsoever; and it cannot be corrected but by infufing more knowledge into thofe who are capable of it and willing to receive it. Of this we have many lamentable examples amongst the Pfalmodifts of the country, who beflow great labour on Mufiç not fit to be introduced into the worship of GOD, and conceive a higher opinion of it than of the best compofitions of our greateft Mafters, who being truly learned in their profeffion knew how to adapt their Mufic to the nature and dignity of their fubject, and have infpired the hearers of it with pleasure and devotion for ages past. But the works of fome other felf-recommended Compofers, not half learned in their art, are generally better accepted; as many of the common people are found to have a better opinion of a Mountebank than of a Phyfician who has a talent for his profeffion, and is poffeffed of all the improvements of science. How often has my patience been tried, and my nerves put upon the rack by the impertinent quaverings in fome country Choirs; while at the fame time I have obferved the congregation either laughing or frowning, and all ferious people uneafy at feeing every good end defeated for which Mufic is brought into the church. 3

< Where

• Where there is more learning, there will of course be more tafte and better difcernment: and when a perfon who is prefent at a performance of Choral Mufic has fkill enough to fee the progrefs of it in a Score-book at the fame time, he hears it with as much effect as if he had more ears than Nature has given: and indeed fo he has ; for as learning gives a fecond fight to the mind of man, fo doth skill in Mufic improve the hearing in the fame degree. As we amufe ourfelves by reading a Tragedy without feeing it acted on the ftage, fo is it poffible to be entertained by Mufic without hearing it: and at times, when I could neither hear Mufic nor play it, I have found fatisfaction and improvement by cafting my eye over the Score of fome excellent compofition.'

This is fair reafoning; but in the next page, when the Author talks of nature in Mufic as of nature in Poetry, he feems wholly to forget that nature, confidered as a model of imitation, has much lefs to do with Mufic than with any of the fifter Arts; that no Operas, Oratorios, Choral or Lyric fpecimens of ancient Greek or Roman Mufic, are come down to us, to serve as models, like the Poems of Homer and Virgil; and that it has been obferved, and never contradicted, that we have little in nature to imitate. When we cry, laugh, exult, or repine, it is not in mufical tones. The whole is nearly a work of art and imagination; and under the guidance of the fundamental rules of Harmony, that imagination which affords us the highest pleasure and amusement is certainly the beft. That men do not agree in this as in the excellence of a Poet's, Painter's, or Sculptor's imagination, is from the variety of imagery in the mind of man, where there is no type in view, to keep it from rambling.

What the Author gives as an indifputable criterion of the superiority of the Mufic of the old Mafters over that of the modern, is both unjust and feeble: If,' fays he, you try its effect upon an organ, you difcover its emptinefs and infignificance.' But why fhould Mufic be compofed to fuit the genius of the organ, which it is morally certain will never be performed upon that inftrument? Indeed Handel, in his Harpsichord Leffons, has frequently imprifoned and fettered the hand by long and binding notes that have totally loft their effect before they are relinquifhed; but, according to our Author, this is the moft unanfwerable proof of the excellence of every fpecies of Mufic. What fhall we do with Memo Scarlatti's wild, original, and fanciful pieces, on the organ? what with many of Schobert's? of Emanuel Bach's, and of other excellent writers for the Piano Forte? Are they to be all despised and thrown afide, because they lofe their whole merit of light and fhade, expreffion, and best effects, when played on an organ* ?

* Mr. J. feems to feel that he has pushed this matter somewhat too far, and, as a falvo, condefcends to fay, 'Though I take the organ as a teft of ftyle in general, I must yet allow, that there may be Mufic, good in its kind, without being proper for the organ.'

Το

To what the Author fays of former treatifes, we readily fubfcribe:

The Art of Mufic does not now want to be invented, and can fcarcely be improved; but it certainly wants to be methodized and made eafier than heretofore. I therefore wrote this book, because I found nothing ready to my hands that agreed with my own ideas of the fubject. Of thofe Authors who have profeffed to teach Mufic by books, fome are fhort and obfcure, fome perplexed and immethodical, fome very defective and yet voluminous; as if they had purpofely endeavoured to render a difficult fubject more difficult by their manner of treating it, and had affected not to be understood. Many have been deterred by thefe obfcurities of Mafic from attempting to make a study of it. Thefe it has been my endeavour to remove by proceeding in a regular method, and making every thing intelligible by examples in notes; the labour and difficulty of adding which has undoubtedly prevented many mufical authors from writing a work of this kind; and I have found it the most wearifome part of my undertaking.'

The musical reading of our Author muft however have been too much confined, if he is to be told at this time, that the fyftem of Fundamental Baffes is the property of Rameau:' and, before the writing of this book, not to have known any thing of Graffineau's dry and bald tranflation of Brofard's celebrated Mufical Dictionary, is ftrange; and ftill more ftrange, that he fhould recommend it fo long after the publication, and even tranflation, of Rouffeau!

Marpurg's writings would be very likely to please our Author, as, with more knowledge of the fubject, he was as great a tickler for old Mufic as himself. He is ftill living, and afhamed of many of his hafty decifions, which have long loft their weight in Germany. He calls Galuppi (Buranello) a paltry compofer, and pays the fame compliment to Sarti, because they did not, like the old Mafters, make a Fugue of every movement in their Operas.

It is only the first edition of Dr. Pepufch's Short Treatise on Harmony that wants the plates; the fecond has them, which it is pity our Author did not fee; as the work is claffical, as far as it goes, except in his wish to establish the ecclefiaftical modes in fecular Mufic.

CHAP. I. Of the Scale of Mufic; or the Octave, as a System of Degrees. As nothing is fo important in fcience as the precifion, clearness and accuracy of definitions, we cannot help obferving, that our Author's definition of a key-note is neither clear nor exact, when he fays that the note we begin with is called the Key-note, or Unifon. Does every piece of Mufic begin with the key-note? Does not the treble, and even the bass in Fugues, frequently begin upon the 5th, and fometimes the 3d of a key ? The firft Allegro of Correlli's IXth Solo begins upon the 5th, and the laft Aliegro on the 3d of the key.

The definition of the minor key, in this chapter, is likewise incom→

I