2. In music, the fittest subjects for imitation, arc all those particulars which are eminently characterised by motion and sound. Motion may be either slow or quick, even or uneven, broken or continuous. Sound may be either soft or loud, high or low, i. e. acute or grave. Wherever, therefore, any of these species of motion, or sound, may be found in an eminent degree, there is room for musical imitation. Thus, in the inanimate world, music may imitate the gliding, murmuring, or roaring of water, as perceived in fountains, cataracts, rivers, seas, ST.c.; the noise of thunder, and of winds, as well the stormy as the gentle. In the animal world, it may imitate the voices of certain animals, but chiefly that of singing birds; and it may also faintly copy some of their motions. In the human species, it can also imitate some motions and sounds; and of sounds, those most perfectly which are expressive of grief and an guish; for grief naturally expresses itself by sounds which are not unlike to lengthened notes in the chro matic system.
3. Poetry, as consisting of articulate sounds combined together in various measures, can be directly imitative only of certain sounds and certain modifications of mo tion. It may imitate what is sweet and mellifluous, what is harsh and discordant, and what moves smoothly or ruggedly. Thus there is a natural relation between the sound and the sense, or an imitation of the sweet ness of sound spoken of, in the following lines of Dry den : And thus in part even poetic imitation has its founda tion in nature. But this imitation does not go far ; and, taken without the meaning derived to the sounds by compact, would scarcely be intelligible, however perfect and elaborate.
To compare then together the imitative power of these different arts. Both music and poetry have no other sources of imitation than sound and motion ; and even in these respects their imitation is far from per fect. The natural sounds and motions which poetry imitates but very imperfectly, characterise the subjects to which they belong ; and are themselves but very im perfectly and faintly imitated by poetic sounds. The same is true, though in a lesser degree, of music ; for the sounds and motions which it can imitate, arc not exclusively peculiar to any individual objects ; and it is incapable of imitating them in perfection. But the fi gures, postures, and colours, which painting exhibits, arc exactly characteristic of individual things; and for the most part also, of.the various energies and passions i or every individual. In respect of its subject too, paint ing is capable of imitating regular actions, consisting of a whole and parts; of which kind of imitation neither music nor poetry is susceptible.
In comparing the imitative power of music and poe try, Mr Harris seems to have given an erroneous deci sion. " As to the preference," says he, " which such poetic imitation may claim before musical, or musical imitation before that, the merits on each side may ap pear perhaps equal. They both fetch their imitations from sound and motion. Now music seems to imitate nature better as to motion, and poetry as to sound. The reason is, that in motions, music has a greater variety ; and in sounds, those of poetry approach nearer to na ture. Music has no less than five different lengths of notes in ordinary use, reckoning from the semi-breve to the semi-quaver; all of which may be infinitely com pounded, even in any one time or measure. Poetry, on the other hand, has but two lengths or quantities, a long syllable and a short, (which is its half,) and all the va riety of verse arises from such feet and metres, as those two species of syllables, by being compounded, can be made produce. Again, musical sounds are produced by even vibrations, which scarcely any natural sounds are: on the contrary, words are the product of uneven vibration, and so are most natural sounds. Add to this, that words are far more numerous than musical sounds. So that poetry, as to imitation by sound, seems to exceed music, not only in nearness to resemblance, but even in variety also.
" If therefore," he adds, " in sound the one have the preference, in motion the other, and the merit of sound and motion be supposed nearly equal, it will follow, that the merit of the two imitations will be nearly equal also." We cannot, however, allow, that the sounds of poetry are naturally more imitative than those of music ; for surely the cries of animals, the tones of grief or joy, and even the murmuring of waters, the whistling of winds, and the crack of thunder, have a much greater analogy to musical notes, than to any sounds which can be conjoined with articulate speech. We are inclined,
therefore, to think, that not only in motion, but in sound also, the imitation of music is more perfect than that of poetry.
But if music and poetry fall greatly below painting, as imitative arts, they have peculiar excellencies of their own, by which they are fully raised to the same scale of estimation. Music, by its expression, can exhilarate or depress the mind; can produce cheerfulness, sorrow, or elevation of soul; or excite a strong pleasurable sensa tion, distinct character of feeling. It is at once a sensual and an intellectual pleasure ; for it both gratifies the ear, and soothes and delights the mind. Poetry may be said to have still more powerful, because. more lasting, effects. By its harmonious numbers, it pleases the ear ; by its allusions, similes, and metaphors, it enchants the imagination ; it animates by its noble sentiments, delights by its affecting descriptions, and i melts into tenderness by its touching images. It is pable of all the interest of a well-contrived action, of natural incidents, and justly drawn characters. It may interest the curiosity as well as the affections, and rouse the passions as well as the imagination : Such are the effects of music and poetry, when single and apart; when conjoined, their touching influence is wonderfully increased. The pathos of poetry must ne cessarily make a very sensible impression, when the affections belonging to it have been already excited by music. It is then that a double force is made to co-ope rate to one end. A poet, thus assisted, does not find an audience in a temper averse to the character of his poem, or under the influence of a cool indifference; but by means of preludes, symphonies, and the concurrent operation of the music in all its parts, roused into those very affections wnich he would most deceive. " An audience," says Mr Harris, " so disposed, not only em brace with pleasure the ideas of the poet, when exhi bited; but, in a manner, even anticipate them in their several imaginations. The superstitious have not a more previous tendency to be frightened at the sight of spectres, or a lover to fall into raptures at the sight of his mistress, than a mind thus tempered by the power of music, to enjoy all ideas which are suitable to that temper. And hence the genuine charm of music, and the wonders which it works through its great profes sors. A power which consists not in imitations, but in raising affections, to which ideas may correspond. There. are few to be found so insensible, I may even say so inhuman, as when good poetry is justly set to music, not in some degree to feel the force of so amia ble an union. But to the Muses' friends, it is a force irresistible, and penetrates into the deepest recesses of the soul:" The same author has successfully solved the objec tion urged against the combination of poetry and music, so frequently introduced into the drama, to wit, that it violates versimilitude. " It is by the help of this rea soning," says he, " that the objection is solved, which is raised against the singing of poetry, (as in operas, oratorios, &c.) from the want of probability and resem blance to nature. To one, indeed, who has no musical ear, this objection may have weight. It may even per plex a lover of music, if it happen to surprise him in his hours of iudiflerence. But when he is feeling the charm of poetry so accompanied, let him be angry (if he can) with that which serves only to interest him more feelingly in the subject, and support him in a stronger and more earnest attention ; which enforces, by its aid, the several ideas of the poem, and gives them to his imagination with unusual strength and grandeur. He cannot surely but confess, that he is a gainer in the exchange, when he barters the want of a single proba bility, that of pronunciation, (a thing merely arbitrary, and every where different,) for a noble heightening of affections which arc suitable to the occasion, and enable him to enter into the subject with double energy and enjoyment." As poetry and music possess so many means of delight, different from the principle of imitation, their origin cannot be sought solely in this natural propensity of the human race. We must, of necessity, resort to other dispositions and tendencies of mankind, to explain that universal attachment to the melody of sounds and har mony of numbers, which has been found to prevail in all ages, the most rude as well as the most refined ; and to have given birth to sonic kinds of music, and some specimens of versification, even among the most illiterate savages.