Alichael Este, Elway Bevin, and Orlando Gibbons. This last great musicifm clied in 1625. The second period comprehends Dr. William Child, William and Henry Lawes. John Hilton, Matthew Lock, whose music in AIacbeth is stili performed; of wliom Dr. Burney says, that lie was the best secular composer our country could boast, till the tiine of Purcell; Pelham Humphrey, Michael Wise, Dr. Blow, and the celebrated Henry Purcell, who (lied in 1695. The third period extends from the death of Purcell to the present times, and includes the names of Dr. Holder and Dr. Al drich, who, though not muSicians by profession, were excel lent composers for the church; Dr. Crofts, Dr. Green, Mr. John Weldon, Dr. Boyce, Dr. Nares. In theatrical music, the great boast of the English is Dr. Arne, the only native musician who has, since the days of Parcell, enjoyed an equal degree of popularity with that admired master. Dr. Arne died in 177S.
57. The French have been always delighted with their own music, and in this they have alm-33-s enjoyed an exclu sive monopoly, at least as far as regards vocal music. " French music, at least vocal," says Voltaire, " is not re lished, and cannot be relished by any other nation, because French prosody is different from that of all Europe. We lay the stress always on the last syllable, and all other na tions on the penult or antepenult, like the Italians. Our lancruage is the only one which has words ending in e mute; and6 these e's which are not pronounced in ordinary decla mation, are uniformly pronounced in our musical, gloi-reu, victoi-reu, barbari-eu, furi-eu. This is what makes most of our airs, and our recitative, insupportable to those who are not habituated to it. This, together with the slowness of our melody-, which forms a strange contrast with the vi vacity of our nation, will always make our music fit only for the Frencli."—" Our instrumental music partakes a little of the monotony and slowness with which our vocal is re proached; but several of our symphonies, and especially our dance-tunes, have received inore applause in other na tions, and they are performed in many of the Italian operas. There are hardly any other admitted by a sovereign who has one of the best operas in Europe, (ate king of Prussia) and who, among his many singular talents, has condescended to cultivate music with great care.
a John Baptiste Lulli, who was born at Florence in 1633, and brought to France at the age of 14, before he had learned to play on the violin, was tile father of tnte music in France. lie knew how to accommodate his art to the genius of the language; which was the only way to succeed. It is worthy of remark, that at that time Italian music had not departed far from that gravity and noble simplicity which we admire in the recitatives of Lulli.
" After him all our musicians, such as Colasse, Campra, Detouches, and the rest, have been his imitators, till at last one man came, who has risen above them by the profound ness of his harmony, and who has made music a new art."
It is of Ramean that the celebrated author speaks in the last sentence. This theorist, to whom music lies under real obligations, was long, cried up in France as the author of mu sical science. Now the title of his popularity is turned, and even the French themselves seem disposed to deny him any merit whatever. " is system," says Al. Choron, a which was never teceived in Italy or Germany, is now universally rejected, even in France; and is only followed by a few coniposers, who, having been educated in his principles, would find too much difficulty in renouncing long-since con tracted habits. It is therefore with much injustice that Ra ni= has been proclaimed as the founder of the science of harmcmy, and as having at last found in nature the principle tt hich connects the scattered rules of former tittles. If these oulogituns have been repeated by entire acadeniies, and by writers of the first order, such as D'Alembert, Rousseau, Condillac, and others, this only proves the danger of speak ing on a subject which one does not understand. All the chords, all the rules of harmony, and the principles of com position, existed several ages before him. To be well un derstood, they needed only to be presented with order; in place of which he has only augmented the confusion, and destroyed any school there was in Fitince, by introducing a vicious system, which being put in order by able writers, held out to laziness the attractions of a deceitful facility. Still we should acknowledge, that we have to this artist, in other respects estimable, one grat obligation—that of having turned the general attention to the consideration of inver sions, which, being developed by more able hands, and espe cially by Marpurg, Padre Martini, Knecht, Vallotti, Sabbat tini, (S.:c. has furnished an excellent method of classing chords." 59. For the purposes of music, sounds nmst be agreeable in themselves : they must have that clearness which distin guishes them from mere noise, and that sweetness which distinguishes them ti.om harsh and disagreeable sounds. In these respects there are many shades of difference, which constitute the different qualities of musical voices and instru ments, and which consequently claim the regard of the mu sician. But the chief object to be considered in the science of music, is the relation of sounds to each other, in respect of gravity and acuteness. Ilappily we are able to ascertain and describe these relations in such a manner, as to convey the most precise notions of them, and even subject them to numerical calculation, like any other quantities.