next morning he went to the enchant- the chapter of bargain and fale-but ing fpot where he first faw her. He let Florinda be called to answer whewanted an introducer-but love al- ther the will take me for life or not." ways finds one. Fortunately fhe came out, attended with a favourite friend. Beniogno ftopped at her appearance, but recovering himself, he advanced with all the tremors of a true lover, and at laft affumed the fortitude of one. "Permit me, Florinda, (faid he) to accompany you in your walk. The excurfions of a female are sometimes dangerous." He had fcarcely finifhed his fentence, when two men rufhed upon them, one of which feized on Florinda. Beniogno was alarmed, he put his hand on the guard of his fword, drew it, and run the perfon through who had hold of her arm-The other ran away. As foon as the affaffin dropped, the recognized him—he was the eldest fon of a farmer, who had propofed him as her partner for life, but had been rejected. Her father acknowledged the propriety of this remark. She was called, and refted upon his fentiments.The marriage was immediately concluded on, and the parties, though in love at firft fight, having parental confent, lived happy, and left behind them as happy a progeny. me a young bullock as a new year's gift, and on the 30th of December his eldest fon, Datoo Utu, was married to Noe, the grand-daughter to the fultan. A day before the marriage, the portion was carried in grand parade over the water, from the bridegroom's father, to the fultan's palace. Finding the custom was to make prefents to Rajah Moodo on fuch occafions, fome prefenting him with a Florinda, recollecting this circumftance, imagined that his last interview was not of the most honourable kind, and being refcued by Beniogno, fhe thought that he who had faved her honour, had a claim to her perfon.-palempore, another with a piece of She fmiled him her thanks, and beg ged him to favour her father with an account of her danger, and her refcue. He complied, the father received him with tranfport, and on his begging her hand, told him, if her heart would go with it he was welcome to it, providing he could maintain her in that ftyle of life in which he could wifh to fee her.- "Retired from the bufy world, (added he) I may feem to be nothing; yet my daughter can bring you thousands, which I have preferved by œconomy from the wreck of more thoufands." chintz, and fo on, I prefented about three yards of fuperfine broad cloth, which I had the pleafure of feeing move with the firft offerings in the proceffion. I followed to the fultan's, where the portion was forting on a floor in the hall, and fome clerks were taking an account of it; Marajan Pagaly, and fome others, putting a value on each article.- -Amongst other things, was a bulfe of gold-duft, which I had in my hand: it weighed about five or fix pounds, and was valued at about twenty fangans an ounce. Valuing a kangan at half a crown, to which it comes pretty near, gold here may be about 21. 103. an once, reckoning one dollar five fhillings. "Prefently mounted the ramparts two iron guns, four pounders: these were part of the portion, and valued at eight hundred kongan. Marriage Ceromony of the Sultan of Magindano. "I was told that Marajah Pagaly undervalued many of the articles, which were to make up the portion twelve thousand kangans. Some even fufpected him of wanting to put a bar to the match. It is difficult, in a foreign country efpecially, to come at the true fpring of action; but that evening I found Rajah Moodo dreffed in a coat of mail, made of buffaloes horn and brass rings. In this dress, accompanied with his friends, without any of his Bifayan guards, he croffed to the Sultan's. I went over foon after, and perceived he had put off his coat of mail, which lay near him on a mat on the floor. Seeing me, he beckoned for me to fit down by him, which 1 did. Having taken the liberty to afk him about the valuation of the portion, "Oh, (fays he with a laugh) there are four hundred gns over." "Next evening, being the 30th, came on the folemnity. A great company being affembled at the Sultan's, Rajah Moodo put the quellion to the company, whether it fhould be a marriage? All answered with a loud voice in the affirmative. A pricft then walked into the middle of the floor, to whom Datoo Utu got up and advanced. The prieft, whom they cal led Serif, (a term of dignity beftowed upon every fuppofed defcendant of Mahomet) took him by the thumb of the right hand, and faid to him certain words, which being explained to me, were to this purpofe The The priest afked the bridegroom if he confented to take fuch a perfon as his wife, and live with her according to the law of Mahomet? bridegroom returned an affirmative.The company then gave a loud fhout, and I heard immediately guns go off at Charrow's Caftle, where, I was told, himfelf kept watch. The lady did not appear, and fo had no queftions to anfwer. In this they refemble the Chinese. "Neither Fackymolano, Topang, nor Utu were prefent. Topang, no doubt, confidered this as a mortal blow to all his hopes; and Facky molano could not be fuppofed glad at an e 229 vent, which, to his widow-daughter, and grand-child Fatima, muft have been an addition to their lofs of Witamana. I had, indeed, oblerved, that fince the match was upon the carpet, Fackymolano did not vifit at his fon's, Rajah Moodo's, fo much as formerly. "About a week before this, having paffed by Datoo Utu's apartments, which were in the fort, and in the fame tenement where his father dwelt, I remarked that the large bed, chira jars, chests, &c. were taken away.. Fatima, as her portion, had fent all to her grandfather, Fakymolano. "I failed before the tenth day after their marriage, and fo did not fee the conclufion of it according to their cuftom. But fome time before this I had been prefent at the marriage of one of Rajah Moodo's daughters to the fon of an Illano prince. "A great company was affembled at Rajah Moodo's, amongst which were the bride and bridegroom. The pricit took the man by the right thumb, and after putting to him the important queftion, the latter fignified his affent by a fmall inclination of the head.The bridegroom then went and fat down by the young lady, who was fented towards the farther end of the hall, fome young ladies, her companions, riling up at his approach to make room for him. The bride appeared difcontented, and turned from him, while he kept turning towards her, both being feated on cufhions laid on mats on the floor. "The company finiling at this, I thought it a good opportunity to fix my German flute, and play a tune, having afked Rajah Meodo's permiffrom. The company expreffed fatisfaction, but the bride still locked averfe to her lover, who was a handfome young man, and the continued fo the whole evening. She looked, indeed, as I think a woman ought, whofe confent is not afked in an affair of fuch moment. Next evening I found them drinking chocolate together; her looks feemed mending, but he did not smile. " On reprefented were ridiculously matched, and had agreed to treat in mufic both the most common and the most important affairs of life. Is it to be ima "On the tenth night fhe was, with apparent reluctance, conducted, befor all the company, by two women, from where fhe fat, towards a large bed in the fame hall with the compa-gined that a mafter calls his fervant, or ny; and was put within a triple row of curtains, other two women holding them up as fhe paffed. The bridegroom following paffed alfo within the curtains. The curtain being dropped, the company fet up a fhouting and hallooing, and, in about a quarter of an hour, difperfed. "In the Moluccas the marriage ceremony, as captain Forreft obferves, is fomewhat fimilar. "The woman, attended by fome of her own fex, comes into the mofque and fits down: then the Imum, or, if the parties are people of rank, the Calipha, holding the man's right thumb, afks him, if he will marry that woman, and live with her according to the law of Mahomet.' To this he antwers, I will.' Then the prieft afks the woman, ftill fitting befide him, the like respective queflion, if the will obey? Three times must fhe aufwer, "I will." "The woman rifing, the man and fhe pay their refpects to the company prefent: the woman is then conducted home. But before fhe goes out of the mofque, the priest gives the hufband the following admonition." You muft not touch your wife with lance or knife: but, if she do not obey you, take her into a chamber and chaflife her gently with an handkerchief." REVOIR. fends him on an errand, finging; that one friend imparts a fecret to another, finging; that men deliberate in council finging; that orders in time of battle, are given finging; and that men are melodious with fwords and darts? This is the downright way to lose the life of reprefentation, which without doubt is preferable to that of harmony; for harmony ought to be no more than a mere attendant, and our great mafters of the stage have introduced it, as pleafing, not as neceffary, after they have performed all that relates to the fubject and difcourfe. Neverthelefs our thoughts run more upon the musician, than the hero in the opera; Luigi, Cavallo, and Cefti, are still prefent to our imagination. The mind not being able to conceive a hero that fings, thinks of the compofer that fet the fong; and I don't queftion but that in the operas at the palace royal, Baptift is an hundred times more thought of than Thefeus or Cadmus*. The fame author fpeaking of Recitative, particularly that of the Venetian opera, fays that it is neither finging nor reciting, but fomewhat unknown to the ancients +, which be may de • Works of Mons. St. Evremond. Vol. II. P. 84. pofe, delivers thefe as his fentimentsThe recitative ftyle in compofition is founded on that variety of accent, which pleafes in the pronunciation of a good orator, with as Ittle devi-tion from ir as poffible. The difterent tones of the voice in aftonishment, joy, forrow, rage, tendernets, in fumation, apof trophe's, interr gations, and all the other va ritics of speech, make a fort of na ural mnfic which is very agreeable; and this is what is intended to be imitated, with fome helps, by the Of the Powers and Progress of Music. defined to be an aukward use of mufic and speech *. It may perhaps be faid that music owes much of its late improvements to the compofer, but without approaching to what we call a tune or air; fo that it is but a kind of improved clocution." Preface to Mr Hughes's Cantatas in Vol I. of bis Poems. Upon thefe feveral p ffages it may be remarked, that in the expreffion of the paffions, nature doth not offer musical founds to the human ear for though the natural tones of grief and joy, the two paffions which are mo effectually expreffed by mufic, approach to mufical precision more than any other, yet ftill they are inconcinnous and unmufical. Farther, that the founds of the voice in speech are immufical is afferted by lord Bacon in the following paffage. "Ali founds, are either mu fical founds, which we call tones, whereunto there may be an harm ny, which founds are ever eau as finging, the founds of ftringed and wind inftruments, the ringing of bells, &c. or immufical founds, which are ever unequal fuch as are the voice in fpeaking, all whisperings, all vo ces of beafts and birds, except they be finging birds, all percuffions of ftones, wood, parchment, fkins, as in drums, and infinite others." Nat. Hift. cent II. fect. 101. The conclufion from these premises muft be, that music. founds do not imitate common fpeech; and therefore that recitative can in no degree be faid to be an improvement of elocution. But admitting the contrary to be the cafe, and that the founds of fpeech were equally mufical with those employed in recitative, the inflections of the voice are too minute to fall in with the divifion of the feale..... and of this opinion is Monf. Duclos-who denies a poffibility of a notation for fpeech. Upon the whole, the beauties of the recitative ftyle in mufic confift not in the power of imitating the tones, much lefs the various inflexions of the voice in fpeech, but in the va neties of accent and melody, which follow from its not being fubject to metrical laws. In short, what has been faid and infifted on .... may be applied to recitative, viz, that its mimetic powers are very inconfiderable, and that whatever charms it poffeffes are abfolute and inherent. * Thefe obfervations of St. Evremond refpe&t the musical tragedy; but the Italians have alfo a mufical comedy called a Burletta, which has been lately introduced into England, and given rife to the diftinction in the adver tifements for the subscription of first, fecond, &c. fer ous man or woman. This entertain ment affords additional proof how little music. as fuch, is able to fupport itself; in the tragic opera it borrows aid from the tumidity of the poetry; in the comic. from the powers of ridicale, to which mufic has not the leaft rela ion. 231 he theatre, and to that emulation hich it has a tendency to excite, as well in compofers as in performers; but who will pretend to fay what direction the ftudies of the most eminent muficians of late years would have ta-, ken, had they been left to themselves; it being moft certain that every one of that character has two tales, the one for himfelf, and the other for the public? Purcell has given a plain indication of his own, in a declaration that the gravity and seriousness of the Italian mufic were by him thought worthy of imitation *• The ftudies of Stradella, Scarlatti, and Bononcini, for their own delight, were not fongs or airs calculated to aftonish the hearers with the tricks of the finger, but cantatas and duets, in which the fweetnefs of the melody and harmony were united, fo as to leave a lafting impreffion on the mind. The fame may be faid of Mr. Handel, who, to go no farther, has given a in a volume of leffons for the harpfifpecimen of the ftyle he most affected, chord, with which no one will fay that any modern compofitions of the kind can ftand in competition. tice of an illuftrious perfonage, as hapThefe, as they are made for the prac Py in an exquifite tafte and refined judgment as a fine hand may be fuppo fed to be, were in fact compofitions con amore. In other instances this great musician compounded the matter with the public, alternately purfuing the fuggeftions of his fancy, and gratifying a tafte, which he held in contempt +. Who It is worth remarking, that the posts, who of all writers, feem mot fenfible of the effica cy of music, appear uniformly to confider it as an intellectual, and confequently various plea fore, engaging not only the attention of the ear, but the power and faculty of the foul. To this end, and not for the purpose of eiing mirth, it is in number less instances produced by Shakespeare, and among the of Milton in one entitled "a Solemn Mufic." An intimate friend of Mr. Hindel, lookng over the score of an opera'newly campofed y him, abferved of fome of the fengs, hat they were excellent: You may think fo Lays are immutable, and independent on time or place, the precepts of mora Whoever is curious to know what that taste could be, to which fo great a mafter as Mr. Handel was compelledlity and axioms in phylics for instance; occafionally to conform, in prejudice there never was fince the creation a to his own, will find it to have been no time when there did not exist an irreother than that which is common to concilable difference between truth every promifcuous auditory, with whom and falfhood; or when two things, it is a notion that the right, and as fome each equal to the fame third, were may think, the ability to judge, to unequal one to the other; or to carry applaud and condemn, is purchafed by the argument farther, when confonance the price of admittance; a tafle that and diffonance were not as effentively leads all who poffefs it to prefer light diftinguished from each other, both in and trivial airs, and fuch as are eafily their ratios and by their effects, as they retained in memory, to the finest har- are at this day; or when certain inmony and modulations, and to be betterchanges of colours, or forms and ter pleased with the licentious exceffes arrangements of bodies were lefs of a finger, than the true and juft in-pleafing to the eye than the fame are tonation of the sweetest and most - pathetic melodies, adorned with all the graces and elegancies that art can fuggeft. Such critics as thefe, in their judgment of inftrumental performance, uniformly determine in favour of whatever is most difficult in the execution, and, like the spectators of a rope-dancer, are never more delighted than when they fee the artift is in fuch a fituation as to render it doubtful whether he fhall incur or efcape difgrace. To fuch a propenfity as this, the gratifications whereof are of neceffity, but momentary, leaving no impreffion upon the mind, we may refer the ardent thirst of novelty in mufic, and that almost general reprobation of whatever is old, against the fenfe of the poet; "Now, good Cefario, but that piece of fong, That old and antique fong we had last night, Methought it did relieve my paffion much; More than light ars, and recollected terms Of thote mest brifk and giddy-paced times.'' TWELFTH-NIGHT, A II. Scene IV. But to account for it is in no fmall degree difficult. To juftify it, it is faid, there is a natural viciffitude in things, and that it were vain to expect, that mufic fhould be permanent in a world where change feems to predominate. But it may here be observed, that there are certain laws of nature that Lays Mr. Handel, but it is not to them, but to thefe, turning to others of a vulgar ca, that I trust for the fuccefs of the opóra," now; from whence it fhould feem, that there are some subjects on which this principle of mutation does not operate: and to fpeak of mufic alone, that, to justify the love of that novelty, which feems capable of recommending almost any production, fome other reafons must be reforted to than thofe above. But declining all farther research into the reafon or caufes of this principle, let us attend to its effects, and thefe are visible in the almoft total ignorance which prevails of the merits. of most of the many excellent artists, who flourished in the ages preceding our own of Tye, of Redford, Shepherd, Douland, Weelks, Wilbye, Eft, Batefon, Hilton, and Brewer, we know little more than their names; thefe men compofed volumes, which are now difperfed and irretrievably loft, yet did their compofitions fuggeft thofe ideas of the power and efficacy of mufic, and thofe defcriptions of its manifold charms that occur in the verfes of our beft poets. To fay that thefe and the compofitions of their fucceffors Blow, Purcell, Humphry, Wife, Weldon, and others, were admired merely because they were new, is begging a queftion that will be beft decided by a comparison, which fome of the greatest among the profeffors of the art at this day would fhrink from. |