Heav'n's awful splendours to his sight display'd,
And all the horrors of the infernal shade.

It was not thus, when Young, in gloom embow'r'd *,
His nightly song of Lamentation pour'd;
And sought at last, from each domestic grief,
In fair Religion's hopes, a sure relief;

When he display'd Redemption's wond'rous plan,
And prov'd, beyond a doubt, Immortal Man.
What'er in him correcter Taste may blame
'Tis sure no want of Ardour's holy flame.
It was not thus, when Pope's harmonious lyre,
Caught from Isaiah's lips the hallow'd fire +:
Nor thus, when Addison, with polish'd care,
Made Moon and Stars their wond'rous birth declare ‡ :
Nor yet when Thomson breath'd his grateful soul
To Him at whose command the Seasons roll,

In that exalted hymn which crowns the finish'd whole.
And still when bards like these, such subjects choose,
No want of vigour shall depress the Muse;
But other Miltons, other Youngs arise,

And lift their raptur'd audience to the skies;
And teach them, soåring on Devotion's wings,

To look contemptuous down on sublunary things.'

}

The following extract is from the Picture of Homer the Rhapsodist: this piece is entirely lyric:

While thus o'er Battle's hateful hues,
He pour'd the splendour of his Muse,
Deck'd with glory's glitt'ring wreath,
Ev'ry savage deed of death,

And ev'ry gaping, ghastly wound,
To Music's richest notes attun'd;

Each youthful bosom caught the infectious rage
That stream'd incessant from his magic lyre,
Some haughty foeman would in thought engage,
And check his fury with their martial fire.

But now to more terrific themes,
To fabling Fancy's wilder dreams,
The pow'rful bard devotes his changing lyre;
In combat vain how Thetis child
Against the whelming river toil'd,

In darkness I'm embow'r'd;

Delightful gloom.'
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire.'-

Night Thoughts, V. 204.

Pope's Messiah, 6.

Alluding to his elegant and well known hymn:

The spacious Firmament on high.'

Till Vulcan, aided with the strength of fire *;
How Sparta's prince, his fortune to explore,
Enthrall'd the changeful wizard of the sea;
Heard him, a serpent hiss, a lion roar,
Blaze in a flame, and blossom in a tree t;
The Cyclops' gloomy cave then rose to view,
And all the horrors of his bloody meal;
The blank despair that seiz'd Ulysses' crew,
While in their fellows' fate their own they feel,
Until their dauntless monarch sage,

With hopes of safety, rous'd their rage;
When all with beating hearts drew nigh,
And, on the sleeping monster's eye,
The fiery vengeance sudden taught to fall,
And quench'd, in endless night, his solitary ball

What next he sung was Circe's sea-girt bow'r,
And how the same undaunted chief
Withstood the charms of magic pow'r,
And to his comrades brought relief;
When all had lost the human face divine,
Transformed by wicked arts to grov'ling swine §.
Then how with vain regret the hero saw,
Betwixt fell Scylla and Charybdis dire,
Crush'd in the wat'ry monsters boiling maw,
Six brave companions wretchedly expire ;
How Fate's command constrains him next to steer
Down to the dusky regions of the dead,

To hold high converse with the Theban seer,
And shows him there his mother's mournful shade,
With many a hero old, and heroine's ghost,

Which glide in shadowy shoals along the dreary coast
While thus the lyre, with heav'nly tongue,
Words of wildest wonder sung,
Each Girl and Boy,

With eager joy,

Around its master fondly hung.

In deep attention to the thrilling strain,

They drank each accent up with eager ear,

And felt, with strange delight, through ev'ry vein,

The chilling progress of the frost of fear."

We should not expect, from the author of this poem, such a couplet as this, which closes one of his compositions :

But lest our readers should their patience lose
Here, for the present, let us halt, oh Muse !?

Odyssey xii.

.* Iliad xxi. + Odyssey iv. ¶ Odyssey xi.'

+ Odyssey ix.

Odyssey X

The

The piece on the Madness of Poets is the only one that is written in the measure there adopted; and it seems well fitted for the anecdotes which it retails. For example;

In spite of all this, yet we cannot deny

The Madness of some of the fanciful fry.
Lucretius, for one, an example affords,
Not so easy to clothe in the decentest words;
The hand of his Mistress presented the bowl,
Whose contents quite unsettled his rational soul;
By the succours of art, she desir'd to improve
His natural relish for matters of Love;

Which the reader will see was sufficiently strong,
If he reads the Fourth Book of his wonderful Song,
But the drugs were too fierce for his volatile brains:
The Love is soon quench'd, but the Madness remains ;
Distraction succeeds to his amorous rage,

And long ere his time drives him off from the Stage *,
The Bard, who in Epic and Pastoral shin'd,
Had his intellects also by Love undermin'd;
Poor Tasso; who, sigh'd for too lofty a Dame,
And reap'd only despair as the fruit of his flame;
Hence that mental disease which reveal'd to his eye
Such objects as no other mortal could spy;
And brought to him daily, at Lunacy's hour,
That affable Sprite, that invisible Pow'r,

Who convers'd with him long, and, the conference o'er,
Was conducted with all due respect to the door t.

Lee, too, whose wild flights no discretion could bind,
For the space of four years, was in Bedlam confin'd;
And there to a Scribbler gave that repartee,
Which has oft been recorded, but not yet by me.
Says the Fop to the Bard, in his ill natur'd fun :
"To write like a Madman is easily done."
"Not so," answers Lee, 66 you are wrong if
you please,
But to write like a Fool is the matter of ease ‡."

To accomplish with success a design such as that which Mr. Thomson has conceived, not only considerable poetic talents are requisite, but a fund of classical learning, nice taste, and a discriminating judgment. We think that, with some limitation, Mr. T. has manifested valid claims to these qualities; and that, on the whole, this portion of his work is executed with a degree of ability which intitles it to public patronage.

Such is the account of the death of this Poet, transmitted to

us in the Eusebian Chronicle.'

+ See all the Lives of Tasso.'

キ

See the Biographia Dramatica, Article Leo.'

ART.

ART. VIII.

An Introduction to Harmony. By William Shield: 4to. pp. 125. 18s. Boards. Robinsons. 1800. FRO FRONTI nulla fides is an axiom which will often apply as well to books as to men. In general, the pretensions of a title-page are inadequately fulfilled in the volume: but, in the present instance, the work accomplishes much more than its modest title promises. An Introduction to Harmony seems to refer only to the chords in thorough-bass: but this ingenious author has extended the acceptation of the word Harmony to Melody, Modulation, and Effects. Though the first rudiments of music are here compressed into a small compass, the refinements of the art are detailed at considerable length; and the author's precepts seem not to arise from study and meditation only, but to be the offspring of long practice and experience.

As few extracts from such a performance would be intelligible, unless we could copy the plates, we shall give our readers a view of the contents; pointing out those parts which we think are the best executed, and most likely not only to satisfy musical students, but to please the oldest and most fastidious Professors and Dilettanti.

Crediting his readers for musical præcognita, as far as the first elements, Mr. Shield gives neither Gamut, Time-table, nor Characters, in the common way: but, with merely the 8 notes of the diatonic scale, from C to c, he proceeds directly to Intervals, and the common chord and its derivatives: that is, the chord of the 6th, and . He then explains the difference between a major and minor 3d.Similar and contrary motion-Forbidden progressions of 5ths and 8ths in similar motion, in the extreme and intermediate parts of a chord -Regular succession of 6ths allowed-Oblique motion-Leading note or sharp 7th of a key-Perfect and imperfect concord

Example of plain counterpoint, or note against note in 4 parts; in which the 2d violin moves in constant 6ths with the base.-The 4 Clefs in general use-Minor 7th and its derivatives-Inversion of Chords explained-A Glee for four Voices, (we believe) by the author of this work- Modern character for the increase and decrease of Sound-Imperfect or false 5th allowed-Perfect 5ths próhibited-Russian Air variously harmonized Favourite Progression (we should rather say modulation) with old authors, from the chord of A to G naturalAccidental sharps and flats-(we have not been told what the terms sharp and flat mean, nor what are the characters which express them: but these are supposed to have been already known, before a student thinks of thorough-bass, or composition)-Harmony, in chords which accompany the scale or 8 notes,

8 notes, ascending and descending in the bass-Octaves between the first and second treble, as well as tenor and base, allowed, and sometimes producing agreeable effect-All the notes of the chords to the bass scale figured, in the order in which they lie in the hand.

*

Thus far we have only had common rudiments, and such as every book of instructions for young musicians must necessarily contain, though they are here given in a more short and concise manner: but now the author proposes a new, and, we think, an admirable scheme for teaching the laws of harmony, or thorough-bass, on treble instruments; such as the violin, oboe, flute, &c. as well as the tenor, violoncello, and bassoon. Here Mr. Shield shall speak for himself:

Gentlemen who perform upon instruments which are incapable of sounding all the notes of a chord at the same instant, may convert harmony into melody, by a method, which, I hope, will prove as use ful as it is novel. In the following, as well as in the succeeding examples, the regulating note, which bears the chord that the melody is drawn from, is figured with the thorough bass signature. The intervals are counted upwards from that note, and the sounds of each chord are performed one after the other.'

Without musical types or plates, we are not able to explain this expedient: but we can assure our readers, who interest themselves in these matters, that it appears very practicable. Let us try a literary notation for a few notes. In the accom,

8

5

3

paniment of the scale, for instance, if c be the key note, and regarded as the bass, its product will be è g c; if d, figured

6

4

with a 3, be regarded as the 2d of the key, its product will be fg b, &c.

3

3

6534

Key note Čege Dfgb Egee Facd Gbdg Acfa Bdfg Cege 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th

&c.

The minuscules which accompany the capitals may be taken in any part of the instrument, as is most convenient for the hand, or may produce the best melody. After having explained and illustrated this expedient, the author proceeds to the dis cord of the 9th, its preparations, resolutions, and accompaniments; concluding with the terminations of two well-known instrumental compositions, in each of which the 9th is elegantly accompanied with a 3d and 5th.'

• Preliminary