"Hinc accidit ut ea, quæ subtilius intuentibus et artis arcana acute discernentibus internas et ineffabiles comparant animi delicias, ea non attendentibus, sed quasi videndo non videntibus, et audiendo non intelligentibus, aures potius onerent quam delectent et tanquam confuso inordinatoque strepitu invitis auditoribus fastidia pariant tædiosa."

So far the account of Ireland (observes my author) is communicated to Wales also! But what follows is only in the account of Ireland.

Notandum vero quod Scotia et Gwallia, hæc propagationis," (a term used solely for propaginis as rapacitate before for rapiditate,) “illa commeationis et affinitatis gratiâ, Hiberniam in modulis æmulâ imitari nituntur disciplinâ. Hibernia quidem tantum duobus utitur et delectatur instrumentis, cytharâ scilicet et tympano;" (Cytharâ in other authors lyra.)

"Scotia tribus, cytharâ, tympano et choro; Gwallia vero cytharâ tibiis, et choro." "Choro," (remarks our author) is evidently the "crowd," the "crota Britanna," of Venantius Fortunatus the "cowth," of Wales at present, derived by the Welch scholars very judiciously from the Greek chorus, and so transformed into "choro" by Giraldus. And the tibiæ are the bagpipes, called by Buchanan "Tibia utriculari," and by Good also in Camden 792, for the Irish. "neis quoque magis utuntur chordis Hiberni, quam de coris factis-multorum autem opinione, hodie Scotia non tantum magistram æquiparavit Hiberniam, verum etiam in musicâ peritiâ longe prævalet et præcellit. Unde et ibi quasi fontem artis jam requirunt."

"I find the commendable history of this nation," says GIRALDUS, though himself a Welchman, with a dignified ingenuousness in his description of the Irish manners so early as the twelfth century, "only in their musical instruments; in which it is incomparably well instructed beyond every nation that I have seen. For the modulation is not in these as in the British instruments to which we are accustomed, slow and morose, but swift and precipitate, yet sweet and pleasant." So far the author speaks only of the Irish, but what he further asserts he has applied equally to the Welch in a later work: "The wonder is, that in such a precipitate rapidity of fingers the musical time is kept; and by an art never lost through the whole, amidst the varied measures and the multiplicity of intricate tones, with a sweetness so swift, with a purity so unimpaired, with a concord so discordant, the melody is rendered full, whether it runs

through four notes or extends to five. Yet they always begin with a soft air, and to a soft air return at last, that the whole may be completed with the sweetness of a pleasing harmony. So subtly do they enter and pass through the measures, and so much under the blunter sound of the heavier chord, do the tinklings of the slender play with greater freedom, delight with greater secresy, and soothe with greater wantonness, that the greatest point of art seems to be in hiding the art, as if

"When hid it profits, when detected shames."

"Hence it comes that those airs, which carry internal and ineffable delight of mind to such as look more subtly into the business, and discern the secrets of the art acutely, do rather load than delight the ears of such as attend not to them, as seeing do not see, or hearing do not understand, and by a confused unmeaning crash of music, beget in the unwilling hearers a fatigue and disgust."

So far the account of Ireland is communicated to Wales, and what follows is confined to Ireland again :

"But it must be observed of Scotland and Wales, this as the stock of all, that as having affinity and commerce with it, by an emulous discipline, labour to imitate Ireland in its measures. Ireland indeed uses and delights in only two instruments-the harp and the drum. Scotland has three-the harp, the drum, and the crowd. But Wales has the harp, the bag-pipes, and the crowd. The Irish use strings of brass rather than thongs of leather; yet, in the opinion of many, Scotland has at this day not only equalled her mistress Ireland, but is even far beyond and above her in musical skill. Therefore they now seek, as it were, for the fountain of the art even there."

These are curious passages, not only as they tend to establish the origin of the Scotch music, which I believe is not very generally known to have been Irish, but as they throw great light upon the music at large of our ancestors, which in that early period it seems consisted both of melody and harmony. And in regard to Scotch and Irish airs there are in the present day many of them common to both nations. "I have met with a musical Highlander in Breadalbane's fencibles," says BURNS in his correspondence with MR. THOMSON; vide his Works, vol. 4th, p. 92, " which are quartered here, who assures me that he well remembers his mother's singing Gaelic songs to both Robin Adair and Gramachree." They certainly have more of the Scotch than Irish taste in them. This

man comes from the vicinity of Inverness; so it could not be any intercourse with Ireland that could bring them; except, what I shrewdly suspect to be the case, the wandering minstrels, harpers and pipers, used to go frequently errant through the wilds both of Scotland and Ireland, and so some favourite airs might be common to both. A case in point:-They have lately in Ireland publishe: an Irish air, as they say, called "Cann du Delish." The fact is, in a publication of CORRI's, a great while ago, you will find the same air, called a Highland one, with a Gaelic song set to it. Its name there, I think, is Dran Gaoil, and a fine air it is. Do ask honest Allan, or the Rev. Gaelic Parson, about these matters." The preceding passages from GIRALDUS you will perceive, Sir, satisfactorily account for this, nevertheless.

As I am not myself an antiquary, Mr. Editor, either in the musical or the common way, I shall not pretend to give my opinion upon the subject-it would be folly if I did; but I do wish that through the medium of your valuable Magazine, some one of your Correspondents would favour us with a dissertation upon the Rise and Progress of Music in those kingdoms which, now united, form part of the British empire; some one, who has greater leisure, means, and abilities, for the prosecution of this enquiry, than have fallen, Sir, to the share of Your obedient Servant,

Cambridge, August 8th, 1820.

JUVENIS.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

I Transmit you the following sketch, which is a transcript of what passed through the mind of a man of genius on playing the picce, with the person who now addresses you. The object of instrumental music is not alone to inspire organic pleasure by sounds, but to create intellectual delight by raising images, emotions, and passions in the mind. By some it may be thought a mere rhapsody, but there are others who will compare their own ideas with the sketch, and it may thus tend to decide how far instrumental music possesses the power of expressing the notions of the composer, who alone can know whether his thoughts, during the fervor of composition, bore any analogy to those of his translator.

I am, Sir, your's, &c.

Herts.

C.

A Sketch of a Translation of Beethoven's Trio, op. 70. No. 1.

Figure to yourself an extensive green, on the skirts of a wood, on a fine summer's day-it is the day when all the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages meet at a fair in that place-you hear the confused noise of the gathering crowds. Soon after this opening, you see a sweet young woman, who having thought herself deserted by her lover, is ready to faint upon meeting him-he explains and apologizes: the crowd interrupts them several times, but their tender dialogue is heard whenever the noise ceases. Some bars in triplets draw your attention to a few clowns who, at a distance, are attempting to set up a dance.

The adagio, however, brings on an extraordinary change-the sky is lowering and overcast--the country people foresee a tremendous storm-the wind rises by degrees, after a sweet though melancholy calm-you hear it in the long discordant notes of the violin and bass, while the left hand of the pianist makes the thunder roll in deep and awful sounds-still you hear the lovers in some sweet melodies, which the storm cannot silence. The pelting of the rain, and the whistling of the wind, continue for a considerable time;

but the sudden introduction of a major key shews a break in the clouds; rain and thunder succeed, but the atmosphere is now gra dually clearing up. After some acute and prolonged notes, which imitate the more distant howlings of the wind, a shower of large thin scattered drops, expressed by the clashing movement of a passage in demi-demi-semi-quavers, indicates approaching serenity.

The peasants come out of the wood with great alacrity, but the view of some dark clouds still hovering over the plain, produces a sudden check on the whole company. This doubt stops now and then their growing mirth, until life and motion become general. The lovers themselves having settled their quarrel, join in the amusements, and are nearly lost in the crowd. The scene, henceforward, becomes extremely varied, and the imagination is scarcely allowed to dwell long on any particular object.-There is, however, a very prominent and characteristic group in this part of the picture;—it is that of some young girls romping together, and laughing in the truest spirit of country coquetry at a set of lads who follow them at some distance. As the piano and violin rise by semitones in a series of thirds, you see the girls receding without turning their faces, and balancing their steps backwards, until they settle into an undulating motion like dancing. The prettiest girl now steps forward, and, during a lively giddy solo of the piano, she trips it along in front of the group. A moment after you hear a loud scream, and the girls set off full speed, as the lads try to frighten them by a charge en masse, but the girls soon face their pursuers, and the same playful scene is repeated a second time; at last these two groups disappear. The rest of the movement has all the variety of the confused assemblage it was intended to describe-singing, dancing, leaping, moving in all directions, the crowd amuse themselves and all those who either understand BEETHOVEN's language or are happy enough to think they do.