LECT. lating the measures of profe, he comes at last, with his ufual good fenfe, to this conclusion: "In univerfum, fi fit neceffe, duram potiùs atque afperam compofitionem malim effe, quam effeminatam ac enervem, qualis apud "multos. Ideòque, vincta quædam de in"duftria funt folvenda, ne laborata videantur; neque ullum idoneum aut aptum verbum prætermittamus, gratiâ lenitatis*." Lib. ix.

C. 4.

CICERO, as I before obferved, is one of the most remarkable patterns of a harmonious ftyle. His love of it, however, is too vifible; and the pomp of his numbers fometimes detracts from his ftrength. That noted close of his, effe videatur, which, in the Oration Pro Lege Manilia, occurs eleven times, expofed him to cenfure among his cotemporaries. We must observe, however, in defence of this great Orator, that there is a remarkable union in his ftyle, of harmony with eafe, which is always a great beauty; and if his harmony be ftudied,

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Upon the whole, I would rather chufe, that com. pofition fhould appear rough and harsh, if that be necef fary, than that it should be enervated and effeminate, fuch as we find the style of too many. Some fentences, "therefore, which we have ftudiously formed into melody, "fhould be thrown loofe, that they may not seem too much laboured; nor ought we ever to omit any proper or expreffive word, for the fake of fmoothing a period."

that

that study appears to have coft him little ECT. trouble.

AMONG Our English claffics, not many are diftinguished for mufical arrangement. Milton, in fome of his profe works, has very finely turned periods; but the writers of his age indulged a liberty of inverfion, which now would be reckoned contrary to purity of ftyle: and though this allowed their Sentences to be more stately and fonorous, yet it gave them too much of a Latinized conftruction and order. Of later writers, Shaftsbury is, upon the whole, the most correct in his numbers. As his ear was delicate, he has attended to mufic in all his Sentences; and he is peculiarly happy in this refpect, that he has avoided the monotony into which writers, who ftudy the grace of found, are very apt to fall: having diverfified his periods with great variety. Mr. Addison has also much harmony in his ftyle; more eafy and fmooth, but lefs varied, than Lord Shaftsbury. Sir William Temple is, in general, very flowing and agreeable. Archbishop Tillotson is too often carelefs and languid; and is much outdone by bishop Atterbury in the mufic of his periods. Dean Swift defpifed mufical arrangement altogether.

'

HITHERTO I have difcourfed of agreeable found, or modulation, in general. It yet re

XIII.

XII.

LECT. mains to treat of a higher beauty of this kind; the found adapted to the fenfe. The former was no more than a fimple accompaniment, to please the ear; the latter fuppofes a peculiar expreffion given to the mufic. We may remark two degrees of it: Firft, the current of found, adapted to the tenor of a discourse: next, a particular refemblance effected between fome object, and the founds that are employed in defcribing it.

FIRST, I fay, the current of found may be adapted to the tenor of a difcourfe. Sounds have, in many refpects, a correspondence with our ideas; partly natural, partly the effect of artificial affociations. Hence it happens, that any one modulation of found continued, imprints on our Style a certain character and expreffion. Sentences constructed with the Ciceronian fulness and fwell, produce the impreffion of what is important, magnificent, fedate; for this is the natural tone which fuch a course of fentiment affumes. But they fuit no violent paffion, no eager reafoning, no familiar addrefs. Thefe always require measures brifker, eafier, and often more abrupt. And, therefore, to fwell, or to let down the periods, as the fubject demands, is a very important rule in oratory. No one tenor whatever, fuppofing it to produce no bad effect from fatiety, will anfwer to all different compofitions; nor even to all the parts of the fame compofi

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tion. It were as abfurd to write a panegyric, LECT. and an invective, in a style of the fame cadence, as to fet the words of a tender lovefong to the air of a warlike march.

OBSERVE how finely the following Sentence of Cicero is adapted, to reprefent the tranquillity and ease of a satisfied ftate: "Etfi "homini nihil eft magis optandum quam

profpera, æquabilis, perpetuaque fortuna, "fecundo vitæ fine ulla offenfione curfu; " tamen, fi mihi tranquilla et placata omnia

fuiffent, incredibili quâdam et pene divinâ, "quâ nunc veftro beneficio fruor, lætitiæ " voluptate caruiffem." Nothing was ever more perfect in its kind: it paints, if we may fo fpeak, to the ear. But, who would not have laughed, if Cicero had employed fuch periods, or fuch a cadence as this, in inveighing against Mark Antony, or Catiline? What is requifite, therefore, is, that we previously fix, in our mind, a juft idea of the general tone of found which fuits our fubject; that is, which the fentiments we are to express, most naturally affume, and in which they most commonly vent themselves; whether round and fmooth, or ftately and folemn, or brisk and quick, or interrupted and abrupt. This general idea muft direct the modulation of our periods: to speak in the ftyle of mufic, muft

*Orat. ad Quirites, poft Reditum.

LECT. give us the key note, muft form the ground of the melody; varied and diverfified in parts, according as either our fentiments are diverfified, or as is requifite for producing a fuitable variety to gratify the ear.

Ir may be proper to remark, that our tranf lators of the Bible have often been happy in fuiting their numbers to the fubject. Grave, folemn, and majestic subjects undoubtedly require fuch an arrangement of words as runs much on long fyllables; and, particularly, they require the close to reft upon fuch. fuch. The very first verses of the Bible, are remarkable for this melody: "In the beginning, God "created the heavens and the earth; and the "earth was without form, and void; and "darkness was upon the face of the deep; and "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the "waters." Several other paffages, particu larly fome of the Pfalms, afford striking examples of this fort of grave, melodious conftruction. Any compofition that rises confiderably above the ordinary tone of prose, fuch as monumental infcriptions, and panegyrical characters, naturally runs into numbers of this kind.

BUT, in the next place, befides the general correspondence of the current of found with the current of thought, there may be a more particular