OCR Text |
Show [ f 34· ] infl:ances of which are in Mr. Anfl:ie's Bath-Guide. In this kind of verfe the bar does not begin till after the firfl: or fecond fyllable; and where the verfe is quite complete, and written by a good ear, thefe firfi fyllables added to the lafi complete the bar, exactly in this · alfo correfponding with many pieces of mufic ; 2 Yet 1 if one may .guefs by the I fize of his calf, Sir, . 4 He 1 weighs above twenty -three I :fl:one and a half, Su. 2 Mafl:er I Mamozet's head was not I fini:lhed fo foon, 4 For it I took up the barber a l whole afternoon. In thefe lines each bar confifis of a crotchet, two quavers, another crotchet, and two more quavers: which are equal to four crotchets, and, like many bars of common time in mufic, may be fubdivided into two in beating time without difiurbing the meafure. The following verfes from Shenfione belong likewife to com-mon time: 2 A I river or a fea 1 4 Was to him a difh I of tea, And a king I dom bread and butter. The firfl: and fecond bars confifi each of a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet. The third bar confifis of a quaver, two crotchets, a quaver, a crotchet. The lafi bar is not complete without adding the letter A, which begins the firfi line, and then it confifis of a quaver, a crotchet, a quaver, a crotchet, two quavers. It mufi be obferved, that the crotchets ii1 triple time are in general played by muficians flower than thofe of common time, and hence minuets are generally pricked in triple time, and country dances generally in common time. So the verfes above related, which are analogous to triple time; are generally read flower than [ 1 35 ] thofe analogous. to common time; and arc thence generally ufed for graver co~pofitwns. I fuppofe all the different kinds of verfes to be found m our odes, which have any meafure at all, might be arranged under one .o r other of thefe two mufical t1"mes ; a1 1 owm· g a note or two fomet1mes to precede the commencement of th b d fi . e ar, an occa wnal refis, as m mufical compofitio11s.· 1·f th.1 s was at-tended to by thofe who fet poetry to mufic, it is probable the found and fen~e would oftener coincide. Whether thefe mufical times can be apphed to the lyric and heroic verfes of the Greek and Latin poets, I do not pretend to de~er.mine; certain it is, that the daCl:yle verfe of our language, when 1t 1s ended with a double rhime, much refe~bles the meafure of Homer and Virgil, except in the length of the hnes. B. Then there is no relationihip between the other two of th fc .fifier-ladies, Painting and Mufic? e e P. There is at le~{l: a mathematical relationfhip, or perhaps I o~1ght rather to have fatd a metaphyfical relationfhip, between them. S1r Ifaac New.ton has obferved, that the breadths of the feven prim. ary colours m the Sun's image refracted by a prifm , are propor-tiOnal to . the feven mufical notes of the gamut ' or to th e m· terva1 s of the etght founds contained in an octave, that is, proportional to the following numbers : Sol. La. Fa. Sol. La. Mi. Fa. Sol. Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. I I I I 9 16 10 9 16 i6 9 Newton's Optics, Book I. part 2. prop. 3· and 6. Dr. Smith, in his Harmonics, has an explanatory note upon this happy difco. very, as he terms it, of Newton. Sect. 4· Art. 7· |