PARTI. the daughters of Memory31. And the Muses were ever ready to sound the charge to battle, to sing the triumphal song82, or record the actions of heroes. Music had the same origin with poetry. The shepherd or herdsman sung the praise of his mistress; celebrated their happy loves, or bewailed his unreciprocated passion, in melody suited to the sentiment which his verses conveyed. To the voice succeeded the pipe or reed, through which the lover breathed his tender emotions; not expressed in language, but by the mute eloquence of the eye, unless when the beloved fair accompanied the sound of the reed with her voice; and either declared their mutual bliss, or lamented their unhappy lot3. 81. Hesiod. Theog. Musical 82. The most ancient triumphal song is that of Moses, after the miraculous passage of the Arabian gulf. "Thus sang Moses, and the children of Israel, this song unto the Lord :—" For he hath triumphed "gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. "The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation: "he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's "God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war, the LORD "is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the "sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them, they sank to the bottom as a stone. Thy "right hand, O Lord! is become glorious in power; thy right hand, "O Lord! hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of "thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against "thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stub"ble. And with the blast of thy nostrils, the waters were gathered "together: the floods stood upright, as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue; "I will overtake, I will divide the spoil: my lust shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them. "Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank "as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord! amongst the gods?" Exodus, chap. xv. ver. 1-11. 83. See Premier Mem. sur les Chansons de l'Ancienne Greece, par M. de la Nauze. 84. Here we find, by a natural progression, the separation and reunion of poetry and music. The enamoured swain first sung his own verses; to unburden his mind, or to please his mistress. He next breathed VII. Musical instruments, but especially wind instru- LETTER ments, were soon employed in the service of religion. And the harp or lyre, a stringed instrument, was very early in use among the Grecian cheiftains and military bards85. The compositions of those bards, rapid, sublime, and wild, were naturally adapted to the lyre; though they had not the perfect form of the higher ode, the merit of constructing which is due to the genius of Pindar. But before Pindar, who does not fall within the period under review, the Greeks had many celebrated lyric poets. Among those Archilocus, Terpander, Stecichorus, and Alcæus, are eminently distinguished by ancient critics: but as their writings, except a few fragments, are now lost, I shall not enter into a dissertation on their reputed merit88. Two odes breathed through his reed the air to which they were attuned; and when his mistress sung his verses, while he played the tune, poetry and music were reunited, though not in the person of the composer. The same things happened in a more advanced stage of poetry and music. The military bards originally sung their verses, and afterward accompanied the song with the sound of the lyre (Blackwell's Life of Homer, passim.). But as it was found that a good poet might have a bad voice, and be little skilled in touching the lyre or harp, the professions of poetry and music were separated, as we have seen (Lett VI.), on the re-establishment of the pythian games. But although the congenial professions were separated, for the pleasure of the admirers of the sister-arts, poetry and music were generally associated at all the Grecian festivals. The ode was sung and accom. panied with instrumental music; though that music was not always composed by the poet, or executed either by his voice or instrument. 85. Hom. Iliad. et Odyss. passim. 36. Blackwell's Life of Homer. 87. See Discour. sur Pindare, et sur la Poesic Lyrique, par M. de Charbanon, et auct. cit. 88. Several of those poets excelled no less in elegiac, than in lyric composition. But as all their elegies, as well as their odes, have perished in the flux of time, or sunk a prey to barbarism, I shall transcribe an elegy of a more early age; by David, king of Israel, the immortal Hebrew lyric poet. "And David lamented with this "lamentation PART I. odes of Sappho, the Lesbian poetess, and seventy of Anacreon, the Teian bard, furnish better room for critical examination. Sappho appears to have possessed a soul highly susceptible of love, and her verses convey the soft sentiment in voluptuous excess89. But Sappho's love took an unaccountable direction: it turned upon her own sex. And the ardour of this Sapphic passion, is strikingly described in the celebrated little ode, preserved and applauded by Longinus. It may thus be paraphrased, for it cannot admit of translation: "Blest as the gods the favour'd swain, Who, sitting by thee, tells his pain; "The beauty "lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son. 66 89. A fragment of one of her pieces, seemingly written in early life, exhibits strong marks of her amorous character. "Cease, dear mother! cease to chide, "I can no more the golden shuttle guide; Frag. Sappho. "Who "Who hears thee speak, who sees thee smile, LETTER "And sips thy ruby lip the while. VII. "When I behold thy blooming charms, But Sappho's talent for lyric poetry is best displayed in her Ode to Venus; one of the most beautiful poems that antiquity has left us, and which has been translated into English verse with all the fire, spirit, and flow of the original9o. "O Venus! beauty of the skies, "O Goddess! from my heart remove, "If ever thou hast kindly heard 90. This translation bears the name of Ambrose Philips, but is supposed to have been executed by Joseph Addison. See Warton's Essay on the Genius of Pope, vol. i. "Thou PART I. "Thou once did'st leave almighty Jove, "The birds dismiss'd, while you remain, "What frenzy in my bosom raged, "Though now he shuns thy longing arms, "Though now he freeze, he soon shall burn, "Celestial visitant! once more, Anacreon, though not devoid of feeling, diverted the anxieties of love by mirth and wine. And he has given us more perfect examples of gaily amorous and jovial |