CHAP. IX.

Observations for a _Singer_.

CHAP. X.

Of _Passages_ or _Graces_.

Footnotes.

THE

INTRODUCTION.

The Opinions of the ancient Historians, on the Origin of Musick, are
various. _Pliny_ believes that _Amphion_ was the Inventor of it; the
_Grecians_ maintain, that it was _Dionysius_; _Polybius_ ascribes it to
the _Arcadians_; _Suidas_ and _Boetius_ give the Glory entirely to
_Pythagoras_; asserting, that from the Sound of three Hammers of
different Weights at a Smith's Forge, he found out the Diatonick; after
which _Timotheus_, the _Milesian_, added the Chromatick, and
_Olympicus_, or _Olympus_, the Enharmonick Scale. However, we read in
holy Writ, that _Jubal_, of the Race of _Cain, fuit Pater Canentium
Cithara & Organo_, the Father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ;
Instruments, in all Probability consisting of several harmonious Sounds;
from whence one may infer, Musick to have had its Birth very soon after
the World.

Sec. 2. To secure her from erring, she called to her Assistance many
Precepts of the Mathematicks; and from the Demonstrations of her
Beauties, by Means of Lines, Numbers, and Proportions, she was adopted
her Child, and became a Science.

Sec. 3. It may reasonably be supposed that, during the Course of several
thousand Years, Musick has always been the Delight of Mankind; since the
excessive Pleasure, the _Lacedemonians_ received from it, induced that
Republick to exile the abovementioned _Milesian_, that the _Spartans_,
freed from their Effeminacy, might return again to their old Oeconomy.

Sec. 4. But, I believe, she never appeared with so much Majesty as in the
last Centuries, in the great Genius of _Palestrina_, whom she left as an
immortal Example to Posterity. And, in Truth, Musick, with the Sweetness
of _his_ Harmony, arrived at so high a Pitch (begging Pardon of the
eminent Masters of our Days), that if she was ranked only in the Number
of Liberal Arts, she might with Justice contest the Pre-eminence[1].

Sec. 5. A strong Argument offers itself to me, from that wonderful
Impression, that in so distinguished a Manner is made upon our Souls by
Musick, beyond all other Arts; which leads us to believe that it is part
of that Blessedness which is enjoyed in Paradise.

Sec. 6. Having premised these Advantages, the Merit of the Singer should
likewise be distinguished, by reason of the particular Difficulties that
attend him: Let a Singer have a Fund of Know