were sounded exactly on the note, in which those syllables are now sung in the gamut.

Guido, therefore, supposed four parallel lines to be placed, and the lowest line to represent the sound ut; the space between this and the parallel line above it, to represent the sound re; the second parallel line to represent the sound mi; the space between it and the parallel line above it, to represent fa; the third parallel line to represent sol; and the space between it and the parallel line above it, to represent la. This formed a complete hexachord, or an ascending series, consisting of the first note, a full tone, another full tone, a half tone, a full tone, and another full tone. But, as the human voice extends to a greater compass, he supposed a second hexachord to begin at fa, and to rise, through sol, la, si flat, and ut, to re; and a third to begin at G, and to ascend through la, si natural, ut and re, to mi. To effect this, he adopted the gamma of the Greek alphabet, as a symbol for ut, so that, wherever it was placed, it was to represent ut.

It is to be observed, that the hymn, which suggested the gamut to Guido, is not now sung by the Romish choirs, in the melody, in which he heard it. But this melody has been discovered in the library of the cathedral church of Sens. A copy of it, and of the representation given by sir John Hawkins of the hexachords of Guido, is inserted in the plate opposite to this page.

It must be observed, that, in the second hexachord, si natural is to be admitted, and si flat rejected; and that, in the third hexachord, si natural is to be admitted, and si flat rejected. Thus the hexachord which begins with ut, is the first, or natural hexachord; that, which begins with fa, is the second, or soft hexachord; that, which begins with sol, is the third, or harsh hexachord. The representation given by sir John Hawkins of the hexachords, will be found to comprehend twenty notes, and to contain six generations of hexachords.

Such is the supposed improvement of Guido. His contemporaries speak of it in terms of the highest praise.

They say, that it enabled a boy to learn in one year, what, before that time, he could scarcely learn in ten. Some assert, that he received the knowledge of it by divine inspiration. Your correspondent begs leave to say, that to him, the merit of Guido's system of hexachords has ever appeared incomprehensible. Surely the diatonic tetrachords of the Greeks, afforded a scale much more simple, and much better constructed, both for practice and theory. It must be obvious to every one, that the final note of a tetrachord, both in the ascending and descending series, sounds to the ear as a regular close of the preceding series; and that the final note of a hexachord in the ascending series, sounds more as the beginning of a new series than as a close of a former.

Whatever may be the merit or defects of the Guidonian system, it remained in universal use till the close of the seventeenth century, when Le Maire, a French musician, is said to have assigned the syllable si, to the final note of the septenary, or the note between la and ut. This completely restored the Greek diatonic scale of tetrachords; and, by appropriating different letters or syllables to express the second tetrachord, was an improvement upon it.

It must be added, that the labours of musical beginners were considerably shortened by the introduction of the si. Your correspondent was one of the unfortunate beings, who learned the musical notation, by A re, B mi, Cfa ut, D sol re, E la mi, Ffa ut, G sol re ut; and the rest of that gibberish. In those days, masters were not fonder than they now are, of giving explanations. Had they told us, that the reason for there being more than one syllable added to the literal name of a note, was its appertaining to more than one hexachord, and showed the different places of these syllables in the different hexachords, it would have been food for the mind, and assisted the memory. But, speaking generally, no such explanation was given. It is surprising how late it was in the last century, before the very intricate solmization by the hexachords was abandoned, and the use of the si be

came general. In England, the si was adopted later than in any other part of musical Europe. This puts me in mind, that, till within these few years, the accounts in some departments of the exchequer were kept in the Roman mode of numerical notation, though the Arabic mode is so greatly its superior; and the practice of a single quarter of an hour, must convince even the dullest understanding, of its infinite superiority.

II. 4.

Division of Notes.

We now come to the Cantus mensurabilis, as it was termed in the middle age,—or the invention of musical notes of different durations in time. Till the period, of which we are now speaking, the only division of notes was into the long and the short note; the latter being half the duration of the former. But sometimes, in consequence of a point being added to it, a preceding note was lengthened by one half of its regular duration; and that proportion of it was taken from the following note.

The further division of musical measure seems to be generally ascribed to Magister Franco, who died in 1083; it was extended by him to the minum; our countryman, Morley, says, "that the ancient musicians esteemed this the shortest note singable." By degrees it was extended to the demisemiquaver, or a note with three hooks. But, even in the beginning of the last century, these subdivisions were little used. At present we have notes with five hooks, or quarter demisemiquavers.

II. 5.
Musical Bars.

EVERY musical piece is divided into equal portions of time, called measures. These are ascertained to the eye by straight lines, called bars, drawn down the stave; so that all the notes contained between two bars, constitute one measure. In the canto fermo of the Romish church,

two bars were used; one, that went down the whole length of the stave; the other, that went down half its length. They were introduced for the purpose of allowing to the singer a greater or less space of time for taking his breath. But, both in some manuscript and some printed books of the canto fermo, a bar is placed by mistake at the end of each word.

The use of bars is not of great antiquity, as a higher period than the middle of the 16th century cannot be assigned to them; and it was not till the middle of the 17th, that they became general. They are constantly used in the "Ayres and Dialogues of Henry Lawes," published in 1653. This, it is supposed, gave them fashion and currency in England. It is probable that Milton, in the sonnet, which he addressed to Lawes, alluded to this circumstance in the lines, with which it begins:

"Henry! whose tuneful and well-measured song,
First taught our English music how to span
Words, with just notes and accent, not to scan
With Midas' ears, committing short and long!"

It is observable, that, within these fifty years, Martini published in Italy, in elegant characters, a set of canons without bars. So much are we now accustomed to bars, that several vocal performers of great eminence, into whose hands your correspondent put these canons, could not sing them at sight.

II. 6.

Descant, or Music in Parts.

"CECILIA'S world of sound," as the organ is happily termed by Mr. Collins, in his ode, entitled "The Passions," is an instrument of considerable antiquity. The water organ seems to have been invented in the time of the second Ptolemy Evergétes. The wind organ is mentioned in a Greek epigram in the Anthologia, attributed to the emperor Julian, and seems to have become common in the time of Vitiges, a Gothic monarch, who reigned in the beginning of the 6th century. All writers

agree that the first ORGAN seen in France, was sent, in 757, by Constantine Copronimus, the Byzantine emperor, to Pepin, the founder of the Carlovingian dynasty; and that soon afterward, it was introduced into churches, in every part of the western empire. It then began to be used in accompanying the voice.

The

Whether, before this time, either in Greece or Rome, or during the middle ages, music in parts, or simultaneous harmony by settled rules, was known, has more than once been a subject of profound discussion. better opinion appears to be, that, till this time, it was altogether unknown; and that at first, the organ was played in unison; but that, by degrees, the facility of extracting from the organ different sounds at the same time, caused "the concord of sweet sounds" to be remarked, and practised both upon the instrument and with voices, and in an union of one to the other. The minor third seems to have first caught the ear; and it became customary for two voices to sing in unison till the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable; then, to divide these into a minor third, and to close in unison. Even after the middle of the last century, this was thought an accomplishment, in places at a distance from the capital. It was termed organizing. After the accompaniment of the organ to the voice, in a different note, became common, the accompaniment generally moved in fourths, when it was above the voice; and in fifths, when it was under it.

At first, harmony was confined to two parts, and called Descant, or Deux-chants, from the two performers. It was successively increased, and in proportion to its increase was called organization in triplo, quartuplo, and quintuplo. To Magister Franco, whom we have already mentioned, Descant, or music in parts, had great obligations, and it was considerably advanced by John de Muris. But all preceding writers on the theory of music were eclipsed by Fanchino Gaffurio, elected, in 1484, Maestro di Capella of the cathedral church of Milan, and professor of music in that city. He left five treatises;