The music of the Chinese, like their character, is grave. A gay and lively people, like the French, have a sprightly music. A people of strong passion, like the Italians, have a music breathing of desire and all the stronger emotions of the soul. The Germans have a sentimental music; the Russians a plaintive melody. The more rural a people, the simpler their music; the more artificial and civilized the state of society, the more harmonious and cultivated will their music be, partaking of the refinement of the other fine arts.

It is among the mass of the people that the national music must be sought, which being generally song, either alone or accompanied, attention should be paid, not only to the melody, but to the sentiments expressed in their ballads.

To give the history of the music of any people is a great labour; to trace out all the moral and physical causes which exercise an influence on the music of a people is without doubt a very interesting philosophical exercise, but one abounding in difficulty. The traveller, therefore, admitting as generally true, the fact, that there exists a very marked analogy between the moral disposition of a people and the character of their music, may confine his observations on the subject as

follows:

Is music generally cultivated in the country, or only by certain classes, and which?

What kind of music is cultivated in preference, vocal or instrumental?

What is the character of the national music, is it grave or sprightly, sentimental, plaintive, impassioned, varied or monotonous in its melody, simple or complicated? Whether is melody or harmony most admired? Do they sing prose, or verse, or both?

What are the usual musical instruments of the country? If there are any that are peculiar to it, what is their construction and capability, and how are they played?

What instruments are preferred?

Is music consecrated to, or employed in, religious worship; and if so, what kind of music?

Is music performed at public and private festivals ?

Is there any difference; and if so, what, in the instruments employed on these several occasions?

Does the government encourage music by the establish

ment of schools where it is taught, or by recompenses granted

to those who excel in it?

Does the government endeavour to employ music as a means of moral improvement, and for humanizing the manners of the people?

Is music exercised as a particular profession, and do musicians enjoy any exclusive privileges?

What are the most remarkable facts in the musical history of the country, and who are the individuals who have been the most distinguished for their musical talent?

It is not man, says Monsigny, but the Supreme Creator of the universe who has ordained that there should be in music, seven notes, three genera, two modes, two measures, and twenty-seven different accords in every octave. Notwithstanding this law of nature, however, we are not to suppose that all nations which cultivate music are aware of this, as is evident by the variety in the musical scales of their instruments, which the traveller should take care to notice. In a word, he should observe every thing relating to music, both as regards its practice and its theory; ascertain its prevalence, its moral influence, the state of perfection or decay of the art and the causes in either case.

DIVISION VIII.

HISTORY.

Nothing so much increases the interest we take in a country as its history. The traveller, acquainted with the principal events which have illustrated a country; who knows the epochs and the causes of its various revolutions, the spots rendered famous by battles, by treaties of peace, by successes or reverses, finds at every step he takes subjects for meditation and objects of interest. Here meeting with the ruins of a gothic pile, long the residence of some feudal baron, the terror of the neighbourhood, he is reminded of those dark and barbarous ages in which the few tyrannized over the many. Then coming upon gardens, orchards, and thriving hamlets, where formerly stagnant waters and pestilential marshes spread around their homicidal influence, he blesses the good king, the father of his people, who reigned but for their happiness, and effected those beneficial changes. Here a battle was fought which decided the fate of empires, there was signed a treaty of peace and amity between people that had long been at war with each other. Here was the retreat of a persecuted sage, there a tyrant was put to death; here rose the pyre lighted by fanaticism, further on, there still flows the stream once reddened with the blood of human victims; there was erected by a fanatic people the scaffold of a martyr king; here a woman, superior to her sex, commanded victorious armies; there is the voluptuous retreat that formerly echoed with the revelries of an effeminate prince; there Damiens was torn upon the rack; there the innocent Calas suffered an ignominous death; here torture was first abolished; there, judgment by jury was first established; there perished Nero; there lived Marcus Aurelius; but wherefore this enumeration? Who can travel over Syria without calling to mind the passion of our Sa

viour, and who can reflect upon what He suffered for us without becoming better. Who can wander over the classic land of Greece without feeling himself penetrated with enthusiasm for the fine arts. Who can visit the mines of Mexico and Peru without shedding a tear over the fate of Montezuma, Guatimosa, and Ataliba? And thus it is that a knowledge of the history of the country traversed awakens, at every step, interesting objects of meditation.

The history of the several European nations is generally known, as are the principal events of that of the Asiatic nations; but even were this not the case, it is not the province of the traveller to write history; all that he can be expected to do in this respect is, if he be in a country whose history is well known, to satisfy himself, as far as possible, on the spot, and by an examination of such archives as he can get admittance to, of the truth of such historical facts as may appear problematical or obscure.

Whenever a traveller, however, remains sufficiently long. among a people little known, he would do well to collect as many materials as possible for their history: with this view, the study of their monuments is indispensible. It is by the examination of these that he will be enabled to judge of the state of civilization to which the nation had arrived when they produced those several objects which come under the denomination of monuments; such as ancient buildings, public and private, &c. It may be observed, however, of buildings, that scarcely any but those of a public nature are preserved for posterity; for these being constructed by the united efforts of the people or by their sovereigns, are naturally proportionate to the greatness of the means employed in their construction, and they have therefore an extent and solidity which the private fortunes of individuals can but rarely accomplish. Moreover, the objects of their construction being national, the people have naturally endeavoured to render them worthy of their destination, by employing the ablest artists, the most precious and durable materials. Some monuments, it is true, seem to prove nothing but the vanity and magnificence of princes and great men, who perhaps displayed so much the greater wealth and power as the people possessed less of either; but such monuments enlighten us just as much regarding the state of the arts at the time of their construction, as if their object had been quite different.

The public edifices to which we have alluded are such as

Temples, Mausoleums, Palaces, Citadels, Public Baths, &c. Their number shows us the state of morals and religion, and their construction, the state of the arts at the time. We may also mention as monuments of the mechanical arts, such sculpture, engraved stones, coins, paintings, utensils, armour and arms, which have been preserved, despite the ravages of time.

Ancient writings are among the most authentic monuments of the liberal arts and of the sciences. Poetry is one of the first efforts of the imagination; the dramatic art comes later. The subjects of which they both treat, and the way in which they are treated, throw great light in general on the taste of the people.

Scientific writings show the progress of logic or metaphysics, ethics and physics. The first, we need hardly say, treats of the operations of the intelligence, the second of morals, the third of the properties and qualities of bodies.

Where one is fortunate enough to find any writings relating to the laws and usages of a people, they should be regarded as monuments of the most valuable kind, and when, during the first ages of the existence of the people, of whose history we are seeking for materials, they had as yet no written character, we should endeavour to arrive at a knowledge of the signification of their hieroglyphs or symbols; (which often contain the representation of certain ceremonies or the records of memorable events), by an acquaintance with their manners and usages, as deduced from the examination and the comparison of their other monuments.

As for hieroglyphs they are of different kinds, those in which we find represented a part of an object for the whole, are called curiological; those in which we find an object put for another by reason of the analogy or resemblance that exists between them are called tropical, all emblems are of this kind. A third kind called phonetical have a direct relation not to things but to a spoken language.

As there is an allegorical and an historical antiquity, so there are allegorical and historical monuments. The traveller should be careful to distinguish between them, otherwise he will be likely to commit great errors.

Oral traditions also are deserving of the greatest attention; but great sagacity is required to separate the falsehoods they contain from the truth. It often happens that the most important truths lie hidden under ingenious allegories. In endeavouring to explain them, the traveller