waterfall, or the wild roar of the waves; in the hum of distant multitudes, or the concussion of sonorous bodies; in the winds, alike when their dying cadence falls lightly on the ear as it gently agitates the trees of the forest, as when the hurricane sweeps around, and in terrific accents betrays the voice of HIM, who

"Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm." All these contain the rudiments of harmony, and "may be easily supposed to have furnished the minds of intelligent creatures with such ideas of sound, as time and the accumulated observation of succeeding ages, could not fail to improve into a system."*

It is probable that vocal music was practised, or, at least, that the ancients were acquainted with the difference in the tones of the human voice, and its capabilities for harmony, before instruments were thought of; and the latter, without doubt, owed their origin to the observation of effects flowing from the natural causes already mentioned. Thus Diodorus, Lucretius, and other

* HAWKINS'S History of Music, vol. i. p. 4.- Sir John Hawkins was the son of an eminent surveyor and builder, and was born in the year 1719. He was brought up as an attorney; but the severe study of the law did not interfere with his love of the belles lettres and of music. He was one of the first members of the Madrigal Club, formed in 1741, and also of the Academy of Ancient Music. His History of Music is a curious and valuable work, though it has been much censured. It was compiled, in a great measure, from some scarce and valuable theoretical tracts, &c. in the library of Dr Pepusch. This work was published in 5 volumes 4to. in 1776. Sir John died in 1789.

authors, attribute the invention of wind instruments, to observations made on the whistling of the wind in reeds, and in the pipes of other plants. The different tones of sounding strings must have been observed very early, and thus have given birth to stringed instruments; whilst instruments of percussion, such as tabors and drums, probably originated from the sonorous ringing of hollow bodies when struck. In the first conception, all these instruments were rude and imperfect, and would afford little pleasure to the musician of the present day. Indeed, in their early efforts, we can fancy the inventors themselves, amazed at the effect produced, and starting with surprise or fright,

"E'en at the sound themselves had made."

Admitting that vocal music was cultivated, or rather, that man had begun to use his powers of speech for the purposes of song, though without much pretension to melody, before instruments of any description were invented, we may reasonably conjecture, that pipes and drums of the rudest construction, were those which first suggested themselves to his imagination. What we know of the state of music in all barbarous and savage nations, tends to shew not only that their early efforts in the art were, as might be expected, extremely rude, but that wind instruments, and those of percussion, were the first used.

The Esquimaux, who were, when visited by Captain Parry, as nearly in a state of barbarism as possible, though fond of music, had no instruments except a species of drum and tambarine.

They had songs, but there was neither variety, compass, nor melody, in their vocal effusions.

Refined, comparatively, and luxurious as the Mexicans were, they had nothing worth calling by the name of music, when conquered by the Spaniards. Their chief instruments were two drums, one called the Huehuetl, the other the Teponaztli; the former of which was a cylinder of wood more than three feet high, curiously carved and painted on the outside, covered above with the skin of a deer, well dressed and stretched, which was slackened occasionally to make the sound more sharp or deep. This was struck only with the fingers. The teponaztli was of a cylindrical shape, hollowed inside, but without any opening, except two parallel slits in the middle. This was sounded by beating these two slits with little sticks. It was made of different sizes, some small enough to be hung around the neck, and others five feet long. They had, besides, horns, sea-shells, and little flutes, or pipes, which made a shrill sound, and an instrument used by their dancers, called an Ajacaxtli. This was a little vessel, round or oval in shape, pierced with small holes, and containing a number of little stones, being an instrument, in fact, of no higher description than a child's rattle.

Mr Weld, in his notices of the Indians of North-west America, tells us, that their native music was very rude and indifferent, and equally devoid of melody and variety. Their famous war-song he describes as nothing better than an insipid recitative. Singing and dancing went hand in hand; and when a large number of them: collected together, and joined in one song, the

few wild notes of which it consisted, mingled with the sound of their pipes and drums, sometimes produced, when heard at a distance, a pleasing effect on the ear; but it was only when so heard that their music was tolerable. The following is a description of a dancing party which he encountered one night on the island of Bois Blanc:

"Three elderly men, seated under a tree, were the principal musicians. One of these beat a small drum, formed of a piece of a hollow tree covered with a skin, and the two others marked time equally with the drum, with rattles formed of dried squashes, or gourds, filled with pease. At the same time these men sung; indeed they were the leaders of the song, which the dancers joined in."*

The only musical instrument the Indians possessed, besides the drum, was a flute, formed of a thick cane, or reed. It was about two feet in length, and had eight or nine holes in it in one row. This was played upon in the same way as a clarionet, and the sound produced was not unlike that of the common whistle. The tones of this instrument were by no means unharmonious, and admitted of a pleasing modulation; but Mr Weld never met with an Indian able to play a regular air upon it, not even one of those which they were in the habit of singing. He saw several who were fond of amusing themselves with the instrument, and who would sit for hours together, beside the embers of their cabin fire, playing over a few wild melancholy notes. Every Indian that

* Travels in North America, 4to ed. 1799, p. 412.

could bring a sound out of the instrument, and stop the holes, thought himself master of it; and the notes which they commonly produced were as unconnected and as unmeaning as those which a child would bring out of a whistle.

The account which Father Charlevoix gives of the Indian tribes through which he travelled, corroborates, as far as it goes, that of Mr Weld; and it is remarkable, that little change has taken place up to the present day. In April, 1828, Captain Hall visited the Creek Indians; and he was present at one of their grand ball-plays, which he was told by one of the agents of the United States, was "a perfectly genuine unsophisticated display of the Indians, who had resided on the spot from time immemorial." At this festival there were present "two musicians, one of whom was hammering away with his fingers on a drum, formed of a piece of deer skin, stretched over the hollowed trunk of a tree, while the other kept time with a large gourd, containing a handful of gravel."

What we learn of the natives of the islands in the Pacific, when they were discovered by Captain Cook, equally proves the rudeness and simplicity of the music of savage tribes. Soon after the arrival of the Captain at Otaheite, one of the chiefs gave him a specimen of the music of the country. Four persons played upon flutes, made of a hollow bamboo, about one foot long, which had only two stops, and therefore could not sound more than four notes, by half tones; they were sounded like our German flutes, except that the performer, instead of applying the instrument to his mouth, blew into it with