heathen term. With what propriety could chrisians be faid to fpeak to each other in hymns, which celebrated the divine perfections? But they might, as in the Pagan Dithyrambics and Poans, exercife themielves in the antiphonial finging, and fucceed or answer each other. And this is clearly the Apoftle's meaning. "However, he difliked the practices of idolatry; the permiffion he here gives the Ephelians, a gay and luxurious people, of uting pfalms, hymns, and odes, was abfolutely neceffary for keeping new converts in the faith: they could not eafily forget the raptures of their feftal and choral hymns; and it is probable the apostles, and their difciples, formed spiritual songs, on their model, in various metres and melodies at leaft, the early fathers of the church, as Clemens of Alexandria, Eufebius, Chryfoftom, Bafil, and Gregory Nazienzen did fo. Some of their imitations are poetical; but no merit of this kind could compenfate a Grecian ear for the negligent, injudicious, and of fenfive ufe of improper meafures, with which the chriftian compofitions abounded. Dionyfius Haliicarnaffæus, in his beautiful treatife laft cited, gives inftances of the moft favourite performers being hiffed on the stage, for the smallest want of rythm or accent; fuch were the delicacy of Grecian organs, and the correctness of Gre. cian tafte. "The more zealous catholics digefted thefe infipid productions; but the public were very far from acquiefcing in fuch unlearned and barbarous poetry and mufic. St. Bafil complains that his flock neglected his pfalms and hymns for their old Pagan fongs. The Arrians, Apollinarians, and other he retics taking advantage of the popular difguft formed poems in the true Greek style, and in captivating melodies; the union and charms of harmony and verfe were too powerful for orthodoxy; the number of fectaries foon exceeded that of true believers. The church beheld this triumph with terror and amazement, she saw her danger and endeavoured to avert it. She reformed her hymns, and embraced the Greek modes; nor was John, the accumenic bishop of Conftantinople, afhamed to urge his people to imitate the Arrian compofitions. Gildas and Bede agree, that Britain was infetted with Arianifm, and St. Jerom complains, that the chriftian world groaned under this heresy. "Thefe notices, hitherto unconnected, may perhaps throw fome light on the peculiar ftyle of our ancient mufic. We received the knowledge of the gofpel about the end of the 4th century, and with it the Greek or eastern harmony, then univerfally in ufe. From an expreffion of St. Auftin, it is evident, the enharmonic genus was then adopted and cultivated, as it alone was calculated to exhilarate the fpirits, revive pleafing hopes, and banish melancholy and defpair; nor can there be any doubt but our primitive miffioners first conciliated the affections of their hearers by harmony, before they opened to them the doctrine of redemption. Bede makes Auguftine approach Ethelbert and his court, finging li tanies. "Before the Ambrofian and Gregorian chants were generally introduced, we were grown ftrong in religion and learning, and for a long time frangers to, as well as averie from Romih innovations, We had an independent hierarchy, which neither in 900 nor in 1990, as has been 1 been feen, yielded fubjection to St. Ambrofe or pope Gregory; it therefore was not poffible for us to have any other mulic but on the Greek model, the character of which, as may be collected from St. Austin and Cainbrenfis, was enharmonic. "The ftate of foc cty here at our conversion; a precife and energetic language; the paucity of our inftruments, and the admirable effects of our harmony, clearly point 'out the fimple style of our melodies; how exactly they coincided with the Greek; how well adapted to delight our national vivacity and amufe our 'indolence. Topics thefe, capable of much curious and entertaining amplification, but exceeding the limits of this epiftle, and fuperfluous to fo excellent a matter of this fubject. "As the feeds of christianity and learning were coeval in this ifle, notwithstanding the vain and groundless pretentions of fome antiquaries, fo they found a foil wherein they vegetated with uncommon ftrength and rapidity: monastic foundations, the fchools of literature in thofe ages, greatly multiplied, and letters foon flourifhed in every corner. I have elfewhere alledged many circumftances to induce a belief that the Greek language was particulacly cultivated in thofe feminaries, and I have already produced an inftance or two of natives eminently killed in it. Can it then feem frange that we fhould have the mufical diagram of the Greeks, or that we practifed fcientifically their belt melodies? This notation, it is true, appears corrupted in Mr. Morris's M. S. S. but it invincibly demonftrates that the Welfh had a notation, and that it must have exifted previoully a mong the Irish. The Northumbrians and Albanian Scots, both converted by the Irish, excelled in harmony. "The English mufic on the contrary, was of the diatonic genus. It was the policy of the church of Rome, from the first entrance of her miffionaries into Britain, to decry and depreciate the ancient rites and ceremonies of the natives, and to exalt the efficacy and perfection of her own. Arguments, however, were in vain, power foon decided the controverfy in favour of the latter. We are informed by Bede, that James, the deacon, intructed the clergy of York in finging after the Roman manner, as Stephen did the northern ecclefiaftics. Pope Agatho thought the establishment of the Gregorian chant fo important an affair, that he fent John, his precentor, hither for that purpose, Thefe efforts of the papal fee, feconded by the favour of the Britifh princes, foon extinguished every fpark of our ancient mufic, and confirmed the flow, fpacious, and unifonous melody of plain fong. The perpetual ufe of it to both clergy and laity was fecured by canons, and when it became a commutation for fins and fatting, the practice of it must have been univerfal. 'Tis then no wonder that the taste of the nation accommodated itself to this chant; a dull and heavy modulation fucceeded, well fitted to a state of fpiritual thraldom, and to exprefs the dif mal tales of minstrelfy." PARTICULARS relating to the FIRST SETTLEMENT of the SCOTS in IRELAND. [From HAMILTON'S LETTERS Concerning the Northern Coaft of the County of ANTRIM.] 66 YOU U would hardly believe how little remains of Irish history, language or cufloms, are to be traced in this part of the country the revolutions which it has undergone, in confequence of forfeitures to the English, and the encroachments of the Scots, have overturned every remnant of its original state. "During the time that the Eng lifh were endeavouring to extend their pale, in every direction from the metropolis of the kingdom, over a defperate but difunited ene. my, the Scottish clan of M'Donalds, who by an intermarriage had got footing in Ireland, began their ravages on the northern coat of Antrim; and by the powerful fup port which they received from Cantire, and the western ifles of Scorland, established their dominion over a tract of country near forty miles in length. "As the people of thofe day's generally followed the fortune of their chief, the greater part of the native Irish who furvived thefe bloody fcenes, tranfplanted themfelves elfewhere while the Scots remained peaceable poffeffors of the field. Hence the old traditions and cuftoms of the country were entirely loft; and the few who fpeak the Celtic language at all, ufe a kind of mixed dialect, called here Scotch Irish, which is but imperfectly understood by the natives of either country. "The prefent poffeffors are in general an industrious thrifty race of people. They have a great deal of fubftantial civility, without much courtely to relieve it, and fet it off. to the beft advantage.-The bold ideas of rights and privil ges, which feem infeparable from their prefbytesian church, renders them apt to be ungracious and litigious in the r dealings. On the whole, the middling and lower ranks of peop'e in this quarter of the kingdom are a valuable part of the community; but one mutt efimate their worth as a miner often does his ore, rather by its weight than its fplendor. "There are three or four old caftles along the coat, fituated in places extremely difficult of accefs, but their early hiftories are for the greater part loft.-The moft remarkable of thefe is the caule of Dunluce, which is at prefent in the poffetion of the Antrim family. It is fituated in a fingular manner on an itolated abrupt rock, which projects into the fea, and feems as it were fplit off from the terra firma. Over the intermediate chafi lies the only approach to the castle, along a narrow wall, which has been built fomewhat like a bridge, from the rock to the adjoining land; and this circumftance must have rendered it almoft impregnable before the invention of artillery. It appears, however, that there was originally another narrow wall, which ran across the chafm parallel to the former, and that by laying boards over thefe an eafy paffage might occafionally be made for the benefit of the garrifon. "The walls of this caftle are built of columnar bafaltes, many joints of which are placed in fuch a manner as to flew their polygon fections; and in one of the win dows of the north fide, the architect has contrived to fplay off the wall neatly enough, by making ute of the joints of a pillar whofe angle was fufficiently obtufe to fuit his purpose. 66 The original lord of this caftle and its territories, was an Irish chief, called Mc Quilian, of whom little is known, except that, like most of his countrymen, he was hofpitable, brave, and improvident; unwarily allowing the Scats to grow in ftrength, until they contrived to beat him out of all his poffeffions. "In the courfe of my expeditions through this country, I met with an old manufcript account of the fettlement of the Scotch here, of which I fhall give you a fhort extract. It will ferve in good meafure to fhew the barbarous ftate of the inhabitants in the fixteenth century, and the manner in which property was fo readily transferred from one mafter to another. "The manufcript is in the hands of the Mc Donalds, and therefore most likely fpeaks rather in their favour. About the year 1580, Coll. Mc. Donald came with a parcel of men, from Cantire, to Ireland, to affit Tyrconnell against great O' Neal, with whom he was then at war. "In paffing through the Root of the county of Antrim, he was civilly received, and hofpitably entertained, by Mc. Quillan, who was then lord and mafter of the Root. "At that time there was a war between Mc. Quillan and the men beyond the river Bann, for the cuftom of this people was, to rob from every one, and the ftrongest party carried it, be it right or wrong. "On the day when Coll. Mc. Donald was taking his departure to proceed on h s journey to Tyrconnell, Mc. Quillan, who was not equal in war to his favage neighbours, called together his militia or gallogloghs, to revenge his affronts over the Bann; and Mc. Donald thinking it uncivil not to offer his fervice that day, to Mc. Quillan, after having been fo kindly treated, fent one of his gentlemen with an offer of his fervice in the field. "Mc. Quillan was right well pleafed with the offer, and declared it to be a perpetual obligation on him and his polierity. So Mc. Quillan and the highlanders went against the enemy, and where there was a cow taken from Mc. Quillan's people before, there were two restored back: after which Mc. Quillan and Coll. Mc. Donald returned back with a great prey, and without the lofs of a man. "Winter then drawing nigh, Mc. Quillan gave Coll. Mc. Donald an invitation to ftay with him at his cattle, advising him to fettle himfelf until the fpring, and to quate ter his men up and down the Root. This Coll. Mc. Donald gladly accepted; and in the mean time feduced Mc. Quillan's daughter, and privately married her; on which ground the Scots afterward founded their claim to Mc. Quillan's ter ritories. "The men were quartered two and two through the Root, that is to fay, one of Mc. Quillan's gallogloghs and a highlander in every tenant's house. It fo happened that the galloglogh, according to cuftom, befides his ordinary, was entitled to a meather of milk, as a privilege. This the highlanders esteemed to be a great affront; and at last one of them atked his landlord, "Why do you not give me milk as you give to the other?"-The galloglegh immediately made anfwer, Would you, a highland beggar as you are, compare yourself to me, or any of Mc. Quillan's gallogloghs?" The poor honest tenant, (who was heartily weary of them both) faid, "Pray, gentlemen, I'll open the two doors, and you may go and fight it out in the fair fields, and he that has the victory let him take milk and all to himself." "The combat ended in the death of the galloglogh; after which, (as my manufcript fays) the highlander came in again and dined heartily. "Mc. Quillan's gallogloghs immediately affembled to demand fatisfaction; and in a council which was held, where the conduct of the Scots was debated, their great and dangerous power, and the difgrace arifing from the feduction of Mc. Quillan's daughter, it was agreed that each galloglogh fhould kill his comrade highlander by night, and their lord and mafter with them; but Coll. Mc. Donald's wife difcovered the plot, and told it to her husband-So the highlanders fled in the night time, and efcaped to the island of Raghery. "From this beginning, the Mc. Donalds and Mc. Quillans entered on a war, and continued to worry each other for half a century, till the English power became fo fuperior in Ireland, that both parties made an appeal to James the First, who had just then afcended the throne of England. "James had a predilection for his Scotch countrymen the Mc. Donald, to whom he made over by patent four great baronics, including, along with other lands, all poor Mc. Quillan's poffeffions. How ever to fave fome appearance of juftice, he gave to Mc. Quillan a grant of the great barony of Enishowen, the old territory of O'Dogherty, and fent to him an account of the whole decifion by fir John Chichester. "Mc. Quillan was extremely mortified at his ill fuccefs, and very difconfolate at the difficulties which attended the tranfporting his poor people over the river Bann, and the Lough Foyle, which lay between him and his new territory. The crafty Englishman, taking advantage of his fituation, by an offer of fome lands which lay nearer his old dominions, perfuaded him to cede his title to the barony of Enifhow en. And thus the Chichefters, who afterwards obtained the title of Earls of Donegal, became poffeffed of this great eftate; and honeft Me. Quillan fettled himself in one far inferior to Enifhowen. "One ftory more (fays the ma. nufcript) of Mc. Quillan-The eftate he got in exchange for the barony of Enifhowen was called Cla reaghurkie, which was far inadequate to fupport the old hofpitality of the Mc. Quillans. Bury Oge Mc. Quillan fold this land to one of Chichester's relations, and having got his new granted eftate into one bag, was very generous and hofpitable as long as the bag lafted. And fo (continues the manufcript) was the worthy Mc. Quillan foon extinguished. "I should not have obtruded the account of the downfal of this Irish chief, but that it affords fo good a reafon for the utter obliteration of every ancient record and monument in this part of the country; and will plead my excufe for not adding fomewhat to our collection of Irish antiquities. |