lence of the Minor mode, or flat key, in the national mufic of Ireland, after the fubjection of that ifland, and ill ufage of the Bards and Harpers, by the English, our Author tells us that the great Orientalift, Sir W. Jones, felicitates the prefent age on the advantage we have over the Greeks in our Minor fcale, which enables us to adapt our mufic fo admirably to fubjects of grief and affliction.' Sir William Jones, fo well enabled to read the ancient Greek writers on mufic in the original, was the laft perfon by whom we fhould have expected to be told that the Minor mode was unknown to the Greeks! Dr. Burney, who seems to have ftudied this matter with great diligence, and gives claffical authority for his opinions, fays, p. 50 of his Differtation on the Mufic of the Ancients, that "it is very remarkable that all the ancient modes or keys were Minor, which must have given a melancholy caft to their melody in general; and however strange this may appear, it is as certain as any point concerning ancient mufic can be, that no provifion was made for a Major key in any of the ancient treatises or fyftems that are come down to us."

It is impoffible for any one, not totally ignorant of the subject of Mr. Walker's book, to read many pages of it without difcovering his knowledge of mufic to be as fmall, as his credulity in Hibernian antiquities is great.

Not only the Welth are obliged to the Irish for their national melodies, but the Scots. There is reafon to tremble for the French, Italians, and Germans.

A comparison having been made,' fays Mr. W. p. 131, between feveral Irifh melodies and fome of the Highland airs, it was discovered that they were constructed on the fame principle; that is'-(aye, pray mind! you that have ftudied ancient mufic in Meibomius and Dr. Wallis) the wild Irish and Highland airs are compofed in the chromatic, or rather the ancient diatonic, founded in an union of the feveral fpecies of the chromatic united in one fyftem.'-Can any thing be more clear and fatisfactory than this affertion?

That the Irish Bards were at all times very troublesome to their English governors, in fomenting fedition and rebellion by their patriotic fongs, feems indifputable; but for this, while any hope remained of recovering their ancient freedom, and restoring their native princes to their hereditary rights, who can blame them?

But long after any fuch hopes could rationally be formed, it is to be feared that the character of Bard in Ireland was little better than that of piper to the White Boys, and other favage and lawless ruffians, who infefted the country, to the great dismay of all those whose lives and property were at their mercy. The mild and gentle Spenfer, himfelf a Bard, fpeaks of them with a feverity, at which his nature would have revolted, if they had

merited

merited milder treatment. "There is among the Irifh," fays he, "a certain kind of people called Bardes, which are to them inftead of poets, whofe profeffion is to fet forth the praises or difpraises of men in their poems or rithmes; the which are had in fo high regard and eftimation amongst them, that none dare difplease them, for fear to run into reproach thorough their offence, and to be made infamous in the mouths of all men. For their verfes are taken up with a general applaufe, and usually fung at all feafts and meetings by certain other perfons, whose proper function that is, who alfo receive for the fame, great rewards and reputation amongst them.Thefe Irifh Bardes are for the moft part fo far from inftructing young men in moral difcipline, that they themselves do more deferve to be fharply difciplined: for they feldom ufe to choose unto themselves the doings of good men for the arguments of their poems; but whomsoever they find to be moft licentious of life, moft bold and lawless in his doings, most dangerous and defperate in all parts of disobedience and rebellious difpofition; him they fet up and glorifie in their rithmes, him they praife to the people, and to young men make an example to follow."-Thus "evil things being decked and attired with the gay attire of goodly words, may eafily deceive and carry away the affection of a young mind that is not well stayed, but defirous, by fome bold adventures, to make proof of himself. For being (as they all be) brought up idely, without awe of parents, without precepts of mafters, and without fear of offence; not being directed, nor imployed in any course of life which may carry them to virtue; will eafily be drawn to follow fuch as any fhall fet before them: for a young mind cannot reft: if he be not ftill bufied in fome goodness, he will find himself fuch bufinefs, as fhall foon bufy all about him. In which, if he fhall find any to praife him; and to give him encouragement, as thofe Bardes and Rithmers do for little reward, or a fhare of a ftoln cow, then waxeth he most infolent and half mad with the love of himself, and his own lewd deeds. And as for words to fet forth fuch lewdnefe, it is not hard for them to give a goodly and painted fhew thereunto, borrowed even from the praifes which are proper to virtue itfelf: as of a moft notorious thief and wicked outlaw, which had lived all his lifetime of spoils and robberies, one of their Bardes in his praife will fay, that he was none of the idle milk-fops that was brought up by the firefide; but that most of his days he fpent in arms and valiant enterprises: that he did never eat his meat, before he had won it with his fword: that he lay not all night flugging in a cabin under his mantle; but ufed commonly to keep others waking to defend their lives; and did light his candle at the flames of their houses, to lead him in the dark nefs: that the day was his night, and the night his day: that he loved not to be long wooing of wenches

τα

to yield to him; but where he came, he took by force the spoil 435 of other men's love, and left but lamentation to their lovers: that his mufic was not the Harp, nor lays of love, but the cries of people, and clashing of armour: and finally, that he died, not bewailed of many, but made many wail when he died, that dearly bought his death.I have caufed divers of these to be tranflated unto me" (he concludes), "that I might underpoems ftand them and furely they favoured of fweet wit and good invention; but skilled not of the goodly ornaments of poetry: yet were they fprinkled with fome pretty flowers of their natural device, which gave good grace and comelinefs unto them: the which it is great pity to fee fo abused, to the gracing of wickednefs and vice, which with good ufage would ferve to adorn and beautifie vertue." View of the State of Ireland.

Mr. W. defends the Bards of his country as well as he can. He has given both fides of the queftion-Extracts from the fevere laws of Queen Elizabeth against thefe Rymers, he endeavours to invalidate by the encomiaftic verses of his friends in their defence.

If our Author underftands French, he was very inattentive to the prefs when he allowed his compofitor, p. 12, not only to accent bafsè continuè, and to give us, p. 151, entrè chants for entre chats, but to print Montfaucon always with a f ceril, or c à queue. Mr. Tho. Warton and Mr. Hawkins are erroneously dubbed Doctors, throughout the book. P. 153, we have likewise MasterLangers, for Minne Sänger. Comparison, for comparaison; Forugt, for Fougt, p. 164; and many other mistakes that should have fwelled the Errata.

The affumption of the Harp in the arms of Ireland is an event of fuch importance to mufic, that we expected more fatisfaction from Mr. W. than we found. He tells us, p. 163, that according to Mr. O'Halloran, the harp was affumed in the arms of Ireland, by order of Henry II.' And p. 11, Append. Mr. Ledwich as pofitively afferts, that It was Henry VIII. who, on being proclaimed King of Ireland, firft gave the Harp.' The form of the prefent Irish Harp; its number of ftrings; of what materials they are made, whether catgut or metallic; its scale; and whether the national Harpers play in parts, or only fingle melodies; are points not cleared up in the heterogeneous and indifcriminate compilations of our Author.

Mr. Ledwich, indeed, gives us a piece of curious information concerning the Style of the Irish music, Append. No. II. and boldly afferts that it was of the enharmonic genus. What pity it is, that fome of this exquifite mufic, fo full of minute divifions, with every diefis marked,' has not been preferved, with the method of executing it! We have examined the original text of Giraldus Cambrenfis, whence, the reader is to fuppofe, Mr. L. tranflated

tranflated the paffage, but find none of the Greek mufical terms of diatonic-enharmonic, and diefis, which feem throughout Mr. Walker's book to be thrown about at random, as ornaments of ftyle, beautifully redundant, without the least attention to their meaning and import.

We wish the reverend and ingenious Author of the Letter on the Style of Irish Mufic, had given us the expreffion of St. Austin, which makes it fo evident, that the enharmonic genus was adopted and cultivated in the church about the end of the 4th century; or that he would have given us a fpecimen of this fubtil and difficult genus, which, according to Dr. Burney, "was never known to the Romans, having been loft before they attempted the polite arts." But it was not poffible,' fays Mr. L. for the Irish to have any other mufic, but on the Greek model, the character of which, as may be collected from St. Auftin and Cambrenfis, was enharmonic +.' We wish he had kindly saved us the trouble of collecting this evidence, which we defpair of accomplishing without his affiftance.

Mr. Beauford's learned Effay on the Poetical Accents of the Irish, Append. No. III. feems to want illuftration from ancient MSS. Indeed he has given an extract from one, but which, juft at the time it began to grow interefting-" like the ftory of the bear and fiddle," &c.

After this, to fwell the volume,' we have an Italian Differtation on an antique bagpipe, which feems to have nothing to do with the Irish Bards, but rather proves that neither the Scots nor the Irish have a claim to the invention of that inftrument. Mr. W. would have done his country more honour, and his readers more fervice, if he had accurately defcribed the improvements that have been made in this inftrument by the Irish bagpipers, which enable them to play in tune, and in two parts, without the drone, as defcribed by his correfpondent Dr. Burney.

The Memoirs of CORMAC COMMON, a Story-teller, are curious, and seem more fairly to belong to his fubject, as they delineate the perfon and employment of an order of Bards, which long flourished in every part of Europe, but which is now almoft extinct.

We likewise read the life of the celebrated modern Irifh mintrel, CAROLAN, though the anecdotes are of the goffipping kind, with eagerness and pleafure. It is to Carolan that we owe not only the tune to the celebrated ballad of Bumpers, Squire Jones, but the ground-work of the fong itself, of which he was likewife the author; but having been originally written in the Erfe language, it was afterwards imitated by Baron Dawfon in the verfion fo well known in England. Carolan, who was blind, com+ Append. p. 24.

* Hift. of Mufic, vol. i. p. 32.

pofed,

pofed, as we have been informed by an Irish gentleman who knew him well, the popular airs which go under his name, upon the buttons of his coat, making them the reprefentatives of the lines and spaces, as Stanley used to compofe upon a flate, with convex lines.

The tunes of Carolan we regard as genuine reliques of the national melody of Ireland, uncorrupted by Italian refinements, or the mongrel tafte of England. The plaintive tunes of Ire land have fo ftrong a refemblance to thofe of Scotland, that it would be extremely difficult for a stranger to diftinguish one from the other. The lively tunes of Ireland feem, however, fuperior to thofe of their Caledonian neighbours; they excite a pleasanter and lefs obftreperous kind of mirth.

6

In the advertisement to an Effay on the Conftruction and Capability of the Irish Harp, Append. No. VIII. Mr. Walker's friend, Mr. Beauford, afferts roundly, not only that he has been informed, that Mr. Bruce's whole account of the Theban harp, of which he gave a drawing to Dr. Burney, is a fiction; but that, if it was a genuine delineation of a real inftrument, ftrings on fuch principles could not bear the leaft mufical relation to each other, or produce founds in any musical fyftem whatever.' Though it has been doubted whether, without a fupport for the arm of Mr. Bruce's harp, which he seems to have forgotten, it could be poffibly made ftrong enough at the joint, to fupport the tenfion of the ftrings; yet we do not fee why the ftrings of an inftrument capable of a gradual increase and decrease in length, tenfion, and thickness, fhould not bear the leaft mufical relation to each other, or produce founds in any mufical fyftem whatever. The prop to the arm, and elegance excepted, the form of the Theban harp is nearly that of the Irifa harp itself. But Mr. W. cuts this matter very short indeed, and boldly afferts, that Mr. Beauford was rightly informed: Mr. Bruce's harp (as well as the rest of his boafted collection of drawings) was the offspring of his warm imagination.' Nothing can authorize fuch a pofitive affertion as this, fuch a literary lie direct, but the confeffion, or fign manual of Mr. Bruce himself; one of which, for the fake of Mr. Walker's modefty and good breeding, we will hope was obtained, previously to the drawing up of this advertisement.

*If Mr. B. with all his parade of fcience, imagines that mathematical exactnefs in the augmentation or diminution of the length of ftrings is neceffary to the formation of a fcale, he has attended but little to practice. The violin, for example, has four frings of equal length, but differing in tenfion and thicknefs, which, without the affiftance of the finger, give an interval of an octave and major 6th between the fourth ftring and the first.

We