1. The legislature ought therefore to fix the price of grain throughout the kingdom, if it could be done, after having furveyed and become acquainted with the quantity contained therein; otherwife, it is impoffible to conjecture to what extravagant prices the farmers and foreftallers will endeavour to enhance this very neceffary article of life.

2. Encouragements and rewards fhould be held out to other nations where the harvest has been more abundant, and where the exifting government does not prohibit the exportation of grain, for importing it to this country.

3. As oats are in general ufe for bread in the north of England, though, it is probable, this is not univerfally known by our more fouthern neighbours *; and as the fencible cavalry and others confume, upon an average, ten loads † of oats per week for every troop of horfe, this quantity might during the prefent winter, and when there is no profpect of an invafion from our enemies, without much detriment to the horses, be reduced to one half or even one fourth of it.

4. This article concerns the magiftrates. The affize of bread in large towns and populous districts is eftablished according to the price of grain; but, in the country, no fuch regulations exift; and of confequence it frequently happens, that the bread is too light and more inferior in quality than it fhould be; though I cannot but imagine, the country magiftrates poffefs the fame power of regulating the price of bread. It is a matter therefore much to be defired, that the magiftrates (if they have this power) would in every part of the kingdom, by fpirited inquiry and proper punishment, prevent the poor from being deprived by extortion of what they have earned hardly, and, by this means, remedy an evil fo confiderably prejudicial to them in particular.

To public regulations of this nature carried into proper effect, if a prudential frugality in private families fhould also be established and annexed, and the confumption of this article be reduced to quantities not more than really neceffary; if the fuperior kinds of bread fhould be feldom ufed, and all would habituate themfelves to that of an inferior quality; we might confidently expect, that the oppreffed condition of the labouring poor would

* Vide Jolinson's Dictionary, upon the word Oats.

The load here mentioned and ufed in the North, is equivalent to 12 pecks, of 24 quarts to the peck, Winchester measure.

thereby be confiderably meliorated, and that these measures, judiciously directed and unremittingly continued, would ultimately enfure comfort and fupport to the indigent and the wretched, and efficaci oufly contribute in removing penury and diftrefs far from their cheerleis habitations. This is a matter in the performance of which, as men and as chriftians, we are greatly concerned; nature has implanted thefe tender ties of humanity, and the precepts of the gospel equally enforce the execution of them.

But, though thefe regulations and arrangements form no part of any Utopiań fcheme, and are perfectly reconcileable to the natural notions of mankind, and altogether practicable; whilft I behold men fo callous to the tender and sympathetic feelings of nature as to perfevere in a fyftem of bloodshed and devaftation of the human fpecies, I conceive no very fanguine expectations relative to any economical procedures for the advantage of the poor and the miferable. I am, your's, JOHN ROBINSON.

Ravenftonedale, Dec. 10.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

I

SIR,

N your Magazine for July laft, you fa

vored the public with two very interefting letters from the celebrated Profeffor Heyne to the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield. You at the fame time promised to give a tranflation of those letters in an early fubfequent number of your Mifcellany. As you have not as yet done fo, I have taken the liberty to fend you a tranflation of them, which, I hope, may not be wholly unacceptable to fuch of your numerous readers to whom the language of the original may not be familiar. The judgment of a fcholar and critic fo well known throughout Europe, as Profeffor Heyne, for his erudition and refined tafte cannot but afford matter for gratification, and even pride, not only to the profound and elegant ftudent whofe exertions it fo honourably extols, but likewife to a very numerous circle of liberal and cultivated minds throughout the kingdom, who have not fuffered their judgment, on fubjects purely of a literary nature, to be biaffed by confiderations fo truly mean and illiberal as the prejudices of party politics. I am, Sir, &c.

Dec. 9, 1799.

A. W.

REMARKS ON THE TERMS AT PRESENT USED IN MUSIC, FOR REGULATING THE TIMЕ.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

Y endeavour is to prove that thofe

time than largo, also andantino than andante. And it is not furprising, that compofers fhould be mifunderstood, fince we find they are themfelves inconfiftent. Handel has marked the bafs air in the Meffiah," But who may abide," with the word larghetto; but he has marked the

applied; and that it would be easy to fubftitute definite characters; and that much trouble and difficulty would be removed by the propofed alteration.

Dr. Nares, in the preface to his Anthems, remarks, that mufic performed in juft time, is like a painting fet in a good light, and is therefore anxious that the terms of time fhould be particularly regarded.

In Rouffeau's Dictionary of Mufic, time is divided into five principal terms, largo, adagio, andante, allegro, and presto. There are alfo other collateral terms. In ancient mufic, grave, alla breve, tempo ordinario, and tempo giusto. In modern mufic, lento, andantino, and allegretto. And in both ancient and modern, larghetto, vivace, preftiffimo. There are alfo various modifications of thefe, by the addition of the words, molto, poco, con moto, moderato, non troppo, &c.; and by combina tions, as andante allegro, andante larghetto, &c. Thefe terms are, perhaps, only intelligible when confidered in fucceffion. Slow and quick, like great and fmall, exift only by comparifon. It is, I believe, generally understood, that the order of fucceffion is as follows:

Grave, largo, larghetto, adagio, lento, andante, andantino, allegretto, allegro, vivace, alla breve, presto, prestissimo. I am perfectly aware, however, that this order will be difputed. By fome, adagio, lento, andante, andantino, alla breve, and vivace, are regarded, rather as terms of expreffion and tafte, than of time. Adagio is by others confidered as denoting a flower

dix. The recitative "For behold, darknefs fhall cover the earth," is marked andante larghetto, and the fucceeding air, larghetto. Now larghetto is certainly flower than andante larghetto, yet the quavers in the air are always performed full as quick as the femiquavers in the ' recitative. The air," Thou art gone up on high," for a foprano voice, is marked andante; the fame fong, with the flighteft variation, for a bass voice, is marked allegro. In old, and efpecially church mufic, where the notes of the thorteft value were quavers, and thofe but feldom used, the minims were no longer than our crotchets. Pleyel, and fome others of the later compofers, feem to have revived this long neglected fpecies of notation, in the preftos and other quick movements of their finfonias. Indeed time frequently feems to depend on the number of notes contained in a bar.

I am convinced, both from my own obfervations on the admirable and accurate performances of Handel's works at Weftminster Abbey, and thofe of other great compofers of the fame period at the concert of ancient mufic, and alfo from the affurances of many elderly mufical gentlemen, that the time, at the beginning of this century, was performed much flower than in modern mufic. I am confirmed in my opinion, that the terms of time, now ufed, are indefinite, and of very little fervice, from a feries of experiments which I have made with a pendulum; of which the following table is a felection, and will, I truft, be found tolerably accurate.

Tempo ordinario (common time), and Tempo giufto (proper time), are purpofely omitted. The first varies with the fathion of the age; the laft with the fancy or judgment of the performers.

Enough, it is prefumed, has now been advanced, to few that the terms made ufe of are indefinite, or ruifapplied; and I thall now endeavour to prove, that it would be very easy to fubftitute definite characters. Loulie invented a machine, called a chronometer, to measure time, a defcription of which is given by Malcolm, and may be feen in the Encyclopedia Britannica, under the article Chronometer. This machine is more complex, expenfive, and unweildy than is neceliary, and twice as long as that I made ufe of in my expe

dotted crotchet.

riments, which was indeed merely a piece of tape and a plummet, graduated into English feet and inches; a measure more generally intelligible than the cyphers used by Loulie, which could only be understood by thofe poffeffed of one of his chronometers.

The time of mufic already compofect may be obtained at the many judicious performances at the concert of ancient mufic, at cathedrals and operas; and, allow ing this time to be incorrect from having been traditionally handed down to us, it appears to me the only way of preventing it from becoming ftill more fo. It will be easy for prefent and future compofers to render the time of their works indilputable, by prefixing one of the notes to each

ftrain

train, with its duration expreffed by the fwing of a pendulum, as in the preceding

table.

A very ingenious leader, previous to his conducting Graun's Te Deum, ftudied the time of the various movements, and obferved, by his watch, what were their refpective durations. This method appears to me tedious, and of no use at a rehearsal or concert, as each movement might be tried over very often before its real time could be obtained; and each fucceeding leader would have the fame experiments to make, which gave fo much trouble to his predeceffor.

The objections of Monfieur Diderot to the ufe of a chronometer are by no means infurmountable; and fome of them are ingeniously anfwered by Rouffeau*.-M. Diderot remarks, that, " in a movement there are, perhaps, not two bars of the fame duration!" Happily, however, we have no fuch mufic; it never exifted out of France; and is at length banished its only afylum. He alfo remarks, that "It is impoffible for a leader to have his ear attentive to the found of the pendulum, and his eye on his book, throughout the whole of a movement." And this were an arduous task indeed! but the objection does not apply to my propofal.-The pendulum I recommend makes no noife; it is only to be fet in motion before a movement hegins at a rehearsal, or perhaps in the leader's own room, but certainly not at a performance. A leader of the most ordinary abilities may remember and preferve the time of a piece of mufic he has ever heard. But it is a very different, and far more difficult thing to difcover that time; which, indeed, can only be effected by repeated trials, great lofs of time, and unneceffary trouble. In fongs, folos, and all other performances of talte and execution, the time must be entirely regulated, as ufual, by the principal performer. But in all full pieces, I think, the time fhould be left to the direction of the compofer. What leader, playing at fight, could judge of the time of Gluck's Overture to Iphigenie? Or what conductor could forefee, that in the chorus of Wretched Lovers," after its folemn beginning, which confifts of flow notes, a rapid and animated counter-fubject should burst forth, and totally alter the original character of the movement ?

r

Some may urge, that the time of mufic is not of fo much confequence as the expreffion; and that the attention will con

Under the article Chorifter, Rouffeau recommends the ufe of a chronometer.

fequently be diverted from an important to an unworthy object. To this I answer, that I have not the leaft' wifh that my plan fhould interfere with the expreffion, which I think of far greater importance than accuracy of time; I therefore with all compofers to retain the words graziofo, fpiritofo, cantabile, foftenuto, ftaccato, maefiofo, agitato, and all other terms of expreffion, as well as to adopt definite characters of time.

It may be urged, that, if the present terms convey but an obfcure meaning, the propofed characters would convey none at all, unless a pendulum were at hand. But that fituation were forlorn indeed, where a ftring, a weight, and a fcale of inches, could not be procured; and fhould this fcheme be approved and adopted, the chronometer would become as much an appen dage to a musical infirument, as a desk is at present to a piano forte, or a bow to a violin.

Finally, the chronometer would be found of the higheft ufe to fcholars; who, in the abfence of their mafter, are frequently at a lofs to discover, remember, and retain the time of any movement.

I could advance much more in favor of my plan; but am confcious, that I ought rather to apologize for having troubled you with fo much already. I therefore haften to subscribe myself

Your humble fervant,

W.C.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

S a reader of your Monthly Maga

zine, and a friend to liberal difcuffion, I was forry to fee a departure from it in the remarks of Sobrius on fome part of Commerfon's defcription of the people of Otaheite; and though it be of little confequence to those children of nature, yet they appear to me have been equally calumniated with Commerfon.

Difcuffion is the high road to truth; and, in the attack of immoral and unphilofophical opinions, perfonal abufe, infinuation of improper motives in the mind and impurity in the conduct of literary combatants fhould be avoided.-It is, however, too much the cuftom of fome men to attack the conduct of their opponents, instead of their arguments; and the world, in cafe of a rejoinder, must be the witness of an unmeaning literary duel, instead of beholding the fublime effufions of truth emanating from temperate and ingenuous difcuffion. Commerfon by faying that the Otaheitans

6E2

" are