Part 17

Virgil having composed a Distich, containing the Praise of Augustus, and a Compliment on his good Fortune, fix'd it on the Palace Gate, without any Name subscrib'd. Augustus, making strict Enquiry after the Author, and Virgil's Modesty not suffering him to own the Verses, one Bathillus, a Poet of a mean Reputation, owned himself the Author, and received Honour and Reward from the Emperor. Virgil, somewhat scandalized at this Accident, fixed an Hemistich in these Words (Sic vos non vobis) four times repeated under the other, where he had placed the former Verses. The Emperor was as diligent to have these Hemistichs filled up, but no-body appearing to do it, at length Virgil supplied them thus:

Hos ego Versiculos feci, tulit alter Honores; Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves. Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves. Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes. Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.

i.e. These Verses I made, but another has taken the Applause of them.

So ye Birds build not your Nests For yourselves. So ye Sheep bear not your Wool For yourselves. So ye Bees make not your Honey For yourselves. So ye Oxen submit to the Plow Not for yourselves.

Upon this Discovery, Bathillus became the Ridicule of Rome, and Virgil acquired a double Reputation.

The Distich, which Bathillus claim'd for his, was this:

Nocte plut totâ, redeunt spectacula manè, Divisum Imperium cum Jove Cæsar habet.

i.e. It rain'd all Night; in the Morning the publick Shews return: Jove and Cæsar divide the Rule of the World. The Compliment is, that Cæsar designing to exhibit Sports to the People, though the preceding Night was rainy and unpromising, yet such Weather returned with the Morning, as did not disappoint the Solemnity.

Alla Capella, Church-Musick where the Flats and Sharps are not mark'd.

Seven Cliffs necessary to be known. Pl. I. Numb. 1. By the Help of these Cliffs any Line or Space may be what Note you please. Pl. I. Numb. 2.

It is necessary to understand the Sol-Fa-ing, and its Rules, which shew where the two Semitones lie in each Octave, Pl. I. Numb. 3. Where Flats or Sharps are marked at the Cliff, the Rule is, if one Flat, That is Fa; if more Flats, the last. If one Sharp, That is Mi; if more Sharps, the last.

His meaning is, that the French are not in the right.

See § 2, and the following, in Chap. III. where the Difficulty of the Semitone Major and Minor are cleared.

Voce di Petto is a full Voice, which comes from the Breast by Strength, and is the most sonorous and expressive. Voce di Testa comes more from the Throat, than from the Breast, and is capable of more Volubility. Falsetto is a feigned Voice, which is entirely formed in the Throat, has more Volubility than any, but of no Substance.

Register; a Term taken from the different Stops of an Organ.

The Pitch of Lombardy or Venice, is something more than half a Tone higher than at Rome.

A Messa di Voce is the holding out and swelling a Note. Vide Pl. I. Numb. 4. This being a Term of Art, it is necessary to use it, as well as Piano for soft, and Forte for loud. N.B. Our Author recommends here to use any Grace sparingly, which he does in several other Places, and with Reason; for the finest Grace too often repeated grows tiresome.

See for Appoggiatura in the next Chapter.

This Chapter contains some Enquiries into Matters of Curiosity, and demands a little Attention. The Reader therefore is desired to postpone it to the last.

Appoggiatura is a Word to which the English Language has not an Equivalent; it is a Note added by the Singer, for the arriving more gracefully to the following Note, either in rising or falling, as is shewn by the Examples in Notes of Musick, Pl. II. Numb. 2. The French express it by two different Terms, Port de Voix and Appuyer; as the English do by a Prepare and a Lead. The Word Appoggiatura is derived from Appoggiare to lean on. In this Sense, you lean on the first to arrive at the Note intended, rising or falling; and you dwell longer on the Preparation, than the Note for which the Preparation is made, and according to the Value of the Note. The same in a Preparation to a Shake, or a Beat from the Note below. No Appoggiatura can be made at the Beginning of a Piece; there must be a Note preceding, from whence it leads.

Here begins the Examination of the Semitones Major and Minor, which he promised in § 15. Ch. 1. It may be of Satisfaction to the Studious, to set this Matter at once in a true Light; by which our Author's Doubts will be cleared, and his Reasoning the easier understood. A Semitone Major changes Name, Line, and Space: A Semitone Minor changes neither. Pl. II. Numb. 1. To a Semitone Major one can go with a Rise or a Fall distinctly; to a Semitone Minor one cannot N.B. From a Tone Minor the Appoggiatura is better and easier than from a Tone Major.

These are all Tones Major and Minor, and Semitones Major. Pl. II. Numb. 2.

Because they are Semitones Major. Pl. II. Numb. 3.

Because they are Semitones Major. Pl. II. Numb. 4.

Because they are all Semitones Minor, which may be known by the abovementioned Rule, of their not changing Name, Line, nor Space. Pl. II. Numb. 5. and which makes it manifest, that a Semitone Minor cannot bear an Appoggiatura.

For the same Reason, these being Semitones Minor. Pl. II. Numb. 6.

Because one is a Semitone Major, and the other a Semitone Minor. Pl. III. Numb. 7.

Because they are Semitones Minor. Pl. III, Numb. 8.