The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-20 00:00:00

TRADITIONAL MELODIES.

' It has been said that airs which hit the tai
of a great number of people, must contain sore
thing good. This we do not believe to he tols,
of tunes which suddenly spread far and at
among the population of a city, and gradual/
sink into oblivion ; but it appears eminenn
true of melodies which live in the memory 1,0
Sailors' ditties or the Christmas Carol. 17.;
must look at the comparative duration of Sr
two, to find which is genuine and which sophis'
ticate. The tearful chant with which p°"',
people are now daily coming under our windowt,',
telling us to " remember Christ, our Saviour:,
has not been sung since last year, and in a few
weeks' time will not be sung again till the nelt4;
no copy assists the singers and yet it will g 6
This is the kind of immortality which a musics°
vol
most vehemently desires for a melody. To t°
a tune which shall sink into the hearts °fa pooffie'r
is perhaps an achievement beyond the reach -o
r
art, and therefore few of our well-known greatcomposers are known to have signslisted thew
selves in this way. The musician unawaresunawaresone who gives way to his feelings, Sod follow°
the rules of composition without knowing theca
—is the man to write a lasting popular melody
Musical mathematicians aler that the minor key
is not in nature. How comes it then that Sat'
lors' tunes, the Christmas Carol, and the old
Monkish Chants, between which there is renal''
able similarity, should partake so much of tili4
mode ? These came down to us from remote
periods; the Argonauts might have inventedthl
first, and theSliepherds of Bethlehem the seceor
for anything we know of the matter. It is hark
to be supposed that in the infancy of the JO.;
guage of sound, people who merely vented the'
feelings should direst a refinement beyond se'
titre. But let us hear the two combinatioits"
The major chord, which is the natural and per:
fect combination, as mathematicians impress le
us, conveys nothing beyond a satisfactory sentfe'
tion to the ear. The minor chord, on the co;
trary, carries the sentiment of melancholy in t.
sound ; a shade passes over us -as we be t.
It would be a pleasant deduction to draw therfe'
that all the misery, pain, or unhappiness/ SP°t
are to be found in the world, aro but Fe;
versions of nature's intentions, like the tent u
key ! Banish sorrow, and we should have nt
more sympathy with so.eophistieate a mode, tic
could only have come into fashion at thels4.„-t,
man l--We believe that none of those goolt"0
miner tunes with which mariners are vioet..
sooth did dreary hours of their watch, have
.0/0,0,3
been pricked down in notes. The ChrieUll
Carol leas been written, and the subject has ret,
coived some fine harmonies and masterly tr!,BF5
ment by Mr. Samuel Wesley. No other piO°,
are requisite of the innate worth of a.melol
than that it shall admit of a good bass, O°
°
good treatment. But who would want more al
of
his own ears to assure:him of the expreseion It
the last phrase in, the Christmas Carol
runs the gauntlet annually through all the hoer, j
out-of-tune, foggy-voiced, and wooden-legrti
performers of the metropolis ; yet its truth o°,
simplicity remain as fresh as ever.---Spectatef_4i

BIRTHS.
On the 19th instant, in Hamilton-plane, the- Cot,
Gower, of a eon.
,aktf
On the 10th instant, at Vine Cottage, near Seven u'oet
Kent, the hely of Colin Arrott Brevrning, eel
of H. 111.8. Alligator, of a daughter.
of 3. On the 17th instant, at Poole, Dorset, the lacy
Bingley Garland, of Stone Cottage, of a eon.
At Dalbury, in the county of Derby, the lady of the Pe°.
Charles Evelyn Cotton,,of a (laughter. of
At the Deanery, Peterborough, Mre. Monk, the ketl
the Very Rev, the Dean, of a daughter.

MARRIED.
On the lath instant,' by the Rev. T. &Hoek, 0 0.
Peter's, Marlborough, George Pileher, Esq., of I/yr,
street, Southwark, to Jane Pierce, third daughter of
Maurice.
On the lath instant, at St. John's, Ilaropstead,
Rae. Samara White, D.D., William Lionel Lampet, 00'
of Bridgenorth, in the oonnty of Salop, to Mary Elietthf;
yonngost daughter of the late Res. Watkin Williams, ti
of Nantglyn, Denbighshire.
At Sr. Werburgh'e chnrch, Derby, bhe Rev. .11,ailPe,
Alartimso, of Dublin, to Helen, daughter of the Rev.
ward Higginson.

DIED.
ele
On the 18th instant, at Walworth, Mrs. Ann 1'
itged 7b.
On the 18th inetant, Elizabeth, eldest &tighter crlll9°.
Bwein, El., of Canonhorppisee.
At the Quintets, near ()tweeter, R. F. Weet,
heir of F. R. Weet, M.P. for the boroughs of Deihl
Holt, Rnthin, Ike.
On the 19th 1u stint, Elissetbeth, wife of Mr. W. co"
grere, of the Pete), hotel, Rithbone-place.
Storref'

On the 18th instant, at his bonne, Putney, itit
John Layton, Eiq., &innerly of Lime-street, Lona
his 79th year.
Put-trrtsn anti PClRJefft ED by MURDO YOUNL4-14 fi

SUN OFYICZ, 1 12; 81*A Tatty Lowooto.