The Wilmingtonian., 1824-05-13

0'neT u TOuf; Wnen serpent IL Saiu 10 ElSS, ny
TO buzz, and falling timber to crash; when .
stream is said TO on and hail to rattle. the anal
ogy between the word and the thing signifcd is
plainly discernable.-Blaiy.
"The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord Of sweet sounds,
Is tit for trcasons's stratagems and spoils;
Let no such man be trusted
There 10 no one of tender scnsibilities,
who does not seek and find refuge in the
"harmony Of sweet sounds" from ths sor-
row and sadness which are incident to
frail humanity. Music alone can dissipate
that melancholy which is attendant on
fine feelings. and which is the peculiar off.
spring of energetick genius. 1t seems
somehow to have a witchery about it..
which can beguile the lonelicst hours of
life.
Music of the light and airy kind is not
always calculated to soothe the sorrows Of
a melancholy soul, or to heal the wound Of
an injured spirit. Such music often makes
no impression ON a man whois bowed down
with misforsunes, and who goes laden with
woes. There is nothing in it deep enough
to draw the thoughts for moment from
this dark train of reflection. The only mu-
sic which has power over such mnds, is
thst Of the plaintiye and melancholy kind.
This music will often produce placid and
quiet feeling; and it will check, though
il cannot turn, the current of thought.
Men Of such minds are few but wher-
ever or whenever they may exist, they will
be found to BE- Of deeply rejecting and
solitary nature, and to be possessed Of the
greatest fneness of feeling and keenness
Of sensihlity. Music seems 70 be the re-
fuge Of minds like these, in the hours OF
deepest depressionr-not the rough music
of war, which rouses rather than alays, but
the soft and plaintive notes Of more har-
'nonios instruments. The unfortunate
Kirke White, that "son of song" was
enthusiastically fond of plaintve music /:
and if his active soul ever had rest from
the sad and gloomy thoughts that cast a.
bout him deadly shroud, it was while lis
tening to those sounds, of which light and
sportive spirits would shun the hearing.
Every one is disposed to beguile himself Of
his troubles by sounds however uncouth
or Informed. The shepherds boy can
whistle away his fears in midnight watch.
ing, and the belated traveller. BY a song.
forget the dangers of his midnight jour
ney.
Something like the case of those melan.
choly geniusses aforementioned, is that
of the sad and unfortunate maniacs. These
miserable and emacated beings will often
make The most pitious and moaning music,
"a music, concerning which one can hard
ly say whether 1t springs or not, from
thought and reflection.
1once knew one who was "of the first
order of fine FORMS" and who hsi been
bereft Of h.r reason By strange reverse
Of fortune. and blasting Of her fondest
earthly hopes. Playing on guitar. SEEM
cd the chief or only thing which could al
lay her grief. and make her breast cease
its heaving, and her eyes their weeping
Her voice always accompanied her instru-
ment, and her soul seemed welded to its
strings. There was a softness and an al
most unearthly wildness in her maniac
music. 1t could be compared with nothing
but the tones Of the Eolian harp, wher
that harp is swept by winds that max,
their means at the season Of the falln:
leaf.
at was musical and wildly sweet,
As when tile winds and harp strings meet,
And make long unmeasured tone,
TO mortal minsirelsy unknown"
There was an expression too in her coun
tenance, which can no more be described
than the wild and hurried manners of he
music. "Affliction had touched her look
with something that was scarce earth
iy."
In the solemn but delightful silence O
The evenings she would often wander, dark
ling and alone along the banks of stream
let, and commence her melancholy min
strelsy. This music would calm he
troubled spirits and make her forget 70
the moment the anguish of her grief
During her waking hours, the only tim
her maniac restlessnes. would leave he
was while she was singing and playing o
an instrument which had been swept b
the same hand in better days.
The mind loves TO dwell on whatcve
has once fondly and irresistably enchane
i.;-it is continually calling up images {
what we have once seen and would sti
love to see, and is placing them before i
in their vivid realities. 1t is thus that tn
sad image of this unfortunate woma
lovely in the ruins ofwhat she once was, o
L. koT~ -. b.x.-