Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-06-24
From the Journal of Health.
THE BEAUTIES OF MUSIC.
Music exalts each JOY, arays each grief,
Fxpeis disease, soi,ens every pain.

emusic exats each JOY, slays each grief,
Fxpes disease, soi,ens every PAIN
Subdues the rage of poison, and OF plague"
They undoubtedly entertain very mean and
degrading opinion of the polite arts who consider
them merely as Subservient to amusement, or, at
most to that cultivation of mind which e'noiht
mores, nee SINH eSse feros The history of the
world evinces that they have all much higher
and more beneficial influence upon the DISPOSE
tons and happiness OF man
Though we can no longer indalge except for
its poetry in the ancient superstition which gave
PRESERVATION to the arts, and then held them up
as disinities; vet we cannot deny that they are
Important auAiiiaries to the worship of the Deity,
aud that they assume the most attractive form
when enlisted in the service Of the altar. Ofmu-
sic, in particular, We have always been inclined
to think, that not only its best, but most sublime
empoyments are III this way--and that it is new
err 50 we'll applied as when soothing the disorder
ed passions inO peace. elevating the devotion.
al feelings of the human heart.
| We are not prepared TO credit all that some
Of the aicients have affirmed respecting the
moral influence Of music: nor that.
Things inaunate have muycd,
| aud, ;.s with ilv"g souls. hSve btsn informed
By magic numbers and persuasive sounds"
! We do not expect it to quie, mob. any more
than to unite a broken bone. We are even will
ling to admit, that under any state OF society
which we have witnessed, or OF which we can
conceive. the refinement of the LacedemonIans,
in making 1t penal TO add new string to the yre,
as a species Of luxury, or an engine of corrup-
ton, is as absurd as it would be TO deny to mu-
sic any power over the feelings and passions Of
man.
Canus, a musician at Rhodes, when Apollo
nius INQUIRED what he could effect BY the means
of music, replied, that he could make melan-
choy man merry. a merry man'mad, q lover more
enamor ed, and religious man mere devout.-
| That it can soothe grief, and exhiIaratc the de-
pressed spirit, who that has an ear Tor melody. or
! heart to feel, has not experienced! That it en-
liveas what, was gay before, and can make even
bufloonery tolerable, who that has listened to 1t
amid the festival, or during pantomime. will
venture to DENY To its martial effects the an
nal, of war fully testify, and few are found 50
low in spirit as not to have felt kind Of nspira
ton of courage from the sound of march or the
notes of u patriotic AIR.
The powerful influence of national or domes-
tic music over the mind, is strikInSly evinc-
ed in the instance of the Scottish Highlanders
and the natives of Switzerland: certain tunes,
associated with their homes and country, being
PLAYED in their hearing, causes SD violent de-
sire 10 revisit tnem as 10 !nuuCe tne ueepeSt me
lanchoy-even terminating in death when cir
cumstar,e s prevent their desire from being &C
compllshed. If facts Of this kind are too noto-
rious to bear an exemplfcation, which would
lead at once TO the most trite topics, what scope
must there be within the power Of music, for ef-
fects the most most salutary to the human mind
from the exhiIaration Of the mere lively tune,
to the sublimity of the ahthem-from the inslnu-
alton OF tender passion, to the excitement of mar
| tial ardor.
1t is not surprising, therefore, that physicians
and philosophers should esteem music as not the
least powerful of the means calculated to exhi-
larate sarrowful heart, sc. to tighten and Oh.
vert. if not to remove, those intense cares and
anxious thoughts which lead TO melancholy
Music. remarks old Burton, is the medicine oil
the mind-it rouses and revives the langn!shinS
souI: affects not only the ears. but the very ar
tories; awakens the dormant powers OF lite, rals-
es the animal spirits. and renders the duh; Sc
we're. and sorrowful mind, erect and nimbe.-
According to Cassidorus, it will not only expe
the severest grief soften the most violent hatred
mitigate the sharpest spleen, but extenua'e teat
and fury, appease cruelty. abate heavness, and
bring the mind to quietude and rest.