The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-12-19
THE EOLIAN HARP.

THE EOLIAN HARP.
Arnot, in his elements Of Physics, thu
eioquently describes the music OF the 4Eo
} liam Harp:-
" he Eolian Harp is n long box or cas-
oil light wood, with harp or violin string
extended on its face. They are generally
tuned IN perfect unison with each other, o.
10 the same pitch, ms it is expressed; bu
when The harp is suspended aiBong trees
or IN any situation where the fluctuatinn
breeze may reach it, each string, according
10 the manner in which it receives the blast
sounds either entire, or breaks into some Of
The simple divisions the result OF which is
The production of the most pleasing combi-
nation and succession of sounds that ear has
ever listened to, or fancy perhaps conceiv-
ch. Alter pause this fairy harp is often
heard beginning with a low and solemn
note, like the base of distant music in the
sky; the sound then swels ms if approach
ing, and other tones break forth, minging
With the first and with each other. In the
combined and varying strain, sometimes
one cleaT note predomInates and sometimes
another. as if single musicians alternately
led the band; and the concert often seems
10 approach and again receGe, until with
The unequal breeze 1t dies away, and all is
hushed again. 1t is no wonder, that the
ancIents, who understood not the nature of
arr, nor consequently even of simple
sound, shouli; have deemed the music olthe
Aollan harp supernatural, and in their
warm lmng'nations, should have supposed,
that 1t was The strain of invisible beings
| from above, descending in the stiffness of
evening or night to commune with men in a
heavenly language of soul ineligible to
both, But, even now that we understand it
well, there are few persons so insensible to
what is delicate and beautiful in nature. as
TO listen to this wild music without emotion ::
and to the informed ear it is additionally
delightful, as affording fine illustration of
those laws of sound, which human ingenui-
ty at last has traced"
" Names are but trords, and ,cords are but trind"
Perhaps no antipathy is more sincere or
more hearty than that Of true John Bull
against the French. 1t is nationa! hatred,
and has the force Of religions duty, or rath
er of religious habit. Its chief foundation
however is, that the French Peasantry wear
wooden shoes, and do not know the use OF
language. "What is this" said an Eng
llsh sailor, "that hold in nv hand 2"
Why, mug, you fool" said his shipmate.
Well, don't you think the French swabs
call it poe !" (unpot.) No Frenchman can
long dwell in England and retain his French
name. 1t must be Anglicized or wholly
abandoned. Thus the French surname of
Peyse has become good English Pease and
Pace; Montague has become Mountain :
D'Oilcy is now DolIev and Dolloff; D'Ar-
! hurn Is Ilpurhorn
Blunt, or translated White; Melun has he.
come Melon, and Mellen; Dupus is Dupee ::
( Bohun is called Boon Durant is the root of
Durang, Dnren, During De La Noye has
become Delano; Bompasse is now Bumpus
and bumps; Doten is Doty and Doughty :;
and Quetelet pronounced Ketela) is plain
Kettle.
But it is not French names alone that
nave been thus strangely domesticated in
England. The German name of Kelloch is
turned into English Kellogg, Kollock, KEEL
ley, and Colley; Hapn is called Horn {;
WALTZ is Wharf; Wahl is Wall; Schweit-
ger is Sweetser; Poble or Fable is Poleys :;
Schepler is Shepley; Weller is Wheeler
and Weller. So from the Dutch name Of
Heyliger we have Hilliker from Dutihl we
have Tuttle; and from Barbeyrac we have
Barberick. So also the Scotch Straham
is the English Strong; Nights is Miles :;
! and Urquhart is circuit, Olcott, and Alcot.
Many of these names are pronounced alike
in both languages, the difference Icing
merely in the photography. The use of this
soft of knowledge is chiefly in settling
questions of pedigree, upon the descent Of
estates to remote collateral heirs and in
such cases it is sometimes of importance.
| vi this propensity 10 domesticate foreign
names an amusing illustration is given in
the case of one Flint, a native of Cornwall,
In England, who migrated a century ago
into the interior of Scotland. Here, by a
very natural translation, Sawney bestowed
on him the name of Gunstone. The same
Romadic character, in process of time, car
rled Mr.. Flint, now fairly become MIR. Gun
stone, into Germany, where he died; but
not till the Germans, with the same nation
al partiality, but still true to the primitive
import of Flint, had fixed upon him the cog
nomen of Feyerstein, or Fire-stone. His son
afterwards settled in France. But what
could Frenchman do with so uncou:h a
word as Feyerstein Here again, adherng
TO the spirit of the original Mr.. Flint, be-
came Pierre Fusil
| After some years the grandson of the frs,
emigrant returned to England, bearing the
French name of his father; which John
! Bull, by the brief process of a literal trans
lation, instantly converted into Peter Gun
( leaving his children to assert their title tc
the paternal mansion, by tracing their line
al descent, and that too in the male line
from Peter Gun up to James Flint.
The British sailors metamorphose the
classical names of their war vessels afte
the same odd manner. Thus, the Bellero
phon is called is called Billy Rough one
the Andromache, the Andrew Mackay; thu
Agamemnon, Eggs and Bacon; the Polly
phemus, the Polly Famous. The Frencl
vessels which they capture, they mangl,
still more. Thus, the Bellqueux, they cal
Belly Squeaks; the Genereux, Jenny Rocks
&c. &c. &c.-Portland advertiser.
Devotion OF GREAT MIND TO IT
DUTIES. Milton, the Poet of Paradise Los
who, during an active life in the mos
troublesome times, was unceasng in tn
cultivation Of his understanding, thus des
cribes his own habits -" Those morning
haunts are where they should be, ut home
not sleeping, or connecting the surfeits 0
an irregular feast, but up and stirring il