New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-01-14

never .ost the mines Of objects known 10 Tie most
Irnnvc eordnion Of society. Their minister's adopted
m6ry Of The words Of their language The Eneish
sIeutge, from The days Of William OF Alfred, OF ElL-
sb'ih, Of Anne, las retained it, Likeness OF lis strong
STURDY straightforward, Nsthern fathers. Tne 90
jeoiiortte feature Of msuy words Is that they are but
asirele syllllc-ciecied it were, from the PLAIN
direct N rds of mer with the least possible crcunio-
euton. In English, impulse Of the organs OF
speech generally indicate whstever the unsn;ored
senses omtrsce. For example, take nearly any
part Of tie body-ihe head. hair, eye, ear,
nofe, mouth, ,hcss. chin, tooth, tongue, brow,
lip. neck, arm hand breast leg foo; skin, bone aesh,
or blood. Or tke other ohees-earth, sea, AIR, sky,
cloud, sun, noon star tree branch, leaf, &c. The
Dtmos Of animals Of the North are sirlar-bear, woL
fox Tie may be said Of universal conditions
times, sons, and sensations; and many other words
not readily CLASSIFIED But regarded in connection
with cur general husic-whcn reflect upon
the fact that The only IDEAS with which Music Is nstu
rally and agreesbly associated those which relate
10 human porson ard feeling and the distractions
or eChievomoais of philosophy we perceive at once
that the Spontaneous forms Of English verse must be
essentially governed by this monosyabc peculiarly,
and that hence Music strictly welded TO such verse,
must partake also Of ts distinctive nature II the
whole tongue thus Constructed might despair
OF melody in alliance with it, While we have these
merits of breviy snd energy due its barbarc seeds
we have those of grace and beauty, the fruit Of its
classic graftirgs and the skul yerfer may give his
work an indefinite variety Of phrase and accent. lis
asserted by that the English language is united
for music-with which opinion the lecturer differed,
and stated his reasons some length. The opinion
is frequently expressed by certain class of ollie
tamil and by these who permit this class to think for
them that the English language is uafted Rhtted
for music and especially the lyrical drama that
il has come generally 10 be held an ndisputable
canon. The fret, perhaps the only, ground of this
opinion Usually alleeedhough ery far from being the
true difficulty in questionsthe harsh anti vocslic uneu
phonious OF vast majority of our words. There
is simple radical error this idea. The proposition
may be stated as ncontestibe, that any language is
agreeable that is .sy euphoniOus melodous,to the
ears OF those TO whom IL il native. The character of
the words which we learn in infancy which grow in
multitude with the growth of our years which express
the wants and pains and pleasures OF childhood the
passions and aspirations OF youth the reflections and
the knowledge of maturity and age-thc character OF
these words-so exquistely identified as our MOTHER
excites in the spontaneous use of hem
any thought respecting the position of the organs re-
CURED them, the abstract nature Of the ar
tculate sound which reaches the ear II is the mind
iron habit mmemoria to itself recognizes a word, it
Is rot a cerfsn succession Of letters sylables,
union of novels and consonsnts but the integral
representative of subject object Of whose orig
iral the mind has thereby cognizance 1t is therefore,
the sgnfc6tion of the verbal sound, and not the
rbnic quality of that sound which engages thought
or feeling Two or three examples may prove this
Let US take synonym best suited TO the purpose.
Tie child may be taught TO call its mother mamma.
Mamma is a perfectly euphOnious word which the
BABY can utter with its lips ony-av vowel sound follow
ing each consonGnt sound, ard those vowel sounds
tie most agreeable OF all But mother, judged by mere
euuhonic laws is hsrsh il s labial ngual dental and
cultural all in sysbes without clear, open vowel
in ether The child knows, and grows up with, both
these words familiar but the is impressed on the
mind az mere title of address the other the generic
name Of that object, which has in that full sense
other rtme And when, with any of the thousand as
sociatons which make mother dear we hear the en-
denring word does occur to critical sense to
dwell upon is consonsnts its cultural and its snioh-
cred yowell No Tue word flies TO the heart, and Is
but the humble, unnotced servitor, who throws open
its PORTALS to show us the original still living there
Without multiplying illustrations, il must be very
apparent that own language when delivered with
propriety il. oil senses that is with due regard to
grammar and rhetoric with just accent and emphasis,
is ever 10 unmusicsl On the contrary, IL Is always
the moot truly acceptable; and though we were gifted
with many tongues as the apostles that in which
we first hsped-w hich bresthed first lullaby
which opened to our early curiosity the treasures
Of yaried knOwledge-whch was the speech OF our
boyish frendshps-whch told or answered the story
Of our love-which has always whispered from our
mind to our heart, and back from our heart TO our
mind tie secret communons Of reason and passion
which rises unconsciousy TO the lips the air that
we exhae--which we hear even in our drelms--which
strs up our soul godke aspirations, or leads II to
walk calmly through the shadow OF death, that Ian
susge cannot be to dscordant. There IS mu-
sic in its every word,-the music OF assoca
ton, OF meaning, of harmony, with the pecu
liar things OF our whole lite Previous to
pointing out what he deemed to be deiects in the Eng
lsh lpeusse in this respect he discussed melody ct
ZONE length, and by way of an Illustration performed
a melody on the pianoiore. Before concluding this
branch of the subject be gave further examples on the
came ins,rumat One of the defects in the English
language rsmed by the lecturer is the masculine ter
rnra,cn Of lines of poe,ryhe accentiDg Of the last
/ syllable
Rhymes are technically distinguished as masculine
and feminine The masculine terminates with &C.
oeuted syllable
The proper study Of mankind is man"
IL ave thee all I more,
Though poor the offering be"
: The feminine termination IL the next 10 the
1 lat syllable. For example
Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle"
:" From Cree nl4nds icy mountains
The lecturer explained bow melody depends upon the
meter of poetry for It's most pleasing rather it. Only
truly elegant forms II r be required to compose and
accept smelody to given stanza is possible that the
verbal ,nsv forbid tina, continuity of the notes
which true melodic symmetry demands. The ge'
MUS Ct cur language seldom suggests the use OF
feminine rhymes and the masculine oharscteristic Is
defect against which vocal music has struggled from
tie beginning to this day. And as few, if any,
| Of Engish poets have written verses for music
with a technical knowledge Of the melodic psuses,
resly ell Of lyrical poetry terminates the second
line Of any .tsnIs with a masculine rhyme. This re-
mark Mr. Fry did not apply to music previously ex