The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-03-16
"W..h .ravi-hed cars
The monarch hears,
Assumes the God
A6aNta In nnr1

The monarch hears,
Z sSESSs&*S Assumey the God
Affects TO nod,
3 NJ And seems 10 shake the spheres"
i ,ss Il mny be ono of our fancies, but we
s1anpot help feeling that the power of
poetry over the mind of the old Greek
& WAS beautifully and truthfully shown By
1.-THE fact, that in his Theology, the God
! who guided the sun in his course was the
Same who presided in the realm oil music.
rThe glorious son Of Teus, who sent the
Ss:orb OF light and warmth to cheer the
,4paterial world with his lifo giving
q beams, also kindlcd the perpetual fires
y Of genius Oh the altar Of the poets heart,
Zsand, with mugio touch called forth the
onoha anting harmonies of the musicians
soul.
The most brilliant philosopher Of this
century has paid so beautiful tribute
70 this wonder working power, that we
feel inclined to love him, as We read his
glowing words:-"It cxcels in trans-
porting to tho feet Of eternal mercy the
soul trembling on the wings of repen-
tance, hope and love. Happy are those
g who at Rome, in the Vatican, during
the solemnltics Of the Catholic worship,
have heard tie melodies of Leo Durante
and Pergolesi, on tho old consccrated
atext. They have entered heaven for
moment, and their souls have been able
, to ascend thither without distinction of
: rank, country, even belief by those in.
visible and mysterious steps, composed,
thus to speak, of all the simple, natural,
universal sentiments, that everywhere
On earth draw from the bosom Of the
human creature sigh towards another
world"
But il such be the power of music
over the mortal being, whose ear is
deadened, aud whose heart is hardened
by the awful reign of sin, what must be
the untold aud inconceivable harmonies
of that pure world, where no jarring
discords are allowed to enter, and no
antuned instrument is suffered to mar
she melody of the angelic choir
- It is not subject for reas oning, but
We feel that We could have given an
answer to the mathematician who after
4 reading "Paradise Lost" asked con.
temptuously Ithat d~cs 1t prove ?"-
1t proves the power of poetry aud the
4. sway ofsong the harmon. f heaven,
and tho horrors Of hell; the grandeur
ofgeuius and the glory o$ God.
Yet far beyond this wondrous power
is that Of the unheard melodies, of
which the truly tender and sensitive
soul will sometimes catch unwritten
snatches. 1t is sod, yet sweet to re.
member that the great composer Bcetho-
ven, who enchanted the world with his
glorious productions, was himself stone
deaf, and when, in reading over his own
grand pieces his soul seemed ravished
With delight, the untausht people who
witnessed the touching scene wondered
that he could appreciate the music
They knew not tho great truth that the
fond mother, Genius, knows her offspring
Sntuitivcly, and delights in the children
ether own rearing, in whatever manucr
they may be presented to her.
She fondies tho i'll her bosom, presses
them passionately to her own throbbing,
swelling heart, with such dc light as only
the mother can know. II one door Of
her house is closed by the ruthless hand
Of Misfortune, she hastcns to throw
open another through which her loved
ones may gladly come in und cxult in
the gushing tenderness of fond moth
er's heart. The ear Of Beethoven was
closed forever, but his eye was still open
and through this window of tho soul did
his music float, and stir his heart to its
iAmost depths.
Docs any one say, "ths is the very
coinage of your brain ?''-thc dream of
an untutored fancy? We might reply
in the language OF child Of genius, that
We nre writing "to those who feel
rather than to those WHO think-to
the dreamers, and those who put
faith in dreams US in the oalI rcali-
hes."
:. Yet if We need Witnesses to the glo-
rious truth ofunheard music, here they
como trooping up almost unbidden.-
Hero is Poe, with "thoughts that wan
der through eternity" telling us
"The orchestra brcathcs fitfuly
The music Of tho spheres"
Thomas Carlyle, with his deep, ma,
jretic earncstncss. testities to tho
existence of "Spherc Harmonies.
Higher still. Shakespeare wrote
''There's rot tho smallest orb which thou behold.
cs.,
Bdtin his motion like angel eass.
Still quiring to the young cyd chcrubims
Such harmony is in immortal souls
But, whilst this muddy vosturo of decay
Doth grossly close it in, VIC cannot hear it,"
But above all JEHOVAH Himself,
speaking to old Job out of the whirlwind,
alludea to the time,
.Wben tho morning stars sang together
And all the sOns of God shouted for joy."
IT these be fancies, then We arc vii.
ling to take fancy for faith and with
all reverence We say it, we trust that
heaven is full Of such fances realized
and that when let loose from this tcno
mcut OF clay, ourspirit may forever rovcl
n such dreams, as tho lovely ro
a''ties OF the redeemed md purified
soul.
j. G. HYDEN.