The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-27

JIG 6TUIU III TJHUI D HBIJU HBUIJe UTU JIG ETTUE
tenor, Farinelli, conquered the tempests in
the bosom Of King Philip v Of Spain. A
famous musician could rouse Alexander the
Great to madness by the mere style Of
his performance, and calm him again
by returning to the manner of the Lydians;
and Terpander quelled o rebellion in Sparta
promptly by singing some verses, accompa-
MED by his cithern. A German author, who
quotes this anecdote, naively suggests that
the police of his native land had perhaps bet
ter be armed with flutes and guitars here
after, instead Of their massive and dangerous
clubs.
The ancient poem of the Gudrun, one of
the noblest songs ever sung by men of our
race, praises the power of an old soaking,
Haraud, whose voice had such magic power
that, when he sang, the wild beasts
the birds in the trees ceased their
carols, in order to listen. One of the Pro-
vencal troubadours made good use of the
mysterious power inherent in music. He was
travelling through o dark forest, when sud-
denly a band of robbers rushed forth,
dragged him from his horse, took his money,
stripped him of his clothing, and at last pro-
posed to murder him in cold bio I'd. Then
Peter of Chateauneuf begged them at least
to let him sing one more ~favorite song before
he must die. The robbers consented, and he
poh6 81 NIB AHAoO VI bhO SiAIOAh,
a song which he improvised on the spot; it
touched them so deeply that they gave him
his life, returned him his property, and dis
missed him with great admiration and reve-
renee.
More familiar is the story of the rat-catcher,
who, in the year AGO, appeared in Hameln, in
Saxony, and offered, for q slight compensa-
ton, to rid the own of the countless rats
with which it was infested. The inhabitants
Uillipulv a0raad tn hic farnoc Tho ctronCar
then drew a flute from his bag, and played
upon his uncouth instrument a quaint melody;
Immediately the rats came out from all the
houses and barns, and rushed into a river
near by, where they were drowned. When he
had made an end of them all he demanded
his pay, but the avaricious and dishonest
citizens refused to pay him more than q very
small sum-. He made 40 reply, but o the
next day he came, drew another uneouth
fife from his bag, and began to play. Imme-
diately all the children in owe between four
and twelve years came forth from their
houses and followed him through the streets,
out of town, to the foot of @ mountain, and
there the ffer and his followers disappeared
forever. The parents wept and waited, but all
was in vain.
But we need not 60 back to the days of an
tiquity, or ancient legends, to find examples
of the magic power of music. Everybody has
hCdlo Vi IlO ltd1L 2 dChCos IN AAdhOb ~
children of Switzerland homesick unto death
when they hear it in foreign lands, and led
so many of the old Swiss Guard of the
Bourbons in France to commit suicide, that
at last the playing of the air by military
bands had to be strictly prohibited. Nor
must we forget the importance which all
great generals attach to the effect of good
music on their men, so that even the present
ruler of France has been compelled to rein
ofofo Tho xaOivoa n4o1 hands uhioh IN q ~
ment of economical zeal, had been partly
abolished. Few men are insensible to the
influence of quick, lively music; it drives the
blood faster through the veins, and rouses
the most sluggish heart. Shakespeare called
even the drum the great maker of courage,
and history has more than is fiattering to
our race to tell of the blood shed by men
acting under the impulse given by the
Marseillaise. Nevertheless, lot all men are
equally susceptible to the charms of music;
but, where it is not, as often must be the
case, purely the fault of the ear, it draws
upon the unlucky man in popular estimation,
at least, the ~wen-known stigma that
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord OF sweet sounds,
Is fit for %treasons, stratagems, and spolls.
st. Augustine, from whom more Christian
charity might nave been expected, accounts
such insensible persons accursed; but the
example of great and otherwise richly
endowed men has taught us to seek
the explanation rather in some organic
defect. It is even a question,
whether too great susceptibility is not,
perhaps, the more serious misfortune. Som
persons cannot hear certain notes, or, at
least, certain melodies, without being moved
to tears; and even the health of others has
been affected by one or the other instrument.
Rousseau speaks of a lady who never heard
music without having Mysteries, and a we'll
known composer was cured of a dangerous
fever by being forced to play some of his own
compositions. The physicians of insane asy-
lums are fully familiar with the effects OF
music on their unfortunate patients, and
employ it largely in their efforts to calm the
more excitable sufferers. In the Middle
Ages q number of diseases were considered
durable by music, including stupidity. Occa-
sionally this opinion rested upon mere stuper-
stition, as when Batisto Porta seriously
states that a flute of hellebore cured dropsy,
and one of poplar wood was good for rheu-
matism; but when We are told that st. Vitus'
dance can be cured, perhaps homoeopathically,
by dancing-music, there is at least a grain of
truth in the popular fancy. The air pre-
scribed in such cases is generally the Taran-
tella-a name derived from the poisonous
spider, whose bite was in oldens times
believed to be the cause of the terrible
disease. When the latter was epidemic
in Italy, bands of musicians would wan
der up and down the peninsula, offering their
services to the afflicted; now both the disease
and the method of curing it have nearly fall
len into oblivion.
The influence which music has on us is
mainly exercised through the nervous system;
hence children, with their delicate, excitable
nerves, are more easily impressed by it,
lulled to sleep by a simple lullaby, or fright
ened to death by a sudden cry. M~ontaignes