Music And The Masonic Ritual.—No. I.

harmony we learn that they arc general aud universal ; aud of harmony itself—that the proportions of which it consists are to be found in those material forms which wo behold with the greatest pleasure , such as the sphere , the cube , and the cone , which constitute what we call symmetry , beauty , and regularity . But the imagination receives no additional delight , although it is the cant of musicians , in our time ,

to pretend that a composition is a poem , and generates ideas— -which ( as no two of this school have ever agreed as to any definite idea produced by such means ) we beg leave to disavow ; for it must be plain to every mind , that notes of themselves mean nothing move than the associations each one allies them with , either by words or imitation of some well known soundsand thus all that we experience

; in music amounts to this—that our reason is exercised in the operation , and that faculty is alone gratified thereby . Iu short , there are kit feiv things in nature which music is capable * of imitating , and these are of the most simple and beautiful kind—so much so , that the imitation is always immeasurabl y inferior to the original . We may safely affirm , that the shrewd answer of Agesilausking of Sparta

, , recorded in Plutarch , * to one who requested him to hear a man sing that could imitate the ni ghtingale— " I have heard the -ni g htingale herself "—was not only a just tribute to the superiority of nature , but an acknowledgment that music is but a poor imitator . As its principles

are founded on geometrical truth , ancl result from a general and universal laiv of nature , so its excellence is intrinsic , absolute and inherent , resolvable only into His will who hath ' ordered all things in measure , and number , and weight . "f Music is a gift of the great Creator to the whole human race ; its existence and influence are to bo traced in the records of every people

from the earliest ages , ancl it is to be found iu use among the civilized and barbarous inhabitants of every quarter of the globe . Every individual possessing the power of speech , by the mere inflections of the voice shows that he has within him the requisite variety of tones , however limited hi extent , which go to make music . His ear also points outthat to convey certain impressions it is needful to modulate

, that voice ; hence , when we hear persons say " I can't sing , I ' ve neither voice nor car , " we know them to he labouring under a , delusion . Itis a part of the benevolent order of Providence , that we arc capable of receiving from the objects around us , pleasures , independent of the immediate purposes for which they were created . Our eyes do not merely enable us to see external things so as to avail ourselves of

their useful properties ; they enable us also to enjoy the delight produced by the perception of beauty , a ' perception which ( upon whatever principle it may be explained ) is something distinct from any consideration of the mere utility of an object—for we could have had the most accurate notion of the form and shape of each particular that constitutes the most beautiful landscape , without receiving any im-