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fective, and very often barbarous. However, knowing the Genius of the People, the Humour of their Language, and the prejudiced Ears he had to deal with, he did not pretend to extirpate the French Mufick, and plant the Italian in its ftead, but only to Cultivate and Civilize it with innumerable Graces and Modulations which he borrowed from the Italian. By this means the French Mufick is now perfect in its kind; and when you fay it is not fo good as the Italian, you only mean that it does not please you fo well, for there is fcarce a Frenchman who would not wonder to hear you give the Italian fuch a Preference. The Mufick of the French is indeed very properly adapted to their Pronunciation and Accent, as their whole Opera wonderfully favours the Genius of fuch a gay airy People. The Chorus in which that Opera abounds, gives the Parterre frequent Opportunities of joining in Confort with the Stage. This Inclination of the Audience to fing along with the Actors, fo prevails with them, that I have fometimes known the Performer on the Stage do no more in a Celebrated Song, than

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the Clerk of a Parish Church, who ferves only to raise the Pfalm, and is af terwards drowned in the Mufick of the Congregation. Every Actor that comes on the Stage is a Beau. The Queens and Heroines are fo Painted, that they appear as Ruddy and Cherry-cheek'd as Milk-maids. The Shepherds are all Embroidered, and acquit themselves in a Ball better than our English DancingMasters. I have feen a couple of Rivers appear in red Stockings; and Alpheus, instead of having his Head co- vered with Sedge and Bull-Rufhes, ma- king Love in a fair full-bottomed Perriwig, and a Plume of Feathers, but with a Voice fo full of Shakes and Qua vers, that I fhould have thought the Murmurs of a Country Brook the much more agreeable Mufick.

I remember the laft Opera I faw in that merry Nation, was the Rape of Proferpine, where Pluto, to make the more tempting Figure, puts himself in a French Equipage, and brings Afcalaphus along with him as his Valet de Chambre. This is what we call Folly and Impertinence; but what the French look upon as Gay and Polite.

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I fhall add no more to what I have here offered, than that Mufick, Architecture and Painting, as well as Poetry and Oratory, are to deduce their Laws and Rules from the general Sense and Tafte of Mankind, and not from the Principles of thofe Arts themselves; or in other Words, the Tafte is not to conform to the Art, but the Art to the Tafte. Mufick is not defigned to please only Chromatick Ears, but all that are capable of diftinguishing harsh from difagreeable Notes. A Man of an ordinary Ear is a Judge whether a Paffion is expreffed in proper Sounds, and whether the Melody of thofe Sounds be more or less pleafing.

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Wednesday,

No 30. Wednesday, April 4.

Si Mimnermus uti cenfet, fine amore Jocifque Nil eft Jucundum; vivas in amore Focifque.

Hor.

NE common Calamity makes Men extreamly affect each other, tho' they differ in every other Particular. The Paffion of Love is the moft

general Concern among Men; and I am glad to hear by my laft Advices from Oxford, that there are a Set of Sighers in that Univerfity, who have erected themselves into a Society in Honour of that tender Paffion. These Gentlemen are of that fort of Inamorato's, who are not fo very much loft to common Senfe, but that they understand the Foly they are guilty of; and for that Reaon feparate themfelyes from all other Company, becaufe they will enjoy the Pleafure of talking incoherently, withut being ridiculous to any but each ther. When a Man comes into the Club, he is not obliged to make my In

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troduction to his Difcourfe, but once, as he is feating himself in his Chair, fpeaks in the Thread of his own Thoughts, She gave me a very obliging Glance, She never looked fo well in her "Life as this Evening', or the like Reflection, without Regard to any other Member of the Society; for in this Affembly they do not meet to talk to each other, but every Man claims the full Liberty of talking to himself. Inftead of Snuffboxes and Canes, which are ufual Helps to Difcourfe with other young Fellows, thefe have each fome Piece of Ribbon, a broken Fan, or an old Girdle, which they play with while they talk of the fair Perfon remembered by each refpe&tive Token. According to the Repre fentation of the Matter from my Letters, the Company appear like fo many Players rehearfing behind the Scenes; one is fighing and lamenting his Defti ny in befeeching Terms, another de claring he will break his Chain, and another in dumb-Show ftriving to ex prefs his Paffion by his Gefture. It i very ordinary in the Affembly for on of a fudden to rife and make a Difcourf concerning his Paffion in general, an defcribe the Temper of his Mindi

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