day; and in less than six months, produced an instrument, to which I gave the name of organ, and which perfectly answered my intention. It soon, however, came to the ears of the caliph, that malgre his edict, forbidding the Christians assembling to worship, that they continued to do so. I had been playing on my new invented instrument, when an armed force broke into my apartment, and were astonished to find me alone. I was taken, however, before the caliph, who with much asperity questioned me; when I confessed to him, that what appeared as a multitude of voices, proceeded from my instrument. It was immediately sent for, when he became not only satisfied, but delighted. I presented it to him, and was myself immediately attached to his court. He soon made a use of my organ, which was very grateful to me. The ambassadors of Charlemagne were then at his court, and the caliph added my organ to the numerous presents with which he intrusted them for their master.

Madam Genlis here informs her readers, in a note, as an historical fact, that the first organ known in Europe was actually sent to Charlemagne by the caliph Haroun.

Augustine, the monk, was the first that brought the use of church music into England, which was afterwards greatly improved by Dunstan, who furnished our churches and convents with the organ.

ITALIAN OPERA.

To the close of the 16th, and the beginning of the 17th centuries, the invention of the recitative, or recited music, which gave to the lyric drama a peculiar language and construction, is ascribed.

Mr. Burgh, in his Anecdotes of Music, gives the following account of the origin of this species of composition.

Persons of taste and letters in Tuscany, being dissatisfied with every former attempt at perfecting dramatic poetry and exhibitions, determined to unite the best Lyric Poet with the best Musician of their time. Three Florentine noblemen, therefore, Giovani Bardi, Count of Vernio, Petro Strozzi, and Jacobi Corsi, all enlightened lovers of the fine arts; selected Ottavio Rinuccini and Jacobo Peri, their countrymen, to write and set to music the drama of Dafnè, which was performed in the house of Signior Corsi, in 1597, with great applause; and this seems the true era, whence we may date the Opera, or Drama, wholly set to music, and in which the dialogue was neither sung in measure, nor declaimed without music, but recited in simple musical notes, which amounted not to singing, and yet was different from the usual mode of speaking.

After this successful experiment, Rinuccini wrote Eurydice, and Ariana, two other similar dramas.

In the same year, Emilio del Cavaliere composed the music to an opera called Ariadne, at Rome; and the friends of this composer, and of Peri, respectively lay claim to the honour of the invention of recitative, for each of these artistes. The Eurydice, of Peri, was however the first piece of the kind performed in public; its representation taking place at the theatre, Florence, in 1600, on the occasion of the marriage of Henry IV. of France, with Mary de Medecis; and Pietro del Velle, a Roman knight, an amateur musician, who, in 1640, published an able historical disquisition on the science, expressly says, the first dramatic action ever represented at Rome, was performed at the Carnival of 1606, on his Cart, or moveable

* Of course the secular drama is here meant.

stage; when five voices, or five instruments, the exact number an ambulent cart would contain, were employed. Thus it seems, the first secular drama in modern Rome, like the first tragedy in ancient Greece, was exhibited in a cart!

The Italian Opera has undoubtedly given a great impulse to English dramatic music. The first of this species of composition which was performed in England, was Arsinoc, in 1705. An English version, set to music by Thomas Clayton, one of the royal band, in the reign of William and Mary, was then presented.

The translation was bad, and the music execrable; yet this drama was performed twenty-four times in the first, and eleven in the second year.

THE TROUBADOURS.

"When the cloth was ta'en away,
Minstrels straight began to play,
And while Harps and Viols join,
Raptur'd Bards, in strains divine,
Loud the trembling arches rung,
With the noble deeds we sung."

In the eleventh century, the Troubadours made their appearance in Provence. They were the founders of modern versification; frequently singing their own songs to the melody of their own harps; and when they were not able to do the latter, minstrels accompanied them, who recited the lays the Troubadour composed. Though in every country wherever there is a language, there is poetry, and wherever there is poetry, there is music; and in our own in particular, singing to the harp appears to have been early and successfully cultivated, yet the melodies were purely traditional; and the most ancient melodies extant, that have been set to a modern language, are those which are preserved in the Vatican Library, to the songs of the Troubadours, written in the ancient dialect of Provence.+ In the 12th, 13th, and part of the 14th centuries, the minstrels, bards, or jongleurs, the descendants of the Troubadours, occupied a conspicuous station in society. In our own country, there were king's minstrels, and queen's minstrels, who enjoyed a high degree of favour and protection.

Yet, in some of the satires of the times, we find them abused under the names of chantier, fableeir, jangleeirs, and menestre; whilst their art is called janglerie, and they are said to be Ante-Christ, perverting the age by their merry jangles. Piers Ploughman, an ancient satirist, also accuses the minstrels of debauching the minds of the people, and of being tutors of idleness, and the devil's discours; and that they did imbibe some of the general licentiousness which, at the era of the conquest, and for some time before, and some time after, overspread all England, is not unlikely. But, for several reigns, they were favoured by the noble and the fair, and protected by royal authority. In their baronial mansions, on all occasions of high and solemn feasts, the observances of chivalry, and the charms of music were united.

"Illumining the vaulted roof,

A thousand torches flam'd aloof;
From many cups, with golden gleam,
Sparkled the red Metheglin's stream:

* See Burney's History of Music.
+ Burgh's Anecdotes.

To grace the gorgeous festival,
Along the lofty window'd hall
The storied tapestry was hung.
With minstrelsy the rafters rung,

Of harps, that from reflected light
From the proud gallery glitter'd bright.
To crown the banquet's solemn close,
Themes of British glory rose;

And to the strings of various chimes
Attemper'd the heroic rhymes"*

In the reign of Henry III. we find one Henry de Auranches, a Frenchman, dignified with the title of Master Henry, the versifier: which apellation, Mr. Warton observes, perhaps implies a character different from the royal minstrel, or joculator. In 1249, and in 1251, we find orders on the treasurer, to pay this Master Henry one hundred shillings, probably a year's stipend; and in the same reign, forty shillings and a pipe of wine were given to Richard, the king's harper, and a pipe of wine to Beatrice, his wife. In time a gross degeneracy appears to have characterised the once-famed order of minstrels : the sounder part of society pursued them with prohibitions and invectives, till they were at last driven from the more respectable walks of life to the lower orders. Their irregularities became the more rude and offensive, till their order expired, amid the general contempt of an improving nation.-Turner's History of England, vol. i. p. 432.

SECTION II.

COMMERCE, USE OF MONEY, COINS, BANKING SYSTEM, INTERNAL NAVIGATION, &c.

ORIGIN OF COMMERCE, AND USE OF MONEY.

The few wants of men, in the first state of society, were supplied by barter in its rudest form. In barter the rational consideration is, what is wanted by the one, and what can be spared by the other. But savages are not always so clear sighted. A savage who wants a knife will give for it any thing that is less useful to him at the time, without considering his future wants. But mankind improve by degrees, attending to what is wanted on the one side, and to what can be spared on the other.

Barter, in its original form, proved miserably deficient when men and their wants multiplied. That sort of commerce could not be carried on at a distance; and even among neighbours, it does not always happen, that the one can spare what the other wants; it was necessary, therefore, that some commodity should be found in general estimation, that would be gladly accepted in exchange for every other, and which should be neither bulky, expensive in keeping, nor consumable by time. Gold and Silver are metals that possess these

Burney's History of Music.

properties in an eminent degree; and are also divisible into small parts, convenient to be given for goods of small value.

Gold and silver, when first introduced into commerce, were bartered like other commodities, by bulk merely; but shortly, instead of being given loosely by bulk, every portion was weighed in scales, but weight was no security against mixing base metals with gold and silver.

To prevent that fraud, pieces of gold and silver are impressed with a public stamp, vouching both the purity and the quantity; and such pieces are called Coin.

This was an improvement in commerce, and at first, probably deemed complete. It was not foreseen, that these metals wear by much handling, in the course of circulation, and consequently, that in time the public stamp is reduced to be a voucher of the purity only, not of the quantity. This embarrassment was remedied by the use of paper-money; and paper-money is attended with another advantage, that of preventing the loss of much gold and silver by wearing.

When gold or silver, in bullion, was exchanged with other commodities, such commerce passed under the common name of barter, or permutation: when current coin was exchanged, such commerce was termed the buying and selling; and the money exchanged was termed the price of goods.

The Phoenicians were the earliest people who are recorded to have devoted themselves to commerce. It seems, they performed long voyages, and established colonies in remote countries, like the moderns.

The Greeks and Romans were not insensible of the value of commerce, and they pursued it at different periods with eagerness and

success.

The Venetians, from the year 900 to 1500, enjoyed a monopoly of the produce of the East, and thereby became a wealthy and powerful people. The Genoese proved their rivals; but certain free towns of Germany, called Hanse Towns, afterwards disputed with the Italians the palm of commerce.

The Portuguese, on discovering a new route to India, by the Cape of Good Hope, became for a time a considerable commercial people; but the Dutch drove them from their India possessions, and for a century carried on half the trade of the world.

Finally the English,

Supreme in arts, and first in arms,
Trades, and sciences,

have taken the lead of all other nations; and by means of their invincible fleets, their free constitution, their domestic agriculture and manufactures, and their valuable colonies in every sea, they have nearly engrossed the commerce of the world to themselves.

Chronology informs us, money as a medium of commerce, is first mentioned in the 23d Chapter of Genesis, when Abraham purchased a field as a sepulchre for Sarah, in the year of the world, 2139: money was first made at Argos, 894 years B. C.; has increased eighteen times in value from 1290 to 1789; and twelve times its value from 1530 to 1789.

Silver has increased thirty times its value since the Norman Conquest; viz. a pound in that age was three times the quantity it is at present, and ten times its value in purchasing any commodity.

ORIGIN OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES IN ENGLAND.

The origin of all weights and measures in England, was derived from a corn of wheat, (vide Statutes of 51 Henry III., 31 Edward I., 12 Henry VII.) which enacted, that 32 of them well dried and gathered from the middle of the ear, were to make one penny-weight; but it was subsequently thought better to divide the dwt. in 24 equal parts, called grains. All measures of capacity, both liquid and dry, were at first taken from Troy-weight, and several laws were passed in the reign of Henry III enacting, that 8 lbs. Troy of wheat, taken from the middle of the ear, and well dried, should make one gallon of Wine Measure. The standard Wine Gallon, which was kept sealed at Guildhall, was generally reckoned to contain 231 cubic inches; but Dr. Wybard, in his Tectometry, having asserted, that it did not contain more than 224 or 225 cubic inches, an experiment was made, May 25th, 1688, to ascertain the fact. The Commissioners of Excise caused a vessel to be made in form of a parallel opipedon, each side of its base was 4 inches, and its depth 14 inches, so that its just content was 224. In presence of the Lord Mayor, the Commissioners of the Excise, the Rev. Mr. Flamstead, (Astronomer Royal) Mr. Halley, and several other eminent mathematicians, this vessel was very exactly filled with water, and being carefully emptied into the Standard Wine Gallon, did so accurately fill it, that all present were fully convinced it contained only 224 cubic inches. However, it was not thought convenient to alter the supposed content of 231, and accordingly the error continued until the recent introduction of the new Imperial Gallon. The old Beer or Ale Gallon of 282 cubic inches, was intended to bear the same proportion to Avoirdupois Weight as the Wine did to Troy; for it was founded by several nice experiments, that the 1lb. Avoirdupois was equal to 14 oz. 11 dwts. 15 grs. Troy; being very near 14 oz. and six tenths. Hence 12:231 :: 14-6 to 281,05, and by a trial of the Standard Ale Quart, kept in the Exchequer, (12 Charles II.) it was found to contain just 70 cubic inches, and consequently the gallon 704 × 4

282. The old Dry or Corn Gallon, was originally meant to bear a mean, (or nearly so), between the Wine and Beer Gallon; it was previous to 1697, computed to hold 2724 cubic inches; but a statute made in that year enacted, the Winchester Bushel should be round, with a plain and even bottom, 184 inches throughout, and 8 inches deep; consequently, it contained 215,042 cubic inches for the old legal Corn Gallon. Weights and measures were invented 869 B. C; fixed to a standard in England, 1257; regulated 1492; equalized, 1826.

ALMANACKS.

Almanacks are said to have originated with the Germans, who formerly used to engrave, or cut upon square sticks, about a foot in breadth, the courses of the moon of the whole year; whereby they could tell, when the new moons and changes should appear, as also their festival days; and this they called an Al-mon-aght, that is to say, all must heed.

They were first published by Martin Ilkus, at Luda, in Poland, in 1470; compiled by Muller, in their present form, 1473; the Stationer's Company of London, claimed an exclusive right to publish them, till 1779; and now sell a million annually.