derive valuable hints; since almost all the remarks which apply to the words of the songs, are applicable also to the music. In proof of this opinion I shall quote a few sentences:

man.

"When I travelled, I took a particular delight in hearing the songs and fables that are come from father to son, and are most in vogue among the common people of the countries through which I passed; for it is impossible that anything should be universally tasted and approved by a multitude, though they are only the rabble of a nation, which hath not in it some peculiar aptness to please and gratify the mind of Human nature is the same in all reasonable creatures; and whatever falls in with it, will meet with admirers amongst readers of all qualities and conditions. Molière, as we are told by Monsieur Boileau, used to read all his comedies to an old woman who was his housekeeper, as she sat with him at her work by the chimney-corner; and could foretell the success of his play in the theatre, from the reception it met at his fire-side--for he tells us the audience always followed the old woman, and never failed to laugh in the same place. . . . The old song of Chevy-Chace is the favourite ballad of the common people of England; and Ben Jonson used to say, he had rather have been the author of it than of all his works. Sir Philip Sidney, in his discourse of poetry, speaks of it in the following words :-'I never heard the old song of Percy and Douglas, that I found not my heart more moved than with a trumpet: and yet it is sung by some blind crowder with no rougher voice than rude style; which being so evil apparelled in the dust and cobweb of that uncivil age, what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindar?'"-(The Spectator, No. 70).

"I have heard that the late Lord Dorset, who had the greatest wit tempered with the greatest candour, and was one of the finest critics as well as the best poets of his age, had a numerous collection of old English ballads, and took a particular pleasure in the reading of them. I can affirm the same of Mr. Dryden, and know several of the most refined writers of our present age who are of the same humour. I might likewise refer my reader to Molière's thoughts on this

subject, as he expressed them in the character of the Misanthrope; but those only who are endowed with a true greatness of soul and genius, can divest themselves of the little images of ridicule, and admire nature in her simplicity and nakedness. As for the little conceited wits of the age, who can only show their judgment by finding fault, they cannot be supposed to admire these productions which have nothing to recommend them but the beauties of nature, when they do not know how to relish even those compositions that, with all the beauties of nature, have also the additional advantage of art." (The Spectator, No. 85).

"Let me make a nation's Ballads; who will may make their Laws," is a well-known aphorism;* and from history we learn that most of the ancient legislators fully appreciated and employed popular songs as a powerful means for reforming the manners of the people.

Some of the most interesting publications of national poetry will be pointed out in the last chapter of this work. Although these collections seldom contain the tunes of the songs, the musical student will often find in them valuable hints relating to musical questions. But, a collection of popular poems of the extra-European nations, illustrating the characteristics of the poetry of each nation, has hitherto not been given to the world. Such a publication would be especially interesting if the poems were given in the original languages as well as in translation. By this means, and with the help of some additional explanations, the student might be enabled to form a fairly correct idea of the metre, construction, euphony, and the characteristic features in general of a poem, even without possessing a knowledge of the language in which it is made. Indeed, much remains still to be done to render the study of national songs as useful as it might be, not only to philologists and ethnologists, but also to poets and musicians.

*It is generally attributed to Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun; but he appears only to have repeated the saying of somebody else.- Vide Notes and Queries, vol. i. p. 153; London, 1850.

CHAPTER VII.

A

ON NATIONAL DANCES.

LTHOUGH dancing, combined with music, is practised by every nation on the globe, yet the estimation in which this art is held, as well as the mode of dancing, vary greatly in different nations. Some consider it below the dignity of man to assist in the performance, and therefore leave the dancing entirely to the females, while they themselves enjoy it only as spectators. Others consider it a pastime worthy of their greatest chiefs and warriors; and kings (as is the case with some negro tribes) will treat their subjects occasionally with a solo performance.

In certain countries the men and the women usually dance apart from each other. And there are nations whose fondness for dancing is so great, that the people will resort to it in the evening as a recreation, even after the most fatiguing bodily exertions during their daily toils. Captain Stedman was struck with the insatiable love of the Negro slaves in Guiana for dancing, of which, he says, "they are so fond that I have known a newly-imported negro, for want of a partner, figure and foot it for nearly the space of two hours to his shadow against the wall."*

Many treatises have been published on the art of dancing, most of which contain some account of its cultivation among the nations of antiquity. I consider it unnecessary to record

* Narrative of Five Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, by Captain J. G. Stedman; London, 1796.-It must be remembered that slavery has been abolished in Surinam.

information which has been already so often given, and only in a few instances, where a reference to ancient nations materially assists in elucidating the character of a dance of the present day, I shall be compelled for a moment to touch upon well-trodden ground.

The earliest dance was probably of the character of the March, since his innate feeling for rhythm must soon have led man, when he happened to be walking while singing, to regulate his song and steps according to a certain rhythmical order.

The next dance invented may be surmised to have been pantomimic, describing some natural object, event, or passion. The instinct for imitation is, it will be remembered, strongest in people in a low state of civilization, and diminishes with the gradual development of man's reasoning faculties. Savages will imitate in dances the peculiar movements and habits of certain animals. The Australians have their Kangaroo dance, the North American Indians their Buffalo dance, and the people of Kamtschatka their Bear dance. In the last-named dance, called Bachia, two persons imitate the attitudes, tricks, and uncouth postures of two bears, while the spectators singing incessantly repeat the words Bachia da hog! Tilesius, while witnessing the performance of the dance during his visit to Kamtschatka, wrote down one of the tunes usually employed, and forwarded it to the Leipzig musical Journal.* In transcribing it here, I shall omit the accompaniment, which is evidently an addition by Tilesius. He says that the dancers emitted at intervals a grunting sound, hog, or ugh, which we may suppose they had observed to be that of the bear in such gambols as they depicted.

THE BEAR-DANCE BACHIA OF THE KAMTCHADALES.

Allegro.

sfz

* 'Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'; Leipzig, 1805.

The Kangaroo dance of the natives of Australia is performed by the men only, while the women are singing and beating time by striking two pieces of wood together. The dancers imitate the grunting of the kangaroo, whereby they produce a kind of bass to the singing of the women, as shown in the following notation, which is taken from Freycinet's 'Voyage autour du Monde.'

Andante.

6

KANGAROO-DANCE OF THE AUSTRALIANS.

6

&c.