Music And The Masonic Ritual—No. Ii.

sation or unimpassioned reading ; of a minor third ( rising ) in melancholy exclamation or interrogation ; of the same interval ( falling ) in despair ; of a major third ( rising ) in exclamations and common interrogations ; of the same interval ( falling ) in emphasis ; of a fifth or octave in extreme wonder , passion , and vehement declamation . " With one or two examples of the poAver of rhythmwe shall

, proceed again with our ori ginal inquiry . The majority of writers on rhythm affirm its poAver to be such , that if the accentuation of a tune is changed , or a tune Avith contrary accents substituted , while a rope dancer is performing , he inevitably and immediately loses his balance . Bufc the most practical demonstration is one suggested b y Gretry the composer , and the test is so easy of application , that we recommend

any of our readers , who doubt the influence of accent , to try it for themselves . Gretry says , " I have often used a singular stratagem to slacken or accelerate the pace of a walking companion ; to say you Avalk too fast , or too sloiv , is impolite , except to an intimate friend , but to hum an air to the time of the walk of your companion , and then by degrees either increase or dimmish the time of your airis as innocent a device

, as it ivill be found convenient , and productive of the exact pace at which you may feel disposed to proceed . " * Returning again to the inquiry from which we have digressed , we proceed to consider the character of the music employed by tbe

ancients in their mysteries , and Ai'e find that the song and dance were among the earliest ; and that the mystic dances , as Avell as music or poetry , both of which are comprehended under either designation , was the art of composing in rhythm , or lines of a certain number of long and short syllables interwoven together , and that this form was invented for aiding the memory before the arfc of writing in syllables

was discovered . f Much as dancing may be now neglected , there can be no doubt that among the ancients it was of very great importance . Its object was to keep in recollection the sacred myths , and nothing could be better adapted for this purpose , as all sacred books are poetical , and have a rhythm , to which the feet will naturally respond . Payne Knight ^ tells ns that " in a choral ode of Sophocles , Pan is addressed ,

by the title of author and director of the dances of the gods , as being the author and disposer of the regular motions of the universe , of which these divine dances were symbols . " In another place he says— - " Among the Greeks all dancing ivas of the mimetic kind , wherefore , Aristotle classes it with music , poetry , and painting ; and Lucian terms it a science of imitation and exhibition which explained the

conceptions ofthe mind and certified to the organs of sense things naturall y beyond their reach . " Again we find that to such a degree of refinement Avas it carried that Athenseus speaks of a Pythagorean who could display the whole system of his sect in such gesticulations , more clearly and strongly than a professed rhetorician could do in words .