'a bear; as men of milder difpofitions fre'quently live at the lamb. Seeing a punchbowl painted upon a fign near Charing-Crofs, ' and very curiously garnished, with a couple of angels hovering over it, and fqueezing a lemon ' into it, I had the curiofity to afk after the ma'fter of the house, and found, upon enquiry, as I had gueffed by the little agremens upon his fign, that he was a Frenchman. I know, Sir, it is not requifite for me to enlarge upon these 'hints to a gentleman of your great abilities; fo humbly recommending myfelf to your favour • and patronage, I remain, &c.' I fhall add to the foregoing letter, another which came to me by the fame penny-poft. From my own apartment near Charing-Cross. 'Honoured Sir, HA WAVING heard that this nation is a great encourager of ingenuity, I have brought with me a rope-dancer that was caught in one of the woods belonging to the Great Mogul. He is by birth a monkey; but fwings upon a rope, takes a pipe of tobacco, and drinks a glass of ale, like any reafonable creature. He gives great fatisfaction to the quality; and if they 'will make a fubfcription for him, I will fend for a brother of his out of Holland, that is a very good tumbler; and alfo for another of the fame family whom I defign for my Merry-Andrew, as being an excellent mimic, and the 'greatest 'greatest droll in the country where he now is. I hope to have this entertainment in a readiness 'for the next winter; and doubt not but it will 'please more than the Opera, or Puppet-show. 'I will not fay that a monkey is a better man 'than fome of the Opera heroes; but certainly 'he is a better reprefentative of a man, than the 'most artificial compofition of wood and wire. 'If you will be pleased to give me a good word 'in your Paper, you shall be every night a SPEC'TATOR at my show for nothing. C* 'I am, &c.' N° 29. Tuesday, April 3, 1711. Sermo lingua concinnus utraque Both tongues united fweeter founds produce, TH HERE is nothing that has more startled our English audience, than the Italian Recitativo at its firft entrance upon the ftage. People were wonderfully surprised to hear generals finging the word of command, and ladies delivering meffages in mufic. Our countrymen could not forbear laughing when they heard a lover chanting out a billet-doux, and even the fuperfcription of a letter fet to a tune. The fa * By ADDISON, Chelsea. See final Note to N° 7. mous blunder in an old play of Enter a king and two fiddlers folus, was now no longer an abfurdity; when it was impoffible for a hero in a defert, or a princefs in her closet, to speak any thing unaccompanied with mufical inftruments. But however this Italian method of acting in Recitativo might appear at firft hearing, I cannot but think it much more just than that which prevailed in our English opera before this innovation: the tranfition from an air to recitative mufic being more natural, than the paffing from a fong to plain and ordinary fpeaking, which was the common method in Purcell's operas. The only fault I find in our prefent practice, is the making ufe of the Italian Recitativo with English words. To go to the bottom of this matter I must obferve, that the tone, or (as the French call it) the accent of every nation in their ordinary fpeech is altogether different from that of every other people; as we may fee even in the Welth and Scotch, who border fo near upon us. By the tone or accent I do not mean the pronunciation of each particular word, but the found of the whole fentence. Thus it is very common for an English gentleman, when he hears a French tragedy, to complain that the actors all of them fpeak in a tone: and therefore he very wifely prefers his own countrymen, not confidering that a foreigner complains of the fame tone in an English actor. For this reason, the recitative mufic, in every language, should be as different as the tone or accent accent of each language; for otherwise, what may properly exprefs a paffion in one language, will not do it in another. Every one who has been long in Italy knows very well, that the cadences in the Recitativo bear a remote affinity to the tone of their voices in ordinary converfation, or to speak more properly, are only the accents of their language made more musical and tuneful. Thus the notes of interrogation, or admiration, in the Italian mufic (if one may fo call them) which resemble their accents in difcourfe on fuch occafions, are not unlike the ordinary tones of an English voice when we are angry; infomuch that I have often feen our audiences extremely mistaken as to what has been doing upon the ftage, and expecting to fee the hero knock down his meffenger, when he has been afking him a queftion; or fancying that he quarrels with his friend, when he only bids him good-morrow. For this reafon the Italian artists cannot agree with our English musicians in admiring Purcell's compofitions, and thinking his tunes fo wonderfully adapted to his words; because both nations do not always exprefs the fame paffions by the fame founds. I am therefore humbly of opinion, that an English compofer fhould not follow the Italian recitative too fervilely, but make use of many gentle deviations from it, in compliance with his own native language. He may copy out of it all the lulling foftnefs and dying falls (as Shake M 4 fpeare speare calls them) but fhould ftill remember that he ought to accommodate himself to an English audience; and by humouring the tone of our voices in ordinary converfation, have the fame regard to the accent of his own language, as those perfons had to theirs whom he profeffes to imitate. It is obferved, that several of the finging birds of our own country learn to sweeten their voices, and mellow the harshness of their natural notes, by practifing under thofe that come off from warmer climates. In the fame manner I would allow the Italian opera to lend our English mufic as much as may grace and foften it, but never entirely to annihilate and destroy it. Let the infufion be as strong as you please, but still let the fubject matter of it be English. A compofer fhould fit his mufic to the genius of the people, and confider that the delicacy of hearing, and taste of harmony, has been formed upon thofe founds which every country abounds with. In fhort, that mufic is of a relative nature, and what is harmony to one ear, may be diffonance to another. The fame obfervations which I have made upon the recitative part of mufic, may be applied to all our fongs and airs in general. Signior Baptift Lully acted like a man of sense in this particular. He found the French music extremely defective, and very often barbarous, However, knowing the genius of the people, the humour of their language, and the prejudiced cars he had to deal with, he did not pre tend |