John Antony Baïf, who had been brought up among thefe fhows, during the embaffy of his father (the celebrated Lazarus Baïf) at Venice, was the first who introduced the tafte for them into France. He turned his house into an academy of mufic, which was frequented with applaufe both by the court and city; but this academy died with its founder. Amidst all the fondness of Catharine de Medicis, and the Italians in her fuite, for their country exhibitions, all that the annals of French mufic mention of this fpecies, is only a kind of opera, acted in 1582, at the rejoicings of the famous nuptials of the duke de Joyeuse and the princess of Vaude mont. I had hopes of finding fome infight into the ftate and the refpective claims of both mufics, towards the close of the fifteenth century, in the poem by Jean le Maire de Belges, called the reconciliation of the two languages. The poet's fcope in it was, to bring about a thorough peace and agreement between two nations feparated by the Alps, and ftill more by the difference of the climate, of manners and custom, as to action; and by accents, geftures, and pronunciation, as to fpeech. The author of this poem, which for the most part confifts of triplets, after the Italian manner, places about Venus a mufic loose and wanton like herself; and the inftrumental part of which was quite in a new tafte; the old pfalterions, dulcimers, and pipes, being thrown afide for harps and monochords. Whether the poet meant to indicate the Italian improvements in inftrumental mufic, or had his eye 2 on fome efforts of the French in that kind, fcarcely could the latter fupport them, even under the reign of Francis I. though that prince was eminent for munificence to the fine arts, and his wars laid open, a communication between France and Italy. The Louvre collection of ordinances has one of Charles VI. dated the 24th of April, 1407, in favour of the science of Minstrelifm, and its practitioners, the chief of whom was ftiled King. In the fame collection there is even a memoir concerning a like ordinance, iffued by king John, in favour of the Paris minftrels. However eminent we may suppose these hands to have been, Francis I. thought fit to bring back, and to procure from Italy, feveral virtuofi in this kind. One of the most distinguished was Mercer Albert. Aretin, in a letter of the 16th of June, 1538, compliments him on his excelling in an art, di che, fays he to him, fiete lume, e vi ha fatto si caro a fua maeftá e al mondo, i. e. " of which you are "the luminary, and which has fo "endcared you to his majesty, and "to the world." He concludes with defiring him to deliver to the king a letter which he had written to him. Whether these musicians had gone retrograde; whether (which is little probable) Henry II. and Catharine de Medicis had, on the decease of Francis I. fent them back to their own country; or whether, during their stay in France, the art had been prodigiously improved in Italy; Brantome, in his Life of Marthal Briffac, tells us, "that this nobleman, who was "for a long time Henry the Ild's "general in Piedmont, had the "best " beft band of violins in all Italy, " and paid them very handfomely. "The late king, Henry II. and "his queen, hearing great com"mendations of them, asked them "of the marfhal, to teach their "band, who were good for nothing, and no more than as little "Scotch rebecks in comparison of "them. 66 long time fhackled a genius, whose fublimity and fire was not known till it met with inftruments capable of keeping pace with it. A writer, both cotemporary with that renovation, and an excellent judge, has fpoken of it with equal truth and impartiality. "M. Ľul"ly," fays he, " has enriched our They were immediately" mufical reprefentations with the fent, the head performers being "moft happy productions of art, Jacques Marie and Baltazarin: "knowledge, genius, and experi"the latter, coming afterwards to 66 ence combined. Born in the "be valet de chambre to the "country of fine productions, and, queen, was named M. de Beaux- "on the other hand, habituated "to our ways by living long in "France, he has, from the dif "pofition of his nation blended "with ours, made that mafterly "mixture of one and the other, "which pleases, which affects, "which ravifhes, and, in a word, "instead of leaving any thing in Italy for us to envy, enables us "to fet it copies." * joyeux." If the state of mufic in the country deferves to come into account, I might mention, that in 1672, Lewis XIV. paffing through the capital of a province nearest to Paris, that city, which now has regularly two concerts a week, could give the king no other mufical entertainment than a concert in the manner of that in Scarron's comic opera, that is, of eight choir-boys, two of whom fang, two played on the top of a bafs-viol, and the four others were hanged to four violoncellos, under the direction of the master of the chorifters. This the proprietor of the house, where the king had taken up his lodgings, accounted an event fit to be tranfmitted to pofterity in a picture; and from the very picture have I taken this defcription. On the fecond revival of the fine arts in France, under M. Colbert's ministry, to whom it owed that of mufic is well known. Some zealous Frenchmen will have it, that Lully acquired his whole fkill and knowledge on this fide the Alps; yet for the fymphonies of his firft opera he could find only forry rebecks, the faintnefs of which for a The Italians who are moft able to form an estimate, have the fame thoughts of Lully, and likewife of Rameau and Mondonville; nay, the ftandard by which they judge of their own mufic, is the melody which thefe French harmonists have hit on, and which, they complain, is often wanting in the productions of their modern compofers. Perfevering in the contraft between them and the French, they have retained the ancient fimplicity in the accompaniments, and ftill more ftrictly in their touch of the organ, Every note is diftinctly heard, and the mafculine gravity of their play anfwers to the majefty of the places, where this inftrument is peculiarly admitted. It commonly executes the thoroughbafs of the pfalmody, and afterwards performs its part piano, with M 3 out out lengthening or fetting it off with futile trills, even in thofe pieces where it is left to its own liberty. They who have heard, at Rome and Naples, fome of the pieces which the organ plays at the Elevation, mention them as pieces compofed and executed in that noble fimplicity, which characterises and ever accompanies the fublime. In all other compofitions, the prefent Italian mufic is a continual ftruggle against difficulties arifing one from the other. When no more difficulties fhall remain to overcome, when the glory of getting the better of them fhall cease, when they shall be smoothed to all fymphonifts, the love of change will neceffarily bring back mufic to fimplicity; and a melody, difincumbered from the noife which drowns it, will be felt by every ear. This revolution perhaps is not far off; all inftruments are carried in Italy to a point, which feems a ne plus ultra: but the most brilliant execution there cannot deceive the ears of eminent connoiffeurs; with them, the noise which astonishes the fenfitive organs, is very different from the melody which should speak to the foul. Naples has, for a long time, been the school and feminary of the best violins yet they queftion their fkill till they have been tried by the renowned Tartini, fo that they flock to Padua purely to court his approbation. Tartini coolly hears them; and, after very attentively liftening to what they propofe to execute, "That's fine," fays he, or "that is very difficult; that is "brilliantly executed; but," adds he, putting his finger to his breast, it did not reach hither." an intimate friend of Tartini, and of the fame tafte in mufic, has formed a scheme for bringing the art and artists to true principles; and it is carried on by himself, Tartini, monfignori Giuftiniani, and Marcello, Venetian nobles. This fcheme comprehends the book of Pfalms tranflated into Italian verfe, as literally as could be without injuring the poetry, and fet to a mufic as fimple as Lully's plaineft compofition. I have feen the firft production of this fcheme, in two volumes excellently engraved. This mufic, at first fight, appears to be common church-mufic. Whilft the Italians are clofely furling the fails of mufic, France fpreads them all, and improves every wind to forward its course through the rocks, fands, and dangers, of a fea noted for wrecks. That which it feems to defy, would perhaps be rather advantageous than hurtful to it; as thereby it would only lose the refuse of the Italian ware-houses, of which it has haftily made up its cargo. To speak plainly, when the revolution in Italy, of which the endeavours above-mentioned feem a commencement, fhall be accomplished; when Italy, excluding from mufic those concetti, which its present poets and orators are no lefs careful to avoid, than those of the last century were ftudious to affect; the French, notwithstanding their language, will be found hampered in all the bellowings of which the Italians have rid themfelves, and which France will likewife lay afide in time, either from reflection or fatiety. Of this the confequence will be, that two nations, fo like one another in fo many amiable qualities, will for a long time greatly differ with regard to mufic; that the endeavours of the French to clofe with the Italians may only widen the difference; and laftly, that those two nations, though running the fame race, may perhaps never meet at the goal. 1 An Account of the Fair of Sinigaglia; from Grofley's Obfervations on Italy, SIN INIGAGLIA has retained the name of the Senonefe, fettled in this part of ancient Umbria. Senonum de nomine Senon, fays Silius Italicus. It belonged to the dukes of Urbino, who had fheltered it from the infults of Turks and pirates by fome fortifications ftill fubfifting. In 1758 its circuit was enlarging, in order to which its works on the weft fide were rafed, and new ramparts built like the former, which the labour of pulling them down fhewed to be of a very strong construction. ́ The enlargement of this city, on account of the vaft concourfe of people at the fair time, and the foreigners, whom the great bufinefs done at this fair might induce to fettle here, had long been necef fary, fo that we mult fuppofe there were fome political reasons against it, The difference between pope Benedict and Venice having diminished the weight of these reafons, the apoftolic chamber made choice of that juncture to take the works in hand, and very brifkly were they carrying on under Monfignor Merlini, prefident of Urbino, who had fignalized himself by an expedition. against the fmugglers; an expedition which had determined Pope Benedict to fupprefs the farming of tobacco in his dominions, and bring this article again into the common courfe of trade. The air of this city, however, cannot boast of more falubrity than that of all this coaft of the Adriatic. Boccace fpeaking of a young woman, che non mai era fenza mal d'occhi, con un color verde e giallo, adds che pareva che non à Fiefole ma à Sinigaglia haveffe fatta la ftate, Nov. 4. giorn. 8. i. e. "Who was continually troubled with "fore eyes, and her complexion "green and yellow," adds, " that "The looked as if she had fpent "the fummer at Sinigaglia and "not at Fiefole." Sinigaglia affords nothing remarkable either in its public or private edifices. We indeed faw fome paintings by Barrocci, and, in a small church in the, high street, a picture quite new, which ftruck us extremely, by the exact refemblance of St. Charles, the perfon it repre fented, to a French prelate, whom we had heard preach at Paris before the affembly of the clergy. We reached Sinigaglia time enough for the opening of the fair, which holds the eight last days of July. The fhore, along which we had come from Fano, was lined with culverines, cannon, loop-holes, old arquebufes, all pointed towards the fea; likewife with parties of foldiers in barracks at regular diftances, befides fome fhips of the pope lying in the offing. In fhort, nothing had the apoftolic chamber omitted for the fafety of the fair. Mr. Merlini was there in perfon, and kept open houfe for the neighbouring nobility. All this nobility, men, women, and chil M 4 dren |