music, we distinguish between the sounds that a child elicits as he runs his fingers at random over the keys of a pianoforte and those which a master produces while, without designing to express a particular sentiment, he yet instincttively obeys the fixed principles of melody and harmony, and again between these and the sounds which he elicits when intently bent on the expression of a sentiment, so we may distinguish between euphony and harmony, and again between harmony and those properties which are more directly founded on the thought to be expressed. We have in these several processes of art, first, the mere outward material,—the color or the sound; secondly, the body as the organized expression of an internal and spiritual principle, but regarded still as body addressed to the senses; and, thirdly, the sentiment or thought revealed in the body. The fuller development of these different classes of properties will indicate not only the fundamental grounds of distinction between them, but also the practical utility of discriminating between them in the study of style. § 257. Harmony, in the wider sense, includes Harmony proper, Rythm, and Melody. This subdivision of harmony is founded on the distinction of vocal utterances into those belonging to the four different functions of voice, viz: pitch, force, time, and quality of voice. Pitch is the constituent of melody; force and time give accent-the constituent of rhythm; and quality of voice lies at the foundation of harmony proper. § 258. HARMONY PROPER is founded on the quality of sounds, and requires that the succession of words in a sentence, in union with the thought which is expressed, fall smoothly and gratefully on the ear. The quality of sounds can be regarded in style only so far as the elemental sounds, of which words are composed, are concerned. In this respect,—the character of the elemental sounds which enter into their structure, different languages differ greatly, as well as the styles of different writers in the same language. While the Italian language, thus, has in its alphabet fewer vowels than the English, yet the vowel sounds have a great relative predominance in the actual structure of the language as compared with the English. There are in English discourse but about three-fourths as many vowels as in Italian; that is, while in an English sentence of eight hundred letters there are not far from three hundred vowels, in an Italian sentence of as many letters there are nearly four hundred. The Italian language, in harmonious effect, differs from the English in this particular: that as composed of a larger portion of vowels, it is more open, smooth and flowing; while the English has the peculiar strength and expressiveness which a highly consonantal character imparts. There is, moreover, a wide difference in the character of different consonants. Some have vocality, others are mere aspirations. In some languages, also, the same consonant has less, in others more, of a proper consonantal character. The lower Germans are more open in their pronunciation, —that is, compress with less force the articulating organs in forming consonants, than the English. If it be borne in mind, now, that harmony never loses sight of the character of the thought to be expressed, it will at once be perceived that in respect to certain kinds of thought the peculiar alphabetic structure of our language will be more favorable to harmony, while in respect to others, it will be less so. The following lines from Coleridge's" Hymn before Sunrise in the vale of Chamouni," strike the ear pleasantly and excite the emotion of harmony And you, ye five wild torrents, fiercely glad! Who called you forth from night and utter death, From dark and icy caverns called you forth, Down those precipitous, black, jagged rocks, Forever shattered, and the same forever! The sounds, however, particularly in the last two verses, are far different in quality from those in the following which are equally harmonious: "God!" sing, ye meadow streams, with gladsome voice! Ye pine groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds. Of a still different character are the following remarkably harmonious lines from Gray's Elegy in a country Church-yard: The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The English language is peculiarly favorable to that species of harmony which may appear in union with strength and energy: the Italian to that which is combined with calm elevation and dignity as well as grace and elegance. The following are illustrations of this property of style in prose discourse: Truth, indeed, came once into the world with her divine master, and was a perfect shape, most glorious to look on, but when he ascended, and his apostles after him were laid asleep, then straight arose a wicked race of deceivers, who, as that story goes of the Egyptian Typhon with his conspirators how they dealt with the good Osiris, took the virgin Truth, hewed her lovely form into a thousand pieces, and scattered them to the four winds. From that time ever since, the sad friends of Truth, such as durst appear, imita ting the careful search that Isis made for the mangled body of Osiris, went up and down gathering up limb by limb still as they could find them. We have not yet found them all, nor ever shall do, till her master's second coming: he shall bring together every joint and member, and shall mould them into an immortal feature of loveliness and perfection.-Milton. But so have I seen a harmless dove made dark with an artificial light, and her eyes sealed and locked up with a little quill, soaring upward and flying with amazement, fear, and an undiscerning wing: she made towards heaven, but knew not that she was made a train and an instrument, to teach her enemy to prevail on her and all her defenceless kindred. So is a superstitious man; zealous and blind, forward and mistaken, he runs towards heaven, as he thinks, but he chooses foolish paths; and out of fear takes any thing that he is told.-Jeremy Taylor. § 259. Harmony proper may be violated either by rough and harsh combinations of sounds in words; or by an imperfect adaptation of the sounds to the particular character of the thought. Language, as the body of thought, should ever evince the presence of the organising principle generally, by assuming a form pleasing to the sense. There is beauty in a clear complexion, smooth skin, and nicely rounded features, as the proper expression of a sound mental condition. There is a beauty, too, entirely distinct from this, in the flashing eye of excited hope, the crimson flush of offended modesty, the languor and paleness of pining grief, as the expressions of the inward spirit. If they have a beauty in themselves, it is entirely lost in the greater and more absorbing beauty which they possess as mental expressions. So there is a harmony in the adaptation of language, as con sisting of diverse sounds, to the particular thought to be expressed; to be distinguished from mere euphony, or the beauty of the sounds regarded as mere sounds, on the one hand, and from the general beauty which a perfect expres sion of thought in language imparts, on the other. The style of Barrow with all its excellencies is often faulty in respect to harmony. The following extracts are deficient in general smoothness. We feel in reading them that the expression does not flow in easy utterance of the thought. When sarcastical twitches are needful to pierce the thick skins of men, to conceal their lethargic stupidity, to rouse them out of their drowsy negligence, then may they well be applied: when plain declarations will not enlighten people to discern the truth and weight of things, and blunt arguments will not penetrate to convince them or persuade them to their duty; then doth reason freely resign its place to wit, allowing it to undertake its work of instruction and reproof. Their eminency of state, their affluence of wealth, their uncontrollable power, their exemption from common restraints, their continual distractions and encumbrances by varieties of care and business, their multitude of obsequious followers, and scarcity of faithful friends to advise or reprove them, their having no obstacles before them to check their wills, to cross their humors, to curb their lusts and passions, are so many snares unto them: wherefore they do need plentiful measures of grace, and mighty assistances God, to preserve them from the worst errors and sins; into which otherwise it is almost a miracle if they are not plunged. m Archbishop Tillotson's style is also exceedingly defective in respect to harmony. The following is an extract: One might be apt to think at first view, that this parable was overdone, and wanted something of a due decorum; it being hardly credible, that a man, after he had been so mercifully dealt withal, as, upon his humble request, to have so huge a debt so freely forgiven, should, whilst the memory of so much mercy was fresh upon him, even in the very next moment, handle his fellow-servant, who had made the same humble request to him which he had done to his lord, with so much roughness and cruelty, for so inconsiderable a sum. |