greater skill is required, as all the notes upon that instrument are to be produced from the note we commence with. In this operation we have to contend with a circumstance, that seems to be at variance with a known law of nature. To explain this, it will be necessary to make the following remarks.

If we stop a violin string mid-way between the nut and the bridge, either half of the string will sound the octave above to the whole string; and if we vibrate two-thirds of the string, this portion will sound the fifth above to the whole string. The same law applies to wind instruments and all sounding bodies.* A pipe fifteen inches long (no matter the bore) will sound the octave above to one that is thirty inches long; and twenty inches, being two-thirds of thirty, will sound the fifth above. Upon such simple facts we might have supposed the musical scale to be founded; but when we come to tune a piano-forte, and raise the fifths one upon another, to our surprise we find the last note C, too sharp for the C we set out with. This inexplicable difficulty no one has attempted to solve; the Deity seems to have left it in an unfinished state, to show his inscrutable power. The following will explain the fact. We commence with C below the line, and tune G a fifth above it, perfectly, as we do on the violin; and then D is tuned to G, the next

* If a rod of iron is cut in two, either half will sound the octave above, and two-thirds will sound the 5th above.

fifth; but, for the sake of keeping the tuned notes in the middle part of the instrument, we tune the next note to the D below, and pursue the circuit of the 5ths till the whole are tuned, thus:

To surmount this mysterious difficulty, we are driven to the necessity of putting all the fifths out of tune, i. e., tuning them rather flatter than the ear directs, so that the last note shall not be too sharp for the note with which we set out. Excellence in tuning depends upon distributing the imperfection equally throughout the instrument. To effect this, we find it better to proceed no farther than the G#, and then, by a contrary process, to tune the remaining fifths downwards, till we meet the point where we left off, thus:

As we proceed, it is expedient to try how the thirds harmonize with the fifths, as expressed in the little notes. This will enable us to detect any error we may have made, and, by retracing our steps, to correct it.

There are other modes adopted by tuners, but probably this is most intelligible. The less often an instrument is tuned, the more likely it is to stand in tune. Individual notes may give way, which should be rectified, but it is wrong to alter the whole frame of the strings on that account.

The best instruments are commonly the most sensible, and are the soonest affected by a change of temperature. We frequently find, in a frosty night, the bass strings so contracted by the cold, as to rise nearly a note above the pitch. When thus affected they should not be touched; the return of the temperature will bring them into tune again.* Instru

*In that wonderful structure, the Menai Suspension Bridge, the effect of the expansion and contraction of the chains by heat and cold, is ingeniously provided for, by passing the chains over rollers placed upon the top of the towers over which they are slung. Last year, when the mercury was eighteen degrees below the freezing point, it was found that the bridge, which weighed more than twenty thousand tons, had risen six inches and a half above its level, and that the extremes, between its relaxing in the hottest day, and the contraction of the coldest, was more than a foot. These wonderful structures in a storm, when the winds play upon them, become musical instruments of the most solemn tone. When the writer passed over that at Conway, such was the force of the elements, and the rush between the mountains, that, as it swung in air, it uttered the deepest murmurs,

ments love warmth, and are uncomfortable when placed against an outer wall. The same circumstances produce the very opposite effects upon the wind instruments; so that, in tuning them, they should be left a little under the pitch, as, in the act of playing, the warmth of the breath will raise them. In tuning the violoncello, it is better to commence with the second string, as we do on the violin, by which we are less liable to error; and if we take the pitch from the organ or piano-forte, the whole of the instruments are tuned with more ease and certainty from the chord of D minor, than from any other note or chord. As the German flute plays its part in altissimo, that instrument is more accurately adjusted to the orchestras, by tuning to the highest D. The organ is tuned upon the plan of the piano-forte; but, unlike that instrument, it will not yield to the modification or equalising temperament we have described. In every part it resists the efforts of the tuner to flatten the fifths, making a horrid noise whenever this is attempted. A violent pulsation or contention between the pipes, called beating, takes place, which increases as the pipe is made flatter or sharper, but ceases as soon

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threatening revenge upon the horrid deed perpetrated within the walls of the castle, to which it is fastened.

as it is brought into tune. This curious circumstance seems to confirm the truth of the law before stated; yet, on tuning the instrument, it exemplifies the anomaly more forcibly than any other instance that can be brought. In these circumstances, the successive fifths upon the organ are made perfect as far as G# or Ab, (in both directions,) the whole of the imperfections being thrown into that key; the consequence is, that in this key a hideous noise is produced, called the wolf, bearing some resemblance to the howl of that animal; and on that account it is a key upon this instrument which all authors avoid.

CHAPTER XLVI.

ON NATIONAL SONG.

It is a generally received opinion, that most countries have a music of their own, the character of which may be called national. Probably this is true as it regards the music of instruments, but certainly not with that which emanates from the voice. The strains of the Irish and Welch may be referred to the harp; the dance tunes of Spain to the guitar; the mountain airs of the Swiss to the hunting horn; and the music of the Turks to the rhythmical clangor of the ancient Greeks. The primitive tones of the human voice are much the same in all