Befides; tis known, to talk a tedious Day, From all the Nerves; how all the Powers decay: 350 But chiefly, if 'tis loud, and spoke with Noise; And therefore LITTLE BODIES frame the VOICE, Because the Speaker lofes of his own, His WEAKNESS tells him many PARTS are gone. But more; the HARSHNESS in a VOICE proceeds 355 From ROUGH; the SWEETNESS from the SMOOTHER cus, Stapes) and they the Auditory Nerve. IV. This Nerve being compreffed, excites a Reflux of the Spirits contain'd in it; and thefe, moving the Fibres of the Brain,do,by that Motion,give the Soul occafion to perceive Sounds, and to judge of them. And this is the general Belief of the Na ture of Sound, of its manner of Formation, and how it moves and affects our Organs, and caufes in us the Senfe of Hearing. I 547. Befides; &c.] Thefe 7. v. contain the IId Argument, which is taken from Experience. Let a Man fpeak loud, and with great earneftnefs, he becomes faint and weary: Who then can doubt but that Voice is material, fince it difcompofes the Body, and even takes away fome part of it? Nor their different Configurations, either of roughness or smoothness. This was the Opinion of Epicurus: but indeed the wondrous Variety of Sounds proceeds from the great Diversity of fonorous Objects. The higher the Strings of an Inftrument are fcru'd up, they caufe the fharper Sound; and, on the contrary, the more they are relax'd, the flatter. The Reafon of which is, because the more the Strings are extended, the fhorter the Interruptions will be between each Stroke, and they strike the Air the more fuddainly, and with greater Violence. Thus an acute Sound is caus'd by the quick and uninter rupted Motion of the Air, continually imparting its Vibrations to the Organ of the Ear: A flat or dull Sound is made, when 554. But more; &c.] Thefe the Ear is not fo frequently im 6. v. contain his IIId Argu- pell'd, or receives but flow Im ment, which he has taken from preffions from the Vibrations of the Pleafure, or the Pain with the Air: whence it follows, which we are affected by Sounds, That the more or less equal the as they are either grateful or dif- Vibrations are, the more or less pleafing: Now Epicurus held, pleasant will the Sounds, from that the little Bodies which en- thence refulting, be; for if the ter into the Ear, and affect the Vibrations of the Air be equal, Organ of it, are of different Fi- the Impreffions they make on the gures; and that the Sweetnefs and Organ will be all alike, and conHarfhnefs of Sounds proceeds only fequently the Reflux of the Spifrom the Smoothness or Rough-rits to the Brain will be fo too, nefs of thofe Corpufcles, which, from whence always proceeds a as they enter into the Organ, grateful Senfation and Harmony: either touch it gently, or rudely But if the Motion of the Air grate and ferape it, according to be uneven and ill-tim'd, it causes, for Nor are the FIGURES of the SEEDS alike, Which from the grave and murm'ring TRUMPET ftrike In mournful Strains laments approaching Death. NOTES. This for the contrary Reafon, a harsh which the French call Sacbute, or Sound, and an ungrateful Senfa- Saquebout, (in English Sackbut) tion. Befides, a Sound from a from the old French Words Sa rough Surface is harth and un-quer, which fignifies to draw, and pleafing, because the Air does not bouter, to beat. They who are accome at the fame time from all quainted with that Inftrument, the Parts of the Object, and will readily understand why Lutherefore excites a grating Im-cretius calls it retrocita: Thus preffion, by its reiterated and un-far Faber. Yet Voffius on thefe equal Impulfes: And fo much Verfes of Catullus, de Nupt. for the Harfhnefs and Softnefs of Pelei & Thetid. Sounds: To which I add, that the more or lefs violent the Multaque raucifonos efflabant Force of the impell'd Air hap- cornua bombos, pens to be, the Sound will pro-Barbaraque horribili ftridebant portionably be more or lefs loud, cornua cantu, by reafon of the ftronger or weaker Impreffion of the vibra- takes occafion to cite this Verfe ted Air on our Organs of Hear-of Lucretius, and fays, That the ing. common Lection retrocita is 557. Which from, &c.] This foolish and erroneous; and he and the two following Verfes run reads thus in the Original. Cum tuba depreffo graviter fub murmure mugit, Et reboant raucum retrocita cor ́nua bombum: Et reboat raucum Berecynthia barbara bombum : Then he interprets Berecynthia barbara, to be the Phrygian Pipe, Vallibus & cycni gelidis orti exaunds Bepex, as Hefychius Heliconis Cum liquidam tollunt lugubri voce querelam. has it in Bepexv, &c. In other Which Verfes have not a little puzzled the Interpreters. Some This at leaft is certain: That in the fecond of them, read bar- the Tuba was ftrait; the Buccibara inftead of cornua; but na crooked; like the French Lambinus is for expunging it al- Pofthorn, that is made of Brafs, together: Upon which Faber and by them call'd,Une cornette;. fays, That if Lucretius were li- and that the Cornu was a ving, he would appeal to fome very Bugle-horn. See Vegetius, other Judge; for that Interpre-lib. 3. c. 5. The next Verfe, ter, as well as many others, did Vallibus, &c. has yet a greater not comprehend the meaning variety of Readings. Some Coof retrocita barbara, or cornua: pies have, But I, continues he, think I can prove it to be a mufical Inftru-Vallibus & valida ne tortis ex ment, first invented in Syria, Heliconis, 560 This VOICE, when, tifing from the LUNGS, it breaks tain of Boocia, facred to the Mufes, had its Name, according to Plutarch, de Nominib. Fluvior. & Mont. from Helicon, Brother of Cytheron, a fordid, Et gelida cycni nece torti ex an- covetous Wretch, who having tro Heliconis. In others, kill'd his own Father, a miferably poor Old Man, precipitated himfelf from the Mountain; dragging his Brother Helicon, Vallibus & cycni nece torti ex because he had nourish'd his Fa Heliconis. In others, Thus ther, down with him: Vallibus & cycni nece det detorti ex from the Hebrew Word, Halike, Heliconis, Lambinus, i. e. ambulatio, because the Antients us'd to take their Walks, and to confer and difcourfe there of natural and divine Matters: Vallibus & cycni gelidis orti ex And Athenæus,l. 14.Deipnofoph. Heliconis. a reports, on the Authority of Amphion Thefpienfis, that there was All which feveral Readings are Colledge on that Hill,inftituted condemn'd, for Reafons too te-for all mufical Exercises,in which dious to repeat. Faber corrects the young Men in thofe Days Lambine's Reading, and in the were carefully inftructed. But BoPlace of orti fubftitutes corti for chartus conjectures the Name to coorti. Laftly, Voffius, on the be deriv'd from the Arabick, before cited Paffage of Catullus, Halic, or Halics, which, in that reads it thus, Tongue, fignifies a high Mountain: For fuch it is defcrib'd to Et validis cycni torrentibus ex be by Strabo, lib. 8. & lib. 9. Heliconis. For feveral Streams, as well as the River Helicon, flow'd from the Mountain of that Name. Creech, having fumm'd up all thefe various Readings, gives Sentence as follows: In a word, nece torti, or nece detorti, muft be abfolutely rejected; for the Meaning of thofe Words, if they have any, is contain'd in the following Verfe; but follow Faber, or Voffius, no matter which of the two. Helicon, a Moun Of the Singing of Swans before their Death. See Book II. v. 479. B. III. v. 5. and above, v. 188. 560. This Voice, &c.] In thefe 4. v. he teaches, That the Tongue forms and articulates. this corporeal Voice; and thence proceed Words: He fays indeed, that the Palate and the Lips help the Tongue, in making the Illifions. Nor ought we to look on this as a very contemptible Opinion; fince we find in Plutarch de Plac. Philof. lib. 4. c. 20. that that both Plato and Ariftotle manner, as is neceffary for the articulated: : And this Articula approve of it, by afferting to forming an intelligible LanXa, that the Figure, which is guage, by which he communicates in the Air, and in the Surface of his Thoughts to others of his it, does by a certain Stroke, own Species. Moreover, the @olav xv, become a Voice. Voice of Animals is nothing but And Ariftotle, II. Problem, 33. a Sound, caus'd, like all other & 52. yet more plainly asks Sounds, by the undulatory Mothe Reafon, why the Voice, tion of the Air; For the Air, by fince it is a certain figurated Air, the Falling of the Lungs, and by that in its Motion for the moft the Contraction of the Diapart lofes its Figure, does neverphragm, being expell'd from the Place it was in, does, by driving thelefs preferve it fafe and unchang'd, when it is reverberated forward the external Air, put it from any folid Body? Cicero in into Motion; and therefore, even the Second Book of the Nature when we but fetch our Breath, of the Gods, fays: Deinde in ore we caufe fome fort of Noife, fita lingua eft, finita dentibus: which grows louder, the greater ea vocem immoderatè profufam is the Expiration, or the Infpirafingit, & terminat: Sonofque tion. Now Voice is only Sound vocis diftinctos & preffos efficit, tion is caus'd by the Air's being cum & ad dentes & ad alias partes pellit oris. Itaque Plectro fi- more peculiarly modify'd in milem linguam noftri folent di- Speech than in other Sounds. cere,chordarum dentes, nares corAnd the Tongue is the chief Innibus ijs, quæ ad nervos refonant ftrument in this Modification, in cantibus. The Tongue is which nevertheless the Tongue plac'd in the Mouth,and circum- alone could not perform, withfcrib'd by the Teeth: this Tongue out the affiftance of the Motion fashions and proportions the of the Lips, and of the_whole Voice immoderately utter'd, and Mouth;infomuchthat the Tongue renders the Sounds of it diftinct is mov'd fometimes upwards and articulate, while it ftrikes to the Palate of the Mouth,fomeagainst the Teeth, and against times downwards, other times the other Parts of the Mouth. another way, and others another, Therefore fome have compar'd according as the Letters, Syllathe Tongue to the Bow of a mubles, and other Accidents of the fical Inftrument, the Teeth to Word to be articulated, require: For one Motion of the Air nethe Strings, and the Noftrils to thofe Pipes that found in Con- ceffarily caufes one certain Sound; fort with the Strings. and one certain Sound caufes one certain Perception: And this Affertion is fo infallible, that many People, born deaf, have learnt to fpeak, by being made to obferve the Motions of the Mouth and Tongue, and, by knowing the Motions for fuch Words, to know when they were utter'd. Moft, if not all, Animals have the Faculty of caufing a Sound, or a trembling Motion in the Air, by modifying it whileft it is breathing from the Lungs And from the Difference of these Modifications proceed all the feveral Sounds obfervable in Animals: Thus the The feveral Diftinctions of Lion roars, the Dog barks, the one Voice from another proceed, Sheep bleats,the Ox bellows, &c. either from the various StruBut among all Animals, Man a- cture of the fubfervient Parts, aclone has the Faculty of articula-cording as they are more or less ting his Words, and of modify-relax'd or firm, and from their ing each Breath of Air in fuch a particular Formation and Con Z z figuration, And therefore, if the SPEAKER be but near, 565 If Distance fit, you may diftinctly hear Each Word, each Air; because it keeps the FRAME It first receiv'd; its FIGURE ftill the fame : But if the SPACE be GREAT, thro' all the Air The Sound muft fly diffus'd, and perish there: 570 And therefore, tho' we hear a murm'ring Noise, No Words: the AIR confounds, and breaks the VOICE. Befides; ONE SENTENCE, when pronounc'd aloud By ftrong-lung'd CRYERS, fills the lift'ning Crowd, Breaks into MANY; for it ftrikes them all, 575 To ev'ry fingle Ear it tells the Tale. NOTES. figuration, in regard to the Proportion they bear to one another. Befides, there is a certain Motion of the Parts, that cause the Voice; which Motion is peculiar and natural to each of us, even from our Infancy, from whence proceeds a Difference in Voices: fometimes too, certain Affectations, that may be obferv'd in feveral Perfons, alter the natural Sound of theirVoice; for fome have an affected way of Speaking thro' the Nofe, others in the Throat, &c. Laftly, the Voice is higher or lower, louder or fofter, according as the Contraction or Extenfion of the Lungs and of the Diaphragm are more or lefs ftrong or weak: for a violent Expulfion of the Air caufes a violent Motion of it, and by confequence a great or loud Sound; and in like manner on the contrary: And, this is the Reafon why fuch as have a quicker and livelier Spring in thofe Parts, have a stronger Voice than others. But Form and Figure, which they had receiv'd from the Tongue and Lips. And hence the Voice comes to be either diftinct or confus'd. 572. Befides; &c.] In thefe 4. v. he teaches the Reafon, why, if but one Man fpeaks, the Ears of many, who are prefent, hear the Voice. You are to know, fays he, that there is one whole, or rather general Voice, which, being pronounc'd from the Mouth, divides it felf into innumerable little Voices, which are wholely like one another. Thus when the Voice is utter'd by the Speaker, the Formation of the Bodies, that burst out of the Mouth, is comprefs'd, broken, and as it were, ground to pieces in fuch a manner, that it divides and goes away into minute Parts, or little Voices, altogether alike, and of a like Figure, which inftantly leap abroad, and diffufe themselves thro' the Air or ambient Space, and ftill preferve that likeness, till they reach the 564. And therefore, &c.] He Ears of all that are within hearfubjoins feveral Problems; the ing: And thus the fame Voice is firft in these 8. v. The Voice, by at once heard by many: Even going far, grows weak; and tho' as all drink of the fame Water, it was diftinct, when firft utter'd, who drink out of the fame it becomes confus'd; because the River. This too was the Opifmall Parts, or little Voices, of nion of Democritus, as Plutarch which it was compos'd, are difor- witneffes, lib. 4. de Placitis Phider'd by the Air, and lofe the losoph. cap. 20. 576. But |