Note 45, p. [288].--Expressive music.
The biographer of Josquin des Prez, the celebrated musician, and maestro di capella to Louis XII. King of France, relates an anecdote which may be here told in connexion with the present subject. When Josquin was first admitted into the service of the French monarch, he had been promised a benefice by his Majesty; but this Prince, contrary to his usual habits, for he was in general both just and liberal, forgot the promise he had made; when Josquin, after suffering great inconvenience from the shortness of his Majesty’s memory, ventured by the following expedient to remind him publicly of his promise without giving offence. He had been commanded to compose a motet for the Chapel Royal, on which occasion he selected part of the 119th Psalm, “Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo”--“Oh think of thy servant, as concerning thy word,” which he set in so supplicating and exquisite a manner, that it was universally admired, particularly by the King, who was not only touched by the music, but felt the words so effectually, that he soon afterwards granted his petition, by conferring on him the promised preferment. For which act of justice and munificence, Josquin, with equal felicity, composed as a hymn of gratitude another part of the same Psalm,--“Bonitatem fecisti cum servo tuo, Domine”--“Oh Lord, thou has dealt graciously with thy servant.”
Josquin, among musicians, was the giant of his time, and seems to have arrived at universal monarchy and dominion over the affections and passions of the musical part of mankind; indeed, his compositions were as well known and as much practised throughout Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, as those of Handel were in Europe sixty years ago.
Note 46, p. [294].--Imaginary forms.
The following case, quoted by Sir David Brewster, in his work on “Natural Magic,” from the life of Peter Heaman, a Swede, who was executed for piracy and murder at Leith in 1822, will afford a very curious example of the influence of the imagination in creating distinct forms out of an irregularly shaded surface. “One remarkable thing was, one day as we mended a sail, it being a very thin one, after laying it upon deck in folds, I took the tar-brush and tarred it over in the places which I thought needed to be strengthened. But when we hoisted it up, I was astonished to see that the tar I had put upon it represented a gallows and a man under it without a head. The head was lying beside him. He was complete, body, thighs, legs, arms, and in every shape like a man. Now, I oftentimes made remarks upon it, and repeated them to the others. I always said to them all, ‘You may depend upon it that something will happen.’ I afterwards took down the sail on a calm day, and sewed a piece of canvass over the figure to cover it, for I could not bear to have it always before my eyes.”
The curious effect of chance resemblance was particularly remarked by Leonardo da Vinci in the moss and stains on old stones. And, in our own times, this faculty of the imagination has not unfrequently been enlisted into the service of the fortune-teller for purposes of fraud and imposition. The following story is related on credible testimony. “A British officer, in expectation of promotion, and of being united to a lady in marriage, sought a gipsy fortune-teller. The sorceress, no doubt, had made herself well acquainted with these circumstances. On entering the room, she ordered a large glass of spring-water, into which she poured the white of a newly-laid egg. After shaking the mixture for some time, she so far succeeded as to induce the credulous observer to declare that he saw most distinctly the image of the ship in which he was to hoist his flag, the church in which he was to be married, and his bride going with him into the church.”--The Gipsies’ Advocate, by J. Crabb.
Note 47, p. [295].--Fairy rings.
Dr. Wollaston, in a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions, (1807, p. 133,) relates some interesting observations he made on the progressive changes of these rings, and which satisfactorily explain their origin. He observed, that some species of fungi were always to be found at the exterior margin of the dark ring of grass if examined at the proper season. The position of the fungi led him to believe, that progressive increase from a central point was the probable mode of formation of the ring; and he thought it likely that the soil which had once contributed to the support of fungi, might be so exhausted as to be rendered incapable of producing a second crop. The defect of nutriment on one side would occasion the new roots to extend themselves solely in the opposite direction, and would cause the circle of fungi continually to proceed, by annual enlargement, from the centre outwards. The luxuriance of the grass follows as a natural consequence, as the soil of an interior circle is enriched by the decayed roots of fungi of the succeeding year’s growth. During the growth of fungi, they so entirely absorb all nutriment from the soil beneath, that the herbage is often for a while destroyed, and a ring appears bare of grass, surrounding the dark ring; but, after the fungi have ceased to appear, the soil where they had grown becomes darker, and the grass soon vegetates again with peculiar vigour. Dr. Wollaston had many opportunities of remarking, that, when two circles interfere with each other’s progress, they do not cross each other, but are invariably obliterated between the points of contact. The exhaustion occasioned by each obstructs the progress of the other, and both are starved; a circumstance which affords a strong confirmation of the above theory.
Note 48, p. [300].--Resonance.
In order to comprehend the nature of reciprocated vibration, or resonance, let the reader keep in his remembrance the analogy between musical vibration, and the oscillation of the pendulum, as explained at page 275. If he well understands the phenomena of the latter, he will readily comprehend those of the former. Galileo observed that a heavy pendulum might be put in motion by the least breath of the mouth, provided the blasts were often repeated, and made to keep time exactly with the vibrations of the pendulum: from the same sympathetic communication of vibrations will two pendulum clocks fixed to the same wall, or two watches lying upon the same table, take the same rate of going, though they would not agree with one another if placed in separate apartments. Mr. Ellicot indeed observed that the pendulum of one clock was even able to stop that of the other; and that the stopped pendulum, after a certain time, would resume its vibrations, and in its turn stop the vibrations of the other. We have here a correct explanation of the phenomena of Resonance; for the undulations excited by a vibratory body are themselves capable of putting in motion all bodies whose pulses are coincident with their own, and consequently with those of the primitive sounding body; hence the vibrations of a string, when another, tuned in unison with it, is made to vibrate.