Dubito, an omnia, quae de incantamentis dicuntur carminibusque, non sint adscribenda effectibus musicis, quia excellebant eadem veteres medici.
Hermann Boerhaave. (1668-1738.)
Preposterous ass! that never read so far
To know the cause why music was ordained.
Was it not to refresh the mind of man,
After his studies, or his usual pain?—
The Taming of the Shrew, Act iii, Scene 1.
I think sometimes, could I only have music on my own terms, could I live in a great city, and know where I could go whenever I wished and get the ablution and inundation of musical waves, that were a bath and medicine.
R. W. Emerson.
Musick, when rightly order'd, cannot be prefer'd too much. For it recreates and exalts the Mind at the same time.
It composes the Passions, affords a strong Pleasure, and excites Nobleness of Thought. . . .
What can be more strange than that the rubbing of a little hair and cat-gut together, should make such a mighty Alteration in a Man that sits at a distance?
Jeremy Collier, Essay on Music: 1698.