taking place of the fimple graces of melody rendered inftrumental music chiefly fought after, and the affiftance of poetry in confequence unneceffary. The present age is characterized by a languid fenfual indolence, averse even in its pleasures to any thing that requires attention of the mind. The ear instead of being an avenue to the heart, expects to be gratified merely as an organ of sense, and the heroine, poetry, muft give place to the harlot, mufic. And when the latter has deigned to borrow the vehicle of words, she has shown by her choice that she has regarded poetry rather as a burden upon her exerti ons than an affistant. THE term fong may therefore be confidered in a double fenfe-if the idea of mufic prevails, it fignifies no more than a fet of words calculated for adaptation to a tune; if poetry be the principal object, it is a fpecies species of poetical compofition regulated by peculiar laws, and fufceptible of a certain definition; ftill however retaining fo much of the mufical idea, as to make it an effential circumftance, that by a regularly returning measure it be capable of being fet to a tune. ment. A SONG as a poetical compofition may be defined, a fhort piece, divided into returning portions of measure, and formed upon a fingle incident, thought or fentiUnder this definition the general fubject from which the particular topic is taken is not reftricted; but it has been found that emotions of tenderness and gaiety are peculiarly adapted to fongwriting. Custom therefore has almost folely confined the general fubject of fongs to love and wine, and it must be acknowledged that the nature of the composition, and the affiftance of mufic, contribute to give thefe fubjects a peculiar air of gracefulness and propriety. A NUMBER of diftinctions have been formed in modern poetry from trifling particularities in the verfification of these pieces, such as the number of lines compofing a stanza, the repetition of a line at regular distances, the ordonnance of the rhyme, and the like. THE laborious Baron Bielfield, in his elements of univerfal erudition, has thought it worth while to particularize a great variety of these diftinctions in French poetry, fuch as the Sonnet, the Rondeau, the Vaudeville, &c. I cannot but confider thefe petty diversities as very uneffential to the poetical character of any compofition; this curfory mention is therefore all the notice I shall beftow on them. If we examine the poetical remains of antiquity, antiquity, we fhall find various examples of pieces which come under the foregoing description of a fong. That beautiful relique of Sappho, which is well known to the English reader by Mr. Phillips's excellent tranflation "Bleft as the immortal Gods is he," &c. is an exact model of fong-writing. The poems of the gay and sprightly Anacreon are almost all songs in every respect except the measure, which instead of being divided into returning ftanzas, is uniform. Yet this would not neceffarily difqualify it for mufical adaptation, and there is no doubt but they were really fung and accompanied with inftrumental mufic. The Odes of Horace contain many beautiful specimens of the fong complete in every circumftance. All these pieces are handed down to us under the denomination of Lyric poetry, the nature of which, as intimately timately connected with our fubject, it will be proper to examine with some attention. THE Union of mufic and poetry among the ancients was very ftrict. It would seem that they had no idea of the music of founds without words, and they appear feldom or never to have used vocal mufic without accompany ment with inftrumental. The lyre was the favourite inftrument for this purpose, and hence that species of poetry defigned to be fung to music acquired the denomination of lyric. Yet we have variety of proof that this term is applied with equal propriety to poetry accompanied with any other inftrument. Horace abounds with fuch inftances-it will be fufficient to refer to his first ode fi neque tibias Euterpe cohibet, nec Polyhymnia immedi |