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THE SCRIBBLER.

On the day dedicated to St. Cecilia the patroness of harmony not a whisper must be breathed in denial of its divine influence, or in derogation of the ars musica^[1] so much extolled

“By saint, by savage, and by sage”;

and, smothering my heretical opinions on that subject, I fulfill the promise made at the close of my last number, since

Of eulogies in praise of music, ancient fable and modern enthusiasm are full. The scholar informs us of the walls of Troy built by the sound of Apollo’s lyre, according to Ovid.

So too, as Horace tells us, Amphion erected the walls of Thebes:

And the strains of Arion, as my motto expresses, even calmed the raging ocean. The harp of Orpheus, tamed the brutes, and made the forest to follow him; hence Congreve, in the opening scene of his Mourning Bride, makes Almeria say

But these hyperbolical feats were even eclipsed, if we may believe oriental tradition, by M[me] Tousine, a wonderful musician in the time of [the] emperor Acbar, who sung one of his night-rau or melodies appropriated to the night, at mid-day, when the powers of his music proved to be such, that it instantly became night, and the darkness extended in a circle round the palace, as far as the sound of his voice could be heard.^[3]

But to revert to the day we are celebrating. Cecilia was a native of Rome, and is stated to have very early made a vow of chastity, but that her parents nevertheless compelled her to marry a young nobleman named Valerian, a heathen, who, on going to bed on the wedding-night, as, we are told, “was the custom in those days,” was informed by his bride that he must withdraw from her bed-chamber, as she was every night visited by an angel from Heaven, who would otherwise destroy him. Surprised and greatly affected by this intelligence, Valerian intreated to be admitted to an interview with the angel, which Cecilia explained to him was impossible unless he abjured his Pagan errors and received baptism, adding such “sweet and convincing arguments,” as in the end completely to persuade him of the superiority of her religion. Thus Valerian and his brother Tibertius, to whom he communicated all that had passed, were made converts to Christianity, and shortly after the good husband found his wife at prayers in her closet, with an angel, in the shape of a beautiful youth, joining in her devotion. The angel assured Valerian that both his own and his brother’s conversion were accepted, and would soon be sealed with the crown of martyrdom. Both the brothers were soon after beheaded, as the angel had encouraged them to hope, and Cecilia remaining steadfast, in despite of the efforts made to persuade or intimidate her into idolatry, was, according to one legend, thrown into a cauldron of boiling water, and scalded to death, or, as another relates, stifled in a dry bath, whilst some authors assert that, surviving the latter attempt on her life, she was beheaded. Her martyrdom took place some time between the year 180 and 230 of the Christian æra.

There is at Rome a beautiful chapel dedicated to St. Cecilia, which it is asserted stands on the precise site of the house in which she received the visits of her celestial admirer. To her has been assigned the patronage of melody, from her alleged excellence in singing the praises of the deity, to which she, first in the Christian church, united instrumental music; and we are assured that the angel who was enamoured of her, quitted the mansions of heavenly bliss, overcome by the fascination of her harmony; and that, when she was beheaded, he joined in a sweet and melodious concert with other angels, who conducted her to the regions of eternal happiness. To this legend Dryden alludes in the close of his admirable ode:

It appears to be an assumption in the Catholic calendar unauthorized by the legends, for St. Cecilia to be styled a virgin-martyr. The sole objection to the admission of her husband to her bed appears to have been his paganism, and as he complied with the terms prescribed, and became a convert to her purer faith, she could not withhold from him the implied reward, and it is more than probable bestowed upon him those earthly joys which form the best prototype of such as his approaching martyrdom would fully qualify him for in a state of beatitude.

There is a great similarity between the legend of St. Cecilia, mutatis mutandis and substituting an angel for the demon Asmodeus, and the history of Sara of Ragès, and Tobit. The latter would form an excellent ground-work for a modern romance, interspersed with all the machinery of magic, necromancy and incantation; or for “a wild and wonderous song,” worthy of the pen of a Southey. It is noted in my commonplace-book as one of the

“Things unattempted yet in prose or verse.”

But Cicely here jogs my arm, with “ah! but where are the verses on me?”—Les voilà ma belle.

Dr. Johnson in his life of Waller, deprecates the application of poetry to religious subjects; in which he alleges that “poetry loses its lustre and its power, because it is applied to the decoration of something more excellent than itself;” but this sentiment would lead to far different consequences than what he meant, and would equally exclude the pealing organ and melodious harp from the precincts of the temple, which his attachment to the hierarchy of the high church, is a sufficient guarantee he never intended to assert. A modern philosopher, Godwin, who has in more places than one read his recantation of his early opinions, in his life of Chaucer, goes into the opposite extreme and maintain that, “in religion we can never have a system, uniform, general, and nutritive of the purest affection and habits, without the solemnities of worship, the decencies of architecture, the fragrance of delicious odours, and the friendly alliance of harmonious sounds.”^[5] How widely men differ on some topics will appear by reference to the laws which were made for the government of the first settlers at Newhaven in Connecticut, amongst which will be found:

“No one shall read common prayers, keep Christmas or set days, make mince-pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet, or jew’s harp.”

Other curious ordinances occur likewise in the same code, viz.

“No food or lodging shall be offered to a quaker or other heretic.

“No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep houses, cut hair, or shave, on the sabbath-day.

“No woman shall kiss her children on the sabbath-day.

“No priest shall abide in this dominion; he shall be banished and suffer death on his return; and priests may be seized by any one without a warrant.

“A man that strikes his wife shall pay a fine of ten pounds; a woman that strikes her husband shall be punished as the court directs.

“No man shall court a maid in person or by letter, without first obtaining the consent of her parents: five pounds penalty for the first offence, ten pounds for the second, and for the third, imprisonment during the pleasure of the Court.

“Married persons must lie together or be imprisoned.

“Every male shall have his hair cut round according to a cap.”

It would be an almost endless, but neither an unamusing, nor an uninstructive, task to collect all the absurdities which have been promulgated in laws and ordinances (confining the collection even to modern and civilized countries) by men who figure to themselves, in the pride of their hearts and the petty pomp of their “little, brief authority,” that they are adequate to become legislators. Not a few might be gleaned from the works of those prolific authors (with due reverence be it spoken) Messrs. King, Lords and Commons, whose joint labours of late years far exceed those of all other learned bodies or individuals. What a task does the legislature impose on the good subjects of the realm in expecting that their understanding and memory shall keep pace with the enormous growth of the statute-book!

“For who can read so fast as they can write?”

L. L. M.

The length to which the celebration of St. Cecilia’s day has given rise has prevented the continuation in this number, as was intended, of the Letters from Pulo Penang, which so many of my subscribers are solicitous for, and for which I beg to apologize.

M. Cristiani’s musical school,^[6] three times a week, from 3 till 9 o’clock, terms, 20s. per month and half a guinea entrance.

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.

Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors occur.

[The end of The Scribbler 1821-08-09 Volume 1, Issue 22 edited by Samuel Hull Wilcocke]