andean pipes--in her
hand, is well known, as is also Dryden's beautiful ode. The illustration
which accompanies this chapter, after a painting by one of the brothers
Caracci, of the seventeenth century, represents Cecilia at the organ.
Borne heavenward on the tide of music, she sees a vision of the holy
family, the child Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, with an angel near at hand in
quiet gladness.

God's harmony is written
All through, in shining bars,
The soul His love has smitten
As heaven is writ with stars.

MYTHS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC.

Music is so delightfully innocent and charming an art, that we can not
wonder at finding it almost universally regarded as of divine origin.
Pagan nations generally ascribe the invention of their musical
instruments to their gods, or to certain superhuman beings of a godlike
nature. The Hebrews attributed it to man, but as Jubal is mentioned as
"the father of all such as handle the harp and organ" only, and as
instruments of percussion were almost invariably in use long before
people were led to construct stringed and wind instruments, we may
suppose that, in the Biblical records, Jubal is not intended to be
represented as the original inventor of all the Hebrew instruments, but
rather as a great promoter of the art of music.

"However, be this as it may, this much is certain: there are among
Christians at the present day not a few sincere upholders of the literal
meaning of these records, who maintain that instrumental music was
already practiced in heaven before the creation of the world. Elaborate
treatises have been written on the nature and effect of that heavenly
music, and passages from the Bible have been cited by the learned
authors which are supposed to confirm indisputably the opinions advanced
in their treatises.

"It may, at a first glance, appear singular that nations have not,
generally, such traditional records respecting the originator of their
vocal music as they have respecting the invention of their musical
instruments. The cause is, however, explicable; to sing is-as natural to
man as to speak, and uncivilized nations are not likely to speculate
whether singing has ever been invented.

"There is no need to recount here the well-known mythological traditions
of the ancient Greeks and Romans referring to the origin of their
favorite musical instruments. Suffice it to remind the reader that
Mercury and Apollo were believed to be the i