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226 National Music of the World.
brilliant as she was. Speaking of the Englishman says Shakespeare's Portia : ' I say nothing to him, fo: he understands not me nor I him. He hath neithe: Latin, French, nor Italian. I think he bought hi; doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonne in Germany, and his behaviour everywhere.'
There are many English tunes which may belong to nobody or to everybody.
If the speculations which I have presented hav< any thread (so to say) on which, as so many entir< and separate yet not disparted beads they can b< strung, it is this : that nationality in music does no lie in either borrowing or in adaptation, but in som< inborn qualities to be ascribed either to the influence: of Nature or of manners, or of peculiar instruments originated by rude people. There is small trace o: anything of the kind in English music. I belong t( the North, and know the good and sweet quality o: our Lancashire voices, but where is the Lancashir< tune ? and where is the Cumberland tune ?
As illustrating the caprice of Music's proceeding in all countries, it is observable that in England ou art got ahead of Painting; since the Elizabethai madrigals, in which there are many national touches came long before the establishment of a kindrec |
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