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CHINESE MU SI C. ON ANCIENT MUSIC. THE or1gm of music may from its natme be attributed to times coeval with the appearance of man on earth. Indeed, what is music ? Listen to the accents of Nature ! Hear the murmur of streams, the whisper of trees' leaves, the moaning of winds, the distant rolling of thunder, the resounding majesty of the ocean! Notice the bleating of the timid sheep, the lowing of herds, the singing of the lark, the animated cadence of the nightingale ! vVhat are all those voices but music, but a concert- a hymn which impresses the soul and elevates it to the ideal of infinite beauty? · vVhen man began to contemplate the vast universe, his attention was naturally directed to harmonious Nature. The singing of birds, abo~e all, must have deeply impressed him and led him to vocal imitation. In the courne of time he contrived to combine the natmal sounds of his voice into a system, to arrange them into melodies agreeable to the eal', and, finally, to make instruments by which the melodies could be rendered. Mythology shows us ORPHEUS, on the Thracian mountains, submitting the forest monstel's to the power of his lyi·e; A.RION escaping submersion; AMPHION building cities. If we open the annals of history we find Fu Hsi playing on the ch'in; TIMOTHEUS subjugating ALEXANDER; the rustic Spartans proscribing every art except music ; the same Spartans, often defeated, led to victory by the songs of the Athenian TYRT1EUS. In the Holy Scriptures we are told of TUBAL CAIN, the sixth descendant from CAIN, manufacturing instruments; of MosEs singing a hymn with accompaniment of timbrels, after the passage of the Red Sea; and of King DAVID playing on the ha1·p. The Egyptian history mentions PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS employing a band of 600 musicians to celebrate the feast of Bacchus; and PTOLEMY AuLETES, or the flute– player, competing in his own palace with the greatest professional musicians. Indeed, no nation on earth has existed t hat did not love that enchanting art, however rnde and artless the primitive systems may have been. It is everywhere an instinct of Nature, a want of the soul; it is found in the camps, in the forests, in the gilded palaces of the despots of the East, in the meadows of America; it cheel'S solitude; it charms society; it animates at the same time war and pastoral life. The Greeks, the Chinese, and all the ancient natiqns speak of the mysterious influence of music ; and still their systems, if compared with our , were only imperfect embryos. But it cannot be denied that the national music of every co ~ntry, however simple it may be, has a mystic influence on the passions of its inhabitants ; somEi airs are p1·incipally capable of raising or depressing the spirits, of causing an electrical commotion in the hearts of the auditors. Great ' discussions have arisen on the subject of Ancient Music, but, in spite of many learned researches, commentaries, and theories, we cannot boast of knowing much about it ; and 1