Yes, music and musical instruments have progressively improved; and it would be a needless task to enumerate the numbers of instruments of each kind now in use; many, as for instance the organ, the piano, musical boxes, &c., are exceedingly complex and ingenious in their construction, as well as remarkable for the sweetness of their various sounds; some, as the two first-named, are played with the fingers, and produce any melody or combination of sound at the will of the performer; others, as the musical-box, barrel-organ, &c., produce a particular melody, or a certain number of melodies, by means of machinery. In the use of the last-named the performer is not at all indebted to his own musical skill, as he has only to turn the handle which sets the machinery in motion, and the musical box, or barrel-organ, will continue playing till it has finished the tunes to which it is set. Upon what principle do these last-mentioned instruments perform? The barrel-organ and musical box both play on nearly the same principle, though the former is turned by a handle, and the latter only requires a certain spring to be touched, in order to set it off or to stop it. Their machinery consists of a barrel pricked with brass pins; when the barrel revolves, these ping lift a series of steel springs of different lengths and thicknesses, and the vibration of these springs when released, produces the different notes. What is Painting? The art of representing objects in nature, or scenes in human life, with fidelity and expression, either in oil or water colors, &c. _Fidelity_, truth, faithfulness. _Oil Colors_, those colors which are mixed up with oil, as the others are with water. Is not this art of great antiquity? There is not the slightest doubt of it; but to name the country where it was first practised, or the circumstances attending its origin, is beyond the power of the historian. About a century after the call of Abraham, Greek and Egyptian tradition tells us of a colony planted at Sicyon, by an Egyptian, who brought with him the knowledge of painting and sculpture, and founded the earliest and purest school of Greek art. The walls of Babylon were adorned with paintings of different kinds of animals, hunting expeditions, combats, &c. Allusions to this custom of the Babylonians, of decorating their walls with paintings, are found in the Bible. _Tradition_, a history or account delivered from mouth to mouth without written memorials; communication from age to age. _Allusion_, reference. _Decorating_, ornamenting. _Sicyon_, a kingdom of Peloponnesus, in ancient Greece. Were the Egyptians acquainted with this art?