“Eighth, There is the publishers own Music's Monument; some few copies
thereof he has still by him to put off, it being a subscribed book,
and not exposed to common sale. All these will be sold at very easy
rates, for the reasons aforesaid; and because, indeed, he cannot stay
in town longer than four months, exactly.”
He further adds, “if any be desirous to partake of his experimental
skill in this high noble art, during his stay in town, he is ready to
assist them; and haply, they may obtain that from him, which they may
not meet withal elsewhere. He teacheth these five things; viz. the
theorboe, the French lute, and the viol, in all their excellent ways
and uses; as also composition, together with the knack of procuring
invention to young composers, (the general and greatest difficulty
they meet withal;) this last thing not being attempted by any author,
(as he knows of,) yet may be done, though some have been so wise, or
otherwise to contradict it:
_Sed experientia docuit._
“Any of these five things may be learned so understandingly, in this
little time he stays, by such general rules as he gives, together with
Music's Monument, (written principally to such purposes,) as that any,
aptly inclined, may, for the future, teach themselves, without any
other help.”
This is the last notice of poor Mace: poor he may be called, when at
the age of seventy-seven he is found in London upon the forlorn hope
of selling his instruments and his books, and getting pupils during
this stay. It may be inferred that he had lost the son of whose
musical proficiency he formerly spoke with so much pleasure; for
otherwise this professional collection and stock in trade would hardly
have been exposed to sale, but it appears that the good old man
retained his mental faculties, and his happy and contented spirit.
Dr. Burney recommends the perusal of what he calls his matchless book
“to all who have taste for excessive simplicity and quaintness, and
can extract pleasure from the sincere and undissembled happiness of an
author, who with exalted notions of his subject and abilities,
discloses to his readers every inward working of self-approbation in
as undisguised a manner, as if he were communing with himself in all
the plenitude of mental comfort and privacy.”
CHAPTER CXCVII.
QUESTION PROPOSED, WHETHER A MAN BE MAGNIFIED OR MINIFIED BY
CONSIDERING HIMSELF UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES, AND
ANSWERED WITH LEARNING AND DISCRETION.
I find by experience that Writing is like Building, wherein the
undertaker, to supply some defect, or serve some convenience which at
first he foresaw not, is usually forced to exceed his first model and
proposal, and many times to double the charge and expence of it.
DR. JOHN SCOTT.
Is man magnified or minified by considering himself as under the
influence of the heavenly bodies,—not simply as being
Moved round in earth's dismal course
With rocks and stones and trees;[1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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