Page 219 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

218 THIRD BOOK OF
a erwards to the task, do more, in general, than di­ versify, by new combinations, those rst wild strains of gaiety or passion into which nature had infused her original inspiration. In Greece, the sweetness of the ancient music had already been lost, when all the other arts were but on their way to per ction; · and om the account given by Giraldns Oambrensis . of the Irish harpers of the twelfth century, it may· be inferred that the melodies of the country, at the earlier period of which we are speaking, were, in some degree, like the rst music of the infant age of Greece, and partook of the eshness of that morn­ ing of mind and hope, ,hich was then a, ·akening around them.
2. ith respect to the structure of the ancient Irish harp, there does not appear to have been any­ thing accurately ascertained ; but om that reten­ tiveness of all belonging to the past which character­ ised this people, it appears most probable that their favourite instrument ,vas kept sacredly unaltered; and remained the same, perha'ps, in later times, when it charmed the ears of English poets and philosophers; as ,vhen it had been modulated by the bard, Cronan, in the sixth century, upon the banks of the lake Kee.
3. Itwouldappearthatthechurchmusic,likewise, of the Irish, enjoyed no inconsiderable repute in the seventh century, as we nd Gertrude, the daughter of the potent mayor of the palace, Pepin, sending to Ireland r person quali ed to instruct the nuns of the abbey of Nivelle in psalmody; and the great monastery of Bangor, or Benchoir, near Carrick r- gus, is supposed, by are, to have derived its name from the white choir which belonged to it.