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The Altars -wbdfoe - tfee ineenwr shoold " * : arise - ^ - " - To Him who fills all space ; whose Spirit pure the mind with ' '
Jns ^ rgs thought , and guides ¦ .. ¦ ' Unhand , mt e , all un ^ f > le to direct & $ plume , ^ That nutt ' ring strives to wing his praise , Frotn this terrene , up to the radiant Sun , Thro * ^ ft tKe counties * orhs which name in
' ¦ Beav *! , If flight it could sustain . But Seraph ' s wing Would fail ; and all too weak an Angel ' s ? oice To hymn His glory , and His praise proclaim . P . 42 .
A year or two before his death . Mr . Webb amused himself with preparing a curious work , which he terms tanharmonicon . It consists of a large engraved plate , ( delineated by his ingenious friend , Mr . John Nicholetts of South Petherton , ) with a quarto pamphlet , designed as an illustration of it .
The author states it as his object , to prove that " the principles of Harmony more or less prevail throughout the whole sytem of Nature , but more especially in the human frame ; and that where these principles can be applied to works of art , they excite the pleasing and satisfying ideas of proportion and beauty . "
If it be true , as here maintained , tjiat there is an harmonious ; connexion between lines of beauty in natural objects , and notes of music , it is evident that the lattery should the mode of application be correctly ascertained , would greatl y contribute to exact proportions in the Painter ' s delineations .
To prove that this is not a merely speculative , ^ dea , devoid of all titijity to society , Mr . VV ^ ebb makes his appeal to a well-attestedyacf . The ingenious artist , the late Giles Hussey , j £ sq . of Marnhul ] , in the County of < Dorset , ( who died suddenly in 1788 , ) an intimate friend of our author , used to
correct and improve Ins drawings by applying them to the musical scale . His mode of doing it is particularly pointed o , ut in a letter , * of this celeorated painter . Mr . Webb , it appears , adopted in younger life the sentiment which he endeavours to prove and
* This letter ^ which I hope other reader can understand better than myself , it plso inserted in the Jate edition of Hutqhms W ' s History of Dorset . k ' — ~
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illustrate te § pteftr& * the Hit Atony of r t attirfc : ** 'TMgwdW ? ' * saf * hfc , **\ v& first undertaken inerel y for" armis ^ ment , when the author , ^' m J ?^ 7 ? t d * P ° - sition , was unable to exercise TPiis ihmd by more serious study tmd closer application . The subject ever was , from his earliest days unto those of his present very advanced yeaTS , p leasing and attractive . He * ie ^ ls indeed at the
present moment of recital , though with abated energy , the raptnte Which : he experienced when , in the course of his juvenile studies , thdt beam eff celestial light was first darted into his mind
from the great luminary of science , Sir Isaac Newton , in the" astonishing and beautiful discovery , that a ray of light transmitted through a prism , exactly answered in its differently refracted colours , to the ; divisions of a
musical chord ; or in other words , that the breadth of the seven original colours , were in the same proportion , as the seven musical intervals of the octave . And further delighted was he with the no less wonderful discovery , that if we suppose musical chords extended from the Sun to each Planet , in
order that 4 ; hese chords may become unison , it will be requisite to * increase or diminish their tension , in exactly the same proportion , as would be sufficient to render the gravities of the
Planets equal . " Webb's Parhon . p . 1 . As Mr . Webb was delighted in-tracing out the beauty and harmony or the natural world , so he believed , and the persuasion afforded him still suhlirher pleasure , that causes were in operation , appointed by the Sovereign Lord -of-Nature and Parent of Good *
tending to correct the disorders of the moral world , afcd finally to p roduct : universal virtue and happiness , the beauty and harmony of the moral creation of God , almighty , all-wise , and infinitel y benevolent . What indeed were his sentiments respecting the
result of the gradibW jVIafe 0 ? the divine government * ttte tfttVl g lorious ' consummation devoulty-fib' be f ished , *• appears from tJhocon ^ ludtn ^ li " of rhts Poem cm the DtiifM ^ ^ J ^
N pi ^ g ht cstn ^ fe yrify Jmt &oq # -r ? ' * P& wkat t ; lye wjn ^ I t l ; . , . \ ^ .- . cv ist c ^ me tft p ^ ^ c ^ jature ^ ^ degree , bw ^ rjng his gf ^ at , j ^ e * , f # e to good 'Xftrough £ Q }\ nq < st $ tfQTm& < mcl changes ; ** . ^ J ^ ,. ' , ' , . .. .. - _ fowfa'fmtfatt Vf -M
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l § g SJmchqPihe ' ytffk , XXia * etctir $ &e . eftht ^ te Fthnch WelB , Esq .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1816, page 192, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2451/page/4/
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