(7) And when upon their hinges were turned round The swivels of that consecrated gate, Which are of metal, massive and sonorous, Roared not so loud, nor so discordant seemed Tarpeia, when was ta'en from it the good Metellus, wherefore meagre it remained. At the first thunder-peal I turned attentive, And "Te Deum laudamus" seemed to hear In voices mingled with sweet melody. Exactly such an image rendered me That which I heard, as we are wont to catch, When people singing with the organ stand; For now we hear, and now hear not, the words.

(4) followed by a thundering peal, without end and without beginning, now dying, now living, now sinking, now rising, on and on without a moment's break. And so you were afraid. "When I played again, it was the harmony of the Yin and Yang, lighted by the glory of sun and moon; now broken, now prolonged, now gentle, now severe, in one unbroken, unfathomable volume of sound. Filling valley and gorge, stopping the ears and dominating the senses, adapting itself to the capacities of things,—the sound whirled around on all sides, with shrill note and clear. The spirits of darkness kept to their domain. Sun, moon, and stars, pursued their appointed course. When the melody was exhausted I stopped; if the melody did not stop, I went on. You would have sympathised, but you could not understand. You would have looked, but you could not see. You would have pursued, but you could not overtake. You stood dazed in the middle of the wilderness, leaning against a tree and crooning, your eye conscious of exhausted vision, your strength failing for the pursuit, and so unable to overtake me. Your frame was but an empty shell. You were completely at a loss, and so you were amazed. "Then I played in sounds which produce no amazement, the melodious law of spontaneity, springing forth like nature's countless buds, in manifold but formless joy, as though poured forth to the dregs, in deep but soundless bass. Beginning nowhere, the melody rested in void; some would say dead, others alive, others real, others ornamental, as it scattered itself on all sides in never to be anticipated chords.

(39) If you should in this World bring many thousand Sorts of musical Instruments together, and all should be tuned in the best Manner most artificially, and the most skilful Masters of Music should play on them in Concert together, all would be no more than the Howlings and Barkings of Dogs, in Comparison of the Divine Music, which rises through the Divine Sound and Tunes from Eternity to Eternity.

(42) With his guards of state surrounding his palace, Though he needed no guards for the purpose Of warding off robbers and vagabonds; For he who is a just king knows everything, Justice is the guardian of his steps, His purpose in having this band of music was this, The wailing of horn and the thunder of drum Resemble in some sort that dread "trumpet blast." Wherefore philosophers say that we have learned The song of the spheres in their revolutions

(1) Soon as the blessed flame had taken up The final word to give it utterance, Began the holy millstone to revolve, And in its gyre had not turned wholly round, Before another in a ring enclosed it, And motion joined to motion, song to song; Song that as greatly doth transcend our Muses, Our Sirens, in those dulcet clarions, As primal splendour that which is reflected. And as are spanned athwart a tender cloud Two rainbows parallel and like in colour, When Juno to her handmaid gives command, (The one without born of the one within, Like to the speaking of that vagrant one Whom love consumed as doth the sun the vapours,) And make the people here, through covenant God set with Noah, presageful of the world That shall no more be covered with a flood, In such wise of those sempiternal roses The garlands twain encompassed us about, And thus the outer to the inner answered. After the dance, and other grand rejoicings, Both of the singing, and the flaming forth Effulgence with effulgence blithe and tender,

(4) It is — as, when a conch-shell is being blown, one would not be able to grasp the external sounds, but by grasping the conch-shell or the blower of the conch-shell the sound is grasped.

(2) It is — as, when a conch-shell is being blown, one would not be able to grasp the external sounds, but by grasping the conch-shell or the blower of the conch-shell the sound is grasped.

(57) And the noise of their wagons was heard, and when this turmoil took place the holy ones from heaven remarked it, and the pillars of the earth were moved from their place, and the sound thereof was heard from the one end of heaven to the other, in one day.

(13) Now the compilers of narratives say that in the island of Britain s there is a cave situated under a mountain, and a chasm on its summit; and that, accordingly, when the wind falls into the cave, and rushes into the bosom of the cleft, a sound is heard like cymbals clashing musically. And often in the woods, when the leaves are moved by a sudden gust of wind, a sound is emitted like the song of birds.

(88) And one of them drew a sword, and gave it to those elephants and camels and asses: then they began to smite each other, and the whole earth quaked because of them.

(13) And the Sound or Noise in the turning Wheel, is now the Declarer or Pronouncer in all the Fountains, that the beloved Child is born; for it comes with its Sound before all Doors, and in all Essences; so that in its Awakening, all the Virtues or Powers are stirring, and see, feel, have smell, and taste one another in the Light, for the whole Birth nourishes itself in its first Mother, vis. the harsh Essence, being now become so thin [or pure,] meek, sweet, and full of Joy, and so the whole Birth stands in very great Joy, Love, Meekness, and Humility, and is nothing else than a mere pleasing Taste, a delightful Sight, a sweet Smell, a ravishing Sound to the Hearing, a soft Touch, beyond that which any Tongue can utter or express. How should there not be Joy and Love, where, in the very Midst of Death, the eternal Life is generated, and where there is no Fear of any End, nor can be?

(36) By that Sound in Heaven all Powers are moved, so that all Things grow joyfully, and generate very beautifully: And as the Divine Power is manifold and various, so also the Sound or Mercurius is manifold and various. [Mercurius]

(1) I have erewhile seen horsemen moving camp, Begin the storming, and their muster make, And sometimes starting off for their escape; Vaunt-couriers have I seen upon your land, O Aretines, and foragers go forth, Tournaments stricken, and the joustings run, Sometimes with trumpets and sometimes with bells, With kettle-drums, and signals of the castles, And with our own, and with outlandish things, But never yet with bagpipe so uncouth Did I see horsemen move, nor infantry, Nor ship by any sign of land or star. We went upon our way with the ten demons; Ah, savage company! but in the church With saints, and in the tavern with the gluttons! Ever upon the pitch was my intent, To see the whole condition of that Bolgia, And of the people who therein were burned. Even as the dolphins, when they make a sign To mariners by arching of the back, That they should counsel take to save their vessel, Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, One of the sinners would display his back, And in less time conceal it than it lightens.

(2) And now begin the dolesome notes to grow Audible unto me; now am I come There where much lamentation strikes upon me. I came into a place mute of all light, Which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, If by opposing winds 't is combated. The infernal hurricane that never rests Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. When they arrive before the precipice, There are the shrieks, the plaints, and the laments, There they blaspheme the puissance divine. I understood that unto such a torment The carnal malefactors were condemned, Who reason subjugate to appetite. And as the wings of starlings bear them on In the cold season in large band and full, So doth that blast the spirits maledict; It hither, thither, downward, upward, drives them; No hope doth comfort them for evermore, Not of repose, but even of lesser pain. And as the cranes go chanting forth their lays, Making in air a long line of themselves, So saw I coming, uttering lamentations,

(30) They all [cried aloud (?), they exalted [him ...]. 2

(25) I can liken it to nothing else but to a Thunder-clap, when the fierce Fire first falls down, so that it dazzles the Sighs; that fierce Fire is like the Manner of the Conjunction of these two. Now observe, Now

(2) "Well, then," enquired Tzŭ Yu, "since the music of earth consists of nothing more than holes, and the music of man of pipes and flutes,—of what consists the music of Heaven?" "The effect of the wind upon these various apertures," replied Tzŭ Ch'i, "is not uniform. But what is it that gives to each the individuality, to all the potentiality, of sound? "Great knowledge embraces the whole: small knowledge, a part only. Great speech is universal: small speech is particular. "For whether when the mind is locked in sleep or whether when in waking hours the body is released, we are subject to daily mental perturbations,—indecision, want of penetration, concealment, fretting fear, and trembling terror. Now like a javelin the mind flies forth, the arbiter of right and wrong. Now like a solemn covenanter it remains firm, the guardian of rights secured. Then, as under autumn and winter's blight, comes gradual decay, a passing away, like the flow of water, never to return. Finally, the block when all is choked up like an old drain,—the failing mind which shall not see light again. "Joy and anger, sorrow and happiness, caution and remorse, come upon us by turns, with ever-changing mood. They come like music from hollowness, like mushrooms from damp. Daily and nightly they alternate within us, but we cannot tell whence they spring. Can we then hope in a moment to lay our finger upon their very Cause?

(21) "And the choir of mute fishes rushed to it," says the Tragic Muse somewhere.

(52) In this the Tone should rise up, and sound, with singing and ringing forth, in praising and jubilating: Also all the Qualities should rejoice therein, and every Spirit should exercise or practise its divine Work or Labour, as God the Father himself does.

(65) And thereupon there was a great commotion, on the earth, and a voice was heard from heaven, and I fell on my face.