MUSICAL COMPOSITION

CHAPTER VIICOLOURTONE-COLOUR, which for the sake of abbreviation weshall term simply colour, is the dress in which weclothe the flesh and bones which constitute the livingbody of music. The body is for all time, and anychanges which it undergoes are imperceptibly slow.The clothes are for a fraction of time, and vary withthe taste and fashion of that fraction; they are simplewhere life is simple, and tend to become more elaborateas the craftsmanship of their manufacturersimproves, and as the wealth and luxury of theirwearers increase) Fine feathers are said to make finebirds, but the proverb somewhat smacks of satire;for neither the peacock nor the cock-pheasant isremarkable for beauty of voice, nor the toucan forbeauty of proportion; while the comparative dowdinessof an eagle cannot conceal the nobility andbeauty of its shape, and the voice of a drab-colourednightingale or plain brown thrush will give morejoy to the ear than all the magnificence of a peacock'stail will to the eye. In the bird-world Nature seemsto divide her favours; to gorgeous plumage she deniesbeauty of voice, to beauty of voice she denies gorgeousplumage. In the world of art she is kinder, for a95