certain fabulous deities among the Pagans, supposed to preside over the arts and sciences: for this reason it is usual for the poets, at the beginning of a poem, to invoke these goddesses to their aid.

The Muses were originally only singers and musicians in the service of Osiris, or the great Egyptian Bacchus, under the instruction and guidance of his son Orus; but in succeeding times they were called the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne or Memory.

These are the only pagan divinities whose worship has been continued through all succeeding changes in the religion and sentiments of mankind. Professors of every liberal art in all the countries of Europe still revere them; particularly the poets, who seldom undertake the slightest work without invoking their aid.

Sir Isaac Newton tells us, that the singing women of Osiris were celebrated in Thrace by the name of the Muses; and that the daughters of Pierius, a Thracian, imitating them, were celebrated by the same name.

Diodorus Siculus informs us, that Alcmann of Methene, a lyric poet who flourished in the 27th Olympiad, 670 years B.C., makes them the daughters of Uranus and Terra. It has been asserted by some ancient writers, that at first they were only three in number; but Homer, Hesiod, and other profound mythologists, admit of nine (a).

In his hymn to Apollo, Homer says,

—By turns the nine delight to sing.

And Hesiod, in his Theogony, names them all.—They are said severally to preside over some art or science, as music, poetry, dancing, astronomy. By some they are called virgins, because the virtues of education appear unalterable: they are called muses from a Greek word Burney's which signifies to explain mysteries, because they have Hifi. of taught things the most curious and important to know, Music, and which are above the comprehension of vulgar minds. Each of their names is said to include some particular allegory; Clio, for instance, has been thus called, because those who are praised in verse acquire immortal fame; Euterpe, on account of the pleasure accruing to those who hear learned poetry; Thalia implies for ever flourishing; Melpomene, that her melody infatuates itself into the inmost recesses of the soul; Terpsichore marks the pleasure which those receive who are versed in the liberal arts; Erato seems to indicate, that the learned command the esteem and friendship of all mankind; Polyhymnia, that many poets are become immortal by the number of hymns which they have addressed to the gods; Urania, that those whom she instructs elevate their contemplations and celebrity to the heavens and the stars; and lastly, the exquisite voice of Calliope has acquired her that appellation, as the inventor and guardian of eloquence and rhetoric.

An epigram of Callimachus gives the attributes of the Muses in as many lines.

Calliope the deeds of heroes sings; Great Clio sweeps to history the strings; Euterpe teaches mimes their silent show; Melpomene presides o'er scenes of wo; Terpsichore the flute's soft pow'r displays; And Erato gives hymns the gods to praise; Polyhymnia's skill inspires melodious strains; Urania wife, the starry course explains; And gay Thalia's glass points out where folly reigns.

This epigram does not, however, exactly correspond with the ideas of other poets, or of the ancient painters, in characterizing the attributes of the Muses. The ancients had numberless ingenious and fanciful ideas concerning the muses, which we have not room to recite.

—"It seems (says the abbé Barthélemy) as if the first poets, enchanted with the beauties of nature, occasion of Analys, were led to invoke the nymphs of the woods, hills, chariots, and fountains; and that yielding to the prevailing taste for allegory, they gave them names relative to the influence

(A) It has been said, that when the citizens of Sicyon directed three skilful statuaries to make each of them statues of the three Muses, they were all so well executed, that they did not know which to choose, but erected all the nine, and that Hesiod and Homer only gave them names. Muses might be supposed to have over the productions of the mind. At first three Muses only were admitted, Melicte, Mneme, and Aeide; that is to say, the meditation or reflection necessary to study; memory, which records illustrious deeds; and song, which accompanies their recital. In proportion as improvement was made in the art of verification, its characters and effects were personified, the number of the Muses increased, and the names they now received referred to the charms of poetry, its celestial origin, the beauty of its language, the pleasure and gaiety it inspires, the song and dance which add to it new charms, and the glory with which it is crowned. Afterwards were associated with them the Graces, whose employment it is to embellish poetry, and Love who is so frequently its object. These ideas took birth in a barbarous country, in Thrace, where Orpheus, Linus, and their disciples, suddenly appeared in the midst of ignorance. The Muses were honoured there on the Pierian mount; and extending their dominion, successively took their stations on Pindus, Parnassus, Helicon, and all those solitary places where the painters of nature, surrounded by the most pleasing images, experience the divine glow of inspiration.

Pythagoras, and afterwards Plato, make the Muses the soul of the planets in our system; from whence the imaginary music of the spheres.