mistress."

Similar marvellous powers were ascribed to music by the other nations.
The Chinese have an old saying that "Music has the power to make
Heaven descend upon earth." This art was constantly kept under rigid
supervision by the government, and 354 years before Christ, one of the
Emperors issued a special edict against weak, effeminate music; to
which, therefore, a demoralizing influence was obviously attributed.
The Japanese, we read, likewise "revere music and connect it with
their idol worship," and in olden times it seems to have had even a
political function, for it is said that "formerly an ambassador, in
addressing a foreign court to which he was accredited, did not speak,
but sang his mission." The Hindoos, again, attributed supernatural
power to music. Some melodies had the power, as they believed, to
bring down rain, others to move men and animals, as well as lifeless
objects. The fact that they traced the origin of music to the gods
shows in what esteem they held it; and their quaint story of the
16,000 nymphs and shepherdesses, each of whom invented a new key and
melody in her emulous eagerness to move the heart and win the love of
the handsome young god Krishna, shows that the amorous power of music
was already understood in those days.

Once more, the exalted notions which the ancient Hebrews had of the
dignity and importance of music, is indicated by the fact that,
according to Josephus, the treasures of Solomon's Temple (which was
also a great school of music) included 40,000 harps and psalteries of
pure copper, and 200,000 silver trumpets. In the schools of the
prophets, musical practice was an essential item. During the period of
captivity the Israelites at first gave way to despondency, exclaiming,
"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" "But by and by