The Life of Thomas Hardy
pression in Under the Greenwood Tree. He loved to think of the old bands of musicians, with their quaint and naive ways, and the beautiful effects achieved by their noels on Christmas-eve. His heart went out to them for their earnestness and zeal in the performance of their tasks, which they did as a real labor of love; and their passing away before the advance of the tastes of "fashionable society" filled him with sadness. His treatment of the old instrumentalists and singers of Mellstock, Longpuddle, and other localities, is not always melancholy or serious,—they provided him at times with material for the most delightfully humorous passages in his works. The curious juxtaposition of religious and profane matter in their music-books calls forth some rather sprightly comment, and the anecdote entitled Absentmindedness in a Parish Choir shows Hardy in his very gayest mood. It is really uproariously funny.
Popular and folk-music always possessed great attractions for him. He used "The Break o' the Hay" and other ditties that were supposed to induce the cows to let down their milk, in Tess, and Donald Farfrae enraptures his audience in "The Golden Crown" with his singing of the emotional Scotch folk-melodies.
Closely allied to Hardy's treatment of music are his references to, and his employment of, the art of the dance. The village choirs, of which he was so fond, play not only psalms, but officiate on festive occasions with the livelier sections of their repertoires. The psychological effect of the crescendo of excitement as produced by the country-dances with which he was familiar, often plays a large part in the development of his stories. The
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