Par exemple, on ne comptait que trois Muses. […] Ils ne comptaient que neuf Muses, filles de Jupiter et de Mnémosyne, déesse de la mémoire. […] Il en était de même dans ceux des Muses ; lorsqu’on les invoquait, on n’eût osé oublier les Grâces. […] La jalouse Junon leur inspira le perfide dessein de défier au chant les neuf Muses. […] Plusieurs monumens anciens représentent les Muses avec cet ornement à leur tête.

Before pronouncing their decision, the Muses resolved to give both musicians a second hearing, and again both strove; but on this occasion Apollo joined the harmonious accents of his godlike voice to the tones of his instrument, causing all present, and the very Muses too, to hail him as conqueror. […] Thalia, Muse of pastoral poetry, held a shepherd’s crook and mask, and wore a crown of wild flowers.                 “Mild pastoral Muse! […] Calliope, Muse of heroic poetry, also wore a laurel crown; and Urania, Muse of astronomy, held mathematical instruments, indicative of her love of the exact sciences. […] On one occasion he had thus seen the Muses dancing round the fountain of Hippocrene in the moonlight, and from that moment he was their willing slave.