fection in our own country; Music is yet but in its nonage a forward child, which gives hope of what it may be hereafter in England when the masters of it shall find more encouragement. 'Tis now learning Italian, which is its best master, and studying a little of the French air, to give it somewhat more of gaiety and fashion. Thus being further from the sun we are of later growth than our neighbour countries, and must be content to shake off our barbarity by degrees. The present age seems already disposed to be refined, and to distinguish between wild fancy and a just, numerous composition."

In 1690 Purcell composed his great work, "King Arthur," which may rightly be designated the first complete English opera. The drama, by Dryden, was evidently constructed with a view to the musician's requirements, and supplies that variety in the measure and that interest in the scenes which are essential to musical effect. It should not be overlooked that the music is not only original, vigorous, various, and beautiful, but imbued with a fine spirit of patriotism, as if the composer's genius had been specially inspired by association with the story of England's legendary hero. Two of the choicest numbers are the grand war-song of the Britons, "Come if you dare," and the lively lyric in praise of the fatherland, "Fairest isle, all isles excelling." The resources of the master are exhibited triumphantly in the sacrificial scene of the Saxons, the scene with the spirits, the choric dances and songs of the shepherds, the frost scene, the duet of the Syrens, and the concluding masque. By this one com

*In 1690 his work for the theatre was confined to overture, act-tunes and songs for Dryden's comedy of "Amphitryon," and the bass solo, "Thy genius, lo, from his sweet bed of rest," in Nat. Lee's "The Massacre in Paris."

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position Purcell has placed himself at the head of English musicians; and we can imagine what he would have accomplished had he known the combinations and contrasts of which the modern orchestra is capable.

Yet this noble work did not satisfy the activity of his genius in 1691. He also wrote the overture and act-tunes for Elkanah Settle's tragedies, "Distressed Innocence," and "The Gordian Knot Untied," and some songs for Southerne's comedy, "Sir Anthony Love."

In the year 1692 he composed the music for Sir Robert Howard and Dryden's "The Indian Queen," including the masterly recitative, "Ye twice ten hundred deities," the air, "By the croaking of the toad," and the charming rondo, "I attempt from Love's sickness to fly." Also songs for Dryden's "Indian Emperor," and "Cleomenes" (which Southerne finished), Dryden and Lee's “Edipus," Southerne's comedy, "The Wife's Excuse," and D'Urfey's comedy, "The Marriage State Matched;" and further, the opera of "The Fairy Queen" (adapted from Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream"), which seems to have been put upon the stage in a very costly and brilliant manner. It is unfortunate that a considerable portion of the score has been lost; but some of the numbers were printed in the "Orpheus Britannicus," and others separately.

In 1693 Purcell composed the music for Congreve's comedy, "The Old Bachelor," D'Urfey's "The Richmond Heiress," Southerne's "The Maid's Last Prayer,” and Bancroft's tragedy, "Henry the Second; " in 1694, portions of the music for Parts 1 and 2 of D'Urfey's "Don Quixote," songs for Southerne's tragedy, "The Fatal Marriage," Dryden's play of "Love Triumphant," and

Crowne's comedy, "The Married Beau;" and the overture, act-tunes and songs for Congreve's "Double Dealer." The famous war-song, "Britons, strike home," and the four-part chorus, "To arms," were among the gems with which, in 1695, he enriched Purcell's adaptation of Beaumont and Fletcher's "Boadicea." In the same year he composed songs for Southerne's tragedy, "Oroonoko," Ravenscroft's comedy, "The Canterbury Guests," Gould's tragedy, "The Rival Sisters," Scott's comedy, "The Mock Marriage," Beaumont and Fletcher's play, "The Knight of Malta," and the third part of D'Urfey's "Don Quixote." The "Don Quixote" contains Purcell's swansong, his last composition, "From rosy hours," which, though written in his dying hours, presents no trace of weakness or decay.

From this review of his dramatic compositions we proceed to a survey of what he accomplished in church and chamber music. Perhaps it is in the service of the temple that his genius is most fully developed.* Certain it is that his church music is characterized by a wonderful power of devotion and solemnity of feeling. Exact and welldefined in its scientific development, it attains, by the richness of its harmonic combinations and the purity of its melodic strains, a strength and fulness of effect which every heart acknowledges. Let us glance at a few of his more memorable compositions. There is the anthem for six voices: "Oh God, Thou hast cast us out," with its felicitous "commixture of spirit, sweetness, and elaborated counterpoint;" the anthem for bass solo and chorus, "The Lord is King;" the coronation anthems for James

* The reader is advised to study Vincent Novello's edition (1829-1832) of "Purcell's Sacred Music," if he would understand the full scope and character of the composer's powers.

II., and his Queen "I was glad," and "My heart is inditing;" the anthem, "They that go down to the sea in ships," composed on the occasion of the King's narrow escape from a great storm when at sea in the Fubbs yacht, and remarkable for its expression of the mingled sensation of awe, agitation, wonder, and thanksgiving; and the noble and majestic eight-part anthem, “O Lord God of hosts!" The anthem for four voices, with instrumental accompaniments, "Blessed are they that fear the Lord," was produced on the 29th of January, 1687, as a thanksgiving for the pregnancy of the Queen, Mary of Modena.

To enumerate all his anthems, or services, or settings of the Jubilate and Benedictus, would be unprofitable. Something must be said, however, respecting his famous Te Deum and Jubilate in D, with orchestral accompaniments, the first of the kind composed in England, which he wrote for the Cecilian celebration in 1694. "In this composition," says Busby, "the science and genius of a great and superior master are conspicuously displayed. To hear the chorus, 'All, all the earth, Lord, worship Thee, the Father Everlasting,' is to feel the utmost richness of sonorous combination, and to be impressed with the fullest sense of devotional duty. The duet, given to the Cherubim and Seraphim, broken and thundered upon by the chorus, with the awfully impressive word, 'Holy,' is divinely conceived; and both the harmony and the melody of Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter,' exhibit Purcell as a musician inspired. In the double fugue of Thou art the King of Glory,' the noble and elevated feelings of the author are expressed with a degree of science and decision which manifest the contrivance of a real and great master, animated and em

boldened by the divine majesty of the object before him. From the words, Thou sittest at the right hand of God,' to ever world without end,' we find in the music a continued and unremitting echo to the sense of the language, and are everywhere reminded of the import and the grandeur of the subject treated."

This noble and majestic masterpiece was composed for the Cecilian festival of the Sons of the Clergy, and was performed every year until the production of Handel's Te Deum, in 1713, for the peace of Utrecht. Thenceforward, until 1743, they were alternately used. In 1743 Handel composed his Dettingen Te Deum, to which his knowledge of the powers and combinations of the instruments of the orchestra enabled him to give such a colossal character that it has, to a great extent, superseded Purcell's beautiful composition. Why does not some English musician arrange the latter with orchestral accompaniments in the modern fashion?

To present a brief chronological resumé : —

The first of Purcell's numerous odes, a form of composition in which he seems to have taken much delight, appeared in 1680-" An Ode or Welcome Song for his Royal Highness (the Duke of York) on his return from Scotland." In 1681 he wrote another Ode or Welcome Song for the King, "Swifter, Isis, swifter flow;" and in 1682, one on the King's return from Newmarket, "The summer's absence unconcerned we bear." He also wrote some inauguration songs for the Lord Mayor, October 29th. In 1683 he essayed a new branch of composition, instrumental chamber music, and published his twelve "Sonnatas of III. parts, two Viollins and Basse to the Organ or Harpsichord." Each consists of an adagio,