to those of Handel, in the grand style of choral music; and though it has been objected to him, that he has frequently violated rule, and that there are crudities in his counterpoint, his uncommon harmonies are so well justified by effect, his subjects of fugue are so bold and masterly, and his pathetic expression so strikingly affecting, that the best critic in church music which England can boast has left a printed testimony in his favour, pointing out " Dr. Blow's talent of new modulation as his peculiar excellence."

He

Blow was master to our English Orpheus, Purcell; and most of his pupils were eminent in their art. died in the sixtieth year of his age; and though he did not arrive at great longevity, yet, by beginning his course and mounting to the summit of his profession early, he enjoyed a prosperous and eventful life.

Michael Wise, another of the three eminent church composers that were fostered in the chapel-royal immediately after the Restoration, was a scholar of Cook at the time of Humphrey and Blow; and each of this triumvirate not only surpassed their master in genius and abilities, but all the musicians of the seventeenth century, except Purcell. These, however, prepared the way for his bold and original genius to expand; and several of his wonderful melodies and happy licenses appear to have been first suggested by these fellow-students. Yet what they had slightly touched, Purcell treated with the force of a Michael Angelo, whose abilities rendered the difficult easy, and gave to the art, what would have been in less powerful hands distortion, effect and grace.

Wise was a native of Salisbury; in which cathedral he was organist, and afterwards a gentleman of the chapel, royal. In 1686 he was preferred to the place of almoner,

*The late Dr. Boyce,

and

and master of the boys at St. Paul's. He is said to have been in great favour with Charles, who assigned him, as king's organist for the time, the privilege of playing to his majesty on the organ at whatever church he was present.

The first set of chapel-boys having matured into men so eminent masters as Humphrey, Wise, and Blow, excites a curiosity concerning their immediate successors; and this second class not only produced Dr. Tudway and Dr. Turner, who afterwards arrived at distinguished excellence, but HENRY PURCELL, who, during a short life, and in an age almost barbarous for every species of music but that of the church, manifested more original genius than any musician in similar circumstances in any part of Europe.

The fine arts depend so much on the encouragement of the great, that they have never flourished in any kingdom where its most illustrious inhabitants were indifferent to their charms; and the periods of our own history in which music has been most favoured by royalty, are those alone that entitle us to any kind of share in the honour of its cultivation. Queen Elizabeth was herself a performer, and prevented music from being driven out of our cathedrals by her injunctions. Charles I. patronised the little good music that subsisted during his turbulent and unhappy reign; and Charles II. by his smiles and attentions stimulated the natives of his land to make a considerable progress in the art, without the aid of Italy or Germany: indeed, the passion of this prince for every thing that was French changed the national taste; but Lulli being in fashion at Paris, we reaped some advantages from it.

Henry Purcell is as much the pride of the English in music, as Shakspeare in the drama, or Newton in philosophy. He was bred up in the king's chapel under Dr.

Blow,

Blow, and at eighteen was appointed maestro di capello of Westminster abbey. The world is more partial to promising youth than to accomplished age; and at twenty-four he was advanced to one of the three places of organist at the royal chapel; where, as he was able to have his compositions better performed than any where else, his fame was soon extended to the remotest parts. of the kingdom. From this time his anthems were eagerly procured, and heard with rapture wherever they could be performed. Nor was he suffered long to devote himself totally to the church: he was solicited to compose for the stage and the chamber, in both which undertakings he was so superior to all his predecessors, that' his compositions seem to speak a new language: yet, however different from that to which the public had been long accustomed, it was universally understood; and his songs comprised whatever the ear could wish or the heart could feel.

The unlimited powers of his genius embraced every species of musical excellence with equal felicity. In the church-offices-whether he adhered to the elaborate style of his great predecessors, or, following his own imagination, adopted the pathetic and expressive, of which he was himself a principal inventor, accompanying the vocal parts with instruments-he manifested equal abilities. In compositions for the theatre, though the effects of an orchestra were little known, yet, as he employed themgiving to the voice a melody more interesting and impassioned than had been heard in this country, or perhaps in Italy itself-he soon became the darling of the nation: and in chamber music, whether sonatas for instruments, songs, or catches, he so far surpassed whatever had been produced or imported before, that all other music seemed instantly to be consigned to oblivion. Bigoted admirers. of modern music may call Purcell's taste barbarous; yet, in spite of superior cultivation, in spite of all the vicissitudes of fashion-original genius, feeling, and passion,

are,

are, and ever will be, discoverable and eminent, in his works. He possessed, like Shakspeare and Guido, the INIMITABLE of his art; and snatched the grace beyond it above all who have ever before or since been famous.

Walther, by not having assigned to Purcell a niche in his Musical Dictionary, seems never to have heard of his existence; but Purcell was so truly a national composer, that his name was not likely to be wafted to the continent; and the narrow limits of his fame may be ascribed not only to the paucity of his compositions for instruments, without which musical productions are an unintelligible language to foreigners, but to his vocal compositions being solely adapted to English words. We should have known as little of Lulli as the French and Italians do of Purcell, if it had not been for the partiality which Charles acquired by his long residence on the continent. The first attempts at operas here, after the Restoration, were either French, or on the model of those in favour at Versailles; and whoever is acquainted with the general melody of Lulli and Purcell must perceive a strong resemblance. Purcell, however, having infinitely more fancy than the frenchified Tuscan, his productions afford far greater pleasure, to judges of good music, than can be found in Cambert and Grabu, whom Charles patronised in preference to Purcell. Purcell has fortified, lengthened, and harmonised, the true accents of the English language -those notes of passion which an inhabitant of our island would breathe in such situations as his words describe, he has enforced by the energy of modulation, which on the different occasions is sweet, bold, affecting, and sublime.

These remarks are addressed to none but Englishmen ; for the expression of words can only be felt by the natives of any country, who seldom extend their admiration of foreign vocal music further than its effect on the car: nor has it any advantage over instrumental, excepting that of

being executed by the human voice, like Solfeggi. If the Italians themselves did not come over here to give us the true expression of their songs, we should never find it out by study or practice.

It has been unfortunate for our national taste, that Gibbons, Humphrey, and Purcell, were not favoured with longevity; as a school might then have been erected, which, with these masters at the head of it, including Blow, would have enabled us to proceed without foreign assistance.

Purcell died at thirty-seven, in the year 1697. No other vocal music was celebrated for thirty years after his death; and it then gave way only to some favourite airs of Handel.

We cannot quit this branch of the arts without an honourable mention of Purcell's catches and glees; of which the humour, ingenuity, and melody, were so congenial to the national taste, as to render them the sole productions in this facetious strain, which were in general use for nearly a century. And though the patronage and premiums bestowed in later times upon this species of composition, as well as modern skill in performance, have given birth to many glees of a more exalted strain, Purcell has never been equalled in the wit, contrivance, or effect of his catches.

A charter granted to the musicians of the city of Westminster by Charles I. had lain dormant from his death till the Restoration; but immediately after that event the persons named in it who were still living determined to rescue music from the disgrace into which it had fallen, and exert their authority for the interest of its professors. The king's band, and other professors, both natives and foreigners, eminent in that time, were enrolled in this charter as the king's musicians; " and all such as are and

"shall