DR. ARNE. 301 You, my boy, must go, (The Gods will have it so,) To the siege of Troy : "Thence never to return to Greece again, "Let not your noble courage be cast down; Drink and be merry! "You'll ne'er go the sooner To the Stygian ferry." We are now approaching a period when English music gained some semblance of a national character— that of gentle simplicity. Arne, the son of a tradesman, was passionetely fond of music, and when a young man, would often borrow the clothes of a livery servant, to gain admittance into the upper gallery of the Opera-house, which was provided for the servants of the nobility. Without any musical learning, but with a taste naturally correct, he listened with delight to the singers that came from Italy, on the opening of that theatre. Being something of a poet, he wrote some pretty ballads, which were sung at the tea-gardens about London. What is more beautiful than the ballad SONG. (PAGE 280, VOL. 1.) "When forced from dear Hebe to go, "She cast such a languishing view, I thought that she bade me return.” Had he been articled to a musician instead of a lawyer, the probability is he would never have written such pleasing, simple melodies; his natural genius would then have been shackled by the laws of counterpoint and harmony, to the neglect of those endearing tones of nature which strike so deep upon the heart. The Though so young, he soon ventured upon composing two operas-Comus and Artaxerxes. smooth and simple air of Water parted from the Sea, in Artaxerxes, for a time usurped the entire public attention. Its chaste simplicity made it universally popular. This opera (if I recollect right,) opens with a duo-Hope, thou nurse of soft desire— strictly in his own style, although copied from Weldon's song-Let ambition fire thy mind-written long before Arne was born. In 1774, so low was the taste in sentimental music, that I heard Giardini's finest concerto on the violin, with the Jolly young Waterman, played as a finish, which moved the audience with unspeakable delight. The most striking era in the history of music was the invention of the pianoforte; before its introduction it might be said there was no domestic music, certainly no singing. The harpsichord was ill adapted to support the voice. Indeed, there was no music prepared for it. We heard nothing but sailors rude songs, and galloping hunting songs, which the ladies were constrained to sing, for want of better music. The invention of the pianoforte, like the introduction of tea, softened the manners of the age, increased the refinement of the mind, and gave an elegance to society by the addition of the female voice to domestic vocal music. In 1778, Mr. Thompson of Edinburgh, the patron of Burns, published an edition of Scotch melodies; he engaged Pleyel to write the symphonies and accompaniments, and the poets of the day were employed to write new words to them. There are but three poems by Burns in the book, which I conceive to be worth all the rest. These I have selected, and pruned of the old fashioned flourishes of that day. They may be found in pages 80 and 128 of the Music of Nature, and page 337, vol. 1, of this work. The next great improvement in English song was by our late poet, Moore. He was truly a lyric poet. And here is an instance of the advantage of the poet being a musician. Moore's singing of his own words, to his own music, gently touching the pianoforte, was the most exquisite thing that could be heard. Nothing was sung so incessantly as his Oh, lady fair, where art thou going? What is more simple and divine than the Vesper Hymn, which engaged the attention of Beethoven? Moore, and the rest of our poets, are truly national; but our musicians all lapse, more or less, into the Italian and German styles. CHAPTER LXIV. THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. When I was a young man, we had a small society in Leicester, called the Adelphi, for the discussion of philosophical subjects, and which was put down by the authorities of the town soon after the breaking out of the French Revolution, as it was rumoured that we talked politics. From that time, no society or meeting for scientific purposes existed in Leicester, till the Literary and Philosophical Society was established; and in this respect, it was behind most other towns of the same size and importance. In the summer of 1835, I was invited to attend a preliminary meeting at the Library of the Medical Society, in High-street, to form a Literary and Philosophical Society. It was attended by ten or a dozen gentlemen of both political parties, when the objects were stated to be the reading and discussion of papers on literary and scientific subjects, and the formation of a museum and library of scientific works; and in order that the society should embrace persons of all shades of opinion, questions of theology and politics were to be strictly excluded. At first our meetings were held in a commodious room in the house of Mr. Moxon, in the High-street. Dr. Shaw was our first president, and opened the session with an appropriate inaugural address. |