trary, saps the very foundation of musical science. In compositions adapted for the piano forte, the fingers are agile, while the mind is dormant. We do much and learn little; for the preliminaries of fingering and time being adjusted, the rest of practice is un-idead iteration, to intellect purgatory or the torpedo's touch. This, indeed, is not generally the case, nor will be, till intellectual pleasure becomes popular; for the mind unacquainted with scientific research, and yet active in other pursuits, is little disgusted at practice, and where the car is good, that little, when voluntary, is less. But after all, such proficiency moves within very narrow limits. Genius and science will receive little encouragement from mere practitioners. The language of music is a dead letter to those who have not learned its grammar, to those who utter delightful sounds, but cannot sympathize with the author of their arrangement, the composer. Still, however, the composer and the performer exchange services mutually and equally important; and it must be confessed, that music, like the place of its birth, has many mansions; and no one is accountable for choosing that which pleases him best. If the nature of the Vocal Sonatinas be rightly understood, it will be found that their tendency is not to depreciate any department of the art, but, on the contrary, to furnish materials for every department, and to accommodate every practioner; from the beginner at his flute, to the proficient on an organ. Let solo playing or singing, therefore, have its due share of publicity and applause, but not more than its due. Harmony is happily— providentially I should say, of a social nature. Every one with a tolerable ear may partake of it, may enjoy it, and circulate its enjoyments, at the cost of little pains and little time. A concert of amateurs well regulated may govern the musical world, and the Vocal Sonatinas are composed for such a concert. They are addressed to amateurs and to professors, and do not obtrude upon the ascendancy of any style that is, ever was, or ever will be in vogue.

The odd Numbers, that is the 1st, 3d, 5th, &c. are generally designed to accommodate the humblest proficient; the even Numbers, those more advanced; and some of the compositions in these Numbers, proficients in the first class.—I say designed; for I speak of the plan, not the execution of this work-be that what it may, the plan is what I am here desirous of exhibiting in every point. If the model of this plan be good-if its principles be correct, the present structure is really a secondary object. Another structure might be

better executed by abler hands, or the plan itself improved upon. So much the better for the musical world. But though it is not for me to say how this work is executed, it may not be improper to say something of what is done, or at least attempted to be done; in stating which I have no intention of recapitulating the information contained in the Introductory Essays to the Vocal Sonatinas, or in my Address to the Philharmonic Society; I merely mean to state, that considering music as a study and as a recreation, I have endeavoured to qualify the work for both these purposes. By partly labouring on classical ground, partly relying on independent thought, and partly yielding the rein to fancy and sentiment, I have endeavoured to consolidate a permanent style, less attractive than sound-less captivating than tenacious-less calculated to take the heart by storm than to secure it by gradual approaches, by an imperishable concatenation of intellect, sentiment, humour, and variety. Such is the style inculcated by the classical, and attempted by the original compositions in this work-a style not perhaps the best for obtaining popularity, but the best for gratifying those whose approbation it is an honour to obtain, and the best for opening a communication between the concert room and the study, and for ensuring those "pleasures of the evening that shall bear the reflections of the morning." Such is the account of a style, which, being as far as I know, original, requires, as I apprehend, an introduction which none but its author would care to provide. Originality indeed, unless founded on solidity of principle, is a claim not worth urging; and where the basis is firm the claim may be dispensed with. I am not labouring for the reputation of an invention, but for the construction and establishment of a style that may be essentially serviceable to the musical world, to the science, to the art, to the profession, and to the trade. To contemplate the statue in the block, or the oak in the acorn, may appear a visionary amusement. That such effects as I describe may result from these diminutive essays may doubtless be "a consummation," which, however" devoutly to be wished," is hardly to be expected; but I would fain obviate the imputation of actual trifling, to which I am aware that many of these and of the subsequent essays in this work will subject me: however, they will at the same time prove that I do not treat the subject with such inflexible gravity as to for. get that music is a relaxation as well as a study. On the contrary, this publication will, I hope, suit the humour even of those who are

disinclined to think at all seriously of the art. In fact, the original purport of these essays was principally relaxation: they were penned to fill up agreeably the intervals of professional toil, by short exercises in composition. Hence the words of these compositions were frequently such as first occurred.-The fruit of these labours arrived at maturity by slow progression, and work, at first light and pleasant, ended in grave and painful application. This detail may excite a smile in those unacquainted with the toils of composition, or in composers themselves who have happily surmounted such difficulties; I have not, confessedly, in the construction of this work, though some styles of composition are doubtless easy enough. MARTIAL indeed tells us that we ought not to make difficulties of trifles; but he that has a proper respect for the public, for his art, and for himself, has better authority than that of MARTIAL for his carefulness. Besides, brevities are not necessarily trivial: the Non nobis Domine will survive swarms of grand choruses, grand concertos, and grand sonatas. Bulk is not always grandeur; and when it is, grains of sand make the mountain. But short essays in musical, as in literary composition, have at least these advantages: they cannot be very tedious, and they afford variety. Having now stated the reasons which have induced me to plead a cause which would not have found another advocate, I have only to add that my motives in so doing are to make my cause intelligible at least, if I am not happy enough to make it interesting. Every publication indeed must rest ultimately on its own intrinsic merits, not on the author's opinion or the recommendation of friendship. Be it so. But as in the execution of this work I have spared no pains, so in every honest endeavour to obtain public patronage I will not relax in diligence, nor invalidate by indolence the claim of indulgence usually granted to a well-intended but imperfect work.

SEPT. 26, 1820.

T. D. WORGAN.

One Duet and Six Ballads, with an Accompaniment for the Piano Forte; composed by Wesley Doyle, Esq. London. For the Author.By the Royal Harmonic Institution.

We have before had occasion to speak of some compositions from the same hand as this little volume, which exhibits the same traits as the three songs to which we allude. MR. DOYLE writes like a man accustomed to produce effect upon an audience viva voce, and it is easy to trace the execution of a singer of great feeling in every note and passage of his ballads, at the same time that we perceive he has been little accustomed to the restraints imposed by science upon the professional performer, nor indeed to bend to any laws but those his discretion and his observation of what licenses the sympathies of a mixed audience will allow. His passages are, from this cause, commonly as simple as possible in their construction; they allow the fullest latitude for pause and effect; they lie within a very moderate compass, and they abound in melody. These attributes fit them completely for the general purposes of amateurs, and we may safely recommend them as elegant productions.

We would however caution the author against the too easy adoption of beautiful melody without questioning his memory severely. We know how exceedingly difficult it is to avoid resemblances.Thus, in "A Soldier to the Arno's side," he begins with almost the exact notes of his friend MR. MOORE's exquisite "Flow on thou shining river," published in the first volume of National Airs. Nor is this the only passage of unintentional compilation we could point out. His transitions too are sometimes such as to betray the unpractised aspirant. But MR. DOYLE has clearly a sensibility in Music that will lead him to command the feelings of others, and instead of "making one more attempt," we would incite him to study the grammar of composition-to write many songs, to blot much, and select austerely. If he has leisure and industry for thus obtaining technical facility, we are persuaded he will succeed eminently in the style he has adopted. He seems to be intensely susceptible of the charm and of the solace of music; and though we cordially lament that he should have had such cause as his prefatory address alludes to, to feel its value, we rejoice in the effect, and subscribe as cor

dially to the advice he gives and the inference he thus draws:"Various as are the destinies which hang over human life-let all who have any taste for Music cultivate it, cherish it with a lover's fondness, but not with a miser's care. It has acquired a very general reception in society-it involves incalculable advantages to an ama. teur." There lies a truth far more important to youth than is suspected under this recommendation, and particularly under the general meaning of the last member of the sentence.

We cannot dismiss the publication without censuring the careless and incorrect way in which the book is printed. It is disgraceful to the Institution from whence it is issued, which being conducted by men of science, are doubly bound (in honour as tradesmen and in candour as professors) to protect an amateur especially, against the blunders of the people they employ, which are such as a common publisher would blush at. There are errors, in music and in words, from the first page to the last; and we scarcely ever remember to have seen a work in this respect more shamelessly sent forth.

Twelve Lessons and Two Airs, with Variations for the Harp; composed for young Scholars by C. N. Bochsa. London. Chappell

and Co.

Fourteen progressive Lessons and Preludes for the Harp; composed by F. C. Meyer. London. For the Regent's Harmonic Institution.

"There be land rats and there be water rats," says one of Shakespear's Characters, to which piece of dramatic zoology we may add, there be a species of marauders in music, who seize without remorse upon the property of other men's intellects, endeavour to pass them off for their own, and take the profit that may reward the transgression. We have held up one or two of this honorable fraternity to public animadversion, and we lament to find, that there are fresh accessions to those Chevaliers d'industrie who have claims to our attention.

Between the two sets of Lessons before us there will be seen sufficient analogy to justify our imputing to MR. MEYER willful plagiarism from MR. BOCHSA in the greater part of his book, as the