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VIGER'S "Greek Idiom," abridged and translated into English with original notes, by the Rev. J. Seager, B.A., has just issued from Mr. Valpy's accurate press. The appearance of such a work at such a time cannot surprise any one who has taken the trouble to observe the strong direction which the intellect of this age has taken towards good sense. It is scarcely "sixty years since" that it was an accepted axiom, that a boy, ignorant alike of Greek and of Latin, should be instructed in one unknown tongue by the use of another equally unknown. The Greek Grammar was composed in Latin, and the only thing required to render the absurdity perfect, was that the Latin Grammar should have been composed in Greek; unless, indeed, it might be deemed a still more glorious triumph over the weakness of childhood, to chain its tender faculties down to the hopeless endeavor of comprehending the niceties of Greek syntax, when interpreted in the Greek language, as the mysteries of Latin were explained in Latin ! We have often thought

that what is vulgarly called a flogging match at one of our large schools, is a revolting mixture of cruelty and absurdity, to which a West Indian slavedriver might appeal for a favorable contrast. To see a man of forty, in the settled vigor of muscular maturity, with a countenance expanded into self-satisfaction by habitual exercise of an unresisted authority, and shoulders cultivated into enormous breadth by the manure of roast beef, and the irrigation of port wine, deliberately assuming all his bodily powers to the duty of inflicting upon an ingenuous youth the very appropriate punishment of "corporal sufferance," for intellectual negligence or incapacityto see this man, bloated with petty greatness, proceeding "con amore"

under the conscientious persuasion that he is "doing the state some service"-to reflect that the offence under castigation is, nine times out of ten, occasioned either directly by the impossibility of a boy comprehending that which is incomprehensible to boys, or incidentally, in consequence of the

natural buoyancy of youth seeking respite from the harassing puzzles set before it to consider that the finest and most delicate and most effectual motives to excellence, which spring out of the sensitiveness to shame, are indurated and rendered callous ;-this, we repeat, constitutes a scene quite sufficient to justify the pity with which we have been accustomed to contemplate the degradation inflicted upon the moral nature of the sufferer; and our contempt, not unmingled with indignation, for the actors in these disgraceful exhibitions. In the war of extermination now waging against remaining barbarisms, we feel no doubt that this abuse will, in time, be compelled to yield to the growing good sense of the country. It is, however, natural to expect that every obstruction will be encountered by those who attempt to reform mankind by beginning with the rising generation. We may safely calculate upon all the arts of war being enlisted into the service of established nonsense; with a characteristic horror of all innovation, the contest between intellect and ignorance will be conducted on the principles approved by legitimate commanders in the fields of blood. Cunning and timidity, the ancient colleagues of ignorance, will be called to her assistance in her hour of danger and tribulation-and a "Holy Alliance" of these sublime confederates, supported by subsidies from prosperous self-interest, will undoubtedly enable them to drag on a languid resistance. But we trust and believe, with exulting confidence, that the days of national ignorance are numbered, that its fate is written in the firm resolves and consolidated purposes of those real benefactors to their species, who acknowledge no principle of union, no ties of affectionate respect, so strong as that which binds them in the common determination to scatter far and wide the blessings of useful knowledge.

Lest we should be suspected of acting upon the ordinary canon of criticism, which enjoins that the book

reviewed should be put out of sight, we must remind the reader that there is a nearer connection, than may at once appear, between the proceedings of the friends of education and the publication of Viger's "Idioms in English." We have no intention of saying that this particular book emanates in any way from a society, especially formed for the breaking down of the old barriers of learning; but we do distinctly mean our readers to understand that, as it is amongst the most prominent objects of such a society to simplify what is complicated, and to familiarize what is abstruse, so Mr. Seager's new work is intended and calculated to render the study of Greek authors more easy and more satisfactory, and, by a necessary consequence, more general and more delightful. We have ourselves been acquainted with instances "not a few," of young men tearing and rending their health to pieces, and, in some cases, actually sacrificing their lives in the ardent endeavor to gain access into the temple of Grecian literature, through the mass of elementary rubbish with which unskilful teachers have encumbered the porch; and, on the other hand, we could mention several young men who have, even amidst the turmoil of commercial life, acquired the power of understanding the historians, the orators, and the poets of Greece, by resorting to the expedient, no less simple than effectual, of using a grammar and dictionary, which, being in English, gave them at a glance the information they sought. The publication before us is well fitted to carry such students still farther into the recondite parts of that majestic language, and to display to them much of that interesting mechanism which escapes the uninstructed eye. We therefore gladly lend our assistance in so rational an attempt as that which is here undertaken, and observe with pleasure that, in conformity with the improved spirit of the age, Mr. Valpy's list of new school books contains several others upon the same plan. If any one de

sires to form an accurate conception distance of our own times-it was the of the difference between setting a boy to learn Greek with instruments like these, and putting the grammatical conundrums into his memory, according to the old method of non-instruction-let him ask himself what progress he himself would be likely to make in deciphering an Egyptian hieroglyphic, with nothing but an Egyptian hieroglyphic to assist him; or let him travel over the barren pages of Philidor, and candidly answer whether, in the printed signs, he could ever, without explanation, unravel the ingenious schemes of that celebrated strategist? What the uninterpreted signs of chess would be to the learner of that delightful game, the Greek, explained by something equally requiring explanation, is to the English schoolboy. Till lately, the language of science and philosophy was equally obscure to the English mechanic. Thanks to somebody or other, the English schoolboy and mechanic are in a fair way of knowing, within their respective ranges, as much as any body else, if they will use their faculties fairly, of which there is no reason to doubt; and if it should be alleged that the spirit of the age had preceded the Useful Knowledge Society, to which we have previously alluded, in this direction, it may be answered that the spirit of the age in the time of Columbus contented itself with pointing to America, but that He landed there.

This enticing topic has led us beyond our latitude; yet the name of Columbus may excuse the suggestion of another contrast between the "Old and the New World" of letters. Under the "ancien régime" of education -we mean that order of things which took effect immediately after the revival of learning, up to within a short

ambition of professed scholars to make themselves minutely familiar with every thing except the existing world around them-each critic grappled with some favorite author, or some virgin subject, and never rested until he had said in his notes every thing that could be said upon every word in his text-heaping "Pelion upon Ossa." Without wishing to undervalue the meritorious perseverance of those useful drudges who spent all their lives in the collection of MSS. and the induction of various readings, we cannot disguise from ourselves, that the passion of verbal criticism was carried to a morbid excess, and produced a degenerate curiosity, as uncongenial with the noble purposes of literature, when well understood, as the gambling traffic in Dutch tulips was foreign from the genuine objects of commerce. A scholar of the old school would trace the steps of Hannibal, from Carthage to Carthagena, with as much exactness as the warrior trod them, and with more painful solicitude; and would dignify his details by the name of geographical science, while the accession of a new hemisphere scarcely occupied his thoughts. A scholar of the new school, placed in far different circumstances, and inspired by a free genius, sets sail, like Columbus, in search of some undiscovered tract in the science he pursues-satisfies himself with obtaining from antiquity by the shortest methods all that antiquity has to offer him of valuable knowledge; and throwing overboard the lumber of words, sets out on his voyage with a conviction as strong as that which animated the great navigator, that every department of nature has yet an undiscovered continent of facts to reward his search.

RUSSIAN SINGERS.

ST. PETERSBURGH has its musical clubs, and a Société Philharmonique. I think, says Dr. Granville, in his late Travels in Russia,-the finest

dilettante violin-player in Europe is to be found in the last-mentioned society. I have not heard a more delightful amateur performer since the

time when la Marchesa Pallavicini ties I could have of judging of the merits of those singular choristers. It was after our dinner at Count Potocki's that the Countess Michel Woronzow, with some other persons of the party and myself, adjourned to hear les Chantres de la Cour, at the general's house. I feel it impossible accurately to convey an idea of the various impressions and emotions which this most skilful arrangement of select voices of all ages, and consequently of all tones, singing sacred music, of rich, full, and expressive beauty, is capable of exciting in the bosom of the spectator. One feels, for a moment, transported with ecstacy at the sublime effect of such heavenly strains: the very heart-strings seem touched by them, and sensibility is awakened to a degree which operatic music cannot produce. The whole is a most masterly performance; and the result may be quoted as the triumph of the human voice over every other instrument. From the most delightful soprano, down to the gravest baritone, every key note is here sung by a chorus of thirty, and at the imperial chapel, of one hundred and twenty performers, educated from the age of five years for this sole and sacred choral service. A fugue, usually sung in the Russian churches at the Resurrection, accompanied by full choruses, was performed among other pieces, and displayed such skill in the composition, as well as execution, that I felt riveted to the spot. One of the finest tenor voices I ever heard bore a conspicuous part in it: and the loud swell of the bass, contrasting with the flexible and silvery voices of the children, all singing with a degree of precision that could scarcely be equalled by a mechanical instrument, formed such a "concord of sweet sounds," that no person present could help being affected. Towards the conclusion, the whole chorus burst out into a "Gloria in excelsis," one of Bortniansky's splendid compositions, and the effect of it was, beyond conception, fine. Certainly, until I heard this unique performance, I was

used to lead some of the largest orchestras of dilettanti in Italy on that most unsightly and anti-feminine musical instrument. The effect produced on those occasions was admirable; and so it is in the case of Colonel Lvof, whose execution is of the most brilliant description, but whose appearance in his decorated uniform, holding fiddle and bow, is scarcely less singular than that of la Marchesa used to be. I heard this officer, at one of the meetings of the members of the Philharmonic Society, perform some variations of his own composition on a national air, written in a minor key, in which it was not easy to determine whether his taste, coup d'archet, or exquisite facility, was most conspicuous. The expression with which he drew the most melodious notes from his instrument was inconceivably fine.-During my stay in St. Petersburgh, I was present at one or two private concerts only, which are by no means of rare occurrence. One of these afforded me the highest treat that a foreigner in that capital can wish for, in respect to musical enjoyment. I allude to the opportunity of hearing that celebrated corps of vocal performers, to be found I believe no where but in that city, called les Chantres de la Cour. The concert was given at the house of General Benkendorff. The invitations were strictly limited to a very few persons, and it was by a special favor, I understood, never before granted, or at least seldom, to a private individual, that those vocal performers of the imperial chapel were permitted to attend on that occasion. These extraordinary singers, far otherwise interesting than can be expressed in writing, are only to be heard either fortuitously, at their own school, or, lastly, at the imperial chapel, where, however, foreigners are not easily admitted. I therefore felt doubly the kindness of the general and his lady, in affording me, through the good offices of the Countess Woronzow, on this and another occasion, the only two opportuni

not aware of all the harmony of which the human voice is capable. In this opinion I was still more confirmed by a second opportunity, afforded me through the kindness of Madame Benkendorff, of hearing one hundred and ten of these same performers on the following day at their own conservatoire, or school; where, as on the evening before, they sang without any instrument. The most renowned chorus singers of church music in Europe (and I believe I have heard the best of them) really sink into insignificance compared to these minstrels. A pater noster was sung by them on this occasion, which struck me as by far the most affecting composition I had ever heard there was a crescendo towards the end which was quite irresistible; and the effect of it on the audience was plainly visible on all that were in the room. I certainly had not the slightest notion of the existence cf such a superior class of music as that which the orthodox Greco-Russian seems to be, particularly that of the composer whom I just mentioned, and who has since paid the great debt of nature. When Madame Catalani heard the Chantres de la Cour she was affected to tears, and confessed to those near her, "Que jusqu'alors elle n'avait aucune idée de l'effet que peut produire un chœur de voix, quoiqu'elle eut entendu les Chantres de la célèbre chapelle du pape." In cathedral music, that celebrated songstress preferred the writings of Bortniansky to any other with which she was acquainted. On this occasion, I learned a few interesting particulars of the history of the Russian school of Plain-chant, which, taking its origin from a few chorus-singers sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Grand-duke Vladimir, ended in adopting the studied and complicated melody and rhythm of Italian music, improved considerably after its introduction, and to the degree which I have described, by Bérézovsky, but more especially by Bortniansky himself. This eminent composer was one of the Chantres de la Cour in 1768, when the Empress

Catherine, having remarked his extraordinary talents, sent him to Italy to perfect himself in the science of music and the art of singing. It was under Galuppi, a celebrated maestro belonging to the church of St. Mark, at Venice, where he was then living, that Bortniansky was placed to pursue his studies. His progress was really astonishing; and on his return in 1779, he was appointed director of the music of the imperial chapel, which office he continued to fill until the time of his death, which took place two years ago, at the age of seventy-four years. His works are numerous, particularly in cathedral music, and most of them worthy of being placed in the same rank with those of Marcello, Pergolesi, and Handel. The music of Bortniansky is not, as the Greek music used to be in the earliest times of that church, a mere canto fermo, or plain chant, but a happy combination of both it and modern music. Harmony, the beau ideal of music, is the principal point to which that composer seems to have directed the whole energy of his ima gination; and for a composer of sacred music, the study of harmony is most important. The style of the Russian church music does not always consist in fugues and florid compositions, so appropriately introduced, when jubilation and the heart-joy of the blessed are to be expressed in their psalms; but in simple counterpoint, also, of note against note, producing in that solemn service, and with such voices, an effect of simplicity and syllabic coincidence which is quite admirable. I have heard the concealed voices chanting the miserere in St. Peter's during Passion week, the harmony of which is productive of the most striking effect; the heavenly strains of the sisters in the church of the Mendicanti, at Venice; and the really angelic voices which were formerly heard behind the handsome grilles of the nuns of Santa Clara, at Naples, said to have produced, in some instances, real ecstacy among the devout auditory; but the happy com

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