adapter, and are, almost exclusively, sung by Comus and his 'crew.' For this task he was well fitted. To the shout of midnight revelry and to the invitation of pleasure he could give appropriate musical expression, but to sublimity he could make no approach. His mind had no sympathy with that of Milton: he was fitted and he was content to walk in a lower region; and if music had been required for the more elevated portions of 'Comus,' Arne was not the man to have supplied it.

"Comus' continued to be played for several successive months; and Arne's pleasing melodies were sung and admired throughout the kingdom. They were of the genuine English school, of which Lawes may be said to have been the founder, and which was adopted and perpetuated by Eccles, Weldon, and occasionally by Purcell. The production of "Comus," Burney rightly observes, 'forms an era in English music: its songs were so easy, natural, and agreeable, that they had an effect upon our national taste; and, till a more Italianised style was introduced in succeeding pasticcio operas, were the standard of perfection at our theatres and public gardens.'

"Another field of exertion was presented to him. Mr. Jonathan Tyers, who had a few years before opened the Vauxhall Gardens as a place of summer amusement, engaged Arne as his composer, and Mrs. Arne, Lowe, and Reinhold as his principal singers. During this connexion Arne published a yearly collection of his songs, under the title of Lyric Harmony,' the first volume of which contains several airs whose popularity is not yet ended; among them Ariel's song in 'The Tempest.' In the year 1740 he also published the music to the songs in 'As You Like It' and 'Twelfth Night.' In the same year he was employed as a dramatic composer, although not for the public stage. Thomson and Mallet had been commanded by Frederick, Prince of Wales, to produce an entertainment in celebration of the birth of his daughter Augusta; and the result was 'The Masque of Alfred,' which was performed for the first time on the 1st of August, 1740, in the Gardens of Cliefden. The music was throughout composed by Arne. It was afterwards, in an altered form, produced at Drury Lane. The opera in this form favourably exhibits its author's talents it is full of beautiful melody, and contains a more diversified employment of music than the contemporary Italian operas were accustomed to furnish. In 1759 he took his degree of Doctor

of Music at Oxford. In 1761, on the death of Rich, Beard succeeded to the management of Covent Garden Theatre; and a musician of eminence had now, for the first time, a chance of judicious and effective support; for, as Dibdin justly remarks'Music was never encouraged on the stage but when Beard was manager. Garrick and Lacey, if they had possessed the inclination, wanted the necessary knowledge, which Beard eminently possessed.' During this period Arne successively produced 'Thomas and Sally,' Artaxerxes,' 'Love in a Village,' and the 'Guardian Outwitted,' at Covent Garden.

"Comparing the songs in 'Artaxerxes,' which were avowedly written on the Italian model, they will in no respect be found inferior; while those in which the composer's own style was preserved have still the freshness and charm which must always attach to graceful melody.

"In 1772 Mason's Elfrida' was acted at Covent Garden, and in 1776 his 'Caractacus;' and to each drama Arne furnished the music. 'Caractacus' was Arne's last dramatic production: for nearly half a century he had, at uncertain and sometimes distant intervals, contributed to enrich the lyric drama of his country; and the same style is distinctly visible from first to last, except where he chose to appear as the avowed imitator of the contemporary Italian school. He died on the 5th of March, 1778, retaining his faculties to the last.

"It must not be forgotten that to Dr. Arne we owe the two most popular songs in our language, 'God save the King' and 'Rule, Britannia;' for although the former was written long before his time, it had no practical existence. In the year 1745 he wanted a loyal song for the theatre, and, happening to find or recollect this old forgotten melody, used it for the occasion, when it instantly gained the popularity which it still retains. The title of the 'National Anthem,' which newspaper phraseology has, of late years, given to it, is a misnomer. It is neither 'national' nor an 'anthem; but, according to Arne's title, a loyal song.' The epithet national' might with more propriety be given to the second song and chorus, of which the subject is Britain. This noble and characteristic melody alone will serve to place Arne among the first of song-writers, and will never fail to arouse the generous flame' of patriotism in the hearts of his countrymen."

6

JACOB BRYANT.

In the memoir of Gray an anecdote respecting that poet's early scholarship is quoted on the authority of Jacob Bryant, who was next to Gray in the school. This very learned writer was born at Plymouth in 1795. His father was a Custom-house officer there at the time of Jacob Bryant's birth, but was removed into Kent before his son was seven years old. Jacob Bryant received the rudiments of his education at Ludsdun, in the last-mentioned county, and was then placed at Eton, where he remained until he obtained a scholarship at King's in 1733. Bryant's astonishing powers of memory, and his application to study, gained him great reputation at Eton, and long after he had left the school, traditions were current there of the intellectual feats which he had achieved. Though of a small and delicate frame he was conspicuous among his young companions as a bold and skilful swimmer, and on one occasion he saved young Barnard (afterwards Dr. Barnard, Head Master and Provost of the College,) from being drowned; an act for which Barnard was able in after years to prove his enduring gratitude.

Bryant's zeal for classical learning, and in particular for its more abstruse portions, continued to stimulate him to unremitting industry, and to win him fresh fame at Cambridge. The Duke of Marlborough made him tutor to his sons; a connexion which afterwards obtained for Bryant a lucrative sinecure in the Ordnance Office, and which also secured him, what he prized more, a kind and friendly home at Woodstock, with free access to the magnificent library of that mansion.

Rich in what he most valued-books and leisure for using them, and possessing pecuniary resources which were ample for his simple habits and moderate wants, Bryant passed a long and happy life of constant literary activity. His death, in 1804, was caused by mortification in the leg, which originated in an injury received by a fall in his library while taking down a book from one of the upper shelves: so that, as one of his French biographers expresses it, his long life closed by a death of honour like that of the soldier on the field of battle.

He marked his gratitade to King's College by bequeathing to it his large and valuable library.

The first work Mr. Bryant published was in 1767, entitled "Observations and Inquiries relating to various parts of Ancient History, containing Dissertations on the Wind Euroclydon, and on the Island Melite, together with an Account of Egypt in its most early State, and of the Shepherd Kings." His grand work, called "A New System, or an Analysis of Ancient Mythology," was the next. This was published in quarto; vols. i. and ii. in 1774, and vol. iii. in 1776. In 1775 he published "A Vindication of the Apamean Medal, and of the Inscription NOE; together with an Illustration of another Coin struck at the same place in honour of the Emperor Severus." This appeared in the fourth volume of the Archæologia, and also as a quarto pamphlet. To these we must add "An Address to Dr. Priestley on the Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity;" a 1780 pamphlet 8vo. "Vindicia Flavianæ; or a Vindication of the Testimony given by Josephus concerning our Saviour Jesus Christ;" a pamphlet 8vo, 1780. "Observations on the Poems of Thomas Rowley, in which the Authenticity of these Poems is ascertained." "Collections on the Zingara, or Gipsy Language." Archæologia, vol. vii. "Gemmarum antiquarum Delectus ex præstantioribus desumptus in Dactylotheca Ducis Marlburiensis;" two volumes, folio. "A Treatise on the Authenticity of the Scriptures, and the Truth of the Christian Religion;" octavo, 1792. "Observations on the Plagues inflicted on the Egyptians; in which is shown the Peculiarity of those Judgments and their Correspondence with the Rites and Idolatry of that People; with a Prefatory Discourse concerning the Grecian Colonies from Egypt;" octavo, 1794. "Observations upon a Treatise entitled, Description of the Plain of Troy, by Mons. le Chevalier;" quarto, 1795. "A Dissertation concerning the War of Troy, and the Expedition of the Grecians, as described by Homer; showing that no such Expedition was ever undertaken, and that no such City in Phrygia ever existed;" quarto, 1796. In addition to these works Mr. Bryant was the author of two other volumes, entitled "The Sentiments of PhiloJudæus, concerning the Logos, or Word of God; together with large Extracts from his Writings, compared with the Scriptures on many other essential Doctrines of the Christian Religion;" octavo, 1797. And "Dissertations on Balaam, Samson, and Jonah ;"

also, "Observations on famous Controverted Passages in Josephus and Justin Martyr."

On many subjects Bryant was far in advance of his age. Thus, he maintained that all languages came from one primary language, and are traceable up to a common root. This, which is the received opinion of the best philologists of the present time, was a paradox to Bryant's contemporaries: and when we remember that comparative philology is, like geology, a science only developed during the present generation, we must do justice to Bryant's originality of theory, and also to his industry in seeking proofs for that theory, not only in ancient and the commonly known modern languages, but also in those to which little or no attention has been paid before his time, especially in the singular Zingara, or Gipsy dialect. His views on Greek mythology may be best ascertained by the following extract from his analysis, which will show how far he anticipated the Modern Myth School, as it may be seen exemplified in German writers in general, or in the two first volumes of Grote's History of Greece. Bryant says—

"I cannot acquiesce in the stale legends of Deucalion of Thessaly, of Inachus of Argos, and Ægialcus of Sicyon, nor in the long line of princes that are derived from them. The supposed heroes of the first ages in every country are equally fabulous. No such conquests were ever achieved as are ascribed to Osiris, Dionusus, and Sesostris. The histories of Hercules and Perseus are equally void of truth. I am convinced, and I hope I shall satisfactorily prove, that Cadmus never brought letters to Greece, and that no such person existed as the Grecians have described. What I have said about Sesostris and Osiris will be repeated about Ninus and Semiramis, two personages as ideal as the former. There never were such expeditions undertaken or conquests made, as are attributed to those princes: nor were any such empires constituted, as are supposed to have been established by them. I make as little account of the histories of Saturn, Venus, Pelops, Atlas, Dardanus, Minos of Crete, and Zoroaster of Bactria: yet something mysterious and of moment is concealed under those various characters, and the investigation of this latent truth will be the principal part of my inquiry. In respect to Greece, I can afford credence to very few events which were antecedent to the Olympiads. I cannot give the least assent to the story of Phryxus and the Golden Fleece. It seems to be plain beyond doubt, that there were no such persons