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thousand and one savoury dishes he has taught us (with such exquisite science and ingenuity) to prepare. Finally, should the planet of discord sway in the ascendant with you, he can immediately still the stormy passions of your soul, by breathing forth strains of power

"To sooth the savage breast, To soften rocks, and bend the knotted oak." In short, he will breathe into your" dull ear," in the twinkling of a gnat's eye, half a hundred English Melodies, from the original scores, and early printed copies-in his own library!

Apropos of the Doctor's Observations on Vocal Music.

This is a very pleasant and unassuming little volume, and contains directions not only likely to be useful to professional persons, but also to amateurs. The emphasis of music has long been neglected. Thus, in some of our much celebrated songs, we have the finest part of the melody dwelling upon some insignificant preposition or conjunction of the least possible importance in the line. All these are deservedly deprecated in the volume before us. This subject has, however, been discussed at large, both by Sheridan and Walker.

The advice to professional singers is here repeated from a former work of Dr. Kitchener's. The remarks are valuable; but we cannot approve of these eternal quotations from his own books. It is unworthy a man capable, as our author is, of saying something fresh and smart whenever occasion may require.

Dr. Kitchener is averse to the modern style of embellishing songs. He prefers, and with good reason, the omission of the fantastical apogiatura.

"The chef-d'œuvre of difficulty (says he,) is a plain English Ballad, which is, when unadorned, adorned the most ;' and indeed will hardly admit of any ornament beyond an apogiatura: this style of song is less understood than any; and though apparently, from its simplicity, very easy-yet to warble a ballad with graceful expression, requires quite as much real judgment, and attentive consideration of every note and every syllable, as it does to

36 ATHENEUM VOL. 11.

execute the most difficult Bravura-the former is an appeal to the heartthe latter merely plays about the ear, and seldom excites any sensation beyond.

"Who would not rather hear Miss Stephens sing an old ballad than any bravura ?-although her beautiful voice is equally calculated to give every effect to the most florid song.

"The general admiration pretended to be given to Italian music is a despicable piece of affectation-yet vanity prevails so much over the very sense of pleasure, that the Italian Opera is more frequented by people of rank than any other public diversion, who, to avoid the imputation of want of taste, submit to some hours of painful attendance on it every week, and talk of it in raptures which their hearts never felt.

"Dr. Burney says, an elegant and graceful melody, exquisitely sung by a fine voice, is sure to engage attention, and to create delight, without instrumental assistance. In a solo, performed by a great master, the less the accompaniment is heard the better. Hence it should seem as if the harmony of accumulated vocal parts, or the tumult of instrumental, was no more than succe daneum to a mellifluous voice, or single instrument of the first class.'

"Pathos, or expression, says Dr. Beattie, is the chief excellence of music. Without this, it may amuse the ear, it may give a little exercise to the mind of the hearer, it may for a moment withdraw our attention from the anxieties of life, it may shew the performer's dexterity, the skill of the composer, and the merit of the instruments, and in all or any of these ways it may afford a slight pleasure, but without engaging the affections it can never yield that permanent, useful, and heartfelt satisfaction-which legislatures, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, have expected from it.'

"The finest compositions frequently fail of producing half the impression they are capable of making on the mind, from being sung with an injudicious emphasis, or a false accent-which is very easily caught, and is extremely difficult to cure.

"To guard against this frequent fault, a singer must endeavour to find a judicious friend, who can and will set him right when he misses the poetical accent; which is the sin that doth most easily beset an ear of high musical susceptibility.

"Tosi very judiciously says, 'The correction of friends that have knowledge instructs very much; but still greater advantage may be gained from the ill-natured critics; for the more intent they are to discover defects, the greater benefit may be received from them, and without any obligation.'

"He should be provided with different sets of graces and cadences, &c. for each air, so that when encored he may not continually repeat the same like a barrel organ:-to avoid this most effectually, if he is ambitious of attaining the highest rank in his profession, he should be provided with at least two or three musical admirers; defects not observed by one, another may easily correct for you.

"A most accomplished and agreeable songstress, who was universally allowed to sing with more good taste and good sense than any of her contemporaries, assured one of my friends that she owed the uniform excellence of her

performance to an honest old German violoncello player, who had discrimi

nation to hear when she deviated from her usual pure style (which first-rate artists sometimes do), and candour and kindness enough to tell her his real opinion. Before she sung she rehearsed before her old friend, and begged him to point out every thing he thought might be mended, which he commonly did in these words, Pray,

madame, do dat passage ofer akain, and ting [think] all de dime you zing."

"Jonathan Battishill, who had considerable practice as a singing-master, used to say he had quite as much trouble in unlearning his pupils what they did wrong, as teaching them how to do right. The following anecdote I was favoured with by a pupil of his : Battishill, who was an excellent mimic, after he had given him a few lessons, and endeavoured to correct some habits of his pupil which he did not like, addressed him thus: 'Are you a good-tempered fellow? will you forgive me if I take you off? I know of no other way of shewing you the absurd tricks you play, than by imitating them.' The gentleman who related the above (verbatim) to me, assured me, that he believed that Battishill taught him more by this pleasantry than he should have learned from half a year's lecturing.'

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"Even the strains of our sublime Handel, and our Orpheus Britanicus, Purcell, however delightful to the ear, produce little effect on the mind when sung as they commonly are—

Let the bright seraphims in burning row Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow.” without altering the harmony or melody; but by accenting the poetry,

'Let the bright seraphims in burning row, Their loūd uplifted angel trumpets blow the expression of this noble song, to those who think as well as hear, will be infinitely improved. He shall feed

his flock, and He was despised,' are examples of equally false emphasis. Fairest Isle,' is one of Purcell's extraordinary mistakes."

THE PERCY ANECDOTES. NO. 20-27.

LOVE OF COUNTRY.

PATRIOTISM, or the love of country, is so general, that no spot, even were it a desert, but is remembered with pleasure, provided it is our own. The Cretans called it by a name which indicated a mother's love for her children. The Ethiopian imagines that God made his sands and deserts, while

angels only were employed in forming the rest of the globe. The Arabian tribe of Ouadelin conceive that the sun, moon, and stars, rise only for them. The Maltese, insulated on a rock, distinguish their island by the appellation of "The Flower of the World ;" and the Caribbees esteem their country a Paradise, and themselves alone men.

The Abbé de Lille relates of an Indian, who, amid the splendour of Paris, beholding a banana tree in the Jardin des Plantes, bathed it with his tears, and for a moment seemed to be transported to his own land. And when an European advised some American Indians to emigrate to another district, "What," said they, "shall we say to the bones of our fathers! arise, and follow us to a foreign country."

Bosman relates, that the negroes of the gold coast of Africa are so desirous of being buried in their own country, that if a man die at some distance from it, and his friends are not able to take his entire body to his native spot, they cut off his head, one arm, and one leg; cleanse them, boil them, and then carry them to the desired spot, where they inter them with great solemnity. And the Javanese have such an affection for the place of their nativity, that no advantages can induce the agricultural tribes, in particular, to quit the tombs of their fathers.

The Norwegians, proud of their barren summits, inscribe upon their rix dollars, "spirit, loyalty, valour, and whatever is honourable, let the world learn among the rocks of Norway."

THE STATES GENERAL OF FORMER
TIMES.

When Philip the Third, King of Spain, sent his ambassador to treat with the states of Holland about their independence, he was shown into an anti-chamber, where he waited to see the members of the states pass by. He staid for some time, and seeing none but a parcel of plain dressed men with bundles in their hands (which, as many came from distant provinces, contained their linen and provisions,) he turned to his interpreter, and asked him when the states would come? The man replied, that those were the members whom he saw go by. The envoy, on this, wrote to the commanders-in-chief of the Spanish army to advise the king, his master, to make peace as soon as possible. In his letter was this remarkable passage: "I expected to have seen in the states a splendid appearance; but instead of that, I saw only a parcel of plain dressed men, with sensible faces, who came into council

with their provisions in their hands. Their parsimony will ruin the king, my master, in the course of the war, if it be continued, for there is no contending with people, whose nobles can live upon a shilling a day, and will do every thing for the service of the country." The king, struck with this account, agreed to treat with them as an independent state, and to put an end to the

war.

VASCO DE GAMA.

The discovery of India, to which such great advances had been made by Prince Henry of Portugal, was, thirtyfour years after his death, accomplished through the heroic intrepidity of the illustrious Vasco de Gama.

The voyage of Gama has been called merely a coasting one, and therefore much less dangerous and heroical than that of Columbus or Magellan. But this, it is presumed, is an opinion hastily taken up, and founded on ignorance. Columbus and Magellan undertook to navigate unknown oceans, and so did Gama, who stood out to sea for upwards of three months tempestuous weather, in order to double the Cape of Good Hope, hitherto deemed impassable. The tempests which afflicted Columbus and Magellan, are described by their different historians as far less tremendous than those which attacked Gama. The poet of the Seasons, in depicting a tempest at sea, selects that encountered by Gama, as an example of all that is most terrific in this conflict of elements.

"With such mad seas, the daring Gama fought,

For many a day, and many a dreadful night;
Incessant labouring round the stormy Cape,
By bold ambition led."

From every circumstance, it is evident that Gama had determined not to return unless he discovered India.Nothing less than such a resolution to perish, or attain his point, could have led him on.

It was this resolution which inspired him, when, on the general mutiny of his crew, he put the chief conspirators and all the pilots in irons; while he himself, with his faithful brother, Coello, and a few others, stood night and day to the helm, until they doubled the Cape, and beheld the road to India before them. It was this

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which made him still persevere, when he fell into the strong current of Ethiopia, that drove him for a time he knew not whither, How different the conduct of Columbus! When steering southward in search of a continent, he met great currents, which he imagined were the rising of the sea, towards the canopy of heaven; which, for aught he knew, say the authors of the Universal History, he might touch towards the South; he therefore turned his course, and steered to the west; from which, after all, he returned without being certain whether the land he discovered at the mouth of the Oroonoko, was an island or a continent.

A GREEK ADVENTURE.

The only Greek ship that ever touched at an American port, arrived there in 1811; she was called the Jerusalem, and had a cargo of wines; in entering the port of Boston, she ran aground, and sustained so much damage, that it took some months to repair her. The captain, having in vain endeavoured to sell his cargo, proceeded to the Havana, where he was not more successful. He then returned to Boston, and having become involved in law suits with artful and designing men, his ship was seized, his cargo sold at one half of the value, and himself reduced to such distress, that he was obliged to beg for subsistence, until a subscription was opened to defray the expense of his return to his own country. All his crew died in prison.

ANGLO-INDIAN MERCHANT.

At Hyderabad, in the East-Indies, there resides a famous English merchant, who holds a singular sort of durbar every morning, at which you may see shroffs and merchants, officers and nobles, coming to beg, borrow, lend, or transact business; all which is done according to the native customs. These Mr. P. observes in every thing connected with his establishment; even when alone, to the sitting on the floor to a dinner served in their fashion; reading the Arabian Nights with his Moorish wives; presiding at nautches, and listening with pleasure to the mu

sical sounds of the native tom-tom.

He is a man of uncommon talent

and great information; very popular,
both with the natives and the British,
for his liberality, ready and obliging
politeness, and unbounded hospitality
to all. The choice of an eastern mode
of life is with him not altogether un-
He was born of a native
natural.
mother, a female of Delhi, of good de-
He was sent to England when
scent.
a boy for education; returned early to
this country, and long commanded a
large body of horse in the Deccan, un-
der native chiefs.

FRENCH REFugees.

No event, either in ancient or modern times, ever created so many exiles as the French revolution; notwithstandstanding the difficulty which often occurred of escaping from the merciless fangs of the guillotine, by which so many thousands were immolated in the sacred name of liberty. The following numerical estimate of the emigration from France, between the 14th of July, 1789, and the 6th of NovemThe total ber, 1790, was published at Paris, by order of the Directory. number was 124,000, including 9000 Women of the nobility. 16,920 Noblemen. 28,000 Priests.

404 Belonging to the parliament. 8492 Nobles in the military line. 9933 Landed proprietors. 2867 Lawyers.

230 Bankers.
7801 Merchants.

324 Attorneys (notaires.)
528 Physicians.
540 Surgeons.

3268 Farmers.

2000 Nobles in the naval service.

22,729 Artisans.

2800 Servants.

3000 Wives of artisans. 3033 Children of both sexes. 4428 Nuns (religieuses.) England, notwithstanding the longcherished national enmity, was the first, last, and best asylum of the French emigrants, who were not only received and treated with the utmost individual hospitality, but had also the most munificent support from the British gov ernment; a support which was never for a moment withheld, from the commencement of the revolution, until after

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GEORGE BARNWELL."

Lillo's tragedy of "George Barnwell," which is a great favourite at the country theatres, and usually performed once during the holidays, every season, at Covent Garden and Drury Lane, was so popular when first produced at the latter theatre, that it was performed twenty nights in succession to crowded houses; and Caroline, Queen to George the Second, sent to the theatre for the manuscript, in order that she might peruse it.

This tragedy has generally been considered as an useful admonition to youth; and on one occasion at least, is said to have been the means of rescuing a young man from perdition. This was during the Christmas holidays, in 1752, when Mr. Ross played George Barnwell, and Mrs. Pritchard, Millwood. A few nights afterwards, Dr. Barrowby, the physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital was sent for by a young gentleman in Great St. Helen's, who was apprenticed to a very eminent merchant. He found him very ill, and, as he suspected, of a complaint beyond the reach of medicine. The nurse told him, that he sighed at times so very heavily, that she was something lay heavy on his mind. The doctor requested to be alone with the patient, when after much solicitation, he prevailed on the youth to unbosom himself. He said he was the

sure

second son of a gentleman of fortune in Hertfordshire; that he had formed an improper acquaintance with a female, which had caused him to embezzle and expend money belonging to his employer, to the amount of £200. Two nights before the doctor saw him, he had seen Mr. Ross and Mrs. Pritchard play in George Barnwell, and was so forcibly struck with the coincidence between his own case and that of Barnwell, that he had not enjoyed a moment's peace since, and wished to die, that he might avoid the shame which he saw hanging over him. The doctor offered to intercede with the father of the young man for the money, and assured him that if he failed in getting it by that means, that he would furnish it himself. The father, who had been sent for, soon arrived. The doctor took him into a private room, and after explaining the whole case of the son's illness, entreated him to save the honour of his family, and the life of his

son.

The father instantly went to his banker for the money, while the doctor returned to his patient, and informed him that every thing would be arranged to his satisfaction, as his father would soon return with peace and forgiveness, and never mention or even think of the subject again.

he

The youth, relieved from the load with which his mind was oppressed, soon recovered, and afterwards became a very eminent merchant. Mr. Ross, the performer who had been so instrumental in saving this young man, and who relates the circumstance, says, never knew either the gentleman or his name, but that for nine or ten years afterwards he always received on his benefit a sealed note, inclosing ten guineas, with these words :“ Å tribute of gratitude from one who was highly obliged, and saved from ruin, by seeing Mr. Ross's performance of Barnwell."

SIR,-You lately inserted in the Literary Gazette the declaration of war issued by a Turkish Sultan against the Emperor of Germany; as a counterpart to it, I send you the following.

Before the expedition of the Turks against the island of Candia, in 1645,

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