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missioners of the admiralty; the officers of the army, and every man of rank and quality in the metropolis. Arrived at Westminster Bridge, the remains were borne into the Abbey, through a long file of troops, and deposited beneath a vault sunk for the purpose in Henry VII.'s chapel. From this spot, however, the coffin was irreverently disinterred after the Restoration, and meanly replaced in the adjoining yard of St. Margaret's church.

But the fame of Admiral Blake has nobly survived an indignity which only reflects dishonour on those who could suffer such an act to be perpetrated. The character of his life and actions is of that exalted nature, which no reader can contemplate without admiration, and no writer commemorate without the highest awards of panegyrism. Lord Clarendon, Hume, and Dr. Johnson, have each of them composed his character, and with equal praises. Without drawing a compliment from any other sources, we are assured by them alone, that Blake was truly a great man. While opposed to the royalists during the civil war, he won their esteem, and was always generous to the vanquished. He shared his purse at all times with his friends and sailors to such an extreme of disinterestedness, that notwithstanding all his valuable employments and rich prizes, he was worth no more than a bare 5007. at his death. In action intrepid, and in judgment cool almost beyond example, he seemed born to triumph in temerity, and overcome dangers which no other man would have dared to face. Enthusiasm in his profession, and a phrenzy for glory, were the sole occupation and delight of his existence. As he left no wealth save the honour of his services for his country, so he enjoys no monument but the fame of his achievements. He was the first who brought a ship at sea to contemn a castle on shore, and taught the sailor to fight in fire as well as in water. He was also the first to deviate from the old rules of prudence, by which ships and seamen were withdrawn as far as possible from danger: he taught his men, by experience, how much of what is generally deemed formidable may be defied by resolution; and presented the most perfect example of that bold spirit of courage, which has since been so valiantly emulated, and now constitutes the proudest boast of the service and the country he so eminently adorned.

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JOHN BLOW, Mus. Doc.

Music, though often styled a science, seems only to deserve distinction as an art; in this view, however, it will certainly rank first and the most liberal of all arts. Every science must prove mathematically fixed and just, but the relations of harmony are inconsistent, and its commonest chords disproportionate and false. Again, however pertinaciously the rules of musical composition may have been laid down by professional writers, still they have most of them been successfully violated; and it appears to be quite as absurd to restrict poetry to metre, as to attempt to limit the composition of music to the doctrine of books. Both music and poetry are superior emanations of intense feeling and vivid passion; and as the labours of nature under such impressions can never be squared according to dictation, so no expression of their effects can be incontrovertibly prescribed. On the contrary, so long as our sympathy is powerfully excited by the display, the means by which the charm is wrought must always remain valued and respectable. These observations are introduced here, because the truth of them will be found to have been exemplified by the subject of this sketch,—a man, who though somewhat extravagant in the consequences to which his thirst for novelty led him, is yet memorable for a striking departure from the written grammar of music.

The better to understand the grounds upon which his name has become celebrated, and at the same time, to form a proper introduction to the musical biography of these pages, it may not be uninteresting to say a few words upon the history of the art in England. The earliest notices we have of the cultivation of music in the British islands are grateful and generous in the extreme. The harp indigenous to Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, in the

remotest ages of antiquity, superseded the pipe and tabor in England, at the period of her first intimacy with the sister countries, and was immediately advanced to signal honours. Records are still in existence, which prove that Henry III. allowed forty marks and a pipe of wine a year to his harper, and further gave another pipe to the harper's wife. Edward I. took his harper in state with him to the Holy Land; and we are assured, that when the prince was wounded by a poisoned dart at the siege of Ptolemais, his faithful minstrel was the first to rush upon the assassin, and level him in death. The passion of the heroic Richard for the joyeuse science, and the devotion of Blondel to his sovereign, are popularly known; but the partiality of John of Gaunt for music has not been so faithfully preserved. That formidable warrior associated the musicians of his time together in a chartered corporation, and gave them the privilege of electing a governor with the style of King of the Minstrels. The grant was confirmed and continued by several monarchs, and under this eminent patronage his musical majesty was authorised to arrest offenders, summon juries, hear plaints, and award punishments.

This seems to have been the summit of the honours of minstrelsy. The harp soon after gradually gave place to the viol, which originally adopted for its portability, was afterwards retained as more suitable to the confinement of chamber concerts, and thus fretted away a puny sound and fainter harmony from only six strings. But circumstances still more fatal marked the dege neracy of the art: as the minstrels became more numerous they grew less respectable; the immunities granted to the talents of their predecessors were grossly abused by them; and in a short time they became notoriously the most profligate of men, and were scouted from every modest society. To such a shameless pitch was this licentiousness carried, that even the cultivation of music, as an accomplishment, became disreputable; the organ was confined to the church, but in almost all other respects, the art lay dormant in England.

The depreciation of musical talent that now ensued was extreme, and the effect produced upon the dignity of the state was palpably lamentable. Hollingshed tells us, that at a feast given in 1530, by Cardinal Wolsey to his royal master, the greatest effort of harmony produced for entertainment, was a concert of

fifes and drums. Nor was there any considerable improvement attained during the reign of Elizabeth; for according to Hentzner, she was regaled at her state dinners by twelve trumpets, two kettle-drums, and a supplemental accompaniment of fifes, cornets, and side drums. The restoration of Charles II., however, produced a more favourable era, by introducing from the Continent a passion for that most perfect of instruments, the violin, which was then cultivated with the most felicitous consequences in Italy. From this period we may date the revival of harmony as a legitimate art in England; concerted pieces became popular; music was introduced between the acts at our theatres, operas succeeded, and we made our first decided effort to maintain a rank among the nations of Europe for gifted singers and talented composers.

John Blow, one of the most venerable of the professors thus called into reputation, was born at North Cottingham, in Nottinghamshire, during the year 1648. His masters were worthy of his talents, and the precocity of his attainments did honour to their instructions. He was first initiated in the study of music by Kingeston, domestic organist to Oliver Cromwell, and afterwards taught by Dr. Christopher Gibbons. At the Restoration, the choir of the Chapel Royal was one of those liberal institutions peculiar to monarchy, which was immediately replaced upon its ancient footing; and Blow's voice procured him the advantages of being chosen into the first set of scholars who were educated upon the foundation. While yet in the humble capacity of a mere singing boy, and in all probability not more than fifteen or sixteen years old, he gave the earliest proof of his talents, by the composition of some anthems, which were greatly commended at the period of their appearance, and afterwards deemed worthy of preservation in the edition of Clifford's Services and Anthems, which was printed in 1664.

Few instances of premature intellect smoothed an easier road to success, than did these juvenile productions by Blow; so that, however unprecedented the exercise of his genius may have been deemed, the rapidity with which he was now enabled to ascend the various grades of professional ambition, must also be admitted to have been commensurately fortuitous. For, in point of fact, the summary of his life offers scarcely any passages of interest be

yond a plain enumeration of the different posts of honour and emolument to which he was advanced. Those appointments took place according to the following dates and order. In 1673, he was made a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal; in 1674, upon the demise of Humphrey, was appointed master of the children belonging to the chapel; in 1685, nominated to the band of private music to James II.; and in 1687, created almoner and master of the choristers in the cathedral church of St. Paul,—a situation which he resigned during the year 1693, in favour of his scholar, Jeremiah Clarke. The interest of Archbishop Sandcroft next procured him the honour of a special degree for Doctor of Music, without requiring him to go through the form of an exercise at either University. In 1695, he succeeded to the seat of Organist at Westminster Abbey, left vacant by the death of Purcell; and in 1699, was selected to be composer to the chapel of William and Mary, at a salary first of 401. and afterwards of 731. a-year. In this latter situation, his labours were relieved during the year 1705, by the appointment of Weldon, as deputy; when the conditions imposed upon the joint office were, the production of a new anthem by each composer in the first month of his waiting.

The only publication of his own music which Blow gave to the world, was the Amphion Anglicus, a volume of songs put forth in 1700. To this act he was, in all probability, stimulated by the great success which attended the sale of the Orpheus Britannicus, in which Purcell formally presented to his admirers the dramatic and miscellaneous songs by which he had established the popularity of his name. This imitation of a synonymous title afforded many a ground for condemning Blow as guilty of an act of unbecoming rivalship, and even positive envy. He excused himself, however, from the imputation by asserting, and probably not without truth, that the publication was wrested from him by the importunity of his friends; and the representation derives corroboration from the fact of his edition being prefaced by no less than sixteen copies of verse, all equally encomiastic on the author, and eulogistic of his works. Be this as it may, no great consequence was effected either by the merits of the volume, or its recommendatory burthen; the Amphion Anglicus received but little praise from the public at the time of its appearance, and has

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