not since then been fortunate enough to attract any thing like the same measure of praise from posterity.

Dr. Blow expired at a mellow age, on the 1st of October, 1708, and was honourably buried in the north aisle of Westminster Abbey, where the contiguity of his grave is commemorated by a marble tablet, enriched with cherubs and flowers. Upon the surface, now scarcely legible, may be traced a canon in four parts, and an inscription in English, which recapitulates all his appointments, and, as a final honour, states that he was the master of the famous Purcell.

Dr. Blow's compositions consist of choral services and ballads : throughout all his effusions, in either style, many beauties, but more deformities, are to be detected; and although his reputation has long rested chiefly upon the merits of the former, still the latter, by the few who may now have the curiosity to search his works, must be admitted to stand as the more engaging and least faulty. Of his church music no publication was made during his life-time. Three of his services, and ten of his anthems have been printed by Dr. Boyce; some twenty or thirty more are to be found in the collections of Dr. Tudway and Dr. Aldrich; and a far greater number are supposed to lie dormant in the choir books of our cathedrals. In these compositions, the most prominent feature is claborateness—an aspiration after crude harmony, and a confused modulation, particularly in his symphonies and accompaniments, such as no rule or license can justify, and no modern ear endure. Hence he has been characterized as the lawless composer, and the most wanton of contrapuntists. That these offences are liberally redeemed by various passages of meritorious expression, is no more than a just inference from the high reputation the man has so long enjoyed. He will accordingly be found often bold, striking, grand, and occasionally pathetic; his greatest fault is inequality, and it must be repeated, that few ears can patiently relish a strict repetition of any of his pieces in the severe score to which he adapted them.

Blow's ballads are of a more engaging description: the same affectation of counterpoint, and nearly as frequent a study of discord, will be noticed throughout them, as well as his religious productions; but more of smoothness and nature occurs in the songs. They are not only superior to any thing else he has attempted,

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but fully equal to any of the efforts of his contemporaries in the same class of compositions. For instance, the pastoral 'Since the Spring comes on,' enjoys the distinction of having formed the basis of the most popular songs at Vauxhall for almost a century, and may be still rehearsed with nearly as much pleasure as the generality of occasional melodies. Fill me a bowl,' and still more, Go, perjured man,' will also be found to possess merit which entitle them to equal commendation; while Sabina has a thousand charms,' 'Orithea's bright eyes,' and 'Philander, do not think of arms,' are remarkable for the felicity with which the characteristics of the Scots and Irish airs are ingrafted upon the less ornamental gravity of the English style,-a combination of expressions which Blow was the first to essay, and perhaps, of all who copied the imitation, the best to accomplish. One statement more, and that obviously deducible from these remarks, may now suffice for any interest still attached to his name:- ease was his greatest merit, but elegance was an attainment beyond his reach.

In conclusion, it is only an act of impartiality to allude to the notices with which Dr. Blow has been honoured by writers in his own profession :- they are numerous and highly panegyrical, and stand confirmed by authorities of no less repute than Boyce and Burney. Nor was his popularity exclusively confined to his own country; Cardinal Howard introduced his music at Rome, and he is, perhaps, the only English Protestant who has enjoyed the favour of having a canon of his composing performed under the sublime roof of St. Peter's. Adventitious circumstances concurred in a striking manner to render his name memorable : his talents were admirably precocious; he was early advanced to the highest offices within the bounds of his profession; his career was long and prosperous; and the eminence of such pupils as Purcell, Croft, and Clarke, powerfully contributed to preserve his distinctions long fresh with uninjured honour. As a man, Dr. Blow was personable, pure in morals, grave in deportment, and kind in disposition. As a musician, he was confident in the exercise of his talents, and somewhat vain in his estimation of their greatness.

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BARTON BOOTH.

DIRECTLY to the right of the entrance into the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey, is a neat monument, erected by his widow, to the fame of Barton Booth, a tragedian and scholar of impressive merit. The design comprises a well-executed bust, placed between two cherubs, of which the one, a chubby urchin, stands in the act of crowning the brows of the deceased with laurel, while the other poutingly inclines over a scroll, on which are modestly recounted the ordinary circumstances of parentage, qualifications, &c. &c.

Barton Booth, the popular successor to the dramatic characters and fame of Betterton, was descended from an estated family anciently located in Lancashire, in which county he was born during the year 1681. His father, John Booth, was nearly related to the Earl of Warrington, and, though not over affluent in his circumstances, is entitled to particular praise for the piety with which he unsparingly devoted both his care and his fortune to the education of his children. Barton, the third son, was originally intended for a liberal profession, and with that view entered Westminster School at the tender age of nine years. There his tuition was first superintended by the celebrated Dr. Busby, and afterwards by his worthy successor Dr. Knipe, under both of whom he had the pleasing honour of being pointedly distinguished. His capacity was originally quick and sprightly; a predilection for poetry and recitation seized possession of his mind almost as soon as he could read with fluency; and it was his earliest delight to learn the favourite passages in the Latin authors by heart, and recite them to his admiring school-fellows. This habit was made indulgently grateful by natural qualities—a voice round and melodious, an appropriate energy of diction, and a grace of action

strikingly superior to his years. Thus his talents were unavoidably noticed, and very properly encouraged by the masters; and we find him taking a prominent share in the Latin plays, which it is still the custom to make the Westminster students represent once in the year. Booth's performance of Pamphilus in the Andria of Terence on one of those occasions, has been fondly commemorated by all his biographers;--a part in which his delivery was so musical, and his deportment so judicious, that the audience were surprised into a vehemence of applause, which aroused the first aspiration of theatrical fame in his bosom.

According to the common representation, it was his father's wish to educate him for the church; but so intensely did this new passion root itself in his affections, that as the time approached when his removal to College must take place, he became seriously occupied with the thoughts of giving free vent to the vivacious impulse of his character, and soon resolved rather to run any risk than forsake the stage for the pulpit. Thus prompted to enthusiasm, he began to associate with the London actors, amongst whom he soon fell upon one Ashbury, then manager of the Dublin Theatre, who was glad enough to flatter the expectations of a handsome fellow of seventeen, full of talents, and perfect in elocution. Between parties so well predisposed to coincide, an agreement was readily made, by the terms of which young Booth stole away from Westminster, and joined the Irish company in June 1698. His first appearance was in the part of Oronooko, on the Dublin stage, and the essay was decidedly successful. He became a marked favourite with the audience, and continued to improve himself for three seasons, when he turned his thoughts to his native country, and determined to advance the fortune of his abilities in London. With this view his first care was to obtain a reconciliation with his family, and to provide himself with an influential introduction to the dramatic leaders in town. Both these wishes were happily realised: his family not only forgave him, but assented to his prosecuting the profession of an actor, and Lord Fitzharding, who happened to be in Ireland at the time, gave him a letter of recommendation to Betterton, and facilitated the conclusion of an engagement by several acts of good-natured attention.

This step was taken in 1701, a year marked with cir

every

cumstance of auspiciousness: Betterton now declining into the autumn of his fame, had just weathered the storm excited by the reformer Collier, and evinced an inclination to lighten the fatigues of his protracted career. He not only received the new candidate with pleasure, but even took him under his special patronage, and generously afforded him all the assistance in his power. Thus happily confirmed, Booth presented himself before a London audience in the part of Maximus, in "Valentinian," and the favour of his reception surpassed his most sanguine expectations. Corresponding applause attended his succeeding efforts, and upon the production of Rowe's tragedy of the "Ambitious Stepmother," he was entrusted with the part of Artaban, a character in which the felicity of his conception, strengthened by the talents he displayed about the same time in Pyrrhus, in the "Distressed Mother," procured him a smooth admission to the rank of second actor on the boards. Having thus established his pretensions in the principal concern of life, he enlarged the happiness of his prospects by the secondary interests of marriage, and, in 1704, sued a wife in the person of a daughter of Sir William Barkham, a Norfolk baronet. Within the term of another year, Betterton, upon resigning his patent to Sir John Vanbrugh and Congreve, relinquished all regular engagement with the theatres, and by consequence Booth was left without an active rival in his course.

The charges of management and failures of theatrical property after this event, presented but few opportunities for personal distinction; and there is nothing of peculiar interest to be related of Booth for an interval of some years. The splendid house opened in the Haymarket, upon the abandonment of the small theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, was disposed of by the proprietors in less than a year, and after the death of Betterton, fell into such a condition of distress, that an agreement was rati-fied, with the consent of all parties, before the Lord Chamberlain, by which this concern was restricted, in 1708, to the use of Italian Operas, while Drury-lane was appropriated to English plays. The company at the latter establishment was eminently benefited by this division of interests; the corps was unusually effective, including Booth, Wilks, Dogget, Cibber, &c. and for some time all its affairs proceeded in an even state of satisfaction and popularity. This aspect of things, however, was not long preserved;