neumes appended over the "Responsorium graduale," and which are continued throughout the MS. occasionally accompanied by the explanatory letters. The text is of the usual small type of the Carlovingian era, but almost without abbreviations, indicating transcription from some older document. It differs from the received Antiphonaries in having no festivals of confessors, except S. Silvester, S. Martin, S. Cesarius, and S. Gregory the Great, and none of any Virgin not a martyr. There is no Vigil of the Ascension or of the Epiphany. Many of the Processions are wanting. It assigns night masses to S. John Baptist's day and Holy Saturday, and two to S. John's day and wants the festivals of S. Felix, S. Peter ad vincula, the Nativity of the Blessed Mary, All Saints, and many others, and has several other minor differences which attest its extreme antiquity.

The great question discussed in the latter part of the volume is whether and how far can we hereby or otherwise recover the true and accurate reading of the Gregorian Chant. Some years since the "Comitè des Arts et Monumens in Paris circulated a small pamphlet containing specimens of the various neumes from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries, with a view to elucidate their interpretation. Since that period a discovery has been made in the public library of Montpellier of a MS. purporting to be an Antiphonary of S. Gregory, of the eighth century, (but which P. Lambillote refers to the tenth) which has this remarkable feature, that over every one of the neumes is affixed an interpretative letter determining its exact value. A facsimile of a page of this MS. is given in the present volume. A writer in the Rambler (a Roman Catholic publication) some years since, anticipated thence a complete discovery of the mode of reading the neumes and of the true Gregorian Chant; but P. Lambillote has shown that plain as the notation apparently is, it is impossible to draw any legiti mate conclusion from this MS. because it varies so much from all others, and is so incomplete.

With the view of solving the question, however, P. Lambillote has here laid down certain principles deduced from his laborious researches into the nature of the neumatic notation, which he illustrates by a complete technological dictionary.

NEUMES, then, according to our author, only expressed, 1st, the number of sounds to be uttered; 2nd, whether they ascended, descended, or were unisonal; 3rdly, their numerical or tonal value in respect of the mode to which they belonged; but they had no absolute fixed tonal value, as the notes of our system. He then proceeds to give an elaborate explanation of what each of these neumes was used to denote; and of the nature and characteristics of those used in the S. Gall MS. He states that an additional and explanatory notation is added in the S. Gall and Montpellier and other MSS. of certain Roman letters appended to the neumes. Thus in the S. Gall MS. are found the letters A, B, C, E, J, L, M, S, T, X, used for this purpose; of which the letter A and S for instance, denoted respectively, Altius elevatur or Sursum, Higher or Upward; but the amount of elevation remained indeterminate. So the letter C denoted Quick, Celeriter. It results from these observations that as no absolute tonal value or intervals are fixed either by

these neumes or by the explanatory letters, the teaching of the Gregorian melodies in their nicety, must have been mainly oral and traditionary ; and hence we see the reason why they became so soon corrupted, why they were at that time so difficult of attainment, and why the most experienced masters were alone qualified to teach them.

Yet Père Lambillote has in this volume declared his conviction that they may now be read; nay, that he has deciphered a portion of them, and ascertained by a laborious inductive process, the identity of some of the S. Gall melodies, with the corresponding melodies found in the noted Antiphonaries beginning with the works of Guido d'Arezzo, (who first placed the neumes between lines,) in the 11th, to the 15th and 16th centuries. In order to elucidate the true Gregorian phrase he has hunted for an intonation in which the neumatic and post-neumatic books should all respectively agree. Before consulting the MS. of S. Gall, he had discovered that in the Gradual Responsory, "Viderunt omnes fines terræ salutare Dei nostri, jubilate Deo omnis Terra," all these post-neumatic and neumatic books did so agree together: except the neumatic MS. of Montpellier. Upon referring to the S. Gall MS. he found that this last was also in close agreement with the rest of the neumatic series; whence he deduced the just inference that we have, in the example given, a true and pure Gregorian phrase, and that the later copies which have at all departed therefrom are so far corrupt. This his conclusion is supported by a series of facsimiles from MSS. of the eighth, to the printed books of this present century, which amply demonstrate his conclusion.

Of course, in determining the authenticity of other phrases, a similar amount of trouble and labour must be encountered; but with this successful example before the world, who can doubt that it will be undertaken and succeed? Le P. Lambillote announces his intention to continue his researches in that direction, (long and troublesome as he confesses they must be,) adopting as his guiding principle the dictum of the Abbé Gueranger, (Instit. Lit. t. i. p. 306,) in substance this :"When a great number of MSS., differing as to their countries and epochs, agree on a version, we may affirm that we have recovered the true Gregorian phrase." And, consequently, practically we may read the neumes in which it first appears.

We look upon this work as one of the most important that has appeared on this subject, so interesting to all men of Catholic minds, since the days of Gerbert. We heartily join in the sentiments of the concluding paragraph, in which, in anticipation of his complete success, Le Pere Lambillote says:

"Then shall we have all faithful people with one consent intone and sing forth the Church's melodies in perfect accord, as in the times of Robert and Charlemagne. The magnificent unity of the Church will shed a new splendour, and all Catholic people will, in unity of faith and word, and still further, according to the admirable wish of Charlemagne, 'in unity of modulation, celebrate the praises of their SAVIOUR; so that there shall be no dissimilar order in psalmody where there should be a similar order in believing, and the nations which are at one in the holy reading of God's sacred law, should also, according to holy tradition, be in unity in one modulation of His praises."

384

A WORD ON THE CRYSTAL PALACE.

BY A. REICHENSPERGER.

[OUR readers will, we are sure, thank us for the reprint, in a literal translation, of a very able critique upon the Great Exhibition, by one of the most eminent of living German ecclesiologists. M. Reichensperger, a judge in one of the Courts of Cologne, and a member of the Prussian parliament, takes a leading part in the Cologne Cathedral Restoration Committee.]

(Reprinted from the "Deutschen Volkshalle.")

ALTHOUGH I felt, immediately on my arrival in London, that my first visit ought to be to the "Exhibition of Industry," the central point of attraction of all Europe, still I could not withstand the temptation of giving a passing glance to Westminster Abbey and the New Houses of Parliament. Immense progress has been made in the latter since I last beheld them (now four years since), the towers alone remain unfinished, excepting always works still under contemplation. The building has been attacked from many quarters, and is not, I am told, particularly popular in England. The cause of this unpopularity may be found chiefly in the enormous sums of money that have been expended upon it, and then in the aversion John Bull always evinces towards any thing new, especially of a fantastic nature. The adoption of the mediæval style of architecture for public buildings is as new to the London citizen as that of the Gothic is to the German Philister. The objections which I have to make to the New Houses of Parliament are that the building is not well grouped, that the façade along the Thames is too long and monotonous, and that the architect has been too prolific in ornamental detail. On the whole, however, it is in many respects an important monument, and excites our admiration, that it was possible to revive, as it were by the stroke of a magic wand, the past glories of artistic grandeur of bygone centuries. There is a technical finish to every part, as if it had been cast in a single mould; the very statues seem to grow naturally upon their pedestals. Though old models may have been consulted, the spirit of originality is visible throughout. Imitation does not degenerate in a single instance into stiffness. In the long run the New Houses of Parliament cannot fail to exercise an important influence upon the developement of architecture in general, not only on account of the master hands that have been perfected in its execution, but far more, because it has provided the striking proof that Gothic architecture is capable of responding to the expectations and demands of even the most sanguine of the age in which we live.

A few steps from the Houses of Parliament stands the Pantheon of British glory-Westminster Abbey. The external appearance does not excite great expectations. It has been so often and so badly restored that scarcely a vestige of the old Abbey is visible. In Germany

the venerable relic would have been stuccoed over in modern French style; in England, where Gothic architecture still holds a footing, the restorations were made en bloc in the old style, and however roughly and inefficiently done, still responded in some measure to the original design. But all the elaborate lattice workmanship, all the statuary was unmercifully sacrificed. The venerable Abbey now stands, if I may be allowed a trivial yet elucidating comparison, like a bird shorn of its plumage. Mr. G. G. Scott, the architect of the church of S. Nicholas, at Hamburg, has been recently appointed architect to the Chapter of Westminster Abbey, which argues well for the future prospects of the building; evidences of his activity having already manifested themselves. Mr. Scott is one of the most zealous and talented restorers of church architecture in England, if indeed he does not stand at the head of the list. His buildings are chiefly in the early Gothic (Early English) style, and are remarkable for their bold proportions. The Brighton college, one of his latest designs, is a model of that style, of which so many fine examples are to be found at Oxford and Cambridge. Mr. Scott was entrusted with the building of S. Nicholas' church, at Hamburg, after a competition in which German architects found it beneath their dignity to advance plans of a Christian style. I shall take another opportunity for noticing more especially the individual works of Mr. Scott. The interior of Westminster Abbey produces an appalling effect upon the spectator; it is a mixture of pristine splendour and sad decay. The hand inspired by the Divine Creator and the impious hand of the revolutionary fanatic have here equally impressed their mark. Happily that most demeaning tool of vandalism, whitewash, has spared the venerable pile; the historical colour of the walls is not coated over with white or yellow paint as is invariably required in Germany by that singular taste for the beautiful which inspires our architects and parochial authorities. What most offends the eye are the pseudo-antique monuments of celebrated Englishmen scattered indiscriminately upon the walls of the building in theatrical attitudes and uncooth costumes. Within the frosty walls of S. Paul's classical affectedness may on a pinch tolerate such mythological emblems, but in Westminster Abbey they are entirely out of place. As I entered, Divine service was being performed, and I was not a little astonished to hear old Catholic Gregorian chants in a style which might serve as a model to many a Roman Catholic cathedral. Some of the responses and litanies were chanted in quartets.

Turning my steps from the grey old walls of the abbey, I wandered through the green parks towards the gaily decorated arch of the latest bond of unity between nations. The external appearance of the Crystal Palace, though it did not fail to astonish me, did not arouse my admiration. A hot-house provided the design, and a hot-house on a colossal scale was erected. There is nothing grand, nothing original, nothing artistic to attract the eye; with a view only to space and commodiousness, an iron frame-work was tented in with glass, gallery above gallery, to protect so many square feet of land from wind and rain. The transept alone gives some life to the building. The idea of arching over the nave, which would have afforded a culminating point, was

abandoned. However, this is scarcely open to censure, if the axiom holds good that the exterior of a building should correspond as nearly as possible with the nature of its contents, and with the object for which it is constructed. Our industry, the treasures of which were to be housed, is in sooth a hot-house plant, and, generally taken, has as little in common with art as the architecture of the Crystal Palace. The machinery and useful inventions, in the most restricted sense, alone in this Exhibition tend to the glory of civilized Europe; as industry taken in an artistic light, it ranks far below barbarism. But even where art comes forward as art only, it is equally at fault. The works of English sculptors take the lowest rank of all. Their chief attraction consists in their bold nudity, or lascivious attitudes; on the whole, nearly all these "works of art" are an unhappy mixture of bad copies and barren ideas, poor in conception, and faulty in execution. Truly, the plundered marbles of Lord Elgin, from the Parthenon at Athens, and placed in the British Museum, have not done wonders. Blue-eyed Pallas Athenè seems rather to have selected the British artist as a tool, wherewith to revenge the larceny committed in her temple. She has enticed away the spirits from her home, but not to Hellas, but to the wide, and dreary, and lifeless desert. Christian and national traditions are spurned with contempt, without thereby leading to the adop tion of any thing like a Greek school of art; far from it; individual chimeras have taken the place of the firm-rooted soil. This "hovering in the air," characterizes the productions of art of the present generation, even the best productions. Where for instance is there a connecting link to be found between Kiss's Amazon (a chief ornament of the Exhibition) and Berlin and the Berliners? or with Germany and its nationalities? It is nothing more than a huge ornament, the result of the application of great mental and material powers, which will not tend to perfect any other sense than the sense of form. Similar may be said of all the naked gods, demi-gods, heroes, muses, graces, in plaister of Paris or marble, which are placed between Manchester wares and Sheffield cutlery, Birmingham buttons, Persian carpets, ploughs, and circular saws. All those statues and groups, the relics of ancient Greece, which arouse our just admiration, are parts of a great, not only architectonic, but living whole, of an organization whose blood almost pulsates in their marble veins; they do not speak to the senses only of the spectator, they embody rather all that is noblest, most dear of the mental treasures of a people. Art, as it now exists, will never revive, will never cease to stammer an inarticulate language until it is again inspired by that spirit, which, emanating from the fountain of divine revelation, flows on in an incessant stream, and which alone can preserve nations from decay. Of this the Exhibition affords an example.

A special department, over the entrance of which there is the inscription MEDIEVAL COURT, which denotes its contents, has been furnished by Pugin, the celebrated pioneer of the school of Christian Art, exclusively with works of a mediæval character. An altar complete with altarpiece, crucifix, thurible, candelabra, carpets, stools, desks, and every accessory, is here exposed to view. A place is also allotted to