of the sacred volume, and the whole tenor of his thoughts habitually inflamed thereby, Handel took great delight and evinced rare familiarity, skill, and judgment in selecting Scripture passages for his oratorios. He himself declared that "such studies, and this grave style of composition, are best suited to the circumstances of a man descending into the vale of years;" and in Dublin, when Lord Kinnoul complimented him on the noble entertainment which he had given to the town, "My Lord,” said Handel, “I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wish to make them better."

As a performer on the organ, he has never had his equal. Blind during the last nine years of his life, it is said that he could not refrain from shedding tears on hearing the music of his "Samson." It must have been touching to see him led to and from the instrument, on which he improvised accompaniments and played voluntaries with all his wonted fire, retaining his unrivalled mastery of touch to the last. The "divine enchanting ravishment" of his giant strains moving "the vocal air," he brought "all heaven before his eyes," and with his

"Mingled harmony,

Made up full concert to the angelic symphony."

His last appearance in public was on the 6th of April 1759. He died seven days afterwards, having, during his brief illness, looked forward with joy to the hope of meeting his arisen Lord and Saviour. He was interred with great pomp in Westminster Abbey; and the monumental figure, by Roubilliac, is there represented as holding a scroll, inscribed with these words: "I know that my Redeemer liveth," along with the notes to which they are set in the "Messiah."

HAYDN.

Francis Joseph Haydn was born at Rohrau in 1732, and died in 1810. His trios, quartets, and symphonies may almost be said to have originated, or at least given form to that species of composition. To Haydn modern orchestral music, with its variety of parts and instruments, is greatly indebted; so much did he add to its efficiency, by availing himself of those marvellous and felicitous adaptations and combinations of timbre in harmony, which had already been indicated in "Idomeneo," by the future composer of "Don Giovanni."

His melody is "a lucid tide of streaming sweetness,' in which the exquisite song always overflows; while perfect clearness pervades every part of his composition. His Twelve Symphonies, and the beautiful English Canzonets, were composed for Salomon's concerts, during his stay in London, where he enjoyed the privilege of listening to Handel's music. Returning to the continent, he, in 1795, when 63 years of age, began his greatest Oratorio, or Cantata, "The Creation," and wrought on it constantly for two years. When urged by friends to bring it to a conclusion he used to say calmly, "I spend a long time upon it because I intend it to last a long time!" The celebrated chorus, "The Heavens are telling," at the close of the third part, is, perhaps, only second in grandeur of effect to Handel's "Hallelujah." After the "Messiah," no other oratorio has been more frequently performed in this country. Two years later he composed "The Seasons," full of beautiful musical episodes, and sweet visions of

"Valleys low where the mild whispers use,

Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks."

There are few finer passages than that in which we have the calming and dying away of a thunder-storm. We almost see the clouds racking and dispersing; feel the delicious, cool, balmy softness of the air purified by the electric discharge; and rejoice in the genial sunshine which gilds the landscape, now again all fresh and bright and green; these effects being produced by no vulgar attempt at imitation, but only by those deeper and subtler sympathetic analogies, of which musical genius alone possesses "the silver key."

Haydn frequently laboured eighteen hours a-day, even when at the height of his fame, and has left an almost incredible number of works in all classes. He himself could reckon up eight hundred. Among these are 116 Symphonies, 83 violin Quartetts, 60 pianoforte Sonatas, 15 Masses, 4 Oratorios, a grand 'Te Deum,' a 'Stabat Mater,' 14 Italian and German Operas, 42 Duets and Canzonets, and 200 Divertimentos for particular instruments."

His harpsichord, or pianoforte music, is now little played; the capabilities of the instrument having since undergone great changes. Nor did his operas ever acquire much celebrity; some of them, unfortunately, are lost, having been destroyed by fire. His quartets, however, retain their place, and are as yet unsurpassed in freshness, grace, and originality. The accompaniments which he wrote for Thompson's Collection of Scotch Airs, are models of what accompaniments should be. His greatest instrumental works are his symphonies; and in vocal composition, "The Creation." His sacred music, though always pleasing, seems comparatively light and secular, after that of Bach or Handel.

His life was bright and equable, and has been compared to "the untouched green forest, in the fulness of a June day." His music is a calm atmosphere of joy; not more than two or three times is it really melancholy, as in a verse of his "Stabat Mater," and in two of the Adagios of the "Seven Words" of the Passion. His compositions are regarded as "unrivalled models of skill and judgment in the development of musical ideas, and the conduct of melody, harmony, and modulation." We have frequently been struck with the strange and powerful effect of contrast, like sunshine and shade on a landscape, produced by the transition from G major to E flat about the middle of his fourth symphony; and with what startling effect the tambourine is introduced in his third symphony called the "Surprise."

When in such a mood as brings home to us Wordsworth's beautiful lines

"Oh that some minstrel's harp were near

To utter notes of gladness,

And chase this silence from the air

That fills my heart with sadness!"

then the calm joy of Haydn's "clear unwrinkled song" meets our vague longings, and fills the aching void with its "sober certainty of waking bliss."

It is interesting to trace Haydn's career, from the time when the poor boy became a menial, that he might hear and profit by the instructions of Porpora, to that affecting scene at Vienna, when the beloved and honoured court musician in tears took his last farewell of the public at a performance of the "Creation."

Cheerful, gentle and affectionate, benevolent, candid and upright, he possessed that "strong and deeply-rooted

sense of religion, which is the only solid foundation of moral excellence." At the commencement of all his scores stands inscribed "In Nomine Domini," or "Soli Deo Gloria," and at the end of them all "Laus Deo." Nor was this a mere form. To his most intimate friends he frequently remarked, "When I was engaged in composing The Creation, I felt myself so penetrated with religious feelings, that before I sat down to write, I earnestly prayed to God that he would enable me to praise him worthily." With the same reverent spirit Handel and Beethoven also applied themselves to composition.

Poetry being the nearest approximate, to it we turn instinctively for musical description, analogy, or illustration; and in vain might we search for a passage that would better convey what we conceive to be the leading characteristic of Hadyn's music than the following exquisite lines from Milton's "Ode on the Nativity:"

"The winds with wonder whist,

Smoothly the waters kist,

Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,

Who now hath quite forgot to rave,

While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmëd wave!”

MOZART.

Johann Wolfgang Mozart-the amiable, the gifted, the universal-was born at Salzburg, in 1756, and died at Vienna in 1791, aged thirty-five years and ten months. Of early musical prodigies—and nearly all the greatest musicians have been such-he was undoubtedly the greatest. The precocity of infancy did not, however, pay the penalty to be feared under other circumstances, or even "die away, and fade into the common light of