ACADEMY OF MUSIC.

In July, 1774, Dr. Burney and Mr. Giardini, attended the Court of Governors, and proposed a plan for forming a public music school by means of the children of the Hospital, which, having been taken into consideration, was unanimously accepted as "likely to be of considerable advantage to this Corporation and of national utility."

The Court immediately set about opening a subscription roll (which received the support of the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland), and appointed a special Committee to "digest and form the properest method for carrying the said plan into execution," the Committee to consist of all the members of the Court present, and the Duke of Portland, the Earl of Ashburnham, the Earl of Dartmouth, Lord Le Despencer and Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, Bart.

But it was the fate of this scheme to be nipt in the bud. Its opponents proposed and carried a resolution at the next Court, which completely set it aside. The resolution was this-" It appeared to this Court that the plan of a public music school by way of employment of the children, is not warranted by the Act of Parliament."

Madame D'Arblay* in her Memoirs of Dr. Burney (her father), gives the following graphical account of this transaction:

The celebrated Miss Burney, author of "Evelina," &c.

But neither the pain of his illness, nor the pleasure of his recovery, nor even the loved labours of his history, offered sufficient occupation for the insatiate activity of his mind. No sooner did he breathe again the breath of health, resume his daily business, and return to his nocturnal studies, than a project occurred to him of a new undertaking, which would have seemed to demand the whole time and undivided attention of almost any other man.

"This was nothing less than to establish, in England, a seminary for the education of musical pupils of both sexes, upon a plan of which the idea should be borrowed, though the execution should almost wholly be new modelled, from the Conservatorios of Naples and Vienna.

"As disappointment blighted this scheme, just as it seemed maturing to fruition, it would be to little purpose to enter minutely into its details; and yet, as it is a striking feature of the fervour of Dr. Burney for the advancement of his art, it is not its failure, through the secret workings of undermining prejudice, that ought to induce his biographer to omit recounting so interesting an intention and attempt; and the less, as a plan, in many respects similar, has recently been put into execution, without any reference to the original projector.

"The motives that suggested this undertaking to Dr. Burney, with the reasons by which they were influenced and supported, were to this effect

"In England, where more splendid rewards await the favourite votaries of musical excellence than in

any other spot on the globe, there was no establishment of any sort for forming such artists as might satisfy the real connoisseur in music; and save English talent from the mortification, and the British purse from the depredations of seeking a constant annual supply of genius and merit from foreign shores.

"An institution, therefore, of this character, seemed wanting to the state for national economy, and to the people for national encouragement.

"Such was the enlarged view which Dr. Burney, while yet in Italy, had taken of such a plan for his own country.

"The difficulty of collecting proper subjects to form its members, caused great diversity of opinion and of proposition amongst the advisers with whom Dr. Burney consulted.

"It was peculiarly necessary that these young disciples should be free from every sort of contamination, mental or corporal, upon entering this musical asylum, that they might spread no dangerous contagion of either sort, but be brought up to the practice of the art, with all its delightful powers of pleasing, chastened from their abuse.

"With such a perspective, to take promiscuously the children of the poor, merely where they had an ear for music, or a voice for song, would be running the risk of gathering together a mixed little multitude, which, from intermingling inherent vulgarity, hereditary diseases, or vicious propensities, with the finer qualities requisite for admission, might render

the cultivation of their youthful talents a danger, if not a curse, to the country.

"Yet, the length of time that might be required for selecting little subjects of this unadulterated description from different quarters, with the next to impossibility of tracing, with any certainty, what might have been their real conduct in times past, or what might be their principles to give any basis of security for the time to come, caused a perplexity of the most serious species; for should a single one of the tribe go astray, the popular cry against teaching the arts to the poor would stamp the whole little community with a stain indelible, and the institution itself might be branded with infamy.

"What abstractedly was desirable, was, to try this experiment upon youthful beings to whom the world was utterly unknown, and who, not only in innocence had breathed their infantine lives, but in complete and unsuspicious ignorance of evil.

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Requisites so hard to obtain, and a dilemma so intricate to unravel, led the Doctor to think of the Foundling Hospital, in the neighbourhood of which, in Queen Square, stood his present dwelling.

"He communicated, therefore, his project to Sir Charles Whitworth, the Governor of the Hospital. Sir Charles thought it proper, feasible, desirable, and patriotic.

"The Doctor, thus seconded, drew up a plan for forming a musical conservatorio in the metropolis of England, and in the bosom of the Foundling Hospital.

"The intention was to collect from the whole little

corps all who had musical ears or tuneful voices, to be brought up scientifically as instrumental or vocal performers. Those of the group who gave no decided promise of such qualifications, were to go on with their ordinary education, and to abide by its ordinary result, according to the original regulations of the charity.

"A meeting of the Governors and Directors was convened by their chief, Sir Charles Whitworth, for announcing this scheme. The plan was heard with general approbation, but the discussions to which it gave rise were discursive and perplexing.

"It was objected, that music was an art of luxury, by no means requisite to life, or accessary to morality. These children were all meant to be educated as plain but essential members of the general community. They were to be trained up to useful purposes, with a singleness that would ward off all ambition for what was higher, and teach them to repay the benefit of their support by cheerful labour. To stimulate them to superior views might mar the religious object of the charity, which was to nullify, rather than extinguish, all disposition to pride, vice, or voluptuousness, such as, probably, had demoralized their culpable parents, and thrown these deserted outcasts upon the mercy of the Foundling Hospital.

"This representation, the Doctor acknowledged, would be unanswerable, if it were decided to be right, and if it were judged to be possible, wholly to extirpate the art of music in the British empire, or,