point of view, I shall render an essential service to morals and religion.

THE words of this sacred Oratorio were compiled, entirely from texts of scripture, by Mr. Charles Jennens, of Gopsal, in Leicestershire, whose co-operation Handel enjoyed on other occasions. The words are selected with a judgment which nothing can exceed; and present to our contemplation, in the three parts of the drama, three great divisions of Our SAVIOUR'S History, His Advent, His Passion, and His Glorification. The ADVENT is introduced by the most striking predictions relating to it, from Isaiah, Haggai, and other prophets. His birth is told, partly in the same prophetic language, and partly in the words of the gospel, which relates the appearance of the angels to the shepherds, on the morn of the nativity. In the second part, which represents the PASSION of our Saviour, he is first solemnly announced in the words of John Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world!"

Then follow the most distinguished prophecies of his humiliation; afterwards the publishing of the gospel, the vain resistance of earthly powers, and the final prevalence on earth of" the kingdom of the Lord, and of his Christ." The third part opens with the general resurrection, told in the sublime words of Job, and of St. Paul; the justification of the righteous through Christ; and the final triumph of the Lamb, in the expressions of the angelic choir, as revealed to St. John; and the united praise of every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the seas, and all that are in them," recorded in the same vision.

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SUCH an assemblage of magnificent images, from prophecy and inspired history, required the utmost force of human genius, united with sincere devotion, to give it expression in Music; and happily this rare union was found complete in Handel. With all the fire and sublimity of Milton, to conceive the

imagery attached to sacred words, he had a knowledge and comprehension of the power and effects of musical sounds, whether simple or complex, which nothing could exceed. He seems to have undertaken the task with enthusiasm, and to have performed it, as if under the influence of actual inspiration, These, Sir, are not the expressions of partiality. I have no bigotry. I can relish every species of Music, which any one can justly pronounce good in its kind; from the simplest ballad, to the most complicated bravura of the opera ; from the plain minuet or gavot, to the most beautiful extravagancies of the fanciful Haydn. I have heard, with delight, the sacred music of the old Italian masters; the Masses of Pergolesi and Leo, the Anthems of Marcello and Palestrina. There is no author of celebrity among our own composers of cathedral Music, from Tye to Kent, whose merits I have not in turn - acknowledged. But, Sir, to feel the whole excellence of Handel's Oratorio Music, it is not sufficient to have ears, and to have

cultivated the habit of listening with them: there are sentiments and feelings of the soul, which he possessed, and well knew how to communicate; but which cannot be received where the mind is not prepared. But, where any congenial dispositions exist, I have no doubt in saying, that no eloquence of an Augustine or a Chrysostom, could so powerfully excite the genuine feelings of devotion, as the strains of Handel, united to the words of scripture.

ALLOW me, for the sake of illustration, to dwell more minutely on the great example I have thus introduced.

The Oratorio of MESSIAH is, I am entirely convinced, as perfect a composition of the kind, as the faculties of human nature are capable of producing. Even the Overture *, which is not at all

* The reader who wishes to see a professional analysis of this oratorio, written with great musical skill, is referred to page 70 of Dr. Burney's Account of the Commemoration of Handel. The account here

formed to captivate the common ear, has a sober grandeur, which prepares the mind for the sacred strains that are to follow. It is a foreground, whose colouring is purposely kept down, that it may relieve, rather than interfere with, the splendour of the picture. The subject of the Oratorio is then opened by an ac companied recitative, which, singers much inferior to Mr. Harrison have felt, can never be delivered without effect. It is comfort and pardon, offered by Divine Mercy, with no less tenderness than dignity; and the preparation of the way of the Lord is so announced, as to give perfect life to the words of the prophet. The air which follows, continues the idea of preparation, and touches, rather than attempts to imitate, the removal of the obstacles. The declaration, that the "Glory of the Lord shall be revealed," is then made, in choral music, short and simple; but whether more sublime or beautiful cannot easily be decided. The

given was purposely written without reference to it, but receives the strongest confirmation from it.