to select the following. The minds of girls are, commonly, more susceptible of pious impressions at an early period, than those of boys, and are more easily inspired with a desire of improvement. The conduct of men also depends in an extraordinary degree upon the manners of women :-and, in proportion, as women are taught to respect their own characters, the morals of men will be pure, and their manners refined and dignified. To which I shall add, that the earliest impressions, and the first habits, as well as the whole conduct of domestic education, in poor families, depend almost entirely on the mother's care and prudence."

Art. 66. The Intellectual and Moral Difference between Man and Man. Preached at the Old Jewry Sept. 24, 1797, on occasion of the Death of the Rev. John Fell, formerly of Thaxted in Essex, lately of Homerton in Middlesex. By Henry Hunter, D. D.

Svo. pp. 48.

The text which Dr. H. has selected on this occasion, 1 Cor. xv. 40-42, seems rather to invite a consideration of the future than of the present difference between man and man: but it may be said that the elevation of one above another in glory must depend on the moral superiority evinced by one above another in the present state, and that therefore Dr. H. is in fact establishing the reasonableness and credibility of the apostolic doctrine. In the course of this discussion, he has advanced some good and (we may add) brilliant thoughts: but, displaying the orator too much by a continued attempt to surprise, he sometimes becomes obscure. He considers the difference existing between human beings in respect of external form-original mental powers-intellectual improvement-moral excellence-and devotional elevation.

In the memoir affixed, speaking of the deceased, Dr. H. says, I will not apply to him the quaint epithets of orthodox or Calvinist, terms which, in the estimation of some, imply all that is silly and foolish, and of others, all that is venerable and dignified, which the one can never mention without a sneer, and which the other pronounces as a charm; but which ought not, in justice, to excite either the one feeling or the other: our friend was John Fell, the intelli gent, pious, zealous, liberal-minded, Bible Christian. He was too great to be the echo of a Shibboleth; he was not destined to be the last expiring spark in the tail of a comet, but to be himself a star of the first magnitude, with satellites, and belts, and rings surrounding

him.'

If the above be a true picture of the late Mr. Fell, we cannot but read this summary of his life with concern; and while we applaud those who attempted, with all the delicacy of friendship, to relieve his penury, we will not consider that event as an evil which has taken him from the neglect and ingratitude of mankind.

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the MONTHLY REVIEWERS.

• GENTLEMEN,

MAY I be allowed to submit to your consideration a very few remarks upon your review of an article or two communicated by me to the last volume of "Archæologia”.

In p. 303, you very properly object to the word "Calendar," and wish to substitute " Missal, or Book of Prayers." I have only to observe that the members who communicate papers to the Society, are not res sponsible for the descriptions prefixed to them, nor for the running titles. You will perceive that I had used the words "ancient book of prayers." I would beg leave to add that the term "Missal" is oftentimes very im properly used when speaking generally of these MSS. and can only apply when the volume happens actually to contain the service of the mass.

In the next article, I am made to speak the sentiments of another gentleman; and what I really had said is not noticed at all, though it appears to have been otherwise intended.

The article relating to female dress is by mistake given to Mr. Incledon, and though it is not worth reclaiming on my part, justice requires that its imperfections be not laid to the charge of any one but its right owner. I remain, with the greatest respect,

"Gower-street, 10th Dec. 1797.

Your obedient servant,
FRANCIS DOUCE.*

In a letter which claims respect by its candor and politeness, the Rev. Thomas Scott objects to the conclusion of our account of his answer to Paine's Age of Reason, (see Rev. for August, p. 464.) in which we spoke of his idea of the universal meaning of the word prophesying in Scripture. We omitted, indeed, his exception relative to false prophets; which, perhaps, we ought to have noticed: but, had we given it with his general rule, we should not have assented to his doc. trine. It does not appear that either prophets or false prophets uniformly spoke, or pretended to speak, from a divine supernatural impulses When they had obtained the name of prophets, all that they said, at least with any seriousness, was called prophesying; and hence the word was used with great latitude. In 1 Kings, xviii. 29. to which we before referred, what is denominated prophesying seems rather to be an address or supplication of the false prophets, or ministers of Baal, to their imagia nary God, than an address to the people pretended to be dictated by him. Elijah's irony points out the nature of the speech of Baal's priest, the delivery of which is termed prophesying. Besides, is not this word employed in the O. and N. T. to signify sometimes pious praise and religious exhortation; and do these require or imply what we un derstand by inspiration? Mr. S. may say that, though pious praise and religious exhortation do not require inspiration, yet, when these are termed prophesying, we are to understand that the persons in these instances were inspired. If he insists on this, we must leave him in possession of his own opinion, and only add that we do not agree with him.

G. R. of C. C. C. Oxon. in sending us an account of a translated work, was not aware that we reviewed that publication from the origì. nal, in the App. to our 23d vol. ; and that we have now, therefore, only to announce the translation, and to speak of its merit.-His MS. shall be returned to him, if he pleases, and will direct how it may be sent.

The friendly admonitions of Medicus are taken in good part. As to one paragraph of his letter, we can only fay that dullness is certainly infectious; and to his other observations, we must rejoin, with poor Oroonoko in Southern's Play,

"Canst thou raise the Dead?"

TO THE

TWENTY-FOURTH VOLUME

OF THE

MONTHLY REVIEW

ENLARGED.

FOREIGN LITERATURE.

ART. I. Memoires, ou Essais sur la Musique; &c. i. e. Musical Memoirs, or Essays, by M. GRETRY, Member of the Institut National of France, Inspector of the Musical Conservatorio at Paris, of the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna, and of the Society of Emulation at Liege, 3 Vols. 8vo. Paris.

T

HE extensive celebrity of the author of this work, as a voluminous and successful composer of musical dramas, chiefly comic, made us curious and eager to see how a professor of such long experience would treat the subject; and we have therefore regretted that the volumes have been published a considerable time, before we could procure a copy of them. Though we do not implicitly subscribe to all his opinions, it is but justice to own that we have received much amusement, and, as musical dilettanti, instruction, in the perusal of his lucubrations. A very entertaining history of M. GRETRY'S own life occurs, written somewhat in the style of Rousseau's Confessions: but as, during infancy and adolescence, he was not so naughty a boy as the citizen and philosopher of Geneva, we may venture to recommend the perusal of his memoirs. He apologizes for his want of that accuracy and elegance of style, which the public has a right to expect from men of letters, long accustomed to the press: but he writes with' clearness on some parts of his art, which, in most musical treatises, furnish nothing but jargon to ignorant students who seek for information. M. GRETRY

APP. REV. VOL. XXIV.

LI

M. GRETRY was born at Liege in 1741. His father and grandfather were musicians, not of great eminence, in that city. At six years old he was placed under the organist of the cathedral, as a chorister; and he describes with great feeling, and, we fear, with accuracy, his sufferings from the tyranny and cruelty of his master. He made little progress in his art during the four or five years of his slavery with this preceptor; and at the end of this period his father was desired to take him home, as fear had robbed him of his voice, which was originally good, and of great compass. Being placed under a gentle and kind master, however, he soon discovered such a disposition for the art to which he was destined, as drew on him considerable notice. A company of burletta singers from Italy arriving at Liege about this time, who performed the comic operas of Pergolesi, Galuppi, &c., his father procured for him the liberty of going into the orchestra; where he attended at all the rehearsals as well as performances, and where he acquired a passion for music which has never been diminished, except through sickness, during his whole life. He was soon able to sing an anthem at the cathedral, in such a manner as delighted and astonished all the ecclesiastics as well as lay-congregation; and he very candidly ascribes his rapid vocal improvements to the opportunity with which he was indulged of hearing the Italians at the theatre.

When his voice was breaking, he continued to sing as long as any tones were left; till, by extreme exertion in performing an air by Buranello that was too high for him, he brought on a hemorrhage, with which he has been afflicted at times ever since. In speaking of this malady, be describes his case very minutely, with the regimen and medicines which were ordered by the famous Dr. Tronchin, and which may be very useful for persons to know who have had the misfortune of bursting a blood-vessel, or have weak lungs. After this event, the young musician was obliged to discontinue the exercise of his voice in singing, and even in reading aloud, which in five minutes' time would have renewed the hemorrhage. He now began to study composition. The history of these studies, with the instructions which he received from different masters of eminence, will be very interesting and profitable to young students in composition; and the more so, as he gives very few instruc tions for the mechanical parts of harmony and melody, which may be found in most printed books, but many for the expression of the passions, and for producing dramatic effects; which, though chiefly calculated for the meridian of France, may, in part, be profitably adopted elsewhere.

The

The reflections of M. GRETRY will not be found always new, out of France. D'Alembert said that " Italian music is a language of which we have not even the alphabet:" but since this severe censure, the vocal melodies of Italy, and the instrumental music of Germany, have been so generally adopted, and imitated in the theatres and concerts of France, as totally. to change the style of composition, though not the vocal expression of music, in that country. The custom of beating time in an orchestra, or on the stage, to which the author objects, has been discontinued in every country, except France, since our Commemoration of Handel, 784.

The want of expression in the organ has been long in a great measure obviated in England by the swell; not only in one set of keys, but in the whole instrument, by means of pedals. The grand desideratum is having the forte and piano in that noble in strument in the power of the pressure of the finger, which has been long discussed in this country, and attempted more than twenty years ago in chamber organs. The importance of time, rhythm, or exact measure in music, has been allowed by the antient Greek theorists, who style it the To way of the art :but that invariable regularity of measure and accent, which rendered Italian music so superior to that of France and of almost all other countries, is now nearly abolished by the frequent and indiscriminate adoption of the new fashion of ralen tando. M. GRETRY's unqualed assertion, (p. 44,) that the pulse is accelerated or retarded by the change of musical measures, seems incredible.

The author gives an entertaining account of his walking, at the age of 18, to Rome; where he was received into the Liege academy or college, and lodged and boarded for five years. Here he studied under excellent masters, and here he began his career as a composer. Sacchini used to say that he well remembered him during his residence in that city, and expected much from his genius: but by going to Paris, and adopting the French style of composition, he had disappointed him. Candour, however, obliges us to say in his defence that it was his business to please the nation which patronized him; and that, in his numerous compositions to French words, he has manifested such resources as would have ensured him the applause of Italy itself, or any other country to which he might have determined to devote his services.

M. GRETRY seems much perplexed how to trace the origin of the term Rosalia, used in tiresome repetitions of the same passage, a note higher or lower successively:-but we recollect

* Sur la Liberté de la Musique.

LI 2

that