euphonious, sweet, and flowing; but those by Tate, Merrick, and even the pious Doddridge, by their ill chosen words, refuse all alliance with musical sounds. Had the poetry of Watts called forth the strains of the royal organists Croft, Green, and Boyce, we should have had a psalmody that would have lived for ages; instead of which, the piety of the Nonconformists has been married to the most unholy strains, and we have been deluged with a psalmody composed of light and impious trash. As an instance, we may quote the following strain from an expensive work, published by a person of character, but, upon this subject, certainly possessing not the least sense of propriety; we have the words of the Easter Hymn affixed to the Tyrolese Waltz : To correct such levity and want of reverence, the author of these essays had the sanction of the late king, George IV., to make a selection of the best poetry, conjoined to the finest music, as a standard book of psalmody, which has been published under the title of the Sacred Melodies; but another age must pass away before the divine strains of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, can be appreciated by a taste so low as that which at present prevails in our churches. From these two hundred and twenty pieces, chiefly taken from these authors, we select the following. We are indebted to the Catholics for the great improvement in sacred compositions. Had not Palestrini, Carissimi, Leo, and Pergolesi written, it is doubtful if we could have boasted of our English composers, Purcel, Croft, Green, and Boyce. Though psalmody does not enter into the high mass, yet it has great solemnity in their vespers and processions. The author of the German Ramble, speaking of a procession on the feast of Corpus Christi at Cologne, says,On these occasions the streets are strewed 'with rushes, so that the performers glide along 'noiseless as ghosts, and nothing interrupts the 'solemnity of the harmony. The singers consisted ' of young girls and boys, youths and maidens; and lastly, of consummate men, walking in double rows of immense length, accompanied by bands of wind 'instruments. The simple hymn sung by the girls ' in three parts, pitched in a low key, nicely in tune 'and without vociferation; this replied to by the 'men's voices, and then in return by those of the youths; produced the most affecting appeal to the feelings of which music is capable. Tears came 'unbidden. The pauses in the music, the large |