mankind, our celebrations of his glories, and thanksgivings for his mercies. From the first to the last we were sensible to the want of these essentials. The lines are smooth and polished, but there is a luxurious, not to call it a voluptuous tone and spirit, breathing throughout both language and imagery, which does not accord with the intent. The passage from the Psalms placed at the head of the first paraphrase, is calculated to force this observation upon us; and we take, as an instance, the concluding stanza of this song and its original:

us.

"Thou hast made summer and winter" Psalm 74. 17.

"When youthful spring around us breathes,

Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh,

And every flower the summer wreathes
Is born beneath that kindling eye."

We know not whether the million of our readers will agree with Those who have been relaxed by much acquaintance with the enervating stanzas of modern estimation, will certainly see nothing to offend their sense of propriety. Our complaint is, that we can find none of that "divinest melancholy" through which the soul is brought by contemplation to worship. Here are none of the attributes of that Goddess "sage and holy" whom the mightiest master of sacred song invoked in such mood,

"Come, pensive nun, devout and pure,

Sober, stedfast, and demure,
All in a robe of darkest grain,
Flowing with majestic train,
And sable stole of cypress lawn,
Over thy decent shoulders drawn.
Come, but keep thy wonted state,
With even step, and musing gait ;
And looks commercing with the skies,
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes:
There, held in holy passion still,

Forget thyself to marble, till

With a sad leaden downward cast

Thou fix them on the earth as fast.-Il Penseroso.`

Let not this, the finest personification we have of the temper that disposes to the most intense and true devotion, be mistaken for a gloomy disposition. Let any one read the exquisite poem, from

which our extract is made, commune with himself, and question his own heart.

To bring our sentiments and MR. MOORE's sacred songs to a still fairer test, we shall take leave to quote one of them, changing a single word :

"As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean,

Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see,
So, deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion,
Unheard by the world, rises silent to thee;
My Love! silent to thee;

Pure, warm, silent to thee.

So, deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion,
Unheard by the world, rises silent to thee!

"As still, to the star of its worship, tho' clouded,
The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea,
So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to thee;
My Love! trembling to thee;

True, fond, trembling to thee.

So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to thee !"

We now ask whether this be not sweet amatory versification? and of our fair readers whether they would not feel the glow that kindles in young and meeting hearts at receiving such a billet for a lover? If, as in one similar experiment we have made, the answer be in the affirmative, our case is established; since for the word we have introduced-"LOVE"-should be read the awful name of "GOD."

MR. MOORE (perhaps with intent to redeem his past errors,) has, we think, wandered from his hitherto careless way 'mongst sweets and flowers; and unless this is his reason, we cannot see why, without supposing a motive by far too unworthy to drive him to sport with things sacred. The airs he has selected would have gone as well to other subjects more within the range of his intellectual habits; and, amongst the mistakes into which he has been allured, is the metre which some of the melodies demand, and which give a skipping and a flippant turn to the most serious circumstances. Thus the melancholy incident, rendered into verse at page 31, is

deprived of its affecting power, and the images, some of them par ticularly beautiful-such as

"And now like a star beyond evening's cold dew,

Looks radiantly down on the tears of this world;"

wear an air any thing but sacred. These are our general impressions, after going through the whole. There are parts exempt; and in justice to MR. MOORE we quote the following classical exception :

By the terms we have used, we trust we have conveyed no idea any moral imputation. Our objection is purely to the verbiage, which we think is rather the language of amatory than devotional* composition. It wants the strength and simplicity which are the main characteristics of this species of writing.

Of the music we may speak in less qualified terms. The selection is made with the same elegant taste that has distinguished the Irish Melodies and the National Airs. There is nothing weak or unin

* Fine sensibility and a brilliant imagination are always in danger of falling into this error-so true it is, that love and devotion are really allied, and have their root in the same class of perceptions. In HAYDN's Creation this idea pervades the entire performance, and it is most particularly predominant in the air "Of stars the fairest," part of Adam and Eve's morning hyinn. No one ever sung the first sentence "Of stars the fairest, O how sweet thy smile at dawning morn," without anticipating that the address was to Eve instead of the sun.

testing in the whole book. The first air (attributed to MRS. SHERIDAN by some,) is almost as simple as the hundreth psalm, and is pious and beautiful.-The symphonies, particularly the closing one, are exceedingly appropriate.-The airs from HAYDN far exceed the others, and we are inclined to give SIR JOHN STEVENSON'S the second place. We like "Weep not for those" perhaps the least. We cannot imagine the author's reasons for setting the poem we have quoted above, “ The bird let loose in Eastern skies,” as a trio. Surely such a mode of adaptation is at variance with the sentiment?

We have to object to a great many of the notes appended as ornaments, which are generally very common place, and not seldom vulgar. Well-taught singers do not need and will not employ them; and those who are un-taught or (a more general evil,) illtaught, will make bad worse. "The turf shall be my fragrant shrine," is one of those most disgraced by these "graceless graces."

With this l'envoy then, we dismiss the book. It is finely printed. The poetry, though not appropriately pure in its language, is easy and polished the airs are well selected, and they will rather exalt than injure the taste. We cannot compare them with the finer selections of MR. NOVELLO; nor do we consider that the authors intend to address them to the precise class of musicians, to whose gratification that gentleman has directed his higher efforts in scientific arrangement. For the "SACRED SONGS," though grave, are still "Leviora studia."

A Divertimento for the Pianoforte with an accompaniment for the flute ad libitum, from the favorite air in Rossini's Opera of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, by T. Latour, Pianiste to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. London. Chappell and Co.

This Divertimento consists of a short introduction to Rossini's two airs and a concluding polacca, but there is so little original matter in it, that it is not very creditable to Mr. LATOUR'S inventive powers, to dish up popular airs in so meagre a way. Of all the species of writing, variations are the easiest, and require the least genius. This composition ought in truth to be so called, for the air and and variations not only make up the greatest part of the

lesson, but the themes are frequently introduced, and they are repeated more than once in different parts of the scale successively.Thus the whole wears too much the appearance of what is called in familiar language, a catch-penny publication. So long as the appetite for novelty continues, such practices will endure; but we should regret to see them receive countenance and encouragement from what may be quoted as the example of any name so highly authorized as that of the "Pianiste to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent.” In the divertimento before us, the echoes of the flute, in the introduction, are pretty, and the Polacca, at the end, gives it a spirited termination, but we are inclined to think it will not add much to the reputation of MR. LATOUR as a composer.

A Sixth Air, with variations for the Piano Forte. By J. T. Burrowes. London. Chappel and Co.

We may, with advantage, "contrast the subject of our present article with the one which precedes it, for here we have a simple and not inelegant theme of great sweetness, with variations very pleasing, in many styles, and in general good taste, embracing some difficulties of execution, yet leading the student agreeably forward by the melody and vivacity of the composition. In the fifth variation the hands are in many places brought so close, as to render the performance somewhat awkward. With the exception of one example in CRAMER's exercises, we do not remember to have met with any thing constructed in a similar way. The different harmonics introduced into the seventh give the ear a well-timed relief from the tedium of continual rapid execution, and may serve to shew the student in harmony, of what variety even so few notes as those of the melody are susceptible, from the powers of this inexhaustible science. The eighth is a delightful slow movement, calculated to call forth the expression of the player, and it has also some good modulation. The ninth gives animation to the conclusion.

The lesson requires some execution, though it is not of that scrambling kind which wanders no one knows whither, no one can