Let Sinai tell, for she beheld his might,

And God's own darkness veil'd her mystic height:

He cherub borne, upon the whirlwind rode,

And the red mountain like a furnace glow'd!
But who shall dare recite

His praise, his power, eternal, infinite.

These words chosen for the next recitative we should, a priori, have imagined would have been the subject of far more elaborate composition. It is perhaps difficult to deterniine whether a grand and powerful elocution, developed in a few plain notes, may not express such a thought with more force than a more artificial combination. The sole contrivance of the composer, if such it may be called, here is, to rise from the humility of the minor key to the brilliancy of the major, as he passes from the insufficiency of the poet to the majesty of the subject, and without allowing a more than usual dignity of expression to the performer, and a latitude amounting to an absolute conversion of the passage, we cannot picture to ourselves the means of worthily expressing "eternal, infinite," as they are now set The first strain of the air which follows is HANDEL'S " Tears such as tender fathers shed," with a very slight alteration. But upon the whole it is beautiful, solemn, and pious. A rather declamatory treble recitative and song follow, which are not distinguished by any particular beauties or defects.

. DR. CROTCH has made his next tenor song upon a ground bass, a favorite exercise of STRADELLA and our own PURCELL. We may hazard a conjecture that this expedient was adopted to give a spelllike muttering to accord with the words in the perpetually recurring repetition of the few bass notes. The melody, however smooth and sweet, is, to our apprehension, neither very strong nor very expressive. It has, at the opening, a corriderable degree of flow and sweetness, but upon the whole it wears rather a sombre and heavy than a striking effect, while there is not variation enough to convey a sufficient impression of the ingenuity which the composition really implies. The accidental notes introduced into the air upon the words, "That burst the slumbers of the dead," are harsh and ungrateful to our ears without producing a legitimate effect. The expression of such words demands a grandeur of conception which is, we think, wanting.

"Hence all his might," is an imitative chorus, with a very brilliant

accompaniment-the close seems very original, and produces a very fine effect.

The next song, "In frantic converse," and the semi-chorus which breaks in, is the most imaginative and pleasing melody that the oratorio has yet brought before us, while the interspersed semi-chorus is finely conceived and richly dight with extraneous modulation, to give all the effect that harmony can confer. The whole of this, though second to the former chorus in grandeur of design and splendour of execution, is yet little inferior to it in the attainment of the objects to which its aim is directed.

The duet, "Such the faint echo," is light, airy, and amongst the most agreeable parts-though here we should again object to the monotonous effect of too frequent repetitions.

The bass air," For thee his iv'ry load," brings us back to the remembrance of HANDEL. The accompaniments of the first parts are in a firm classical style of writing, and the melody is rich and good. This continues till the words, "Or ere to Greece," where the force of the composer sinks to the level mechanical imagery of the poetry. We know not whether to call the recitative, which comes in at the conclusion of the song, an interruption or a continuation. It seems designed however to introduce, with better effect, the conclusion of the scene, "Then the harp awoke," which is very bold, spirited, and bright. The whole of the musical phrase which precedes the chorus is, however, common place. One of the most prominent defects is the employment of its thread-bare close.

We have again a very forceful imitative chorus, with a brilliant and active accompaniment. In the 25th bar (page 78) the bass leads a fine solemn subject, which is answered by the different parts. The rest of the imitative passages are dignified and well supported. This chorus closes the first part of the oratorio with great spirit and propriety.

THE SECOND PART opens with a bold and imposing symphony, wherein the orchestra is employed to express the imagery, in which the sentiment of the song (for a tenor) is involved. The words are"Did Israel shrink when raging deep and loud,

Beat o'er her soul the billows of the proud."

It is a unison accompaniment nearly throughout, of a rolling, “billowy" cast, while the passages of the song, on the contrary, are single notes, and the melody is finely declamatory. If it fails at all

in effect, it must be from the fiequent repetition of the same passage— a circumstance which, as it is common to many of the airs in PALESTINE, throws a doubt upon the author's power to invent various melody. This is a song in which the expedient of employing the instruments to imitate, as it were, a natural image—the boiling motion of waves-is successfully introduced.

A treble air, partaking more of modern elegance perhaps than any other in the oratorio, is next in succession. There are some passages of pathos, though they are not wrought to any considerable depth. The arpeggio accompaniment confers a grace and variety, and upon the whole it is sweet, light, and beautiful; but this also is rendered too long by repetition.

The chorus," Nor vain the hope," is of a brilliant cast, with fre quent and judicious variation in the accompaniment. There is great spirit throughout, particularly in the succession of scientific passages towards the end.

A quartett succeeds, which is delightfully serene and abounding with elegant imitations. There is a dignified suavity worthy the subject—the adoration of the Magi-which breathes over the entire composition. The accompaniment is exccedingly happy and effective. A plainer chorus follows, though speaking and joyous: here too the instruments are very skilfully employed. "He comes," a chorus beginning nearly in the same style, but gradually increasing in grandeur and scientific combination, leads finely to a second quartett and chorus interspersed, which is highly beautiful and devotional. A recitative for the bass, full of imagination, and rich in the symphonies and the accompaniments, which are intended to express the awful convulsions of nature attending the crucifixion, comes next. A pathetic air, "Are these his limbs, with ruthless scourges torn?" is placed in strong contrast, to carry on the description and affords a fine scope for elocution, tone, polish, and the expressive powers of a singer. A chorus completes the scene, and is at once full of scientific combination and contrivance, impassionate and picturesque. The continuation of the bass, who keeps up the portraiture of our Saviour's last agony, while the chorus imprecates the sun to stay his course and "noon-day darkness" to "hide the dreadful sacrifice," with the broken and convulsive notes, of the basses more particularly, bring into play all the resources of art. A treble air, in a minor key, exceedingly plain in its structure,

prolongs the sentiment, though we cannot think this air, affecting as we must allow it to be, by any means the highest specimen of ability the oratorio contains; it does not strike us even as original.

It is singular that DR. CROTCH, throughout the oratorio, has given to his tenor songs a declamatory part only; "Vengeance thy fiery wing their race pursued" is a song of this cast, and certainly of great strength. A very curious accompanied recitative then follows, in which the Doctor has employed his science most efficiently. The song is a mixture of pathos and declamation, the instruments taking a capital part, and perhaps bearing more than equal sway with the melody. A quartett and chorus, “Then on your tops," very sweetly soothes and beautifully assuages the stronger feelings excited by the preceding scenes.

"No more your thirsty rocks" is a treble air somewhat in the style of HAYDN There are passages which remind us of the structure of "With verdure clad," in the Creation. Upon the whole this appears to be a speaking and graceful air. A bass air of astonishing force is then brought into contrast. The words are

"But who is he, the vast, the awful form,

Girt with the whirlwind, sandalled with the storm,
A western cloud around his limbs is spread,
His crown a rainbow, and a sun his head?
To highest heaven he lifts his kingly hand,
And treads at once the ocean and the land ;
And hark! his voice amid the thunders roar,

His dreadful voice, that time shall be no more."

The

It is scarcely possible for poetry to personify a series of images more terribly, more awfully sublime than these lines, and the composer has apparently felt the inspiration. The passages of the melody are, as it may be imagined, of the highest strain of musical eloquence, while the orchestra is fully engaged in the picturing of the clouds and mists and darkness which involve the scene. first four lines, though called an air, are rather, we conceive, accompanied recitative. Those which conclude the description, are thrown into air, and the adaptation is made intelligible by the voice part taking a melody, of which the intervals are either distant or chromatic, while the instruments, apparently only the bass and the violins, are active, though their motion is contrasted. We can conceive, that the sudden silence of the band leaving the voice only to express

the prophetic annunciation, "Time shall be no more," and again bursting in, with renewed force, upon the words " His dreadful voice," must be highly magnificent and imposing. We should, however, again complain of repetition, this passage coming over no less than six times, and nearly in direct succession. A sestett, a chorus, a ballelujah, and amen conclude the oratorio, with taste, science, and effect, such as we should expect from the author of so rich, so elaborate, and so masterly a composition.

Our minute analysis has left us little to say in the general, and if we have produced no particular instances of rare and scientific combinations or passages, it is because we are impressed with the learning, dignity, and elegance of the whole in so eminent a degree, that we would rather recommend the perusal of the entire oratorio to the amateur and to the professional student, than diminish its lustre, by subtracting any of its power by separating its parts. DR. CROTCH manifests throughout very extensive reading, very erudite research, with that happy assimilation that distils and concentrates and appropriates the essence of all that passes under his eye, or enters into his memory We should be exceedingly at a loss to decide upon the ab solute nature of the style he has thus compounded, but perhaps we may make our idea understood by literary analogy. When we first read MR SOUTHEY's poem, of" Roderick the last of the Goths," it seemed to us that his style was made up by pieces of a portion of the peculiarities of the finest writers who preceded him, rather than of any direct original choice of expression, levelled and compacted by the habit of authorship. There was in it something of all, but most of MILTON, and of the sacred writings; but as our first impression wore off, by successive readings of this the most admirable poem of modern times, we saw the concentration of acquirement, and the wholesome vigour of intellect, which had thus digested its rich and strong food. We e saw at once conjoined the reading, the judgment, and the imaginative faculties of the poet. Thus, on our first inspections of the score of PALESTINE, we thought we could perceive where the mind of DR. CROTCH had taken its form and pressure, and in whose schools it had been exercised and trained. We saw the native vigor of its growth, and the superadded strength attained by study. HANDEL, we should say, predominates, but there is so much of multifarious reading, so much of deep resource, so much universal acquaintance, not only with theory but with practice, not only