the world, but to give, as it were, a lift to inquiry; to suggest points of practical importance; to give a broad, and he hopes a correct, view of the Art generally; and, lastly, to interest the young student in the acquirement of Musical knowledge.

Never was there a time known when Music was so universally cultivated as it now is, never perhaps a time when the true principles of the Art were less understood and less carried out. And the reason is plain-the principles of instruction are out of course and unsound; the foundation of Musical knowledge too often is ignorantly laid, and the fabric unskilfully built, the superstructure or summit is alone crowned by competent hands;-in plain words, students learn to walk at home, and they go to London for a few finishing lessons in the art of running. Nor can the Author overlook in this statement the almost unaccountable neglect of harmonic science which is conspicuous in the Musical teaching of the day, the practical part being the sole end and object of every teacher; plainly showing that any knowledge beyond this is not held in the slightest account.

Often with astonishment has he heard an executant of no mean order not only confess freely their ignorance of Harmony, but even almost seem to derive merit of grace from the deficiency.

If parents would confine the teaching of Music to such only of their children as showed a marked talent for the thing, and then gave them sound instruction from the very first, we should have fewer players but more musicians.

It is to those who are in earnest about the matter that this little work is addressed, and in the hope that it may lead to good results the Author submits it without further comment to their perusal.

HANDY-BOOK

OF

MUSICAL ART.

IN what I am about to write on the subject of Music, I do not mean to give an abstract detail of the science, but to draw a few observations, and lay down a few practical rules, which may be of service to the student.

Many of these are not new; some are: the greater part has been collected together in the course of my own studies; some are the result of my own experience and observation. But from whatever source derived, the design of this little work is

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entirely new, and my object has been to lighten, if possible, the labours of the Musical Student, and suggest some plain and useful hints, which he may afterwards enlarge by more extensive reading.

I. THE NATURE AND OFFICE OF
MUSIC.

I WILL commence with a few remarks on the nature and office of Music.

Music, I need scarcely say, is a difficult science, and a still more difficult art. This arises from its abstract nature. It is, as it were, "of man's life a thing apart;" it is wedded to nothing which we see or hear about us. The songsters of the grove are but sorry minstrels after all, and their music is not reducible to any rule of Art.

The difficulty of Musical Science, on the one hand, is apparent from that deep and unfathomable source whence the subjectmatter is derived; the musician has no material or object before him, like the painter, to serve as a model for the exercise of his skill; sounds yet unheard, and

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forms yet unseen, are his materials for work; and that invisible, restless agent, the air, is the power which he has to win and to subdue for the purposes of his art.

On the other hand, the difficulty of Musical Art stands displayed in its unusually stringent demands upon the artist

-no time is given to the interpreter of music for reflection-the thing must be done in tempo, at the instant, and often without any previous knowledge of the subject. The poet and the painter may experiment as far as they please. Ideas may receive a true or an amended expression from the pen or pencil, but the expression and utterance of musical ideas must be prompt, unhesitating, and beyond reach of correction.

Music, in short, in its highest flights, soars far above all earthly images and things,-"it is wholly form and expression, and is dependent on no subject