countrymen had sense and taste to abjure. Yet it is with some pleasure we remark, that the more recent monuments are free from marks and injuries, evincing either that a better watch is now maintained, or a better feeling actuates the majority of the visiters.

monastery. It was unfortunately burnt, in 1644, along with many others; out of 230 MSS., but one was saved. It seems, however, that a copy or an abridgment of the book constitutes one of the Harleian manuscripts. For a long series of ages have those splendid scenes been The coronation of the kings of England in this acted within the walls of the Abbey-one monarch Abbey forms one of its peculiar features of interest."sleeping with his fathers," and gathered to his last For the regulation of this august ceremony, Malcolm repose, amid nodding plumes, and prelates and nobles tells us, a most magnificent book was compiled in very following the bier with measured and silent pace; remote times, and kept among the archives of the another approaching with the sound of trumpet, and

great musician for the benefit of the city prison. Handel afterwards performed it annually for the benefit of the Foundling Hospital in London; and after his death, it was brought forward by Mr. Smith and Mr. Stanley until 1777, producing in twenty-eight years a sum of 10,000l.

the echoing shouts and resounding cries of a nation, to step into the vacant seat. Some of the coronations have been scenes of extraordinary magnificence. Henry the Seventh's was deficient in show: he seems to have transferred his coronation pomp to his funeral. But his son, the Eighth Harry, atoned for the deficiency. The excess of magnificence displayed seems to have surpassed that of all previous occasions. Whatever could dazzle the eye in the rich barbaric pomp of the time was exhibited. To render the excess of magnificence safe, conspicuous, and clean, the streets were railed, barred, and swept; and that the general view might not be incongruous, by the eye wandering from pomp to wretchedness, from sparkling gems and shining velvets to smoked and dirty plaster,-the fronts of the houses were hung with tapestry and arras. Upon this occasion great part of the south side of Cheapside was covered with cloth of gold. The different city companies were arranged on stages from Grace-church westward. The goldsmiths had virgins clad in white placed before them, bearing burning tapers; and numbers of priests in the rich vestments of the altar lined the way, some bearing crosses, and others burning incense before the royal pair. After a lapse of three centuries, the coro-assistance. It was next submitted to the Directors of nation of George the Fourth is remarkable as being the only one in modern times which was celebrated with extraordinary splendour.

The commemoration of Handel, which took place in Westminster Abbey in 1784, exactly half a century ago, forms one of the greatest musical epochas, and is recognized as such, not only by our own writers and professors, but by those of every other country; for no event of the kind, indeed no exhibition of art, ever excited so general an interest. The commemoration took its rise in a conversation between Viscount Fitzwilliam, Sir W. W. Wynne, and Joah Bates, Esq., Commissioner of the Victualling Office, at the beginning of the year 1783. It occurred to these enthusiastic admirers of Handel, that the birth and death of that great master would be an occasion on which their scheme might be properly introduced; and as the year 1784 would form a complete century since his birth and a quarter of a century from his death, it was resolved to attempt it. The plan was communicated to the Governors of the Musical Fund, who approved of it, and promised their

the Concert of Ancient Music, who voluntarily undertook the trouble of managing and directing the celebration. At length the design coming to the knowAnother circumstance connected with the Abbey ledge of the King, (George III.) it was honoured with is the funeral of Oliver Cromwell. He was buried his Majesty's sanction and approbation. Westminster in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, with a pomp Abbey, where the bones of the great musician were little reconcileable to republican notions. The walls deposited, was thought the fittest place for the perwere hung with escutcheons to the number of 240.formance; and application having been made to the The hearse had twenty-six large embossed shields; Bishop of Rochester (Dr. Thomas, Dean of the Abbey) twenty-four smaller, with crowns; sixty badges (his for the use of it, his Lordship readily consented; only crest), and thirty-six scrolls, with mottoes suited requesting, as the performance would interfere with the to his merit, placed on it. His effigies were carved, annual benefit of the Westminster Hospital, that part and superbly arrayed; and a velvet pall of eighty of the profits might be appropriated to that charity. yards was borne over all. After the Restoration, To this the projectors of the plan readily acceded; and his body was exhumed, and hanged on a gallows at it was afterwards settled, that the profits of the first Tyburn day's performance should be equally divided between the Musicians' Fund and the Westminster Hospital, and those of the subsequent days should be applied to the former exclusively.

The late Musical Festival is too important to be passed over, in our account of the Abbey. We shall introduce it by an account of previous festivals, abridged, together with the account of the late one, from the Musical Library.'

The first instance in which music appears to have been formally introduced in aid of charity, in Great Britain, was at the Anniversary of the Sons of the Clergy, in 1709, when the celebrated Dr. Atterbury preached at St. Paul's. From this time the practice was continued till 1739, when, by a mutual agreement, the Royal Society of Musicians engaged to provide a band for two annual performances for the sum of 501., which performances take place in St. Paul's Cathedral in the month of May, and at which the 'Overture to Esther' has been so constantly played, almost ever since it was composed, that it now seems in a peculiar manner dedicated to the service of the church.

The commemoration accordingly took place on the 26th of May, 1784, and four additional days. The Abbey was fitted up with surpassing elegance by Mr. Wyatt, the architect. At the east end of the aisle, a throne was erected in the Gothic style, and a centre box, richly decorated, and furnished with crimson satin, fringed with gold, for the reception of their Majesties and the Royal Family; on the right hand of which was a box for the Bishops, and on the left one for the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The orchestra was built at the opposite extremity, ascending regularly from the height of seven feet from the floor, to upwards of forty feet from the base of the pillars; and extending from the centre to the top of the side aisles. At the top of the orchestra was placed the organ, in a Gothic frame. The choral bands were placed on steps, seemingly ascending into the clouds, on each of the side

In 1738, just at the time when the original and pleasing melodies of Dr. Arne began to have a power-aisles. The instrumental band amounted to 513, and ful influence on the national taste, and to form an era in English music, the institution of the Fund for the Support of Decayed Musicians not only provided relief for the indigent and distressed, but set an example which has since been followed by other associated bodies in this country, at Vienna, and in other parts of Europe. By rather a singular coincidence, Handel, then in great pecuniary straits, was, with the utmost difficulty, persuaded to appeal to the gratitude of the public, and cleared 8001. by a benefit concert. Handel's Messiah' was first performed in Dublin, and was consecrated to charity, the proceeds being given by the

on the third day was increased to 535. "In celebrating the disposition, discipline, and effects of this most numerous and excellent band, the merit of the admirable architect who furnished the elegant designs for the orchestra and galleries must not be forgotten; as, when filled, they constituted one of the grandest and most magnificent spectacles that imagination can delineate. All the preparations for receiving their Majesties, and the first personages of the kingdom, at the east end,upwards of five hundred musicians at the west,-and the public in general, to the number of three or four thousand persons, in the area and galleries, so wonder

fully corresponded with the style of architecture of this venerable and beautiful structure, that there was nothing visible, either for use or ornament, which did not harmonize with the principal tone of the building. But, besides the wonderful manner in which this construction exhibited the band to the spectators, the orchestra was so judiciously contrived that almost every performer was in full view of the conductor and leader; which accounts, in some measure, for the uncommon care with which the performers confess they executed their parts."

but in an area more than double that of Westminster Abbey, and of course requiring a proportionate body of sound to fill it, the effect was greater than that just witnessed in the capital of the empire,

As a set-off against the assumed deficiencies, it is admitted that the performers, on the present occasion, excelled in every way those who formed the orchestra on the different festivals at the close of the last century. The force employed in the full pieces amounted to 591; and the band generally, both instrumental and vocal, can only be mentioned in terms of the highest praise. On the first day, Tuesday, June 24th, very shortly after the doors were opened, the place was crowded,their Majesties arriving about a quarter past twelve, accompanied by the Duchess of Kent, the Princess Victoria, and other illustrious personages. The scene was certainly imposing; the symmetrical appearance of the vast orchestra, the number of distinguished personages present, the great audience, amounting to nearly three thousand, displaying rank, fashion, and beauty, all contributed to produce emotions of a mixed and powerful kind.

The success which attended this Commemoration was very great. Two additional days were added to the original number of three, and the additional tickets sold amounted to nearly four thousand. The receipts were 12,7361. 12s, 10d.; and out of this, the Society of Decayed Musicians received 6000l., and the Westminster Hospital 1000. So great was the excitement produced by it, that a series of annual "commemorations" took place for a series of years, the first of which was celebrated in 1785 (exactly a year after the grand commemoration) in the Abbey, under the same patronage and direction as before. The band was The performance on the first day consisted of increased by the addition of more than a hundred Handel's Coronation Anthem,Zadok the Priest;' performers; but, on this occasion, the receipts were Haydn's oratorio of the Creation; and selections from less, although, singular to say, the expenses were also Handel's oratorio of Sampson. On the second day diminished, notwithstanding the increase of the band. (June 26) was given, first a miscellaneous selection In 1786, the festival was again repeated, and the band from the works of Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, also enlarged, so as, on this occasion, to amount to 741 and Sir John Stevenson, and Handel's oratorio of Israel individuals. The proceeds this year came within 4007. in Egypt. The third day was a miscellaneous selection; of the receipts in 1784, but the expenses were increased. the first part being from Handel's oratorio of Judas The public appetite being rather excited than satiated, Maccabæus; the other two parts being selected from a fourth grand festival took place in 1787, with still the works of Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, an increase in the band, which now amounted to 825, Pergolesi, Leo, Himmel, and Purcell,-this appears including the principal singers, twenty-five in number. to have been the least attractive of the performances, On this occasion the receipts rose to 14,0427., proving and, though well attended, the tickets are stated not to the interest of the public to be still on the stretch. have been so eagerly sought after as on the other days. But during the two succeeding years, there were no The fourth performance (on Tuesday, July 1) closed renewals of these splendid scenes,-the state of the the Festival, with Handel's magnificent oratorio of the king's health being the principal cause why they were Messiah, with the additional accompaniments of suspended. They were again renewed in 1790, and Mozart. This, it is stated, was performed at the parfinally in 1791, when the performers were increased to ticular desire of the Queen, though it is difficult to the astonishing number of 1667. But though toler-imagine how on a Commemoration of Handel it could ably well attended, the tickets were not demanded with have been possibly omitted. It was on the whole the same avidity as before; the edge of novelty was executed in a manner to give great and general satisblunted; the expenses of the performances were in-faction, and was very fully attended, creased, and the means of defraying them diminished. At this last Abbey-meeting the immortal Haydn, then on his first visit to this country, was present; and from it derived a deep reverence for the mighty genius of Handel, which, to the honour no less of his candid modesty than of his judgment, he was ever ready to

avow,

The late Festival does not appear to have given such entire satisfaction as might have been expected. There were a few present who had also been present at the "Commemoration" in 1784; and one of them, to whom the character of an unbiassed judge is given, is by no means disposed to allow that the palm was borne away from the first grand celebration. The editor of the Musical Library' assigns as one cause of failure the immense quantities of cloth with which the galleries, the orchestra, and the benches were covered. Cloth being a non-conductor of sound, the grand combined effect of the orchestra was deadened by the absorbing medium through which the volume of sound had to pass in reaching the audience. In 1784, and subsequent years, the fronts of the galleries and orchestra were covered with coloured paper; a very small, light festoon, of fringed crimson moreen, hanging as a finish from the cushions on the ledges. Those who heard the music in York Cathedral, in 1825, declare that, with about the same number of performers,

In order to the better understanding of the engraving in the following page, we give the description of the arrangements as detailed in the Supplement to the Musical Library,' No. 6:

"The nave of the Abbey is 150 feet long, and, including the aisles, seventy-two feet wide: its height 101 feet. This space was converted into a grand saloon, at the west end of which was erected the orchestra, rising from about eight feet from the floor to the middle of the great window; the principal singers, and the instrumental performers, occupying the nave part, the chorus filling the portion in the aisles up to the tops of the arches. At the east end the royal box was placed, on the right and left of which were boxes for the court attendants. Below these were, on the right a box for the bench of bishops, on the left one for the dean and prebendaries of the church, and, in the centre, just below their Majesties, the eight directors took their seats. At the same end, and at the back of the line of royal boxes, arose galleries, not included in the original plan, appropriated to the friends of the directors. In each aisle was built a long, deep gallery, extending from the orchestra to the royal boxes, and projecting from the wall to about three feet beyond the columns. The galleries contained several rows of seats, rising to the key-stones of the arches. The aisles below were fitted up in a manner similar to the galleries. The whole floor was covered by planks of wood; and

[The Nave (looking East), showing the Royal Box, and the arrangements for the celebration of the Musical Festival; taken from

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