the style of his air was too operatical, and the texture of his chorus too loose and slight, for that sphere of composition to which even the powers of Arne were not adequate."

The chapter dedicated to the investigation of the merits of Boyce and Battishill opens as follows:

"The present chapter associates two musicians, who, besides their resemblance in liberality of sentiment, and manly openness of character, were the possessors of similar talents, and might boast equal degrees of science. Both were cathedral, theatrical, and chamber composers, both lovers of the Old School, both admiring imitators of the most polished and dignified masters; and both commenced their musical education in the same choir, and now repose in the same cemetery.” V. II. p. 478.

The professional eminence of Dr. Boyce is elegantly and emphatically depicted.

"Dr. Boyce, as one of the glories of his profession, demands the homage of his historian; as a man conferring honour on his country, flatters the pride of every Englishman. Gifted with a noble genius, he might boast both freedom. and greatness of conception; deeply versed in the various excellencies of our church composers, he knew how to blend with the legitimate harmony and artful modulation of Orlando Gibbons, and the comprehensiveness of Bird, and elegance of Tallis, the fire and mellifluous fancy of Purcell and Weldon. In all his anthems, we find the happiest union of solid grandeur and fluid sweetness; in his secular music, a purity and originality of style, an independence of character, that marks his place among the inspired musicians of all times and countries. As his personal habits and manners were manly and polite, so the emanations of his genius were energetic and chaste. To peruse the melodies of his "Chaplet" and "Shepherd's Lottery," is to be struck with the inventive playfulness of the most regulated imagination; examining the score of his Solomon, we look into a mine of gold; but my allusion is not punctiliously correct; for all Boyce's gold is refined." V. II. p. 486.

Then describing the particular qualities of Battishill's music, our author says, "The productions of this ornament of his day are marked by a peculiar strength of conception, considerable originality and sweetness, and fine harmonical adjustment. His anthems are cha❤ racterised by the learning and sober majesty of Boyce's best cathedral compositions; and his chorusses in Almena,' may be compared with those in the celebrated seranata of his early friend and favourite master."

The concluding chapter of this copious and spiritedly-written history is occupied with a representation of the general state of music in England from the beginning of the last century to the present time. In this survey, or recapitulation, nothing is omitted of importance sufficient to claim our attention. Among the living composers whose merits have been deemed worthy of notice, we find Beethoven, Cherubini, Pleyel, Winter, Mr. Clementi, Mr. John Cramer, the two Wesleys, Dr. Crotch, Dr. Clarke of Cambridge, Dr. Callcott, Mr. Shield, Mr. Stevens, Sir John Stevenson, and Mr. Bishop.

The final paragraph is too eloquent in its language, and too patriotic in its tendency, not to claim our warmest commendation.

"The mind of the reader, embracing this general view of the state of music in England, from the beginning of the last century to the present time, will perceive, that during that period, a large and splendid portion of genius and scientific excellence

has been exercised and encouraged; that if, whatever the musical powers of which Greece might once boast, modern Europe has evinced its ability to conceive and execute designs more elaborate and sublime than any within the scope afforded by the ancient unisons, octaves, and discrepant intervals, in the department of harmonical construction, the lustre of this country has not been materially dimmed by the radiance of foreign models. If in music, Italy has proved itself the region of fancy, feeling, and elegance, and Germany demonstrated its theoretical profundity and felicitous contrivance, England may claim the honour of having united a respectable portion of their diversified qualities; may boast, that from their contrasted garlands, she has culled a consistent wreath of her own; that in her Blow and her Purcell, her Greene and her Arne, her Boyce and her Battishill, she has evinced a power of deep research, a clear and prompt conception, and a taste and sensibility, not uncongenial with the pathos, dignity, and manly fervour indispensable to the production of fine music."

We have now followed Dr. Busby through the pregnant pages of his luminous history; and our readers must have perceived that the work is rich in matter, felicitous in diction, judicious in selection of facts, and abundant in remark. The excellence of the phraseology, we may remark, however, is general, not universal; our ear has sometimes been offended with the inadvertent and monotonous recurrence of particular expressions; and there are pleonasms against which a fastidious critic would not fail to complain. But viewing this history generally, we are no less struck with the recondite research, than the candour and discrimination which it exhibits. A large compass of intelligence, conveyed in polished and perspicuous language, a beauty and novelty of manner, and a terse and happy modelling of the sentences, constitute the prominent characteristics of the text; while the numerous notes are, for the most part, instructive or amusing, intelligent or acute; and manifest a mind copiously stored with original and appropriate anecdote.

The many examples of vocal and instrumental music, illustrative of the harmony and melody of the different ages and countries to which they appertain, are highly useful, often sufficiently excellent to gratify the lovers of good composition, and always rare enough to repay the attention of the curious inquirer. The " Chanson de Roland" presents a favourable specimen of the ancient martial melody of France; the evidences of the skill of Thibaut, King of Navarre, in serious and cheerful vocal composition, as set forth in the songs, "I hop'd to vanquish mighty love," and "Early strolling at my leisure,” ́are tuneful and interesting; the "Dance Tune," with a bass added by J. S. Smith, demonstrates the cast of fancy prevalent in the fourteenth century; and the " Hunting Air" composed by John Cole in the fifteenth, shows the open generous style which some masters could then command; while the canon in six parts, "Sumer is i-cumen in," (Summer is a-coming in,) proves the dexterity which then existed in polyphonic composition. "With my flocks as walked I," is a ditty whose pleasingly-melancholy style declares the sentiment with which professors of the sixteenth century could compose. Bird's "Carman's Whistle" is an animated proof of that master's originality of conception; and Morley's canzonet, "See, see, mine owne sweet jewell," does honour to the succeeding century. In the "Sweet Echo" of Henry Lawes, we observe the kind of melody with

which the ear of Milton was flattered; and in the passage given to "So may'st thou be translated to the skies," recognize the notes applied by Arne to the same line. "The Five Bell Consorte," by John Jenkins, is a real curiosity; "The Queen's Command," produced for Elizabeth, by Orlando Gibbons, evinces the mastery acquired in his time on keyed instruments; and Dr. Blow's "Pastoral Ballad," and his "Philander, do not think of arms," display the advance made by English melody previous to the career of Purcell. The Italian song by Geminiani exhibits a gratifying specimen of that master's graceful imagination; and we were more than ordinarily pleased with the elegance of Arne's minuet, and the unaffected beauty of Battishill's hymn.

To pass from the notice of the music to a review of the poetry, with which this history is interspersed and illustrated, would be an easy and a natural transition; but we have extended our notice of the work to a length which will only admit of our adding, That it forms a striking ornament, as well as useful elucidation, of the work; and that the numerous translations by the author would prove, if his Lucretius had not proved it before, that the spirit and beauty of his verse does not yield to the strength and perspicuity of his prose.

To sum up as briefly as we can our opinion of Dr. Busby's present publication. It is a work replete with information, substantial in its matter, candid in its criticism, ornamented in its style, and honourable to his genius, his taste, and his learning.

ART. II. A Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of New South Wales, and its dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land; with a particular enumeration of the Advantages which these Colonies offer for Emigration, and their superiority in many respects over those possessed by the United States of America. By W. C. WENTWORTH, Esq. a Native of the Colony. London: Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane. 1819. Pp. 478. 8vo.

THIS work is the production of a native of Australasia; and whilst it is, so far as we know, in that respect unique, it exhibits no unfavourable specimen of the literature of this new continent. Though written evidently by an unpractised, but somewhat ambitious pen, and though occasionally rising into turgidity, or running into tiresome and overstrained disquisition, it is not without considerable talent and research; and it is interesting and curious, from the exposition it gives of the situation, the

resources, and the future hopes of a country, which, notwithstanding the gloomy picture it presents, is destined perhaps to rank, at no distant period, among the most flourishing colonies of the British empire.

This

The territory of New South Wales, as defined in his Majesty's commission to Captain Phillip, appointing him the first governor of the new colony, extends along the whole of the eastern coast of New Holland, from Cape York, its northern, to South Cape, its southern extremity; and inland to the westward as far as the 135th degree of east longitude, comprehending all the adjacent islands within the latitudes of the capes. appropriated country includes most of the discoveries of Captain Cook in that quarter, and is carefully circumscribed within such bounds as to avoid infringing on the supposed rights of other nations: but as Great Britain is the only state which has there established a regular colony and civil government, her claim to the sovereignty of the whole island has not become a subject of controversy.

In the month of January 1788, a fleet, containing the first fruits of a scheme for colonizing this extensive and fertile country, arrived at Botany Bay. It consisted of 1030 individuals, of whom upwards of 700 were convicts, between two and three hundred were military, and the remainder comprised the civil establishment, together with the suite of the governor.

Thus was laid the foundation of a British settlement at the extremity of the globe, and only a few days sail from the Antipodes of the parent country. The object of this establishment was to form, for those miserable persons whose crimes had brought them under the sentence of the law, an asylum in which they might be trained to honest and industrious habits, and where they might eventually have an opportunity of receiving the reward of good conduct, in the means of acquiring an honourable independence. The intention was laudable, but the scheme was Utopian, and, in its practical details, most slovenly and censurable. It did not require much insight into human nature to be assured, that, even under the most perfect organization, and the most rigorous superintendence, it was not possible for a plan of reformation to be effectual, which necessarily admitted a free intercourse among persons previously contaminated in their moral and religious sentiments, and versed in all the arts of duplicity and crime. But if the principle on which the settlement was formed was radically bad, the arrangements actually adopted completed the certainty of its failure. Seven hundred convicts, of whom one-third were females, were at once thrown loose on a new world, without any preparation for their recep

tion, and without any materials out of which an effective police could have been formed, or a school of virtue and religion established. What could be more preposterous? The most worthless of their species were to be taught the virtues of integrity, justice, and purity, by being brought into mutual contact; they were to be trained to generous and manly feeling, by the degra dation of slavery; they were to become sober, contented, and religious, by the force of military compulsion! The result has been what might have been anticipated. Instead of a school of reformation, Botany Bay has proved a seminary of vice; the temple which our benevolent rulers thought they were raising to humanity and virtue, has literally been converted into a den of thieves; and the purgatory which their pious zeal had contrived for chastizing and purifying the guilty, has been transformed into the most lively representation of pandemonium.

We were disappointed in not finding, in the work before us, any account of the original settlement of the colony, or of its history to the present day; and should have been glad had our limits permitted us to supply the deficiency; because the cir cumstances are not generally known, and even a slight sketch would have been sufficient to excite a virtuous regret, that a country so admirably adapted, in every essential particular, for the nursery of a great community, should have been blighted by a population, whose increasing and hopeless depravity might fill even the most sanguine philanthropist with despair. A few loose and undigested notices, however, are all that we can at present offer.

Governor Phillip having in vain looked for a favourable situation in Botany Bay, the original destination of the colony, was so fortunate as to discover, in the adjacent inlet of Port Jackson, a noble and capacious harbour, equal to any yet known in the world; and in one of the coves of this fine bason, he determined to found his infant town.

"

"The spot chosen for debarkation," says Mr. Collins, in his interesting but prolix narrative, from which we take our information, was at the head of the cove, near a run of fresh water, which stole silently along through a very thick wood, the stillness of which had then, for the first time since the creation, been interrupted by the rude sound of the labourer's axe, and the downfal of its ancient inhabitants; a stillness and tranquillity which, from that day, were to give place to the voice of labour, the confusion of camps and towns, and the busy hum of its possessors. That these did not bring with them minds not to be changed by time or place,' was fervently to have been wished; and, if it were possible, that, on taking possession of nature, as we had thus done, in her simplest, purest