242 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBLIME IM MUSIC. 



possible, nay probable, that, far from being what Dr. Crotch would 

 have wished them, they were only what he considered the best of 

 those presented to him. Mr. G.' begs the question ; he first takes 

 for granted, not only that there are those existing, who can write 

 in the style advocated by the doctor, but that compositions in this 

 style were sent in for competition ; and then, because a certain 

 composition gains the prize, concludes it must be in that style. He 

 cannot escape this dilemma, for he has made the Gresham prize 

 compositions the test of the soundness of Dr. Crotch's opinions on 

 the true style of church music. But suppose all sent in to be in- 

 different (a thing not at all impossible) some one must gain the 

 prize, which was to be given for the best, but not necessarily for a 

 good composition. Having now taken down what in reality, if not 

 in seeming, is Mr. G.'s main-sail, let us now examine the minor 

 details of his rigging. 



Let him speak for himself : — " The habit of madrigal and glee 

 writing has hitherto exercised a powerful influence on the ecclesi- 

 astical style of our countrymen. Indeed, the two modes acted re- 

 ciprocally upon each other. The vocal works of Handel have, in 

 some degree, effected a departure from the more ancient forms of 

 church music. The fine anthem, Like as the Hart panteth for the 

 Water Brooks, evidently afforded a model to Boyce for that best 

 effort of his genius, the anthem composed for the annual celebration 

 of the festival of the sons of the clergy. Battishill also adopts the 

 very phrases of the great German composer. The beautiful point 

 on the words ' Think thou on me, O Lord/ from the trio anthem, 

 Call to Remembrance, is taken from the last eight bars of the move- 

 ment which closes the fine duett, Se tu non Lasciamore. That it 

 was a favourite sequence with Battishill, is evident from his use of 

 it again in one of his three-part glees." Now what, in the name of 

 common sense, has all this to do with the question ? the vocal works 

 of Handel, may, or may not, have exercised the influence he speaks 

 of; the effect, however, from whatever cause arising, still remains 

 the same, namely, the increasing secularisation, and consequently, 

 the decreasing sublimity of music for the church. Who that has 

 an ear to judge of, and a mind to appreciate, true sublimity, will 

 deny that from the time when Bird flourished, down to the end of 

 the last century, to bring it no further, modulations and harmonies 

 derived from the madrigal, the opera, and the concert room, have 

 been gradually though not imperceptibly creeping in and polluting 

 the fountain, which at its source was pure and unalloyed, and cal- 

 culated only to rouse those emotions of veneration and awe, which 



