THOUGHTS ON THE SUBLIME IN MUSIC. 249 



certainly, on examination, find the majority on the other side, and 

 the advocates for the preservation of the elevated character of 

 church music few in comparison with those who see no impropriety 

 in introducing languishing strains and operatic flourishes instead of 

 what they call the dull, prosing, and inexpressive harmonies of the 

 old anthem. It is argued by some that God is love, and that he 

 never intended to be worshipped in austerity and gloom : but has it 

 never entered into their heads that there is some difference between 

 the music required for the celebration of the love of God and that em- 

 ployed by a lover to gain the favours of his mistress ? Is there no 

 difference between God's love and man's love ? The former is the 

 highest and noblest sentiment that enters the human breast, and as 

 such should be expressed in the loftiest and sublimest music, and 

 not in 



" Light airs and recollected terms 

 Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times." 



To guide the student to the attainment of the elevation and sub- 

 limity so indispensable to music designed for divine worship, we 

 cannot do better than conclude by a quotation from the Lectures on 

 Painthig, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, a work from the study of which 

 the musician will derive almost equal benefit with the painter : — 

 " The modern who recommends himself as a standard may justly 

 be suspected as ignorant of the true end, and unacquainted with 

 the proper objects, of the art which he professes. To follow such a 

 guide will not only retard the student but mislead him. On whom 

 then shall he rely ? or who shall shew him the path that leads to 

 excellence ? The answer is obvious : those great masters who have 

 travelled the same road with success are the most likely to conduct 

 others. The works of those who have stood the test of ages have a 

 claim to that respect and veneration to which no modern can pre- 

 tend. The duration and stability of their fame is sufficient to 

 evince that it has not been suspended upon the slender thread of 

 fashion and caprice, but bound to the heart by every tie of sympa- 

 thetic approbation." " Let him, then, regard them as perfect and 

 infallible ; as subjects for his imitation, not his criticism." 



vol. v. — no. xvii r. 2 i 



