306 TROCEEDINGS OP PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 



His next opera was *' King Arthur," — written for him by Dry- 

 den, from which several pieces, including the celebrated Frost Scene, 

 were performed. The success of these operas was not regarded 

 with pleasure by the dramatic writers of the time ; and even the 

 managers joined in the endeavour to ridicule and proscribe them. — 

 These efforts appear to have been unavailing ; the fame and the 

 popularity of Purcell were established, and soon after appeared his 

 " Fairy Queen." From this opera four pieces were given. 



Lecture VI. — Purcell's next dramatic work was, " A Fool's 

 Preferment,*' from which rare composition two songs of great beau- 

 ty were given. This play, by D'Urfey, was succeeded by the first 

 and second parts of " Don Quixote," in which Eccles was, for the 

 first time, associated in dramatic fellowship with his great cotempo- 

 rary : from these pieces illustrations were also given. Then came 

 Fletcher s " Bonduca," revived by Purcell, from which the majes- 

 tic chorus of the druids, "Hear us, O, Rugwith!" and the well- 

 known duet and chorus, " To Arms !" were selected for perform- 

 ance ; and from the " Indian Queen," the fine scene " Ye twice ten 

 hundred deities," and a tenor song of uncommon sweetness and 

 beauty. A selection from the music to *' The Tempest" followed. 

 A variety of historical and critical remarks were interspersed, chief- 

 ly extracted from cotemporaneous publications, and tending to eluci- 

 date Purcell's character, and the difficulties with which he liad to 

 struggle, and curiously illustrative of the dramatic and musical his- 

 tory of the times. He seemed now to have established himself in 

 the public favour, and a career of usefulness and success seemed 

 opening before him, when those anticipations were blighted by his 

 early death. His enthusiasm seems to have continued unabated to 

 the last, and during his dying illness he still laboured in the service 

 of his art. 



Mr. Taylor closed this series of his lectures with a review of some 

 of the most remarkable and beautiful features in Purcell's character. 

 It will be seen, from these lectures, that Mr. Taylor has entered 

 on the review of a subject of which the history has hitherto been 

 given but scantily and erroneously. That Bumey's '' History of 

 the English Opera" is both meagre and incorrect was made suffici- 

 ently apparent ; and it has required no ordinary labour and research 

 to supply the deficiencies which exist in a narrative commencing at 

 so remote a period, and of which the authentic records and illustra- 

 tions are so rare and difficult of access. These deficiencies Mr. 

 Taylor has laboured diligently to supply ; and he has accumulated 

 a mass of information and a succession of illustrations on this sub- 

 ject, new as they are interesting. The subject, as he remarked, is 

 not only one of curious inquiry to the musician, but possesses some 

 degree of national interest, inasmuch as it involves the question 

 whether or not the English can lay claim to what may be called a 

 national opera ? — a question which has often been hastily answered, 

 but never, previously, subjected to a careful, elaborate, and patient 

 examination. 



