BIRMINGHAM MUSICAL FESTIVAL. 213 



ideal and the material, thus maintain a continual struggle : and al- 

 though neither can ever gain the victory, whether in minds the 

 least or the most imaginative, yet by a compromise, a kind of tacit 

 agreement that the one shall be carried no farther than is consistent 

 with the essence of the other — that each shall waive a certain por- 

 tion of its claims to supremacy — much that is excellent may be 

 achieved, much which, if it reach not, may yet be supposed to give 

 some idea of, perfection. In art, the more the principle of ideality 

 or perfection is fostered and brought to bear upon real existences 

 the better is the purpose attained for which all art exists. Science 

 searches out realities and the mode of their application, art strives 

 unceasingly after ideal perfection ; the observing and reasoning fa- 

 culties may, therefore, be said to be the soul of the former. Ideality 

 — the intuitive presentiment of an eternal and perfect state — that of 

 the latter. 



Conslructiveness, the next faculty to be noticed, is common to all 

 animals. Among the lower animals the Beaver, the Bee, and nu- 

 merous species of birds, afford striking examples. With man in a 

 savage state the erection of the log-hut is, perhaps, its first manifes- 

 tation ; but with the increase of civilization it finds scope for more 

 varied action than in erecting shelter against the elements. ]\Ianu- 

 factures, arls, sciences, are all indebted to this faculty for much 

 which, without its aid, they could not accomplish. In Music it 

 produces and takes delight in contrapuntal difficulties for their own 

 sake, heedless of the good or bad effect produced by their elabora- 

 tion. Of this false taste the sacred works of the fifteenth and part 

 of the sixteenth centuries afford striking examples ; whose sole merit 

 consists in the mathematical exactness with which they solve musical 

 problems. When the true nature of art became better understood, 

 difficulties of construction were no longer regarded as an end, but as 

 a means; and Constructiveness, when thus limited to its proper 

 sphere, and co-operating with the other faculties, not only affords 

 them material assistance, but may fairly be said to produce a plea- 

 .sure of its own. Thus, in listening for the first time to the sublime 

 chorus " Cum sancto Spiritu" in the Hohe Messe of Sebastian Bach, 

 we receive intense gratification ; but on a second hearing, after hav- 

 ing studied the vocal and instrumental score, our pleasure will be 

 greatly augmented by the insight which we have obtained into the 

 construction of the piece, although in both instances our ears have 

 received the same impressions. It appears, then, that this faculty, 

 acting in jiropcr combination with tlie others, gives rise to a gratifi- 



