122 THE MUSICIAN ABOUT TOWN. 
energies and exertions. Most strenuously, then, do we advise them 
to continue as they have hitherto proceeded ; to seek no foreign al- 
liance or incorporation ; to keep their power in their own hands ; to 
engage what professional talent they may require, and not to put 
themselves ina position to be influenced or dictated to by professional 
talent. Let them once become encrusted with the mildew of pro- 
fessional intrigue, and rottenness at the core will speedily follow. 
Leave professors to cope with professors ; but professors with ama- 
teurs, each possessing equal privilege, cannot consociate, because 
their interests diverge at every step: the amateur’s is gregarious, 
that of the professor is single and exclusive. Let the members also 
ever bear in memory the services of the founders of their society, 
of them who have “ borne the heat and burden of the day,” in ad- 
vancing them to the position they now huld. Let them jealously 
watch the actions, and reject the insinuations, of the busy and the 
envious. Many of the society will comprehend this hint which has 
been thrown out, and to what transactions it points. Nothing more 
certainly relaxes the sinews of a young association, and benumbs 
mutual confidence, than a wanton endeavour to shoulder aside its 
original founders. The above advice can proceed from no other than 
a friendly feeling, since the writer possesses not the slightest claim 
upon the society, either as a professor or member. 
It may be worth the committee’s consideration whether two or 
three, or even more, of their public meetings, should not consist of 
one miscellaneous act, and that to comprise a selection of the finest 
choral anthems and ‘Te Deums of our great church writers. The 
Te Deums of Purcell, for instance, and the magnificent anthem of 
Blow, “I was in the spirit,” with the vocal power of this society, 
would have an inconceivably grand effect, and, with such an aggre- 
gate, would form a new and interesting feature in musical per- 
formances. 
Our report of the “ Ancient Concerts,” and the “Societa Armo- 
nica,” for the season, may be comprised in a few words. The for- 
mer, with an opulent library, such as can scarcely be equalled in the 
musical world, is content to repeat the most familiar movements of 
the most familiar oratorios—thread-bare songs and worn-out old 
glees—those selections being the least hackneyed, and, indeed, in 
every respect, the best, when Lord Burghersh was director for the _ 
evening ; and the Societa Armonica, with the advantage of obtain- _ 
ing the assistance of the Italian singers, on account of the meetings ‘2 
being held in the concert room of Her Majesty’s Theatre, will, inall 
probability, deteriorate, if not fall to decay, for want of skil 
