Report of the Select Commitice on Steam-Boats. 327 
affirm that any extraordinary genius arose to whom posterity has 
been singularly indebted. Even larring itself was never. prac- 
tised, at least in England, before the reign of our Charles the 
First. 
Let us now finish our examination of ancient music, by in- 
quiring into the more immediate causes of its destruction, as 
well as the ravages which almost obliterated its very traces. 
‘After the conversion of the emperors, it would appear that all 
the theatres and other public spectacles were discouraged ; and 
that nothing but the insipid psalmody of the primitive Christians 
could find its way into the churches and private dwellings. Thus 
vanished by degrees the Greek and Roman secular music; no 
private person being capable of executing the refined and diffi- 
cult music of the theatre. Add to this, the ultimate overthrow 
of both the Eastern and Western empires; and, not to speak of 
Gothic ravages, the plundering and burning* of Rome in 1527 
by the army of Charles V., by which the records of the pontifical 
chapel, with innumerable works of every description, were de- 
stroyed;—and we shall by no means wonder at the paucity of 
musical documents which lave reached our time. 
_. [To be continued. ] 
LIII. Report of the Select Committee appointed to consider of 
the Means of preventing the Mischief of Explosion from hap- 
pening on board Steam-Boats, to the Danger or Destruciion 
of His Majesty’s Subjects on board such Boats. 
[Concluded from p. 256. | 
Mr. Jostas Jessop’s Evidence. 
Srare to the Committee what you are, and where you reside ? 
—I am a civil engineer, residing in the Adelphi, London. 
.Are you acquainted with steam-boats ?—-I know the principle 
of them; I have been on board of them, and seen them. 
Our object being to inquire into the method of ensuring a 
greater safety to the passengers on board those steamn-boats, 
have you any thing to communicate to the Committee respect- 
ing that object ?—If that were the only object, there can be no 
doubt that one of low pressure must be more secure than one of 
high pressure; for although they may be both easily made secure 
originally, yet from the natural wear and tear, both are liable to 
accidents. If an accident happen to one of a high pressure, Its 
consequences certainly will be more dangerous than that of a 
low pressure engine. 
* See Burney, who bas quoted Andrea Adami, 
X4 Is 
