1807] 
any one feels who is judily imprefied 
with the character of Handel’s mufic, 
when he compares it with modern mufic, 
and the prevailing tafte of the day, which 
exhibits fuch a feries of frivolous infig- - 
The ethics and’ 
nificant pertor mances ? 
theology of mufic Gf we may to {peak) 
have no place in the modern purfuit of 
this fource of improvement and plea- 
fure ; a noble ference is made a piece 
of legerdemain, a flight-oi-hand  per- 
formance, a mere mechanical trick, 
equally aftonifhing indeed to the eyes 
aud ears, but truly contemptible for any 
relation it bears to the afleclions of the 
mind. ; 
If we cannot expect that many will 
ftudy mufic as a profound and highly che 
rious {cience, furely ‘more dignity might 
be attached to the purfuit than the pre- 
fent taite and practice admit\ of; and 
though it might be reafoning toi curt- 
vuily on the fubjett, to reg ard mufic as 
an object for the molt ferious conlidera- 
tion of the moralift, or as worthy to be 
named in connection with public charac- 
ter and manners, the very general atten- 
tion paid to it asa a plealing « sccomplith- 
ment has given it importance; and it 
mutt be allowed to be a reafonable quet- 
tion, “ whether mufic, as an object of 
education, might not be made more fub- 
fervient than it is to the intere(ts of vir- 
tue and piety?” By iitiating - their 
pupils in Handel, and cultivating an ear- 
ly tafte for fuch elevated entertainment 
as he affords, rather chan for the frip- 
rery and nonfenfe of modern execution, 
would not mufical proetlers accomplifh 
a more valuable object than they ufually 
aim at? Would not their pupils be in- 
debted to them for a nobler acquifition 
than a mere facility of motion in their 
fingers, as acybired by practifing the 
pretty fonatinas, divertimentys, gigs, va- 
riations, &e. which young ladies play off 
fo triumphantly, and their maminas ad- 
mire as the very acie of mufical attain- 
ment. And if it be true that the moft 
affecting compotitions of Handel are ge- 
nerally remarkable for fimplicity, and 
ealily performed, there is additional pro- 
priety in making g young ttudents acquaint- 
ed with him. 
W. MarsHa.t, 
Rochdale, Jan. 16, 1807. 
ene eg 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
STR, 
OUR humane correfpondent, page 
344, after reciting two very de- 
teliable inftances of cruelty to anunals, 
Cuftom relative to the pounding of Cattle. 
227 
very juftly expoftulates, if there ‘are 
laws for fuch cates, it isa pity they are 
not better enforced.” Whether there 
are ftatute laws in fuch cates 1 am net 
certain; but. my profeflion as a land- 
fteward having afforded me many years 
an opportunity of kine Wihg the general 
cufiom of feveral manors in the north of 
England, with reipect to the practice 
your benevolent correfpondent alludes 
to, [ beg leave to folicit you will afford 
me room to make my report, as fol- 
lows : : 
The common pound in each manor is 
contidered as belonging to the lord there- 
of, is upheld by’ bim, and at his Court- 
Baron he and his frecholders nominate 
the keeper or pounder, appoint his fees, 
&c. &c. a sn cattle of any kind are 
nnpounded, the owner may take ther 
away upon paying thefe appointed fees, 
provided the party on whofe lands Ad 
were taken makes no demand for da- 
mages, or that fuch damages are imme- 
diately paid by the owner; or he pro-— 
ceeds by cone and puts the injured 
party to recover (a damages by an 
action at law. But in no cafe are the 
cattle to remain in the pound more than 
forty-eight hours: after this, the duty of 
the pounder is to take them to the manor 
houfe, or to that of fome perfon ap- 
pointed for the purpote by the lord there- 
of, where the cattle are to be taken dee 
care of. Public notice is then to be 
viven at the parifh-church within faid 
manor, and aljo at two or three of the 
neareft market-towns at the re{pective 
mnarket-days, by the comimon crier, that 
certain cattle are taken up at fuch a 
place, which if not owned by proper 
‘marks, and the charges of keeping, &c. 
duly paid, will become the property of 
the lord of the manor as waites and 
eftrays, and as his right by virtue of an- 
cient cuftom. 
I have confefled above that Iam no 
profeffional lawyer, and therefore can- 
not decide whether the cuftoms defcribed 
are grounded upon the law of the land? 
Poffibly, however, what I have written. 
may jiduee fome of your readers to 
clear up this doubt, or at leatt difpote 
your humane correfpondent, to whom 
this is more immediately addrefled, to 
inquire how the law really fiands, aid, 
if poflible, to redrefs the evil in his own 
place of abode, 
I was highly delighted le he maf- 
terly letter of Mr. C. Lofit,-to which 
“ your Conftant Reader” ics The 
animated letter, too, of another corre- 
{pondent 
