But the Société des Études Historiques could scarcely find for their first prize a more appropriate "subject" as an acknowledgment of a gift of 20,000 francs, to be distributed as annual prizes, made to them by their late member, M. Raymond, who has bequeathed the remainder of his important property to the Corps de la Gendarmerie. A notice of Michelet, a review of Cénac Moncaut's 'Histoire des Peuples et des États Pyrénéens,' and the beginning of an essay on Jean Caboche and his Followers in the Fifteenth Century,' complete the double number of the Investigateur.

SCIENCE

SOCIETIES.

ROYAL-June 18.-The President in the chair. -The following papers were read: 'On the Anatomy of the Lymphatic System,' by Dr. G. Thin, -Experiments with Safety Lamps,' by Mr. W. ::Galloway, 'A Contribution to the Histology of the Blood,' by Dr. W. Osler,-On Coniferine, and its Conversion into the Aromatic Principle of Vanilla,' by Messrs. F. Tiemann and W. Haarman,

Gold Medal, L. Weston (City of London School); Bronze Medal, F. C. Montague (University College School). Political Geography-Gold Medal, W. H. Turton (Clifton College, Bristol); Bronze Medal, L. Jacob (City of London School). It was announced that the special subject for the examination in 1875, both in Physical and Political Geography, would be China. The following gentlemen were elected as Council and Officers for 1874-75: President, Major-Gen. Sir H. C. Rawlinson; Vice-Presidents, Sir R. Alcock, Admiral Sir G. Back, Admiral R. Collinson, and the Right Hon. Sir H. Bartle Frere; Trustees, Lord Houghton and Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bart.; Secretaries, C. R. Markham and R. H. Major; Foreign Secretary, Lord A. Russell, M.P.; Councillors, Sir S. W. Baker, Hon. G. C. Brodrick, Sir | G. Campbell, Lord Cottesloe, Capt. F. J. O. Evans, A. G. Findlay, J. Fergusson, Admiral Sir W. H. Hall, Major-Gen. Sir F. J. Goldsmid, M. E. Grant-Duff, M.P., Col. J. A. Grant, J. Murray, Sir C. Nicholson, Bart., Admiral E. Ommanney, Gen. C. P. Rigby, Marquis of Lorne, H. D. SeyVerney, Bart., and Major C. W. Wilson; Treamour, S. W. Silver, W. Smyth, Sir H. C. surer, R. T. Cocks.

GEOLOGICAL.-June 10.-J. Evans, Esq., President, in the chair.-Messrs. H. Leonard, A. Dunlop, and J. Young, were elected Fellows.-The following communications were read: On the occurrence of Thanet-Beds and of Crag at Sudbury, Suffolk,' by Mr. W. Whitaker,-Notes on the Phenomena of the Quaternary Period in the Isle of Portland and around Weymouth,' by Mr. J. Prestwich,-"On the Character of the Diamantiferous Rock of South Africa,' by Prof. N. S. Maskelyne and Dr. Flight,-Note on a modified Form of Dinosaurian ilium, hitherto reputed Scapula, indicative of a new Genus, or possibly of a new order of Reptiles,' by Mr. J. W. Hulke, and Note on a Reptilian Tibia and Humerus (probably of Hylaeosaurus), from the Wealden Formation in the Isle of Wight,' by Mr. J. W. Hulke.

ASIATIC.-June 22.-J. Fergusson, Esq., V.P., in the chair.-Sir G. Campbell, Col. H. L. Thuillier, and Capt. H. F. Blair, were elected Members. -A paper, by Dr. S. W. Bushell, 'On the Old Mongolian Capital of Shangtu,' was read. This city was founded in A.D. 1526, when the Emperor Hien Tsung ordered his brother (a successor) to occupy the territory and to form a military encampment there. In 1268 Shangtu was made the seat of a governor-general. It is situated twenty-seven miles north-west of Dolonnor, which Abbé Huc wrongly supposed to have been built on the site of the ancient city. After the fall of the Yuan dynasty it rapidly diminished in importance, and was finally abandoned by the Chinese in A.D. 1430. The ruins were visited by Dr. Bushell and the Hon. T. G. Grosvenor on September 16, 1872. The walls, built of earth, faced with unhewn stone or brick, are still standing, though more or less dilapidated. They form a double enceinte, the outer with six, the inner with three gates, one of which, a perfect arch, 20 feet high by 12 feet wide, is still intact. The ground in the exterior of both inclosures is strewn with blocks of marble and other remains of large temples and palaces, broken lions, dragons, and remains of other carved monuments lying about in every direction. An inscription of the Yuan dynasty in an ancient form of the Chinese character has been copied and translated by Dr. Bushell.-A paper, by Mr. Henry H. Howorth, On the Origines of the Manchus,' was also read. Starting from various etymologies assigned to the word Manchu by several scholars, the writer examined the legendary accounts of the Manchus regarding their origin, and traced their history from the earliest times down to the death of Tai-tsu in A.D. 1625.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. June 18.-F. Ouvry, Esq., V.P., in the chair.-Earl Powis exhibited a portion of a Horse-trapping, in brass, which had recently been found in Shrophire.

Archdeacon Trollope exhibited a piece of Roman Glass, found with other Roman remains in Little Bowden Parish, near Market Harborough.-Mr. A. S. Moore exhibited a small Iron Coffer, of late sixteenth-century work.-Mr. S. D. Walker exhibited some Photographs of Medieval Pottery, found at Nottingham. The condition of some of the vessels, which had been damaged and unfinished, proved that a manufactory must have existed on the spot.-Dr. A. Gordon exhibited a Stone with twenty-two distinct cup markings, which had been found in Aberdeenshire.-Mr. R. Ferguson, M.P., exhibited a Stone Celt of the Neolithic period, which had been found in the Lake District; the matrix of the Seal of Penrith ; and an Implement found on the Field of Bannockburn, which was a Hatchet, Saw, and File in one. -The Rev. W. H. Egerton exhibited two small Medallions of pressed Horn, representing, respectively, the heads of the Blessed Virgin and of Our Saviour, which, tradition asserted, had been found, circa 1712, in the tomb of the great Talbot, first Earl of Shrewsbury, at Whitchurch, Shropshire. They appeared, however, to be not older than the end of the sixteenth or beginning of the seventeenth century.-The Rev. B. Street exhibited a Medal of Sigismondo Pandulfo Malatesta; a Satirical Medal on Sir R. Walpole; and a Bronze Seal for labourers' passes, made under the Statute of Labourers, 12 Ric. II. c. 3, for the Hundred of Fawsley, in Northamptonshire.-Mr. F. W. Smith exhibited a Grant of a Rent at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, 15 Edw. I., with seal attached.-Mr. E. Peacock exhibited a drawing of an undescribed Seal of Archbishop Grindal, and communicated a transcript of a Charter relating to Missenden Abbey, which was imperfectly printed in Dugdale.-Mr. G. Leveson Gower exhibited some Deeds and Seals of the Greshams and others.

The Worshipful Companies of Fishmongers, Ironmongers, and Vintners, exhibited the "HerseCloths," or Funeral Palls, belonging, respectively, to each of those Companies. The first of these is commonly known as "Walworth's Pall," though its date is really 150 years later, as seen by the work. St. Peter as the patron saint of the Comarms and by the costume and general style of pany was the principal subject figured in the embroidery, either as receiving the keys from Christ, or as "censed" by angels. The Ironmongers' "Herse-Cloth" had on the sides the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the figures of John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, and of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who appears as a name saint of the wife of the donor of the pall, John Gyva. On the two ends was represented a monstrance. In the Vintners' pall we find on the two ends legends from the life of St. Martin, and on the sides Our Lady of Pity, flanked by figures of Death. -Prof. Harkness communicated a paper 'On the Contents of a Cist at Moorhouse Farm, near Brougham, Westmoreland.' One of the curious and even unique features of these remains is that the two distinct vessels known to archeologists under the names of "Food-vessel" and "Drinkingvessel," respectively, were found together, a concurrence which Canon Greenwell informed Prof. Harkness he had never met with in his explorations. We are now in a condition to affirm, from the evidence of the Brougham cist, that these vessels were in contemporaneous use.

ZOOLOGICAL.-June 16.-Dr. A. Günther, V.P., in the chair.-An extract was read from a letter

received from Dr. A. B. Meyer, concerning two birds (Rectes Bennetti and Campephaga aurulenta) lately described in the Society's Proceedings by Mr. Sclater.-Letters and communications were read from Mr. W. Summerhayes, on certain species of Curassows found in Venezuela,—by Dr. J. Murie, on the nature of the sacs vomited by the Hornbills, which, he stated, in confirmation of Prof. Flower's account of these objects, to consist of the epithelial lining of the stomach,-by Mr. W. S. Kent, a second paper upon the gigantic cephalopods recently encountered off Newfoundland; from further information received Mr

Kent apprehended that it would be necessary to refer the two individuals preserved in St. John's Museum to the genus Ommatostrephes, thus avoiding the institution of a new genus for their reception, as proposed in his former paper,-by Mr. A. H. Garrod, on the "showing off" of the Australian Bustard (Eupodotis Australis), and on the peculiar structures by which this "showing off" was accomplished,-from Dr. F. Stolicza, on the Ovis polii of Blyth, of which he had lately obtained specimens in Yarkand,-by Mr. R. B. Sharpe on a new genus and species of Passerine Birds from the West Indies, which he proposed to name Phonicomanes iora,—from the Rev. O. P. Cambridge, on some new species of Spiders of the genus Erigone, from North America,-by Dr. Günther, on some new species of Reptiles from the Camaroon Mountains, West Africa: amongst these were two new species of chameleon, and a new snake of the family of Lycodontidæ, proposed to be called Bothrolycus ater: one of these chameleons was referred to a new sub-genus (Rhampholeon), being remarkable for its abbreviated tail and the development of a denticle at the inner base of each claw,-by Mr. Sclater, on three new species of the genus Synallaxis, from M. Jelski's collections in Central Peru, which he proposed to call S. pudibunda, S. graminicola, and S. virgata, by Messrs. H. P. Blackmore and E. R. Alston, on the Arvicolide which have hitherto been found in a fossil state, by Prof. Newton, on a living Dodo shipped for England in the year 1628, extracted from letters in possession of Dr. J. B. Wilmot, of Tunbridge Wells,-by Mr. J. E. Harting, on the common Lapwing of Chili, which he proposed to separate from Vanellus Cayanensus, under the name V. occidentalis,—by Mr. Harting, on the eggs of some new or little-known Limicolæ, from Mr. R. Swinhoe, on a new Cervine form discovered in the mountains near Ningpo, China, by Mr. A. Michie, and proposed to be called Lophotragus Michianus,-and by Dr. J. Murie, on the structure of the skeleton of Fregilupus varius, based on a specimen in the Museum of Cambridge.

CHEMICAL.-June 18.-Prof. Frankland, V.P. in the chair. The following papers and memoirs were read: 'On the Action of Chlorine, Bromine, &c., on Isodinaphthyl,' by Mr. W. Smith,-Communications from the Laboratory of the London Institution: No. XIII., 'On Coal-Tar Cresol, and some Derivatives of Paracresol,' by Dr. H. E. Armstrong and Mr. C. L. Field; No. XIV., 'On

the Action of the Chlorides of the Acids of the

Sulphur Series on Organic Compounds,' by Dr. H. E. Armstrong and Mr. W. H. Pike; No. XV., On Chloro-bromo and Iodo-nitro Phenolparasul phonic Acids,' by Dr. H. E. Armstrong and Mr. F. D. Brown; and No. XVI., ' Note on the Decomposition of Dichloronitrophenol by Heat,' by Dr. H. E. Armstrong and Mr. F. D. Brown,-'On the Products of the Decomposition of Castor Oil, No. III., on Decomposition by Excess of Alkaline Hydrate,' by Mr. E. Neison. The author said he had succeeded in elucidating the conflicting statements of the different chemists on this subject. -On Hydrogen Persulphide,' by Dr. W. Ramsay, Suberone,' by Dr. C. Schorlemmer and Mr. R. S. Dale, On the Action of Nitrosyl Chloride on Organic Bodies, Part I., on Phenol,' by Dr. W. A. Tilden,-'An Apparatus for Determining the Moisture and Carbonic Anlydride in the

Atmosphere,' 'A Method for Determining Ozone

Jelinek, G. T. Kingston, M.A., Dr. J. von Lamont, Prof. E. Loomis, Dr. H. Mohn, Dr. G. Neumayer, Dr. E. Plantamour, M. C. Sainte-Claire-Deville, Padre A. Secchi, and Dr. H. Wild, were elected Honorary Members.-'On the Connexion between Colliery Explosions and Weather in the Year 1872,' by Messrs. R. H. Scott and W. Galloway. The paper is in continuation of those by the same authors read before the Royal Society in 1872, and before the Meteorological Society in 1873, which contained the results for the four preceding years. The number of fatal explosions which occurred during the year was seventy, causing the loss of 163 lives. Three of these killed, each of them, more than ten men, being the same as the average number of serious explosions for the last twenty years. The number of non-fatal explosions was 224. A comparison of the dates of all recorded explosions with the curves of the barometer and thermometer kept at Stonyhurst for the Meteorological Office leads to the following results: 58 per cent. of the explosions are due to changes of pressure, 17 per cent. to great heat of the weather, while 25 per cent. are not attributed by the authors to meteorological agencies. These proportions are nearly the same as those which have come out from the discussions of similar facts

for previous years. The next question touched upon was the alleged greater prevalence of explosions with certain winds, and it was shown that the ordinary changes of pressure and temperature in the windrose were hardly sufficient to account for the explosions which are found to accompany sudden changes of weather. The paper also discussed a diagram exhibiting the continuous curve of barometrical pressure from the Glasgow Observatory for the last nine months of 1873, and a curve showing the prevalence of fire-damp in the mines of the West of Scotland district for the period. The books of thirty-five mines about Glasgow have been used for the comparison. The two curves show a remarkable accordance in their course. The result shows that the escape of fire-damp is related mainly to the conditions of atmospherical pressure, and that a careful watch over the barometer is, above all, necessary in each colliery, though one such record would suffice for several adjacent mines. 'Solar Radiation, 1869-74,' by the Rev. F. W. Stow, M.A.-The Diurnal Inequalities of the Barometer and Thermometer, as illustrated by the Synchronous Observations made during May, 1872, at the Summit and Base of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, at the respective Heights of 2,615 and 6,283 feet above the Sea Level,' by Mr. W. W. Rundell. The hourly mean differences of pressure and temperature at these stations and at Portland, Maine, the nearest U.S. station to Mount Washington, were discussed, and their most probable co-efficients were determined, also the times at which their maxima and minima occur. Upward and downward currents of air and vapour produced each day by the action of the sun, joined to the evaporation and condensation of moisture, and the absorption and liberation of heat, were suggested as sufficient to explain the phenomena without recourse to the unsupported hypothesis of an overflow of air at the top of the atmosphere, and an inward current of air at the earth's surface. Observations obtained by means of captive balloons fitted with automatic apparatus for recording the details at an observatory below them were suggested as likely to afford more satis

factory data for the solution of this problem, and

METEOROLOGICAL.-June 17.-Dr. R. J. Mann, President, in the chair.-Messrs. R. Bushell, T. Crawford, G. Gardiner, R. Smith, J. H. Steward, and F. E. Twemlow were elected Fellows; Prof. Buys Ballot, Herr W. H. von Freeden, Dr. C.

| bel, M.A. Weather Report for 1873, at Woosung, China,' by Mr. C. D. Braysher. Note regarding a remarkable Hailstorm at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, on April 17th, 1874,' by the Rev. J. D. La Touche.

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK. MON. United Service Institution, 8. TUES. Statistical, 32.-Anniversary.

the

A STATUE of Alexander Wilson, the ornith logist, will, in a few weeks, be erected within burying-ground of the abbey of Paisley, and with a few minutes' walk of the spot where he was born. If we except a few not very important natural history notes, there is little of moment Report of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries on the Sea and Inland Fisheries of Ireland, for 1873 With the opportunities afforded for obtaining information of scientific and commercial value, i would be easy for the inspectors of fisheries to increase the value of these Reports.

THE French Academy of Sciences elected, at the Séance of the 8th of June, two correspondents, M. Tholozan, physician to the Shah of Pen the section of Medicine, and M. Studer, in the section of Mineralogy and Geology.

M. DUMAS presented at this Séance a réuni of all the communications which have been made to the Académie relative to the Phylloxera, and added portant problem of saving the vines of Franx thereto his own experience, in relation to the inThe Phylloxera appears to have two very disting states of existence; one subterranean, when i attacks the roots, and the other aerial, when, t the aid of its wings, it transports itself from pas to place, attacking the leaves and trunks of the vines.

It appears, in this last state seres vapours are effective in destroying the insecta, but as yet no satisfactory method has been discovered for attacking them in the soil.

M. CH. MONTIGNY has communicated to the Académie Royale de Belgique a memoir of mass interest, entitled 'La Fréquence des Variations des Couleurs des Étoiles dans la Scintillation est Généralement en Rapport avec la Constitution de leur Lumière, d'après l'Analyse Spectrale.' Th memoir is printed in L'Institut for the 10th June, and it merits every attention.

THE Reports and Proceedings of the Miners' Association of Cornwall and Devon for the year 1873 have just been issued. Some papers of con siderable interest, especially in relation to mineral lodes, will be found in this volume, especially Remarks on Two Cross-Sections through Cam Brea Hill and the Neighbouring Mines,' by Cat. J. Maynard; and Observations on the Elrin Courses, Greenstones and Sandstones of Cornwall, with Remarks on their Associated Minerals, by Mr. A. K. Barnett. These papers are well iltrated, and have a practical and scientific value.

ON the 21st of May the French botanist, M. Fée, who nearly half a century since made some valuable contributions to botanical science, died at the advanced age of eighty-five.

mental tiles produced by improved machinery, WE have lately seen some specimens of ornawhich the manufacturer asserts can be turned out at a much less cost than by the ordinary process,

DR. H. BEINS, of Groningen in the Netherlands, is circulating a brief paper, headed 'The Successor of Steam,' which has appeared in the Is, a phyadvocates the employment "in our common com sical journal published at Haarlem, in which he and other engines," of liquid carbonic acid, prepared, as he states, cheaply, from “natrium

bicarbonate."

LORD SANDON'S statements about the appointments recently made at South Kensington indicate arrangements which are substantially the same as those which were announced some time since. Sir F. Sandford, Secretary of the Education Department, is Secretary also for the Department of Science and Art; Mr. Norman Macleod, who has for many years acted in the same capacity, is Assistant-Secretary; Mr. P. Cunliffe Owen is Director of the South Kensington Museum. Major Donelly and Mr. Redgrave have been offered the Directorships of Science and Art respectively; that is, we believe, the teaching in each case remains under the charge of these gentlemen.

WE are bound to call attention to the fact that during the summer months, ending with July, that noble collection of casts and designs by Flaxman, which is worthily housed in University College, London (Gower Street), is, on application, open to visitors every Saturday from ten till four.

MR. POYNTER, Slade Professor, delivered an excellent and highly-practical address to his students in the Art Schools, Gower Street, on Wednesday last, while attending the distribution of the prizes. The competitors' drawings were of the most encouraging character, and the school flourishes in the truest sense of the term.

An exhibition of works by Kaulbach, and other German artists, is now open in Great Marlborough Street.

MUSIC

MADAME ESSIPOFF, SARASATE. PAPINI. LASSERRE, on TUESDAY, June 30, with Waefelghem, Radcliffe, Barret. Hutchins. Lazarus, Jakeway, and Paquis. Accompanist. Ganz. The Septets of Beethoven and Hummel, and Solos, Violin. Violoncello, and Pianoforte. Last Matinée of the MUSICAL UNION, at Three o'clock. Visitors can pay at the Hall, or procure Tickets at Lucas & Co.'s, Cramer & Co.'s, and Austin's. With such a phalanx of executive genius, the usual Vocal Music will be dispensed with at this Grand Matinée. PROF. ELLA, Director.

PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY-Conductor, Mr. W. G. Cusins.LAST CONCERT but ONE, MONDAY, June 29, St. James's Hall, Eight o'clock. Pianoforte. Madame Essipoff; Vocalists, Miss Edith Wynne and Madame Bentham Fernandes-Stalls, 108, 6d., in Balcony or Area; Reserved Balcony, 78.; Unreserved, 58. and 28. 6d.

ROYAL ALBERT HALL.-MR. SIMS REEVES'S BENEFIT CONCERT, NEXT MONDAY EVENING, June 29, at Eight o'clock. -Madame Christine Nilsson, Madame Trebelli-Bettini, Miss Helen D'Alton, and Madame Lemmens-Sherrington; Mr. Sims Reeves and Mr. Santley. Solo Violin, Madame Norman-Neruda; Solo Pianoforte. Mr. Willem Coenen. Conductors. Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Sidney Naylor, and Mr. Hatton. Organist, Dr. Stainer. The Royal Albert Hall Choral Society, Conductor, Mr. Barnby.-Tickets, 38, 58, 78. 6d. (5,000 admissions at 18.); at Novello's, 1. Berners Street, and 35. Poultry; the usual Agents; and at the Royal Albert Hall. (Tickets already purchased for June 1 will be available.)

MR. W. H. HOLMES'S SECOND PIANOFORTE CONCERT, St. James's Hall, July 10.-Programmes and Tickets of Mr. W. H. Holmes, 36, Beaumont Street, Marylebone.

THE HANDEL FESTIVAL.

THE return of the triennial gathering at the Crystal Palace gives rise to the question, why are such masses collected within the Handel orchestra?

Why is the expanse of space before the monster platform filled from the area to the very roof by a crowd that numerically is larger than the population of many towns, be these native or foreign? How has England-the most unmusical nation in the world, according to some conceited, prejudiced, or disappointed foreign artists, who have failed in the struggle with resident artists-the singular power of collecting once in three years within the Sydenham Glass Palace such an amount of executive force, and appreciative audiences, able to distinguish the true from the false displays of real genius from the sham successes of mediocrity? Cynics may answer these queries by saying that it is simply a fashion, a thing of the day, the first Handel Festival was a novelty,-novelties please, and have their day, and these meetings are doomed. It may be So. We hope not. For the glory of Art,-for the encouragement of artists who have fought their way to the first rank,-for the perpetuation of the Handelian choral inspirations, until these are superseded by finer imaginings of a master

from passion, prejudice, and the influence of cliques, what is our present, what has been our past, what will be our future in art.

When we take a retrospective glance at this week's doings at Sydenham, summarizing results without individualizing them, there are various grounds for congratulation. We can now recognize the advantage of continuity, and, as is the case with the Birmingham Festival, we learn what can be achieved by careful watchfulness and by the improvement of defective arrangements. There are naturally two prominent points to be considered when it is proposed to assemble some 4,000 performers, more or less (probably less, for round numbers are convenient but deceptive), to execute Handel's works-first, the proper balance between voices and instruments, and, secondly, the acoustical properties of the arena. Now those who have followed the five triennial festivals will be disposed to agree; that at no former meetings have the vocal and orchestral forces been more equally and judiciously blended, or the facilities for hearing been more decidedly improved. Those who are interested in the divisions of the various voices, in the numerical disposition of the different instruments, and in the expedients employed to make sound travel with as little reverberation as possible, have had the necessary information afforded them in the daily records of the performances. Here we can only say that the results were pre-eminently gratifying.

About the execution of the oratorios, the 'Messiah' and 'Israel in Egypt,' and of the miscellaneous selection on the Wednesday, there has been the ordinary division of opinion. There will be always the old cry raised of "the score, the whole score, and nothing but the score," by some few bigots. There has been, and will continue to be, the eternal discussion whether Handel's orchestration ought not to be preserved in its integrity, that is, with no brass, except many trumpets, unlimited wood, and plenty of stringed, with organ obbligato. Then comes the more delicate question of the tempo, and next the old quarrel about colouring. Handel is referred to; his copyists are quoted; and, above all, we are solemnly told that tradition must be respected. It is our duty, we are informed by some, to reverence Jonah Bates and Sir George Smart, and let the metronomes, based on their authority, be observed. Again, there is the still more vexed question about the plagiarism of Handel. There is no harm in these discussions and controversies, because they lead to nothing, they can solve no problem, they can settle no disputed point. A dreamer may take Handel's MS. scores and start any theory upon them; the composer cannot contradict him. The matterof-fact Handelian, who is content to hear his music and draw his own conclusions, can afford to smile at

the conceited pretensions of any one who attempts to dissect his ideas from the grammatical or purely technical point of view. But, above these petty attempts at analysis, rising grandly over all fulsome idol worship, are the colossal choral conceptions of

the master-mind; and those who listen to them as they strike on the ear when poured forth from such an executive as that which has been heard this week at the Festival feel perfectly indifferent to any individual speculation. There can now be

our assertion, that the more numerous the voices

had used and his mode of mixing them. Techn slang as applied to Handel is simply ridiculi higher ground must be taken, philosophicall poetically, and acoustically.

In the interpretation of the Handelian music, conductors are not to be bound by alie tradition, which is really worthless, nor by tronomical considerations. There is no reason wit oratorio should be dragged under the pretext devotional respect. That is cant. What is requize is reverence for the words; but with reverent there should be due consideration how far the prominent points of the score can be developed effectively. There is no special holiness in soc unless it be sympathetic. If we have rig judged the demeanour of the Crystal Pil audiences, and if we are to take as evidence the outward recognition of the execution, there never has been a time when Handel's choral pistions were more appreciated. The choralista disin guished themselves by the precision of their attacks, by their observance of the gradations f sound, by their nice notion of light and shade And these qualities must have been acquired long study and practice.

There has been a faint cry for novelty. Wh can supersede the Messiah' and the 'Israel Egypt? There is but one rehearsal for three pr formances, and it is a public one. If the Hand Festival programme is to be extended, there be but one way of effecting it, and that is, by har one evening meeting, which would be a great box to many persons whose avocations prevent the attendance in the day-time; financially it wa be a success, and four performances in one veti would not exhaust the Handel répertoire. The is, to be sure, the Wednesday selection day, a more interesting one than that of this week is never before been concocted; for there were this teen pieces heard for the first time at these festiv and grand they were generally-sublime in s instances. We need scarcely quote the "Righ Heaven," with its difficult divisions, from sanna'; the "When his loud voice," from 'Jephthat' the "Gird on thy sword," from 'Saul'; the "Glory be to God," from the Útrecht 'Jubilate'; "The many rend the skies," from 'Alexander's Feast,'

With all respect for the solo singers, we may be pardoned for pointing out, what they m feel themselves to be true, that within such a lay arena, and with such choral sublimities, the are but secondary. And in making this remast we in no way detract from the artistic st butes of such singers as Mdlle. Tietjens, Madse Sinico - Campobello, Madame Otto-Alvalebet, Madame Trebelli-Bettini, Madame Patey, M Sims Reeves, Mr. Vernon Rigby, Mr. Cummings Mr. Kerr Gedge, Mr. Santley, and Signori Foli and Agnesi, who, one and all, displayed their vocal skill in the pieces allotted to them. Bi there was one event which justifies a special exception from a general notice of the services rendered by the above artists, and that is, the return to his professional career, after months of absence, from severe indisposition, of Mr. Sims Reeves. No wonder that when our great English tenor entered the orchestra last Wednesday there a long burst of cheering from audience as Iwell as orchestra to greet one of the grandest singers of whom any country can boast. He sang the "Deeper and deeper still," from "Jephthah, wild that dignified and pathetic expressiveness in the recitative, and that profound pathos in the air, "Waft her, Angels," which made some amateurs, best days. wonder how two readings so totally distinctive in conception could yet arrive at the same endutti of fixing the attention and of securing the sympathy and admiration of the listeners.

no retrogade movement in the interpretation of Handel's oratorios. Five successive festivals at the Crystal Palace have established this undeniable fact, and we can quote Meyerbeer's authority to back are collected for the choruses of Handel, the grander, the more inspiring, the more overwhelming are the results. Handel, beyond all other composers, possessed the secret of creating the most extraordinary acoustical effects of notation by the simplest means, and this simplicity means sublimity. The Crystal Palace audiences of this week understood

was

There is yet another important point connected

this fact, they felt it, they acknowledged it, marked improvement in the quality of the band,

of whom the