I HALIFAX FEBRUARY 18, 1843. No. XXV. Price One Penny, And now the time in special is, by privilege, to write and speak what may help to the further discussing of matters in agitation. The Temple of Janus, with his two ontroversal faces, might now not unsignificantly be set open : and though all the winds of doctrine xoere let hose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we d « injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple. Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. Her confuting is the best and surest suppressing.— MILTON'S AREOPAGITICA. ADVERTISEMENT. HALIFAX MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.— The Members and Friends of the Institution are respectfully informed that a Lecture on the ORIGIN and THEORY of GOVERNMENT, will, be delivered in the Old Assembly Room, on Wednesday Even- ing, Feb. 22, by the Rev. W. Giilmor, M. A., Incumbent of Illingworth. The Lecture to commence at Eighf o'clock. Members admitted on showins their Tickets, and Non- Subscribers on payment of Sixpence. Ladles' Tickets, ad- mitting them to all the Lectures for the year, Four Shillings each. TO OUR READERS. In compliance with the repeated solicitations of many of our readers, we are making arrange- ments for the delivery of the " Free Press," every Friday afternoon, at the residences of our subscribers. This new arrangement will commence with our twenty- seventh number, on the third of March ; that number being the first of a new quarter. As the payment of single pennies, at tbe doors of our subscribers, would often be productive of trouble and inconvenience, it is proposed to extend the delivery to quarterly subscribers only ; and the terms will be 13d. per quarter, if paid in advance; or 15d. on credit. Those who desire to have our weekly sheet delivered at their residences, will oblige us by for- warding their names to our publisher. Our terms for advertisements will remain as before, for cash ; and a small percentage will be added, where credit is given. The increased circulation which the proposed arrangement will bring to our periodical, and the lowness of our charges, combine to render it a very advantageous medium for advertisers. THE OUT- DOOIl LABOUR TEST. And so, the Halifax Poor Law Guardians,— a precocious squad of wiseacres, headed by the Barkisland bully,— have come to a resolution, apparently carried unanimously, to " take a certain portion of moor- land on Harewood- well Moor," as they call it; but it should be High- roadwell Moor; to give employment to able- bodied applicants for out- door relief, as a test of the reality of their destitution. To this stupid decision of those paltry petti- fogging pedlars in political economy, there are several valid objections, to one or two of which we shall call the attention of our readers; but, before doing so, we must premise that we do not mean to raise any objection whatever to the principle of adopting some fair and reasonable test, whereby to try the paupers, as to the ex- istence and the extent of their necessities. The many frauds that are constantly practised, or attempted to bo practised, by applicants for re- lief, show the necessity of some such test being applied: but, with all due and deferential re- spect to the Honourable Assistant Commissioner and the worshipful Board of Halifax sages, we totally deny the need, the utility, the equity, and the humanity, of applying any such test to the cases of those applicants who are known, by the Board or its officers, to be really neces- sitous, and deserving of the eleemosynary as- sistance which they ask for. In doubtful cases, or in cases where there is good reason to suspect fraud and deceit, there may be some justice in the use of a test; but the other cases do not re- quire it, and ought not to be subjected to its operation. On this ground, then, we most unequivocally and decidedly object to the adoption of any general test, to be resorted to, indiscriminately, with respect to every able- bodied applicant for relief. There is, however, a very forcible objection to recourse being had, even in cases where a test is desirable, to the provision of labour, either at the cost, or under the superintendence, of the parochial authorities, or of any other public functionaries. This objection is, that such labour cannot be procured for the paupers of a district, without manifest injury to those honest and independent labourers who are in- dustriously and praiseworthily exerting them- selves to " maintain their families without the assistance of parochial relief. This injury may arise in one of two ways,— either in withdraw- ing so much employment from the open market, and consequently diminishing the quantity that would have to be given to the independent labourers ; or in lowering the rate of wages, by bringing into the labour market more competi- tion for the work there is to do, and set of com- petitors who can afford to under- bid the regular labourer. Often it would occur that both these injurious effects would be brought into operation; but the former would almost always, we think, necessarily co- exist with such a test as that we are now considering. It is true that, in some rare cases,— for they could not be of frequent occurrence,— the pau- pers might have provided for them work which would not otherwise have been entered upon, and which, therefore, would not be so much employment taken out of the hands of the independent labourer. Such work, however, could only be obtained for the paupers, by an offer, on the part of the guardians or other parochial authorities, to undertake its execution upon terms much lower than would have to bs given to the independent labourer. Without some such inducement as this,— its greater cheapness, what person having it in his power, would unnecessarily create employment for which he had no immediate occasion, and which, but for some such temptation, he would leave undone, and perhaps unthought of? It is un- reasonable to expect,— if it be not absurd to suppose, that the case would be otherwise. Well, then, and what would be the necessary, the certain, the unfailing result of such a pro- ceeding, upon the fair and customary rate of remuneration for such labour ? To lower it, to be sure. How can it be otherwise ? If Mr. So- and- so gets his land broken up and brought into cultivation for such a price,— so much less than is given by his neighbours; will those neighbours continue to give to the independent labourer the wages they formerly gave ? Will they not point to the reduced price of pauper labour; and refuse to give more to the in- dependent labourers for their work ? Most assuredly they will. Where there is a scarcity of employment, and a superabundance of labourers in want of employment, the lowest rate of wages at which work is taken, will soon become the general standard of remuneration ; and this law of political economy is as certainly to be depended upon, as the laws which regulate the general operations of nature. Either may be interfered with, for a time, by powerful disturbing causes; but the one will as surely and infallibly influence tbe rate of wages, as, under the others, a cork will float on the surface of a stream, or water will flow to its own level. However cautiously the poor law guardians may proceed in the efforts to procure work as a test for the paupers, they may be assured that all the work so procured will have a direct and positive tendency to increase the number of claimants upon the public purse. It may, per- haps, drive away a few lazy fellows who will subsist upon any thing rather than upon honest labour; but it must,— it cannot fail to do so,— it must inevitably drive more of the honest and independent labourers to seek relief. This is our view of the evil and unsound principle upon which the labour- test is based. We content ourselves, for the present, with this discussion of the principle ; aud shall reserve, until some more fitting occasion, any remarks which we might make upon the proposed plan about to be adopted by the Halifax Board of Guardians. ARCHDEACONS UNDER VISITATION. " The farmer," remarks an author of the seven- teenth century, " hath good lands from the gentleman for his money ; the clothier hath good wool from the farmer for his money ; the merchant hath good cloth from the clothier for his money ; and thus it goes round to every one's benefit; but pray, what havewe got from the Bishops/ or our money ?" Unfortunately, this question is as pertinent in the middle of the nineteenth century as it was two hundred years ago, and as applicable to the other orders of the clergy as to those of the highest rank. The author of a smart pamphlet entitled " Claims of the Clergy," remarks : " Once enable men to think and to judge of institu- tions by their uses, and I will not say that the Establishment must fall ; but I do think there must be such a remodelling of its constitution as would make it altogether a new creature." For our own part, we fully believe that " the Establishment must fall" eventually, even by its own weight; and, although we deem it of the greatest importance that our countrymen should judge of this as well as of other institutions by its " use," yet, we bring it before them under that point of view, not with the hope of making so arrant an imposture tolerable by any process of " remodelling," but with the persua- sion that we shall thereby at once accelerate and break its fall. We have already called the attention of the people to the vast sums of money that are drawn by the Bishops and Deans trom the resources of the country, as compared with the very small and questionable services which they render in return ; and the com- parison, it must be admitted, is not to the honour of those Right Reverend and Very Reverend persons. We now descend one step lower, and come to the Venerable the Archdeacons, whom, on the principle suggested by the question Quis custodiet ipsos mstodesl we will place for a short time under " Visitation." " As Deacons," says an ecclesiastical authority, not perceiving, in his simplicity, the handle he is giving to the Congregationalists,—" As Deacons were all, originally, the attendants and servants of their several Bishops in Church affairs, it was found necessary, towards the end of the third century, to elect in several dioceses one from among the rest, who was styled Archdeacon ; and by degrees this office became universal." The office is consequently coeval with Diocesan Episcopacy and the other cor- ruptions so early introduced into the Church. " By the Canon Law," proceeds the same writer, " the Archdeacon is styled the Bishop's Eye, and, in his absence, has authority to hold visitations, and, under the Bishop, to examine clerks previous ti ordination, and also before institution and induction : he has likewise power of excommunication, injunction of pcnanccs, suspension, correction, inspecting and re- *'!. 2 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. pressing irregularities and abuses among the clergy; and a charge of the parochial churches within the diocese : in a word, he was to supply the Bishop's room, and in all things to be his vicegerent." The Bishop, it would therefore seem, shifts the res' ponsibility upon the Archdeacon, who, it is evident, has a great deal to answer for. On consulting the Report of the Commissioners, we find that there are fifty seven Archdeacons in England and Wales. Their duties appear to be tolerably uniform, though the returns relating to them vary. Some have contented themselves with the simple return, " the usual duties;" while others attempt to make it appear that they are quite oppres- sed with labour, by going into the details of their Archdeaconries. Three sermons a year in the Cathedral church is, in most cases, one of. the- items. The emoluments which the Archdeacons receive, as such, are small, though derived from a great variety of sources; but nearly all of them have, in addition, a prebendal stall and a couple of parochial benefices ; one has two stalls as well as two rectories, and another has four rectories in addition to a stall. We have not attempted to estimate their aggregate in- comes, from the returns, because we are aware of their fallaciousness; and it may be taken for granted that the pieces of preferment enjoyed by dignified clergymen are none of the poorest. A remarkable illustration of the duties of an Arch- deacon, in connexion with the parochial churches, has occurred in good season for our purpose. Within the last few days, no fewer than three calls have been made, by Correspondents of the Times, on the Arch- deacon of Buckingham, in relation to Dorney Church. The first Correspondent affirms that the incumbent has effaced the Lord's Prayer and the Creed from either side of " the Altar," and erected in their stead statues of Bacchus and Ceres ; but whether the latter, like Mr. Barlow's velveteen, is subscribed " free," tbe deponent saith not. The second Correspondent avers that, in the same church, " some person not long since erected a pew of most unusual construction, resembling nothing so much as a conservatory ; not only glazed on the sides, but with a glass- roof, and fitted np with a stove I" This would seem to intimate a fear that the religion of tbe South of Europe can be reared in this ungenia! clime only as a hothouse plant. What to make of the device as it relates to the anti- pew movement, we arc quite at a loss to know. The third Correspondent of the Times '' begs to trouble the Archdeacon to extend his inquiries beyond Bacchus and Ceres, and to ascertain the metal of which the vessels used in the administration of the Eucharist are composed. If he is not misinformed, they are of pewter, or of some such metal, and have been substituted for others of silver. What became of tbe silver vessels? Were they sold'. 5' If so, why, and what was done with the money!"' All these Writers call upon the Archdeacon to inquire into the subject of theirseveral charges. What became of the silver cups, would appear to be as much a question for the nearest Magistrate as for the Archdeacon. As for the " conservatory," the proprietor will probably warn " those who themselves dwell in glass- houses, not to throw stones." As for the erection of the statues within the communion- rail, the incumbent will, no doubt, plead their symbolical import as representatives of the elements of bread and wine ! and, with respect to their heathen origin, the step he has taken is but a little iu advance of the Oxford Divines. They have gone as far hack as the days of Constantine, and he has not gone much further; while, according to their own admission, they must speedily follow. " We cannot stand," remarks a leading Writer in the British Critic, " where we are: we must go backwards or forwards ; and it will surely be the latter." A little confusion, to be sure, between the terms " backwards " and " forwards ;" but the meaning is too plain to be misunderstood. But, leaving the Incumbent of Dorney in the hands of his Archdeacon, we return to our subject, which may be further illustrated by an individual example. The most celebrated and, on the whole, one of the worthiest Archdeacons of the Church of England, was Archdeacon Paley. It is related that, on his first journey to Cambridge, he fell off his horse no fewer than seven times. Believers in omens may perhaps re- cognise the consequence of this " perfect number " of falls, in the subsequent failure of all his efforts to attain the Episcopal dignity. He was not wanting, however, in that mental pliability to which an eminent Prelate of the present day was indebted for his better success. When l'aley kept his first act at the Uni- versity, he proposed to support the thesis, that " the eternity of punishments is contrary to the Divine attributes." Finding, however, that this would dis- please the orthodox Master of his College, he con- sulted Watson, afterwards Bishop of Llandaff, who told him that he might put not before " contrary," — a suggestion which he adopted and acted upon. I Upon this facility, his Biographer remarks: " Through the whole course of his life, Dr. Paley seemed too willing to suppport established doctrines, and to find I plausible reasons for existing institutions; even in cases in which he must have felt those doctrines' to I be at variance with truth, and those institutions in 1 opposition to the best interests of mankind." After | taking his degree as Senior Wrangler, he completed I his education in the neighbourhood of London, where I " he pursued knowledge and amusement with equal, I or nearly equal, eagerness and avidity," and " attend- I ed the playhouses and the courts- of justice with similar delight." After this course of tmvn life, it is hardly surprising that he should have " vindicated the I Epicurean philosophy" before tbe university^ and not at all astonishing that a prize should have been awarded him for so doing. " He used t. o> consider I the Thirty- nine Articles of religion as mere articles I of peace, of which it , vas impossible that the framers could expect any one person to believe tbe whole, as they contain altogether about two hundred and forty distinct, and many of them inconsistent, propositions." Nevertheless, he refused to sign the famous Petition ] against Subscription, alleging that " he could not afford to keep a conscience." Preferment on pre- ferment poured rapidly in upon this cautious and clever Churchman. After providing for his own son, Bishop Law, grandfather to the restorer of the Temple of Soinnauth, conferred upon PAJ. EY the best benefices he had to bestow ; in three years after, a prebendal stall; in two years more, the Arch- deaconry of Carlisle, " a sort of sinecure;" and in two more, the Chancellorship of the diocese. After the Bishop's death, the Dean and Chapter gave him another benefice; and, although Pitt received his political services without the hoped- for recompence of a Mitre, three Bishops conspired to reward his labours in " the cause of the Church;" London giving him a stall in St. Paul's, Lincoln making him sub- dean of that diocese ; and Durham presenting him with " the valuable living of Bishop Wearmouth." — these three preferments alone being worth more than jS2,009 a- year. To complete the picture, we may f. dd, on the authority of his Biographer, that Archdeacon Paley" did not disdain the amusement of the card- table, and was partial to a game at whist •" It may be said that Paley is an unfair specimen of Archdeacons, inasmuch as few have ever possessed so many pieces of preferment; and, certainly, they I were so numerous that we have lost count of them. Some men, no doubt, are more fortunate than others ; but the latest returns sustain the belief, that" Bishops' Eyes" are generally deemed competent to be in at least half a dozen places at the same time. At all events, no one will presume to question that it is a I compliment to his order, to put forward Paley, as a I specimen, in regard to their claims on public grati- tude and esteem. His works, however, must be laid, out of the account. In the first place; they are not spotless; and, in the second, they sold so well as to I be their own reward. That, both as a moralist and as a divine, he will ever hold a high rank in the Re- I public of Letters, cannot for a moment be questioned; but that is not the matter in hand. What we have mainly to consider is, whether he, and such as he, namely, Archdeacons, are so useful to the country, as to merit the emoluments they receive in that char- acter. We see from the tenor of Paley's life, with what hopes and under what motives' aspiring men enter the Church. Are these of a character to secure to the public any solid benefit at their hands ? Nay, it is a question of naked fact. Do they, can they render any benefit to the public ? What is an Arch- deacon's first duty ? To act as the " Bishop's Eye v" in plain English, to afford his Lordship an excuse for sleeping at his post. What, as the " Bishop's Eye," is he supposed to do ? To see that the clergy of the diocese do their duty. But how can a man who him- self holds stalls in divers cathedrals and benefices in several counties, be expected to be rigorous and exact I with his brethren ? It is a perfect farce. By invent- ing a multiplicity of grades of office, the Established Church would persuade us, that immense pains are taken to insure diligence and punctuality in the dis charge of clerical duties ; but it is a mere blind, and any oue may see that the r « al object has been to create plausible pretences for a scale of " prizes," graduated according to the degrees of influence, poli- tical oraristocratical, which worldly- minded Church- men can bring to bear in their own favour. Paley's own defence of the system may, without much tortur- ing, be construed into an acknowledgment of the fact. " Rich and splendid situations in the Church," says he, " have been justly regarded as prizes held out to invite persons of good hopes and ingenuous ( qu. ingenious?) attainments to enter into its service ;" and then, from the sunny height of his owu " affluence and dignity," he offers the starving curate this miser- able consolation :— " Every member of our ecclesiastical Establish- ment communicates in the dignity which is conferred upon a ffew;— every clergyman shares in the respect which is paid to his superiors." But call the Estab- lishment a lottery, if you will. Who are they that furnish the prizes, and what is their share in return ? — Patriot. SIR ROBERT PEEL. How like to Sir Robert Peel is Dickens's descrip- tion of Mr. Pecksniff's horse :— " He was always, in a manner, going to go, and never going. When at his slowest rate of travelling, he would sometimes lift up his legs so high, and dis- play such mighty action, that it- was difficult to believe lie was doing less than fourteen miles an hour ; and he was for ever so perfectly satisfied with his own speed, and so little disconcerted by opportunities of comparing himself with the fastest trotters, that the illusion was the more difficult of resistance. He was a kind of animal who infused into the breasts of strangers a lively sen3e of hope, and possessed all those who knew him better with a grim despair."— Martin Chuzzlewit. When our Premier was prancing about in the pro- fession of free- trade principles, lie was like the horse lifting up his legs so high, and displaying such mighty action, that1 it was difficult to believe he was not making wondrous progress, and yet he was all * the time at his slowest rate of travelling. Like Mr. Pecksniff's horse, too, he infused into the breasts of some of our Radical brethren a lively sense of hope, while he possessed us and others who knew him better with a grim despair. A piece of orange- peel on the pavement is not a more slippery footing than reliance on its namesake Sir Robert in public affairs. Simile simili gaudet, like likes like, and the Peel likes the sliding scale because it is so like himself. There has hardly been a moment of his official life in which he has not been giving rise to expectations and disappointment. Bentham said that he had great difficulty in defining justice, but at last he settled that it was the disap- pointment- preventing principle ; if it be so, Sir Robert Peel must be the incarnation of injustice, for his whole course, where it has not been deceit, has been the disappointment of those who trusted to him. Public affairs under him are like tbe bridge in the Vision of Mirza, with trap- doors suddenly opening under the feet of those who traverse it. ' Every great interest stands, as it were, on a new drop, and it is a toss- up whether Sir Robert will or will not draw the bolt. We look at the parliamentary stage now as we look at a pantomime, expecting the unexpected, and wondering only when any thing keeps its form and its promise. By what perverse art, by what curious infelicity, it is that Sir Robert Peel, who has made so many com- plain, has made none in opposite interests content,, we are utterly unable to explain. It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and it must be an ill Peel indeed that does so many much harm and nobody any good— butt so it is. Horace Walpole tells us of a pompous ambassador who wrote to his court—" Some say that the Pre- tender is dead, some say that he is not dead : for my part I believe neither the one nor the other." So some say that Sir Robert Peel intends to change the corn law, some say that he does not intend to change the corn law; but for our parts, like the ambassador, we believe neither. He has no purpose one way or the other, but is waiting to see which interest will get the upper hand, and to go with it,— Examiner. GERMAN MUSIC. ( Continued from our last number.) PROFESSOR TAYLOR'S FIFTH LECTURE. The principal subject of this lecture was the musi- cal character and works of Graun ; following a glance at the state of literature and the arts in Germanv, about the commencement of the last centurv, at which period no musician had arisen in that country to ex- hibit mufeic in a form equally popular with the poetry of Klopstock's " Messiah." Schutz and Sebastian Bach were in advance of their age ; and future generations, rather than their own profited by their labours. The four great musicians who flourished at this period, Hasse, Graun, and Emanuel and John Christian Bach, did little towards the erection of a national school of music; studying in Italy, and forming their style on Italian models. Hitherto, apparently, no music had been printed or published in Germany ; though music was printed with ypes in England, Italy, and Flanders, at the: THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. 3 rlose of the 16th century. The most celebrated prin- ters and publishers of that time were Guardano of Venice, Phalesius of Antwerp, and Tallis, Byrde, and afterwards Est, in London ; hut he had not been able to discover any German printed music for a century and a half aftet wards. The madrigals of Schutz were printed at Venice, and in 1772 Dr. Burney could find no music shops in Vienna; and Breitkopt ( one of whose descendants was the head of the great publish- ing bouse of Breitkopft and Hartel, of Leipsic) told Dr. Burney that he was the inventor of musical types in Germany. The three largest music- publishing firms in Germany now, besides the one just mentioned, were those of Simro'ck of Bonn, Andre of Offenbach, and Scliott of Mainz. But, at the commencement of the last century, the German school of music began to exert some influence over Europe, through the medium of Italy, France, and England. Charles Henry Graun, like his illustrious contem. porary ( Sebastian Bach), was a native of Saxony. He was admitted into the choir of the cathedral of Dresden, where he early applied himself to the study of harmony, though intending to pursue his profes- sion of a singer rather than a composer. To Lotti he was indebted for instruction in both branches of his art. On the retirement of Hasse from Brunswick, Graun was invited to succeed him as principal tenor singer; and there accident brought him into favour as a composer. A new opera was produced by Schu- mann, the court musician ; and Graun, being dissat- isfied with some songs in his part, recast them, and these were so superior to. the rest of the opera, that his talents as a composer were soon put in requisition for both the church and the theatre. He remained in Brunswick 10 years, sedulously devoting himself to his art, aud advancing his reputation throughout Germany. At this time the Crown Prince of Prussia ( afterwards Frederick the Great) was living in seclu- sion at Rheinsburgh ; and he sought and obtained the services of Grant), who enjoyed his regard through the rest of his life. When Frederick ascended the Prussian throne, Berlin became the future and finaj residence of Graun, and there all his celebrated works were produced. He died iu 1759, and Frederick beard of his death soon after he entered Dresden as a conqueror; and, though elated with the pride of victory, the loss of his favourite composer melted the stern monarch even to tears. He exclaimed, " I shall never live to see another Graun. The loss of other servants I may repair : him I can never replace.'> Dr. Burney stated that, 14 years afterwards, the king reluctantly listened to any other operas than those of Graun. Graun's eminence as a composer was the result of a genius for tbe production of melody, with a thorough knowledge of harmony. As a melodist he rivalled Hasse, and as a harmonist he was far superior. Dr- Calcott said of him, " He knew when to employ Italian sweetness, and when to exchange it for Ger- man force." He had the rare excellence of giving to tbe words he set, their most just and forcible musical expression. Some of his recitatives were models of their kind ; though, like Hasse, he often engrafted on his sacred music the florid style of the theatre ; and, for this reason, many of his songs had a stiff and antiquated character. But where he sought to touch the heart rather than to please the ear, his power now was as great as ever. Mr. Taylor said he could only illustrate this notice by Graun's compositions for the church ; as his operas, if they ever reached this country ( but he be- lieved they never did), were lost for ever. They re- mained in the possession of the King of Prussia, and in Germany he ( Mr. T.) had never been able to pro cure a copy of them. His two principal works were his Te Deum ( in D) and his Der Tod Jesu. The cus- tom of celebrating a victory by a Te Deum was of long standing in most European nations ; and those who filled the situation of composers to tbe sovereigns of this country bad left abundant proof of their skill in anthems and services of this kind. Out of the large number of these compositions, three Te Deurns had attained a high celebrity,— those of Henry Purcell, written for the annual celebration of St. Cecilia's Day; of Handel, to celebrate the victory at Dettingen ; and of Graun, occasioned by one of his royal master's celebrated triumphs. That of Purcell stood in advance of the others, for his just treatment of tbe subject, and for vigorous expression ; which not only challenged the admiration of musicians, but addressed its powerful and resistless appeals to the heart of every devout worshipper. That of Handel had merit of a very high order, but of a very different kind. He had largely availed himself of ex- isting compositions, both foreign and English, and succeeded iu producing a work rej lete with beauty and grandeur. The Te Deum of Graun approached i the gorgeous splendour of Handel, rather than the sober majesty and devout feeling of Purcell. We traced in it sometimes a resemblance to Leonardo Leo or Clari, but more frequently to Carissima and I'ergolesi; but always to the catholic church music of Italy, which had begun to put off the soberjgarb of the church, and to array itself in that of the theatre. The first portion of this 7e Denm was then sung by the choir, beginning " Tegloriosus ayostolorum chorus which opened with a duet ( tenor and bass), followed by another ( trebles), and was a fine piece of choral music. The next duet Mr. Taylor characterised as one of great vocal beauty ; although devoid of any attempt to give that just expression to the words which music ought invariably to convey. The feeling of deep supplication never found its natural utterance in an ostentatious display of vocal ability. Giaun here appealed chiefly to the senses; Handel and Purcell, especially in tbe same passages, had addressed them- selves to the heart. Mrs. H. Andrews and Mr. Walton sang the duet, " Te ergo," & c.— the English " We therefore pray thee, help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood." One passage, on the words " vos preciosa sanguine," was" very beautiful. Mr. Taylor next passed to a notice of^ Graun's greatest sacred composition, Der TodJcsu ( the death of Jesus), a subject to which every art had offered its tribute of devout reverence. Amongst the works of musicians who had chosen for Jtheir subject the advent, life, sufferings, and death of the Saviour, were the Messiah of Handel, other compositions of Jumelli, Paesiello, and other Italian writers); the Last Words of the Saviour, by Haydn ; Christ on the Mount of Olives, by Beethoven ; and the Crucifixion,^ by Spohr. Der Tod Jesu had the^ same celebrity in Germany ( where it was always performed in the churches on Good Friday) which the Messiah of Handel possessed in England ; yet it had attracted so little notice here, that it had never been translated, published, or per- formed in this country.* This was not properly an oratorio, as it possessed no dramatic character ; but it was correctly entitled by its author, a sacred cantata. Nothing could be more admirably accordant than the music of the Tod Jem with its words. The portions selected presented themselves under the disadvantage of a translation. The first chorus had the simple majesty of Handel's style, together with its vigour and animation. The chorus, " Mercy and hope of Jehovah, beam o'er us," was then sung. Tbe effect of the words " While in thee alone confiding,"— the musical subject being given by the basses, and taken up in succession by the tenor, alto, and trebles,— was very fine. The following chorale was. modelled, perhaps copied from the early compositions of the Lutheran church.— The chorale, " How glorious must the dwellings be," was then sung, with seraphine accompaniment. The harmony was very rich. The next recitative was a sufficient proof that Graun was sometimes not regardless of that connec- tion which ought to be deemed inseparable between sound and sense. He ( Mr. T.) could rank very few recitatives with this for truth of expression, and depth of feeling.— Mr. Walton then sang, with great taste and feeling, tbe recitative, " Beloved Redeemer, thy spirit bends in deep submission." The touching pathos and expression of the passage, " Not my will, but thine, O God I be done," were transcendently beautiful; and the soft, soothing character of the passage, " Deep slumber seals their eyes," was in fine relief to the awakening voice of the Saviour, bidding the disciples to watch. The selection from this celebrated cantata would now proceed without interruption to its close. The deep sorrow of the disciples, while they anticipated the fate of their Master, was feelingly depicted in the succeeding chorus ; their anguish and horror at his death in the following recitative ; they unite in a chorale, simple, solemn, and mournful; after which the voice of promise foretells the Saviour's resurrec- tion and ascension, and the future glories of the Messiah's kingdom are announced in the concluding chorus. The chorus, " Sorrow darkens the pathway of thy children," opened with a beautiful lament, in subdued tones ; gradually the cries of the disciples, in the agony of their grief, strike on the ear with thrilling effect; and the whole piece was full of appropriate * We are told that the late Mr. Latrobe, of Fairfield, procured a copy of Der Tod Jesu from Germany, which he arranged to words selected from the English version of the Psalms ; and that a very considerable portion of this work was performed from his copy, and under his auspices, some years ago, at one of tbe anniversary celebrations of the Stockport Sunday school. harmony and beauty. Tlje next was a tenor recitative beginning " The affrighted seraphim behold him yield his spirit," and was given with the fitting expression by Mr. Walton. The effect of the accompaniment, too, is very striking, when the gloomy wailing char- acter of the strain is broken by the loud, crashing chords which mark tbe riven earth and rending tombs, fearfully attesting the last moments of the Saviour's expiring agony. In tbe succeeding chorale, the disciples lament their Master's death, in the iwords, " His voice is bush'd, so oft that spoke." This was in a fine strain of subduedsorrow. This was followed by a tenor air, sung by Mr. Walton, " Weep no more," the character of which was at once soothing and animating. Then followed the closing chorus ( to the words of Watts's hymn), " Jesns shall reign where'er the sun."— The basses lead, and enunciate the subject; it is taken up by the tenors, then by the altos, and lastly by the trebles. Another subject is proposed by the altos followed in turn by the trebles, tenors, and basses ;' and the whole composition presents striking proofs of the hand of a master. The general effect of the chorus was very fine. ( To le Continued.) POETRY. ORIGINAL. STANZAS. Can I forget thee ? No: by all that's dear,— By every tie,— by every token,— No ! I love thee but too tenderly, I fear, E'er to forget my fond, tho' slighted, vow That thee, and thee alone, I'd love for ever: And naught on earth can my affections sever. The lark ne'er leaves his nest, at early morn, To soar, with warbling throat, to realms on high; The thrush ne'er whistles on the blooming thorn; But to thy memory I have a sigh. Thy form is deeply graven on my heart, And fondly cherished, never to depart. W. B. SELECTED. " THE LORD IS THERE." Ezek. xl. 35. Beyond the reach of fancy's flight, Or mortal's glance, or seraph's eye, Beyond the glorious hills of light That gird the limits of the sky, Where chaos holds eternal sway, Far from the reach of Nature's care, Where sun ne'er shed a distant ray Of glimmering light, " the Lord is there. • When o'er the stormy sea of life, Where shades of darkness ever rest, The Christian, ' mid perpetual strife. Steers to the regions of the blest; When the wild waves that round him roll Would drive his spirit to despair; One still small voice can cheer his soul, It whispers that " the Lord is there." When from a world of care and sin The Christian hastes to meet his God, Though noShekinah glows within The hallowed walls of his abode ; There does that God of love preside, Who loves to hear and answer prayer; Oh ! in Ilis presence to abide, And know and feel " the Lord is there." Beyond the rapid stream of time. Above the stars that gem the skies, A paradise of joy sublime, A now Jerusalem shall rise. Sorrow and pain shall then be o'er, And toil, and tears, and gloomy care Never shall reach that happy shore, " The Lord is there !"—" the Lord is there I" THE SAILOR'S DAUGHTER; A TRIBUTARY MONODY ON THE RECENT DEATH OFF GRACE DARLING. BY MRS, C. BARON WILSON. When round her oeean- dwelling Burst the rude tempest's blast, While waves, to mountains swelling, Closed o'er the sinking mast. Forth came the seaman's daughter. Like Mercy, o'er the wave. Stemming that stormy water, To succour and to save. The laurel for the warrior's brow Fame's glorious fingers twine; But far more verdant did it glow, Heroic maid, on thine. And ever to thy deathless name Shall hallow'd memories eling, More precious than the wreath of fame, Pure, bright, unperishing. Thy firm, but woman's, spirit shrank From the homage of the crowd; While pale decay thy life- spring drank, And death thy beauty bow'd. Now sadly round thy ocean home Mourneth the murmuring wave, And Ihush'd each angry billow's foam) Makes music o'er thy grave. 4 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. OUR SCRAP ROOK. " A thing of Shreds and Patches." GOOD CONFERRED BY OMNIBUSSSS.— The in- dividual who first started an omnibus thought of nothing beyond the conveyance of passengers in this novel fashion from one end of the town to another, and sharing the profits of hackney- coach and cabmen. He did not fancy that he was going to change the face of London, extend its suburbs for miles, and contri- bute essentially to the health of its population. But such is the case. The rental of the city, in the shape of residences or dwelling- houses, is reduced to an ex- traordinary degree ; there is a daily and hourly migration of tens of thousands to the outskirts, where they live and breathe a healthful air, instead of being smoked and smothered in narrow courts and alleys. To receive them, innumerable cottages and villas have been built, and a wonderful mass of property created; and, with a change in their mode of life, there has arisen a change in their feelings and manners. They mix more with general and chance society, and they learn much from every day's casual intercourse with strangers. Their amusements and their domestic habits take a different turn ; and, in short, an Iliad of alteration may truly be ascribed to the starting of a buss I— Literary Gazette. POST- OFFICE MONEY ORDERS — The following are the numbers of money orders issued at some of the principal post- offices during the last three months of 1842. At the General Post- office, in round numbers, 15,000 ; Dublin, 11,000 ; Edinburgh, 7,000 ; Liver- pool, 18,000; Manchester, 13,000; Glasgow, 8,000 ; Birmingham, 8,000 ; Charing- cross, 8.000 ; Bristol, 7,000 ; Bath, 5,000 ; Brighton, 6,000 ; Lombard- street., 7,000 ; Cavendish- street, 5,000. Some idea may be formed of the immense sums paid into the various post- offices in the kingdom, by the fact that above a quarter of a million of pounds sterling were paid into'the few offices just mentioned, in small sums varying from one shilling to five pounds, during the space of three months. The commission on such a sum must have amounted to between two and three thousand pounds. The money- order department in- creases in extent at a rapid rate. There are already upwards of 100 clerks in the post- office- order depart- ment in the General Post- office. PROGRESS OF SINGING FOR THE MILLION.— In many factories, we are happy to say, the children now enjoy, for the first time, through musical in- struction, a pleasure never before dreamt of; and we know many where the Temperance Song and the Call to Prayer are constantly in the mouths of the children. Ill a great number of families, in the humblest condi- tion of life, the children unite in the evening round their father, and sing our practical exercises and little choruses, such as ' Praise,' ' The Village Chimes,' ' The Cuckoo,' " The Infant's Prayer,' & c. Music has given a charm to the homes of the poor, unknown before ; many have been in the habit of seeking comfort and recreation away from their families, till they felt the pleasure of this most domestic pastime. But this is not all: in several lunatic asylums the experiment of the effects of music on the mind of the patient has been tried, which has already pioved so successful elsewhere. Many unhappy beings, se- questrnted from society, subdued and broken down by repeated calamities, and exposed to trials under which the mental powers have sunk into imbecility and second childhood, have been soothed, tran* quillized, and invigorated by the balmy influence of music. Who can doubt its power, when we see these poor people count the days of the week, and the hours of the day, for the arrival of their teacher; and when we witness the joy and thankfulness with which he is welcomed ? If numerous cures have been accomplished and publicly recorded in Paris through our musical instruction, we begin with entire con- fidence the same work in England,— Musical Times. " GOING, GOING."— THE NON- INTRUSIONISTS.— Surely these churchmen, not always slow at coming to conclusions, are extremely hard to be convinced that nobody will accede to their demands. They say that the moment they are assured that they are not to have their way within the establishment, then they are to go out of it; but it seems that they will not be convinced on the subject by ordinary human evidence. Lord Melbourne refused to do any thing for them. Sir James Graham refuses to do any thing for them, and bids them go about their business for a parcel of incendiaries and mischief- makers; but still they are not convinced, and we presume they they never will he so, until they get a special revela- tion. Meanwhile, the thing of all others most pro voking is, that no one will dance to their piping, The cry still is, " We are going, we are going, we are going : public of Scotland, public of England, do you not see that we are going?" But the public is mighty indifferent, consisting partly of people who though they hear the " going, going," won't believe in the " gone" till the hammei is down ; and partly of people who do not care whether they go or not Indeed, it is an inexpressibly provoking thing; but it is true, that nobody will hold out a hand to stop them from committing the dreadful deed. The public are as indifferent as Mr. Snodgrass was to Mr. Winkle's duel:—" Snodgrass," he said suddenly, " doraoiflet me be baulked in this matter. Do not give informa- tion to the local authorities. Do not obtain the assist ance of several peace officers, to take either me or Dr Slammer, of the 97th Regiment, at present quartered at Chatham barracks, and thus prevent this duel, say do not." Mr. Snodgrass seized his friend's hand warml>- as he enthusiastically said, ' Not for worlds A thrill passed through Mr. Winkle's frame at the conviction that he had nothing to hope from his friend's fears ; and that he was destined to become an animated target, rushed forcibly upon him. good many are even disposed to say with Lady Mac beth, " Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once ;" and such is the perversity of human nature, that, like the audience at a protracted play not a few are impatient for the winding- up of the plot, and are angry with the players for delaying it. This apathy of the public, and willing consent of the government, are called very cruel. The persons who have so clamorously stated their resolution to commit martyrdom, are indignant at the freedom given to them to fulfil their threat. On a stormy day, in a fishing village in the north of Scotland, a fisherman's wife, whose husband was at sea, ran screaming forth from a whiskey shop, protesting that, if anybody would give her a knife, she would cut her throat, by- reason of her fears for the life of her beloved spouse. A passer- by, of accommodating principles, hereupon drew from his pocket a clasped knife, and handed it to her, saying, " Here, my good woman, I should be sorry to refuse you so small a favour." On this, the candidate for connubial martyrdom, casting a fiendish glance at him, and clenching her fists, cried out, louder than ever, " Oh, ye cruel monster, to gie a woman that's beside hersel", a knife to cut her ain throat wi'." The church has got the knife to cut its own throat with, and its gratitude for the favour is of the same caste.— Examiner. NEW ZEALANDERS AT CHURCH.— I read prayers for the first time in Maowri ( the native language) last Sunday, and got on pretty well. I shall soon have to preach in the same tongue, for the clergy- man who has the charge of this place is going to a new station. The church is large, and built of wood. There were between 200 and 300 present yesterday. The dress of some of the ladies is rather curious. Fancy a fat old woman, with a coal- shuttle bonnet on her h?. ad, her face inside very much tattooed, with a bright scarlet shawl, a very fanciful printed gown, white cotton stockings, and showy sandals. This was a great cbieftainess. The way in which the Maowries make the responses is singular. They all keep exactly together, so that their voices resemble a heavy surf, heard at a distance, They will, I dare say, chant well some day when they are taught; but at present their singing is the most extraordinary and outrageous thing you can possibly imagine. They scream out at the very top of their voices ; and, in some of their tunes, when they go down from one note to a lower one, they make a most extraordinary slur, just like the sound produced from the violin, on running the hand up. A great chief, called William Showe, who acts as leader in Waimate Church, got down so low when singing a solo, that all that was heard was an indistinct grumbling, just like what comes from a grinding organ, when ischievous rascal has flattened a bar of two of the pegs. The grinder goes on, turn, turn, wonderin where in the world the sound has got to. Just so was William Showe's organ. I must say the blackies are very civil. I am in no great danger of being eaten, for they are all Christians here, and know the prayer- book well; although I have to inform you, that an old pagan chief, called Terains, whom I saw on the river, made a meal of some of his enemies the other day.— Letter from the Rev. W. C. Cotton, New Zealand. DR. SOVTHEY.— The following is an extract from communication from Mrs. Southey, ( formerly so well known as Caroline Bowles) to Mrs. Sigourney, an American authoress, in answer to a letter, in which the latter lady desired to be remembered to the Laureate:—" You desired to be remembered to him who sang of ' Thalaba, the wild and wondrous tale.' Alas, my friend, the dull, cold ear of death is not more insensible than his, my dearest husband': to all communications from the world without Scarcely can I keep hold of the last poor comfort of believing that he still knows me. The almost com- plete unconsciousness has not been of more than six months' standing, though more than two years hav elapsed since he has written even his name. After the death of bis first wife, < Edith,' of his first love, who was for several years insane, his health was terribly shaken. Yet for the greater part of a year that he spent with me in Hampshire, my former home, it seemed perfectly re- established, and he used to say, ' It had surely pleased God that the last years of his life should be happy.' But the Almighty's will was otherwise. The little cloud soon appeared which was in no long time to overshadow all. In the black ness of its shadow we still live, and shall pass from under it only to the portals of the grave! The last three years have done on me the work of twenty. The one sole business of my life is that which, verily believe, keeps the life in me— the guardianship of tny dear, helpless, unconscious husband." DURABILITY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC IMPRESSIONS M. Ulex, of Hamburg, lately subjected some da guerriiotypes to a series of experiments, for the pur pose of determining their durability. He states, communication published in The Annals of Chemistry " For the purpose of ascertaining the manner which they would be affected by light, I covered one half of one of these impressions with paper, and hung it up, so as to afford a direct southern aspect, thus exposing it for weeks to the continued action of the sun's rays. When, alter this time, the protecting cover was removed, not the slightest difference could be perceived in the two several halves of the impression. The same impression was then exposed in the water- bath to a temperature of plus 60° R.= 168° F. without, however, its under- going, in this instance, the slightest alteration Other impressions were then exposed to steam, to the action of carbonic acid, ammonia, and even some to the action of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and to the gas of hydrosulphate of ammonia, without, however, the impressions losing in the slightest degree the distinctness of their outlines, or being destroyed. A pure silver plate in contact with the air, if only for a short time exposed, is, as is well known, rapidly blackened by the action of sulphur- etted hydrogen, In the manner, however, in which these impressions are generally kept, that is to say, between paste- board and glass, both pasted together, not even the slightest tinge of brown will be pro- duced by the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen. If photographic impression is completely rubbed away by means of a piece of leather and rotten- stone, so that the bright surface of the silver alone is apparent, and the silver plate is then heated, the impression will re- appear distinctly with all its outlines. This experiment serves likewise as an additional con- firmation of the statements given by Moser. At the present time the photographic impressions are, almost without exception, gilt according to the method introduced by Fisot. In the case of an im- pression treated in this manner, the gold coating defies all noxious influences. We arrive, then, at this result— that the preference, asregaids durability, must justly be given to photographic impressions over paintings in oil."— Athenaeum. A CLERGYMAN'S ACCOUNT OF A PUSEYITE BROTHER.— Ceremonies are little mischievous com- pared with the doctrine which has been delivered from the pulpit by a surpliced preacher— by one who dares to receive the pay of a protestant clergy- man, while inculcating some of the most audacious dogmas of Rome. In the afternoon sermon of Christmas- day, the congregation * » * were deliberately told that " the body of Christ has been as absolutely upon the altar table of the communion, as it appeared to the shepherds in the manger ;" in oth? r words, transubstantiation in its most flagrant character! I know that this is true; nor am I altogether startled at the fact. When young men are allowed to go on, step by step, without ad- monition or reasoning, they conceive that all parts of their conduct or discourse bear the same impress of propriety. Causes and effects are adequate the one to the other.— The Rev. Dr. Dibdin to the Bishop of Llandaff. EDUORIAL SOLILOQUY— Togo to theTexasor not to go— that am the question— whether it are better to stay at home and bare these ere ills what we has got, or take up arms against a lot of Mexicans and Ingines, and, by fighting ' em, kill ' em. To fight!— to fire!—' taint, nothing more, nor hardly that; but in that fight of ourn what bullets may come, when we have shuffled off a shot or two, must bid us con- sider on't. Aye, there's where it rubs! Rather guess we won't go, on the whole.— New York Mercury. AN EXTRAORDINARY KICK.— Jack Johnson there- upon whispered to his friend that if he, Mr. John Bernard, put on the same expression again, he would give him such an extraordinary kick, that he should keep it to take it to the British Museum as a curiosity when he got home.— Bentley's Miscellany. It is remarked that more children are burnt to death in this country in one year, than the total number of Hindoo women in any age, who burn themselves with the dead bodies of their husbands, and about which so much has been said. The inhabitants of Great Britain are more liable to insanity than those of any other country of Europe, with the exception of Norway. The culture of coffee, which, about fifty years ago, was unknown throughout the whole continent of South America, now produces, in Brazil alone, the enormous quantity of 135,000 000ft, or something more than one half of what annually finds its way from all quarters into the European markets. GOOD NATURE.— With the possession of every good quality, an excess of good nature, while it may appear the most estimable of all, will often render the whole nugatory.— The Prism of Thought. THE ORIGIN OF DIRGE.— A certain service cele brated for the dead, called soul- mass, is derived from the Latin word dirige, because the prayers are direct- ed unto God more especially in that service ; in which the prayer begins with " dirige nos Domine " Direct us, O Lord." " MATRIMONY :— AN " ACID DROP."—" I don't know where that boy got his bad temper— r. ot from me, I'm sure." " No, my dear, for I don't perceive you have lost any." Bed is a bundle of paradoxes ; we go to it with re- luctance, yet we quit it with regret; and we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late. No real greatness can long co- exist with deceit. The whole faculties of man must be exerted in order to call forth noble energies; and he who is not sincere, lives in but half his being, self- mutilated, self- paralysed.— Coleridge. OUR CHATTER BOX. ANTI- HUMBUG inquires whether it be, or be not, true that a certain member of the legal profession submitted bis bumps ( we should say his organs, con- sidering his talent as an organist,) the other evening, to public craiyniological examination ; and was grave- ly told that he was very deficient in self- confidence ! S. D. shall be. inserted, if we meet with nothing better upon the subject. A correspondent who is evidently no friend to Wesleyan Methodism, asks us whether the proposed " special services for the revival of religion in the Halifax circuit," are to include prayers for the morality of the preachers, as well as the piety of the laity. We have received from EVA, " The Sea, written in the Isle of Man, upon a sudden and unexpected view of the ocean." Some of the lir. es are very good, but others are sadly wanting in harmony ; and the piece is, as a whole, too imperfectly elaborated for publication. X.; A. B.; and EFSILON ; are rejected. HALIFAX:— Printed and Sold, for the Proprietors, at the General Printing Office of II. Martin, Upper George Yard.