" "Rule Britannia" was composed by Arne,
and originally formed part of his Masque of _Alfred_, first performed in
1740 at Cliefden, near Maidenhead. To Arne we are also indebted for the
music of "Where the Bee sucks there lurk I." "The Vicar of Bray" is set to
a tune originally known as "A Country Garden." "Come unto these yellow
sands" we owe to Purcell; "Sigh no more, Ladies" to Stevens; "Home, Sweet
Home" to Bishop.
There is a curious melancholy in national music which is generally in the
minor key; indeed this holds good with the music of savage races
generally. They appear, moreover, to have no love Songs.
Herodotus tells us that during the whole time he was in Egypt he only
heard one song, and that was a sad one. My own experience there was the
same. Some tendency to melancholy seems indeed inherent in music, and
Jessica is not alone in the feeling
"I am never merry when I hear sweet music."
The epitaphs on Musicians have been in some cases very well expressed.
Such, for instance, is the following:
"Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty power and hapless love,
Rest here, distressed by poverty no more;
Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;
Sleep, undisturbed, within this peaceful shrine,
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!"
Still more so that on Purcell, whose premature death was so irreparable a
loss to English music--
"Here lies Henry Purcell, who left this life, and is gone to that
blessed place, where only his harmony can be exceeded.
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