success; and the triennial "Festival" at Birmingham never failed to add largely to the funds of the great hospital of that important town. The Oratorios, as they still were called, were carried on at one or other of the winter theatres, and sometimes at both, but had degenerated into concerts of a hybrid kind, in which was intermixed a large proportion of what at that time pleased the multitude, and drove away all who had any pretensions to musical taste. Now and then, however, a better spirit shed its influence over the managers, and to one of them* we are indebted for the first performance in this country of the 'Messiah,' with Mozart's modest but exquisite additional accompaniments, and for Beethoven's greatest vocal work, 'The Mount of Olives.'

The noble directors of the Ancient Concerts did not relax in their efforts to uphold the dignity and promote the usefulness of the institution. The royal family never failed to attend, so long as the mental health of the king, a great lover of Handel's music, permitted. But, though the prince regent

who could not endure the restraint imposed on him by an appearance in public-never honoured these performances by his presence, they were not the less attended by the higher orders, and continued, as it is to be hoped they will long remain, the bulwark against the attacks of capricious fashion. The Vocal Concerts went on, supported by the admirers of glees, and of the lighter kind of vocal music. The managers, however, after a time split into two parties, and commenced a public competition. But the unprofitableness of this soon became apparent; the rivals † entered into a coalition, and carried on the performances to the end of the season of 1815, when they altogether ceased. The public had begun to manifest symptoms of weariness at the sameness which they had long only tolerated; but the Vocal Concerts received their death-wound from a new institution which suddenly rose up, and as suddenly commanded the support of nearly all the real connoisseurs that the metropolis contained.

This institution, which speedily was, by universal consent, ranked as the first in Europe, and soon became the parent of many concerts established not only in England but in several of the continental cities, assumed the appellation of 'The Philharmonic Society.' Its primary aim was to revive a taste for instrumental music of a high order, which, on the cessation of Salomon's concerts, had fallen into neglect, and to make known to this country, and render generally appreciable, those grand orchestral works of the great masters which had either never been heard in London or so performed as to be scarcely intelligible. The society was formed in the early part of the year 1813, and consisted of thirty of the principal members of the musical profession, who "not only agreed to give the gratuitous aid of their united

services, but entered into a subscription to meet the incidental expenses." ""* The first concert took place on the 8th of March, 1813, and produced a sensation that had never been equalled since the Commemoration of Handel in 1784.+ The concerts were held at the old Argyll Rooms; and, when, on the formation of Regent-street, these rooms were rebuilt on a large scale and in a splendid manner, the performances were continued there, the band was augmented, and the number of auditors was doubled. During a period of more than twenty years a subscription ticket of admittance was not obtained but with great difficulty, and the most celebrated performers, from every part of the world, were emulous of exhibiting their talents at a concert which conferred a reputation on all who were heard at it. In its third year a schism threatened the permanence of the society, and an opposition was, for a single season-that of 1816-attempted, under the revived name of "The Professional Concert;' but it was vigorously resisted, and the few seceders from the parent society were glad to be received again into its bosom.§.

During the eighteen years over which the present portion of our history spreads, the Italian Opera exhibited those fluctuations common to this theatre, which partly are attributable to the inconstancy of fashion, but far more to the ability or the unskilfulness of its managers. Mad. Banti, a grand singer, though an indifferent musician, kept possession of the stage till the close of the season of 1802. In her last year she was joined by Mrs. Billington, whose powers of execution and refined taste have never been surpassed. In 1804 Mad. Grassini was added to the company. Her voice was a rich contr'alto, her figure and action were noble, and her pathos was deeply affecting. Such a pair, aided by Braham, Viganoni, and Rovedino, enabled the manager to produce, in the most efficient manner and under the composer's direction, Winter's charming operas, Proserpina, Calypso, and Zaira; as also Cimarosa's Orazi e Curiazi, and the Tito of Mozart, whose name now for the first time appeared at the king's theatre, an introduction for which the subscribers were indebted to Mrs. Billington, a thoroughly educated musician, who produced that fine opera for her benefit in 1806. But the public were not yet pre

*Harmonicon, xi. 4.-" The direction of the concert for the first season was confided to Messrs. Ayrton, Bishop, Clementi. Corri, J. B. Cramer, F. Cramer, and Dance, Virtuosi who could elsewhere appear only as leaders here took in their turns the subordinate stations; and such masters of their art as Salomon, Viotti, F. Cramer, Shield, Spagnoletti, Vaccari, Yaniewicz, &c., were seen vying with each other which should contribute most to the general effect of the performances."-Ibid.

† See Morning Chronicle March 10, 1813.

The original Argyll Rooms, constructed by Colonel Greville for the Pic-Nic Society, accommodated about 400 persons. They were rebuilt in 1820, under the direction of Mr. Nash, by a company of twenty professors of music, at an enormous expense, and were in an unaccountable manner destroyed by fire in 1830. The Philharmonic Society then removed to the great room in the King's Theatre, and afterwards to the Hanover Square Rooms, where its performances are still carried on (1844).

§ This dissension was fomented by a most unworthy member, who shortly after was obliged to abscoud to America. His confederate in the business (not a member) decamped, a few years later, to Paris, having betrayed the trust reposed in him as a public officer, and there

died.,

pared for a work of so high an order; and the Italians have ever abhorred music that cost them some trouble to learn: it was, therefore, altered to meet the general wish, as well as to adapt it to the means which the orchestra then afforded; and, after all, it yielded in attraction to a pasticcio, Il Fanatico per la Musica, in which the buffo, Naldi, made his début. The season 1806-1807 was remarkable for the first appearance of Madame Catalani, a singer who, "take her for all in all," says an experienced critic, "her perfections and errors weighed against each other, has had no equal in our time. . . . . Into whatever she did she threw her whole soul; imparted her emotions to the breasts of her hearers, and carried them away, willing and delighted captives to her enchantments."* Her demands at length became so startling, and her conditions so despotic, that the manager resolved, in the seasons of 1809 and 1810, to decline her services; but he had cause to regret his temerity, and, during three more years, the "admired of all" reigned triumphant. In 1811 Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Zauberflöte were heard for the first time on this stage; but, though both were given under many disadvantages, the latter particularly, yet no blunders in the getting-up, no imperfections in the singers, could so disguise such works as to conceal charms that threw all other composers into the shade. In 1812 the Nozze di Figaro of the same master was brought out, Catalani as Susanna, who now also took the part of Vitellia, in Tito, and with her accustomed success; though both operas suffered severely by her arbitrary mode of treating them. This extraordinary artiste retiring at the close of the season of 1813, the theatre lost its chief attraction, and the three following years proved blanks, so far as relates to music; and the two last very materially damaged the new entrepreneur (a man wholly unqualified for the task), both in purse and reputation. In preparing, therefore, for the season of 1817, he called to his assistance a gentleman who had bestowed much of his attention on the Italian opera, and the affairs of the king's theatre. Under the title of "Director," he undertook the management of the opera for the season of 1817, and, collecting abroad a company which, as a whole, had never before been equalled in this country, was successful in retrieving both the pecuniary affairs and the character of the theatre. The great feature of the season, and the triumph of the Italian opera, was Mozart's Don Giovanni, a work which, from the complexity of some of its parts, and the difficulty of the whole, had baffled all attempts-except when given at Prague, under the composer's superintendence-to perform it as originally written. An intrigue was got up to prevent the production of this chef-d'œuvre, and the director had to encounter many harassing im

Harmonicon, vol. viii. p. 72.

Mr. Ayrton.

1 Mesdames Fodor, Camporese, and Pasta: Signors Crivelli (the elder), Naldi, Ambrogetti, and Augrisani. Mr. Weichsel was restored as leader of the band, and Signor Liverati was conductor.

pediments; but, determined to attain his be and aided by the zealous co-operation of nearly the performers, he overcame every difficulty, ar. accomplished his design.* Besides this immor... |

work, three other operas by the same master we given in their perfect state; and Agnese, Par masterpiece, was produced for the first time England. The following three years witnese an attempt to go on without the assistance i director; and, though two of Rossini's best ope were given, and were not only novelties, but luable ones, the general management was so satisfactory that the subscribers became disco tented, and, at a public meeting convened for purpose, remonstrated; many withdrew: e season proved worse than the preceding one; t of 1820 terminated abruptly; and the unfortun proprietor retired to the Continent, whence b never returned.‡

Drury-lane did not, during the whole of t period, produce one entire musical work cape of sustaining a permanent reputation; th several pieces in Mr. Braham's operas will, detached form, long retain a portion of that pa larity which they at first enjoyed, and which a rarely been equalled.§ Very different was the of Covent-garden, in which Mr. Bishop's talent chiefly exhibited, and where he continued to d play his abilities till far beyond the close oft period under review. Of his numerous oper there is scarcely one that does not contain on positions which will transmit his name to p terity. The Lyceum theatre, in the Strand, licensed in 1809 for the exclusive performance English operas during the summer season. T attempt of the proprietor, Mr. Arnold, was high laudable, but only negatively successful. T theatre was rebuilt, in a very commodious hand some manner, in 1816, and its proposed obje pursued for a time with more activity and ed sistency than profit.||

The two clubs established for the encourage ment of our truly national harmony, the English glee, continued in full activity; but except so very fine additions to their stock, contributed t Mr. Horsley, and a few by Mr. Attwood and Mr Bishop, the catalogue of these social and delight compositions was not swelled out to any extern worth mentioning.

The most efficient of the performers on this occasion was Sut Ambrogetti, who, as an actor, was allowed to be the greatest orname that the Italian stage ever had boasted.

This work promised a most successful career; but the priori character, Uberto, a maniac, created such painful associations in than one royal breast, and in the minds of many attached friends the suffering monarch, that it was after a few representations # drawn. The acting of Signor Ambrogetti in this, as the distrac father, was declared by Mrs. Siddons to be the perfection of the

trionic art.

It is calculated that the law expenses of the King's Theatre amounted, in 1840, to more than twice the value of the estatetheless, though fortunes have been lost in that house, it has entite the few who knew how to manage it.

Drury lane theatre was burnt down in February, 1809, and w rebuilt and opened in 1812, under the management of Mr. Are Covent garden had met the same fate in September, 1808. It was i built and opened in 1810.

In 1880 this elegant theatre was destroyed by fire. The presen handsome structure was erected and opened in 1834.

HE period at which our history has now arrived is so recent -its habits and modes of thought differ by such fine and scarcely perceptible shades from our own-that the subject of manners may be handled with more breadth and generality than was possible on former occasions. It was then necessary to dwell upon many minutiæ, in order to transport the imagination of the reader back to the times described, and call up their bodily presence before him. Now we may assume that the more prominent characteristics of the manners of the regency are so much the same with those which still prevail as to render such preparation unnecessary.

Perhaps the most striking change in the social tone of Great Britain in progress during the period which elapsed from the peace of Amiens to the death of George III. was the result of the renewed intercourse with the Continent. At the !commencement of the century there was an almost complete cessation of intercourse between the general publics of Great Britian and the Continental states. This state of affairs continued, and was indeed aggravated, during the empire of Napoleon. The consequence was that the selfadmiration, the defiance and contempt of all foreign modes and opinions, which has always been a characteristic of John Bull, was probably carried to a greater excess at the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries than at any former period. It was not so boobyish and unintellectual a self-worship as is portrayed in the 1 country squires of Fielding and Smollett; it had been polished by the minor morals of Addison and Chesterfield; but it was quite as intense. This narrow-minded spirit first began to give way during the Peninsular campaigns of the Duke of Welling

ton.

Curious civilians occasionally ventured to follow in the rear of the army; and there was always a floating balance of Peninsular officers, dispatched on business or invalided, passing between Spain and England. By such agencies the sympathies of England and the southern continent

VOL. IV.-GEO. III.

were in a manner re-knit. As Russia, Germany, and Sweden successively fell off from the French alliance or subjection, a wider and wider field opened to tourists; and the renewed opportunities of travelling were embraced with an eagerness the natural consequence of long privation. After the first abdication of Napoleon, and still more after the battle of Waterloo, the fashion of travelling became a positive epidemic, and all classes of English above the mere mechanic precipitated. themselves in crowds upon the Continent. The vacillating value of property, occasioned by the revulsion from war to peace and other causes, increased the disposition to visit the Continent; but this cause only came into operation at a later period. Even whilst the English public continued to be excluded from the Continent, agencies were at work preparing public opinion to facilitate the approximation of the tastes and customs of England to those of the Continent. The labours of William Taylor of Norwich, the Nestor of the students of German literature in this country, had formed a body in the reading public who looked to Germany as a sort of promised land. Frere and others had done the same for Spain and Italy. The taste for French literature, and a traditional admiration of the brilliant society of Paris, had not become entirely obsolete. The sturdy anti-continental spirit thawed more easily than could have been anticipated. Perhaps its very exaggeration, if rightly interpreted, might have presaged this result.

The less favourable phases of this change in public feeling were, as usual, most commented upon. The silly affectation of foreign modes merely because they were foreign-the awkwardness and ungainliness of the imitators-the disposition to adopt some of the worst laxities of the conventional code of morals of the Continent-were denounced by satirists. But, though examples of such foolish aping of novelties undoubtedly abounded, they were proportionally less than in former times. The tremendous struggle through which Great Britain had passed, as remarked in the chapter on manners of the preceding period, had braced the national mind-had communicated to it an elevated and manly tone, which was not relaxed in peace. The principal difference which is to be detected, in looking dispassionately back at this distance of time upon the manners of England in 1800 and in 1820, consists in a relaxation of the formality of social intercourse, and in a growing relish for the more intellectual pleasures. This latter charac4 z

The tone which society caught from court circles at this time was of a more dubious character. There is frequently a spirit of antagonism between parent and child even in domestic life. Parents who are strict disciplinarians, both towards themselves and their families, are apt to increase the appetite for pleasure in their children, instead of subduing it. On the contrary, the example of lax parents has sometimes acted as a warning, and inspired a high and resolute spirit of self-control into their children. This antagonism was strongly marked in the case of the sons of George III. The eagerness with which they gave the reins to selfindulgence contrasted startlingly with the citizenlike decorum of the old king; and, as none of them, any more than their father, were endowed with very vigorous or comprehensive minds, or a decided taste for the elevated pursuits of imagination or intellect, their indulgences were in most cases as gross as they were unbridled. They were predisposed to contract intimacies with the relics of the gross sensualists of a former age, banished from the court while George III. was in his vigour, and, in the eclipse of court favour or tolerance, gradually dying out. For a time, when the king was withdrawn from the gaze of his subjects, England seemed threatened with the recurrence of a dissolute era. But the pride of the regent, which made him withdraw within the decorums of his station whenever his boon companions pushed their familiarity too far, and still more his shattered nerves, which imposed a check upon his pleasures, diminished the danger. In justice to the age, too, it must be remarked that the earnest character communicated to all classes by the struggle against a banded world, the ascendancy which the religious portion of society had obtained over the public mind, and the growing taste for promoting education and taking an interest in public discussions and philanthropic exertions, might have bidden defiance to the example even of a gay and licentious court. If future ages were to take their ideas of the standard of manners and morals under the regency from Moore or Byron, they would err widely. The pen of the former was impelled by personal animosity, and the diatribes of the latter have all the exaggeration of a man, the day after a debauch, railing against his own folly, and attributing it to all the world besides.

The diversity of manners, which has been noted in former periods as distinguishing different parts of the empire and different classes of society, was much diminished at the time now under review. The legislative union of Ireland with Great Britain brought the wealthier Irish families more frequently in contact with those of England, assimilating their opinions and manners. The number of Irish officers, too, who distinguished themselves during the war, and their familiar intercourse with their Eng

down the barriers of national peculiarities. In Ireland, however, the assimilation of manners between the different classes of society not only did not advance so rapidly as in other parts of the empire, but, on the contrary, would almost appear to have retrograded. The flocking of the wealthier families to England, by diminishing the frequency of the.r intercourse with the middle classes and the persantry, prevented their Anglicised tone from spreading through society. The progress of the strugge for Catholic emancipation kept alive and strengt ened an anti-English spirit in the mass of the redent population. And the establishment of Maynooth-intended to prevent the growth of an aden priesthood, a priesthood trained in foreign manners and interests, but creating a yet more dangerous provincial priesthood, "more Catholic than the pope"-supplied the class of society destined to take the place of the absentee land-owners and moneyed aristocracy of Ireland, and preserve a tone of feeling and manners in that quarter of the empire harshly contrasting with what prevailed else! where. In England and Scotland, however, the obliteration of provincial and class peculiarities proceeded rapidly under the equalising influence of education. Except in the Celtic districts of Wales and Scotland, few ancient peculiarities of any mo ment retained their ground; and every year winessed the circle inhabited by the English-speaking race widening and encroaching on the domains of those who clung to the aboriginal language.

--

In trying to form an estimate of the general manners of a nation, it is necessary to concentrate attention on the idea of what is proper and becoming which has been adopted as a standard by the nation, rather than upon the degree to which it is realised either by individuals or circles of society. The economical circumstances, the education, the professional pursuits, the natural dispositions of individuals, occasion an unlimited variety of characteristic peculiarities; but the idea which has taken hold of the national mind, which is recog nised as the test of elegance in deportment and conduct that influences all in some degree or other, and is the source of the similarity which constitutes national character. The dominating idea which gives form and bearing to the manners of Great Britain is English: before it all provin cial peculiarities are giving way; to it Scotch and Irish manners are conforming. It is the mould in which all are cast, though its impress is less distinct and sharp, in many cases, from the unfavourable nature of the materials, or of the er cumstances under which they have been passed through it. An Englishman's ideal of manners is not unaptly typified by his ideal of dress and equipage. There is in his choice of all three a shunning of the gaudy, or anything that appears to approach to it, which amounts even to affectation. There is combined with this an intense anxiety that the quality of the article should be excellent, and its finish, with all the plainness of

He is a

its form, exquisite. The English gentleman, if addicted to show, lavishes it not on his own person, but on his domestics; and even with regard to them he wishes their appearance to be rich rather than gaudy. His plain carriage must be as neat as tools and varnish can make it, and as commodious; his horses must strike by their blood and high keeping; the harness must be such as to pass unnoticed. And the standard of taste to which the deportment of the English gentleman must conform is strictly analogous. His amusements are manly, with a strong dash of the useful; his taste is, to make himself comfortable. hunter, a votary of the turf, a cricketer, a yachter, and, in all of these pursuits he prides himself upon being a master of the mechanical details. He is fond of farming, or of reading, or of taking a part in public business. But these serious pursuits he affects to treat as amusements; even though an enthusiast in them, he must talk lightly of them. On the other hand, he must affect a passionate interest in the pleasures of the table and similar trifles. He will be pardoned, too, for being passionately attached to them, so long as they do not render him effeminate, so long as he combines with them a relish for manly sports. The English gentleman is hardy, endowed with a healthy relish for pleasure, and has a high sense of honour. Th-s ideal of the high-bred gentleman communicates its sentiment to the whole of society. Even the ladies catch something of its self dependent, elastic tone, without diminution of or injury to their perfectly feminine graces. This model is emulated throughout society, in sufficiently gross and awkward caricatures sometimes, but still so that lineaments of what is imitated can be detected. Even the ruffianry of the ring, to which a paradox of Wyndham's lent a short lease of prolonged existence, was obliged to affect something of this character. The nuisance of Tom and Jerryism could not have gained even its ephemeral popularity but for this reason. That England at the close of the reign of George III. had much to learn in the philosophy of social intercourse—that it has still much to learn cannot be denied; but its social habits and modes of thought are immeasurably superior to what they were at the first dawn of our history, and may challenge comparison with those of any other nation in Europe. They are a source of justifiable pride, and of good augury for the future.

Our notice of the fashions in dress which obtained during this last period must necessarily be brief, as well as uninteresting to the present generation. The French Revolution having introduced round hats, pantaloons, &c., and wigs and powder having been discarded by the beaux of the nineteenth century, the only great innovation was the introduction of frock-coats with loose trowsers and short boots worn underneath them; and, when we record such appellations as Wellingtons, Cossacks, and Bluchers, we need scarcely point to the date at which they were adopted. Black handkerchiefs

and trowsers for evening dress had not become fashionable in 1820.

With respect to the ladies, their fashions have been more mutable: the most striking and the most hideous, however, being the rage for shortening the waist. The bonnet, that last and most enduring novelty in female costume, introduced towards the middle of the last century, underwent almost annual alterations in form; now extravagantly large, now absurdly small, at one time rivalling the most gigantic coal-scuttle (the Oldenburgh to wit), and at another scarcely shading the fair brows of the capricious wearers; now laden with ribbons or flowers, curtained with lace, or overshadowed by plumage, and the next month, perchance, denuded of almost every ornament: but we must beg to refer our fair readers to the few specimens we can afford to give of the most remarkable of these yet unforgotten "thick-coming fancies."

In the army, the principal alterations were the abolition of hair-powder, pomatum, and pigtails (1808), of the cocked-hats (1812), and the reintroduction of "breast and back plates" for the Life-guards and Royal Horse-guards (blue) after the battle of Waterloo. The other changes which ultimately produced the present uniforms took place at various periods since the year 1820, at which our work terminates.

The furniture of the reign of George III. presents us with no important addition to the list of articles which had been gradually increasing from the time of the Conquest. But in form and material considerable changes took place, and the influence of the French Revolution affected in a remarkable degree the productions of our cabinet-makers and upholsterers. In Paris, the man whose hair was dressed à la Brutus could not condescend to be seated in anything less Roman than a curule chair, and the lady who had adopted an Athenian costume must needs recline on a Grecian couch, the coverings of which were ornamented with honeysuckle or key borders. The fauteuil and the sofa à la duchesse were abolished with the chapeau à cornes and the perruque aux ailes de pigeon. Everything was to be strictly classical, and the substantial, gorgeous, and comfortable furniture of the ancien régime was supplanted by imitations of Greek and Roman models, in which, as in imita- · tions in general, the defects of the originals were more closely copied than the beauties. Occasionally a successful attempt was to be seen, and window and bed curtains, supported by gilt lances or the Roman fasces, were tastefully arranged, and produced a good effect; but to any eye accustomed to the richness and solidity of the furniture of the eighteenth century, the general aspect was cold and meagre. It looked like what it was-a mere affectation, and not like a style revived upon sound principles, or one that had been gradually developed by the progress of taste and art, and which might itself in after-times form a model for imitation. In England matters were worse; for, as usual, instead of resorting to original authorities, the