ch Shakspeare praised, and Milton
cultivated, and which is supposed to be the language of saints and
angels when they hymn their Maker's praise, ought to be a nation's care:
but then it ought to be so only on proper grounds and in the true
ethereal spirit which fits it for divine. Not the miserable or the
vitious levities of music, which serve but to unman the soul, to wake
the dormant sensualities of the heart, and far from lifting the spirit
to the skies, but sink it to the centre. Not what Shakspeare calls "the
lascivious pleasing of a lute" for fools "to caper to in a lady's
chamber," but harmony, such as befits the creature to pour forth at the
altar of the Creator; the sublime raptures of Handel; the divine strains
of Haydn, and the majestic compositions of Purcel, Pergolesse, and
Graun.

We have been led into these observations by a report which has for some
days prevailed, that a grand performance of music, such as we describe,
something on the plan of the commemoration of Handel, which took place
in the year 1784, at Westminster Abbey, and much superior to any thing
ever heard in America, is contemplated. Upon inquiry we find the report
to be true, and that a combination of musical powers hitherto unknown
in this country, will, at St. Augustine Church, perform a Grand
Selection of Sacred Music, after the manner of the oratorios in Europe.

Having made it our business to procure the best information upon this
subject, we are enabled to state that the pieces to be performed on this
occasion will be selected from the very highest order of musical
composition--the Messiah of Handel, the Creation of Haydn, &c. That
besides those, a number of the choicest compositions vocal and
instrumental, by Handel, Graun, Pergolesse, &c. will be performed, and
that, in order to make the exhibition as perfect as possible, every
attainable assistance will be brought in to give magnificence to the
performances and "swell the note of praise."

On this grand occasion, not only all the professional musicians of this
city will unite, but all who can be collected from the other States will
be summoned to lend their aid, in addition to which a number of ladies
and gentlemen, amateurs, will give their assistance.

A plan so well worthy of an enlightened nation's patronage, cannot fail
of success in such a country as America.

FOOTNOTES:

[K] Shakspeare Midsummer night's Dream.

[L] Milton.

ALFONSO,

KING OF CASTILE:

A