th his own property all the best passages of
the Italian and English composers of his time. With the exception of
_Comus_ and _Artaxerxes_, none of his pieces or operas met with great
success; and he seems to be principally remembered by those compositions
which were the least original. "Rule Britannia," by the combined effect
of the sentiment of the words and the spirit and vivacity of the music,
now become a national song, does not possess the merit of originality.
Long before it was _nationalized_--if one may use such a word--by
Englishmen, it was observed that in an Italian song, which may be seen
at page 25 of Walsh's collection, the idea--nay, almost all the
passages--of this melody might be found. In the well-known song, "Where
the bee sucks, there lurk I," passages occur taken almost note for note
from a _cantabile_ by Lampugnani. According to Dr Burney, Arne may also
claim the glory of having, by his compositions and instructions, formed
an era in the musical history of his country. The former relates that
music, which had previously stood still for near half a century, was
greatly improved by Arne in his endeavours "to refine our melody and
singing from the Italian;" and that English "taste and judgment, both in
composition and performance, even at the playhouses, differed as much
from those of twenty or thirty years ago, as the manners of a civilized
people from those of savages." Dr Busby, on the other hand, remarks,
that "it is a curious fact that the very father of a style, more natural
and unaffected, more truly English, than that of any other master,
should have been the first to deviate into foreign finery and finesse,
and desert the native simplicity of his country." But it is by the
compositions in which this degeneracy may be most particularly remarked,
that Arne's name as a musician has been preserved. This fact has
undoubtedly a double aspect. We may therefore, indeed, be permitted to
ask,

"Who shall decide when _doctors_ disagree?"

Either the public taste has erred, or the bastard Italian was superior
to the genuine English. Either way there is something wrong, and it
matters little whether we elevate the composer at the expense of the
public, or whether we commend the national taste while we depreciate and
decry the excellence of the music or the merit of the musician.

To Arne succeed several masters, many of whose compositions are still
popular. Arnold, Boyce, Battishall, Shield, Horsl