strongly in his favour; and could the fulsome panegyrics, of which he
has been the object, be implicitly received, Purcell would be considered
as nothing less than a prodigy of genius. Several attempts at dramatic
music had been made before Purcell's time. Matthew Lock had already set
the songs of _Macbeth_ and the _Tempest,_ and had also given to the
world "The English Opera, or the vocal music in Psyche," in close
imitation of Lulli, the long famed composer of Louis XIV. Purcell
followed in the new track, taking for his models the productions of the
first Italian composers. The fact, that Purcell was under obligations to
the Italians, may startle many of his modern admirers; but with a
candour worthy of himself, in the dedication of his _Dioclesian_ to
Charles Duke of Somerset, he says, that "music is yet but in its nonage,
a forward child. 'Tis now learning Italian, which is its best master."
And in the preface to his Sonatas, he tells us that he "faithfully
endeavoured at a just imitation of the most famed Italian masters." An
able critic has also remarked, that he thinks he can perceive the
obligations which Purcell had to Carissimi in his recitative, and to
Lulli both in recitative and melody; and also that it appears that he
was fond of Stradella's _manner_, though he seems never to have pillaged
his passages. Many of our readers are doubtless aware, that Purcell's
opera of _King Arthur_ has been lately revived at Drury-Lane, where it
has had a considerable _run_. The public prints have been loud in its
praise; and this work has been styled "the perfect model of the lyric
drama of England." The intervention of spoken dialogue, by many in their
innocence hitherto supposed to be a defect in the construction of a
musical drama, is strangely metamorphosed into a beauty in _King
Arthur_. In short, from some of these _critiques_, _King Arthur_ would
appear to be the only perfect drama or opera which the world has ever
seen. To show the real value of these criticisms, we may mention the
fact, that in an elaborate article of a journal now before us, in which