many of the pieces of this opera are enumerated and highly commended,
the writer has curiously enough passed by in silence two airs, of which
Dr Burney observes that they contain not a single passage which the best
composers of his time, if it presented itself to their imagination,
would reject; and on one of which he also remarks, that it is "one of
the few airs that time has not the power to injure; it is of all ages
and all countries." There is doubtless much in Purcell, which, though
quaint and antiquated, the musician may nevertheless admire; but
excellence of this kind is necessarily lost upon a general audience.
Melody in his day was rude and unpolished; for there were no singers to
execute, even if the composer had the ability to conceive. Thus
Percell's melody, though often original and expressive, is nevertheless
more often rude and ungraceful. In the words of a recent writer on this
subject, "We are often surprised to find elegance and coarseness,
symmetry and clumsiness, mixed in a way that would be unaccountable, did
we not consider that, in all the arts, the taste is a faculty which is
slowly formed, even in the most highly gifted minds." We suspect that
the pageant saved _King Arthur_; the scenic illusions by which
contending armies were brought upon an extended plain, together with the
numerous transformations, continually commanded that applause which the
music alone failed to elicit. With many, however, the mere _spectacle_
was not all-sufficient; but Opinion was written down, and independently
of the _prestige_ attached to the name of Purcell, the press would have
effectually put down all exhibition of disapprobation. The theatre might
be seen to become gradually deserted, and party after party, stunned by
the noise and blinded by the glare, might be observed to glide
noiselessly away as the performance proceeded, while an air of fatigued
endurance, and disappointment, was plainly visible on the countenances
of those that remained behind. This opera has been frequently revived;
how much of the success which it has met with may be attributed to what