THE GRESHAM MUSIC LECTURES.
THE new Gresham Professor of Music entered on the discharge of his duties, at the Theatre of the City of London Sehool, on Monday evening. Mr. TAYLOR had signified to the Committee his willingness to deliver the Music Lectures at whatever time or phee they should consider best suited to the general vonvenieuce of the noldie ; and they fixed seven in the ev.nin,t. itisteal of th,i twee:tweed hour of ale. This is one step gained toivards making the muniiivent bequest of Sir THOMAS GRESHAM to his fellow citizens availahle to its orieinal intent. In his first lecture, Mr. TAYLOR explained his views of the course which a leeturer on music should adopt in order to render bis addressee generally useful. Any attempt to teach the science of harmony tot mixed arid changing audience, he regarded as unavailing, and not cots templated by the founder of Gresham College : his aim would there, fore be to review the %striolis products of the art, as they have appeared in successive ages ; subjecting each to critical examination, and, bye constant reference to acknowledged principles or high authorities, to endeavour to form and establish a correct standard of taste. He then glanced at the different natural and artilivial classes into which musical compositions were divided, and the principal schools mm which each had been most successfully cultivated ; deprecating those exclusive preferelices whieh are too often in turn given to each, and recein. mending a more expanded and enlargssl culture of musical excellence wherever found. These lectures wete designed to be populaa—tiet is, addressed to the many, and not to a select class—not merely to niusical students, but to the citizens of London i'but they were not de. signed to echo every fleeting opinion of the day, to puff into a little ephemeral notoriety the host IICW ballad, or to fall in with the current of fashionable folly ; in this sense of the word, his auditors would assuredly, not find the Gresham Musical Lectures popular. Their in terest and utility would, doubtless, be increased by their being assisted by illustrations; but this WIIS a point to be deeidcd by others. It whatever way he was called upon to discharge his duty—whether us. aided, or with the assistance he had mentioned—he should endeuvoui
to perform it zealously and fearlessly.
The second lecture was given on iVednesday evening. The subject was the life, character, and times of Sir THOMAS GRF.SHAM. The Professor first reviewed the general state of society at the period re. fen-red to ; their public diversions and social habits and etistoins,—ssek eszpecially, EIS were immediately or indirectly, connected with music. The age of GRESHAM WaS the golden Hge of English Vocal Harmony; he was the contemporary of our great madrig,,11- writers: and the chiefest of these—Jon WthoYE—was his opposite neighbour. This eire stance, in connexion with the regard in which lie had found the I' minent Flemish composers to be held, during his visits to Antwerp, um' the general cultivation of the vocal art in England, was sufficient to account for his having included among the tither sources of instruc- tion contemplated in Gieshain College, a 'Musical Professorship. NIr. TAYLOR then proceeded to a brief review of the life of Sir THOMAS Glasse AM. The prineipal events which connect the name of Giresitssi with posterity are the building, at his own cost, the Royal Exchange, and the bequest of this edifice to the citizens of London, as the endowment of a College for their especial and unrestricted benefit. Sir Tilosiss GRESHAM having made no secret of his Mien- tion, the University of Cambridge addressed to him a letter of entreaty and remoustrance; imploring him to found his College at Cambridge, and remonstrating against his project us likely to injure the sister Uai. versities. Gat:mast, it seems, was no friend to the monopoly of instruction advocated by his old Cambridge friends; and eventually bequeathed his splendid mansion, which extended from Broad Street to Bishopsgate, in trust to the Corporation of London and the Mercers Company, as the residence of seven Professors, to be ap. pointed by those bodies, " mete to read the lectures in Divinity, Astronomy, Music, Geometry, Law, Physic, and Rhetoric ; " and the Royal Excharige and other premises, that the rents of the same might (after satisfying other claims and bequests) endow the College SO founded in perpetuity. Nothing could be more comprehensive or liberal in its spirit, Mr. TAYLOR remarked, than this endowment. Unshackled by enactments and ordinances, suited in some respects only to former ages, in Gresham College the only test required of its Professors was that of fitness for their several duties; while its Lecture. hall was open to every citizen of London. At the great fire of 1666, it, fortunately, escaped destruc- tion; and for a time, the quadrangle of the College was used as an Exchange, some of its buildings were converted into a temporary Man. sionhouse, and the Professors gave up their rooms to be used as Courts of Law.
In his third lecture, on Thursday night, Mr. TAYLOR continued the history of Gresham College. The labours of its Professors were in- terrupted and disregarded during the tune of the Civil War ; but after the Restoration, while Dr. BARROW, Sir CHRISTOPHER 1VREN, HOOKE, and Buses were among the number, they, in conjunction with some other scientific men of like eminence, formed the Royal Society; of which the charter was signed by CHARLES the Second in Gresham College. Rooms were sat apart for the meetings, library, and museum of the Society ; and for fifty years its connexion with the College con- tinued. Perhaps the last thing then anticipated would have been the destruction of an institution which had achieved so much for science, and which was at the same time the only establishment of its kind open to the people. But this was effected in the year 1767. The Act of Parliament which perpetrated this deed of' wanton and barbarous spoliation, Mr. TATI.OR observed, was a solitary instance of its kind. Its preamble merely recited, that whereas a new Excise-office was wanted, and Gresham College would be a convenient place on which to erect one, therefore let Gresham College be palled down. By the same Act, its Trustees were compelled to spend 1,8001. of the funds be. queathed for its support, in its demolition. And thus, the spacious building which bad been bestowed on the citizens of London by then munificent benefactor—which had been hallowed by so many interest- ing recollections—where BARROW, FLAMSTEED, WREN, Buss, PETTY, threes, and HOOKE had lectured—where NEWTON and LOCKE and BOYLE had been accustomed to meet—where monarchs had banqueted —and which, when London was laid in ashes, had proved a refuge for her merchants and a shelter to the houseless—was levelled with the ground ; while all that remained of this noble and useful estublish- merit was a small and obscure chamber in the late Royal Exchange! Such were the facts : and what was the impression which a 'mere recital of them would force upon tvery ci mmd? It was this—diat the wrong sustained should hi repaired by tile hand that ii,11;eted it. '1 he re,toration of tilt...ham I Pge mc vt e., nowneol. WiPli■a 110 all act of tartly justice on the part iit' the L. I awe. They had co:o- pened the trustees of an ins7itatioa iatendeil for puhlie liciief:t tO expend the funds bequeathed for its support in its demuli'aoti, and had
forced them to alienate that in perpetuity, over which they had only a control for life. If it was the strong tendency of the present times to diffuse among
the sway the advantages once confined to the few, such. an establish- 'tient as Gresham College was eminently adapted to them temper and circumstances. It was impossible to calculate the amount of advan m institution. It tage to society which would arise from such an It was tlife. What that some of our first mathematicians had risen from humble
What were the Professorships awl advantages of Cambridge to such men? Gresham College was designed to meet, and would meet, their wants and desires : its doors were intended to be open to the humblest inquirer after scientdie information.. So long as it existed, and within the sphere of its iteefulness, the rich had no monopoly of
instruction in science or art : but we had now to speek of it as at thing that was—of which the usefulnees had been ,..opaired, the purpose de- stroyed, and the memory almost extinct. 1Vho were the agents in this work of destruction, is were uselese now to inquire. But it remained with the present generation to seek reparation for the outrage which the last bad quietly submitted to. It was generally supposed that Gresham College was an institution unsuited to the present state of society. No opinion could be more erroneous. Its large and liberal spirit was suited to ull times and ages. Its founder simply prescribed the subjects to which the Professors should severally address them- selves, requiring 110 other test or qualification than their fitness for their office. I3ut they were now driven from their home and dispersed ; having no common bond of union, as their predecessors had, but corning in succession to discharge their stated and solitary duty. As one of its Professors, Mr. TAYLOR had no personal advantage to serve in desiring the restoratiou of (1 resha iii ( 'ellege. Their stipends were fixed, and had no dependence upon the nu :tuber of their hearers : the re- storation of the Cullege,.thereforo, %%mild bring increased responsibility and necessitate more active exertion ; but no pecuniary advantage, im- mediate or prospective, result to them. The advantage would be wholly to the citizens of London, whose freehold and inheritalwe it was in perpetuity. lie, for 011C, felt grateful to the Corporation of London for the permission to oecupy the Theatre of their School; but it could not be forgotten that they were there only by permission, having no right or claim to enter its shuns, which might be closed upon them at any mometit. Ile would not say that they Mt themselve s in- truders; but, certainly, they could never feel the City of London School to be their home. At the same time, he felt proud and happy in being thus enabled to bring the mility of the Gresham foundation to a practical test, and to give the expel iment a fair trial. The crowded and attentive auditor ies which had honoured these lectures were the beet reply to those who had any doubts on this subject. This fact was a full and conclusive evidence of the value of Sir THOMAS Gaesueet's foundation, and of its perfect edaptability to the present state of society. The recent calamity, which had deprived the City of its Exchange, bad also destroyed the miserable wreck and remnant of that institution of which the Exchange itself was the endowment. It would be unbecom- ing in him to speculate on the possible influence which this event might have on its future destiny: but he felt assured, that in the hour of need its interests would not want zealous and faithful guardians in those who were its appointed trustees ; and he would venture not only to hope, but to predict, that the glory of Gresham College was not ex- tinct, but that it would arise in renewed splendour, and recommence a long career of fresh usefulness and renown.
We have devoted more tlem usual space to a report of Mr. Tevsoit's lectures, as they comprise, in fact, the history of an institution which, though for generations past withdrawn from public attention, is yet the • most liberal in its spirit and the most comprehensive in its grasp of any endowment for the communication of knowledge in the metropolis, or, perhaps, in the kingdom. The Gresham Lectures are open to the public without distinction and without payment. The act of Parliament which destroyed the College and its ample Lecture-hall, practically converted the Professorship!: into sinecures. The Professors were driven into a room in the Royal Exchange, which fifty auditors would have crowded, and ordered to lecture at one o'clock at noon. Every motive to exertion was destroyed. Accident has now given them the
temporary occupation of it •pacious theatre, and the music lectures have been fixed for delivery in the evening. The result hats beenii succes- sion of crowded, attentive, and at lag highly excited audiences. On
the second and third nights, every corner of the building was occu- pied. The Gresham Lectures are, therefore, practically revived: for after such an attendance, we hold it to be impossible that its Pro.
fessors can ever again be thrust into a closet, or subjected to unbecom- ing. taunts on the feebleness of their exertions and the inutility of
thew labours. Let the citizens of London remember, that now is the time for them to speak and to stir, if they desire the Gresham founda- tion to be practically and permanently available for their benefit.
Previous page
