THE GRESHA.M CHAIR OF MUSIC.
Ma. Errwsitn TAYLOR, the Music Professor of Gresham College' in two of his lectures just delivered, has given a retrospective review of his own labours during the twenty years which have elapsed since his appoint- ment to the chair, and also some general information as to the state of Gresham College during the twenty years. Mr. Taylor appears to have been prompted to this by a Report of a Government Commission of in- quiry into the condition of Gresham College and other Academic founda- tions ; a report which has not been published, but which, according to the learned Professor's statement, grossly misrepresents the manner in which he and his brethren have performed their duties, and the conse- quent state of the institution. NOW has as yet followed upon the re- port • but, judging from the unjust and injurious manner in which Gresham College has for many years been treated by the powers that be, there is no small ground of apprehension for the fate of the noble and useful foundation of one of the merchant-princes of Elizabeth's day. We throw together a few particulars, chiefly gathered from the statements of Mr. Taylor for we think it much concerns the interests of education that Gresli;m College should be protected by the influence of public opinion from further freaks of official caprice.
Gresham College, as founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, was liberally and richly endowed. It had a spacious edifice of its own, and funds sufficient to command the services of the most eminent men of the time in the several faculties which composed the curriculum fixed by the founder. It continued to flourish for the best part of a couple of cen- turies till it received a deadly blow from the Government of George the Third. An act of Parliament was obtained, whereby Gresham College was ordered to be pulled down, that the site might be occupied by an Excise-office; the institution was compelled to surrender all its rights and everything belonging to it, in consideration of the sum of 500/. per annum ; and—the unkindest cut of all—the Trustees of the College were ordered to pay 1800/. towards the expense of pulling down their own house ! The homeless Professors were driven to a paltry room in the Royal Exchange, insufficient to contain fifty persona; and the magnifi- cent income of 500/. a year was divided among them ; their lectures being gratuitous. The necessary consequence was, that the lectures be- came =re forms, and the offices sinecures. This was no fault of the Professors—it was unavoidable. Mr. Taylor's immediate predecessor was the celebrated composer Stevens, one of the brightest ornaments of the English school ; yet his office was perforce as entire a sinecure as any of the others. When the Royal Exchange was destroyed by fire, twenty years ago, the attention of the Corporation of London and the Mercers' Company, the Trustees of Gresham College, was called to its condition, and mea- sures were adopted towards its restoration. The plan of allotting suffi- cient premises for the College in the new Royal Exchange was not car- ried into effect ; but the present handsome and spacious building in Cat- eaten (now Gresham) Street was erected ; and in the mean time accom- modation was afforded to the lecturers in the City of London Schools. The possession of a house worthy of its dignity has done much for the revival of Gresham College. The lecturers have now space enough for exertion to obtain audiences. But the pecuniary resources of the College continue to be narrow, as no restitution has been obtained of any portion of the property of which it was plundered in the reign of George the Third. Some two or three years ago, the Excise-office built on the site of the old Gresham College was found to be inconvenient and useless ; and it was resolved to sell the ground on which it stood. That ground— the ground really belonging to Gresham College—was sold accordingly, and fetched 109,5001. The Trustees of the College applied for some equitable compensation out of this great sum ; but they applied in vain— the Government officials never even vouchsafed an answer, unless the re- port of a Commission meant apparently to crush the College altogether may be regarded in the light of an answer. Of this report, Mr. Taylor says, explicitly and publicly, that it is entirely incorrect ; that it was made after a mere show of inquiry; and that it wholly misrepresents the present condition of the College.
In regard to his own class in particular, and his labours during the twenty years of his incumbency, Professor Taylor entered into some details. He referred to the inaugural lectures delivered on entering on his office, wherein he explained the plan by which he should be guided in instructing a popular audience. He considered himself called on, he said, to lay before them the results, not the technical rules, of art; to illustrate (as would be done in poetry and painting) the principles of taste, by re- ference to the works of the great masters in every branch of musical composition. And he showed that he had followed this course during the whole period of his labours. During that period he had delivered twenty-four lectures on the Music of the English Church, forty-two on English Dramatic Music—(a somewhat singular circumstance, he ob- served, seeing that, as grave authorities affirm, there is no English dra- matic music)—ten on English Vocal Harmony, four on the Madrigal- writers, twenty-four on the Italian school, eighteen on the German school, four on the Flemish school, and seven single lectures on various subjects. These lectures had been illustrated by vocal and instrumental performances, with the means of which he had been furnished by the liberality of the Trustees. This mode of illustration, absolutely neces- sary on the subject of music, has furnished the official reporter with a pretext for a gross misrepresentation. He describes the music lectures as being mere concerts, calculated to bring together a popular audience ; thus ingeniously accounting for the undeniable fact that large audiences have uniformly attended these lectures. The assertion, however, carries its own refutation ; for it is evident, from the subjects of a large portion of the lectures, that their illustrations cannot be of such a kind as to at- tract people who wish merely to be entertained with pi 'tty music ; and. moreover, it is well known to ourselves and to all who are conversant with the lectures, that the music is strictly illustrative, and necessary to elucidate the lecturer's principles of criticism. The music is carefully and often admirably executed, and listened to with pleasure : and this is made a pretext for official fault-finding ! As to the other chairs, it is well known flea they are filled by able men, who perform their duties auceesefwiy. Gresham College, indeed, plundered and crippled as ft.] been, is not at present the powerful organ of public instructine ,snich its founder meant it to be; while these who have profited by the plunder seem disposed to evade restitution by endeavouring to accomplish its ruin.
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