A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn - Singing. By Robert
Bridges. (Blackwell, Oxford. ls. net.)—We cannot follow Mr. Bridges into his criticism on the words and music of modern hymnals. He holds—to pat the matter briefly—that for the most part the words are bad, and the music worse. He has a right to give an opinion; that he is a poet we all know, and he is a musician, though of what rank the writer of this notice does not pretend to say. No one would deny that a very large proportion of the "Hymns Ancient and Modern " are of no literary value. A hundred best hymns— if some competent tribunal could be found to make the choice— would be a boon. Unfortunately, the whole matter is perplexed by considerations of property. A new hymn, however admirable, has, we may almost say, no chance of acceptance. The strange thing is that this consideration is far more stringent for the religious than for the secular composition. What should we think if the publisher of some successful volume of poems were bound by the stipulation that he must not print any other verse, lest it should interfere with the sale of the first? But these are difficult things to deal with. One recommendation we may give without reserve,—read what Mr. Bridges has to say.
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