BALLAD.

So'ger so clever, My bon-nie brave lover, My

3

lover for aye. My So'ger

Soger

SO

clever My bonnie brave

lover, O Jamie! O Jamie! My lo --ver

for

Though England has been long celebrated for its violoncello performers, we have not yet produced an artist that has drawn out the true genius of this instrument. The brilliant execution of Crosdill cannot be forgotten, and Lindley stands unrivalled. Of all the foreigners who have visited this country, not one has ventured to remain to dispute the palm with him for tone and execution. With a force and energy unexampled, his style is yet deficient in that grace and tenderness, which is the natural language of the instrument. In the hands of old Cervetto we hear more of these tones, which incite us, like the tones of the human voice, interlaced with the most graceful arpeggios.*

The writer once heard from a young Frenchman a quintetto of Boccherini, touched with such an exquisite bow and depth of feeling, as nearly to move his listeners to tears. How much these effects are enhanced, when music of this plaintive kind is unexpectedly heard amid stillness and repose! On our road to Scotland, we changed horses, in the dead of the night, at Barnsley. No sooner were our ears relieved from the rumble of the carriage, than we were greeted with the sounds of sweet 'music.' It was the waits; a little band of stringed instruments parading the market-place, performing that beautiful minuetto of Haydn, No. 29,† in which

* His father first brought the violoncello into notice in this country, and lived to the age of a hundred-and-one. The present Cervetto is ninety; and still retains a mastery over the instrument.

†The preceding plate.

the plaintive note of the violoncello threw a mournful gaiety over their nightly serenade. What sympathy! what a tone of regret! heard at such an hour! Sounds like these can never be forgotten!

CHAPTER XVI.

ON BELLS.

THERE are very few persons who are not affected by the sound of bells. Of all musical sounds they are among the first that present themselves to our. attention; and for that reason they make a deep impression upon us. When heard at a distance, they fall with a delightful softness upon the ear; and, in the midst of rural scenery, they powerfully excite the imagination, and recall the most pleasing scenes of our youth.

So have I stood at eve on Isis bank,

To hear the merry Christchurch bells rejoice;
So have I sat, too, in thy honor'd shades
Distinguish'd Magdalen, or Cherwell's banks,
To hear thy silver Wolsey* tones, so sweet;
And so, too, have I paused and held my oar,
And suffer'd the slow stream to bear me home,
While Wykham's peal along the meadows ran.-Hurdis.

* Cardinal Wolsey gave these bells.