between the people's psalm-singing or worship and musical performance. The festivals here are musical performances, and have nothing to do with the people's songs of worship.

At one of the churches we attended on the Sunday morning of the commencement of the festival, we received a tract, containing the protest of the minister of the parish. It is principally based upon the fact that the festival had its commencement upon the Sabbath. The following is a translation of a part of it:

"The opening of a large worldly festival on the Lord's day, like that in contemplation in our town, must awaken a deep sadness in the heart of every Christian man. For such a thing stands in direct opposition to the positive command of God. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,' is understood by the Christian Church in a sense that, the Lord's day is separate from other days, and that it should be honored and revered by public and private service to God, and also by resting from all labors and worldly pleasures. No one can contend that the opening of a festival, which is to be continued several days, must of necessity take place on Sunday. It could just as well have commenced on a week-day. A 'competition of song' is just as little to be reckoned among the works of love and mercy, as any other worldly festival. The evident and doubtless fact that the whole town will participate in these worldly pleasures, in open disobedience to the command of the Heavenly Father, must make sad the heart of every godly man.

"Far from giving approbation to a joy which thus manifests itself in illuminations, wreaths, garlands, or flags, on this holy day, we have felt it to be our duty to protest, even though our voice have little or no effect, against this shameful and sinful breaking of the sacred Sabbath."

Various other things more or less connected with the festival might be said, but we fear we may have already too much extended our report, and therefore forbear.

.

LETTER XLII.

gham Festival-Powers of the Musical World-The Market Place-Service at Rev. Mr. James' Church-Sermon-Choir-Organ-Tunes-Church of St. Martin'sNew kind of Chanting-Bread for the Poor-Wesleyan Chapel-Rehearsal-Money Matters.

BIRMINGHAM, September 2d, 1852.

ALTHOUGH We had decided, even before we left home, to attend the musical meetings in this place, yet, as the time drew near, we found ourselves so pleasantly employed in two simultaneous courses of lectures to music and school teachers,* that we had well nigh come to the conclusion to remain in London, relinquish the long anticipated performances at the Grand Birmingham Festival, and work on. But, a number of the Musical World came to hand, and it was no longer optional with us to come or stay away; for, the editor (without our permission) had pledged us to his readers for a report. We say without permission, but yet we are certainly ready to acknowledge that he had a kind of professional, social, or moral right to do as he pleased with us, in this matter, arising out of a relationship that has long existed,-which commenced, indeed, when he, a lad wearing a jacket and a cap, was brought to us, with a beloved sister-now no more- -by an affectionate parent, to commence his musical education in lessons of Do, Re, Mi. Little did we think at that time, that in about a score of years he was to occupy the editorial chair of an American Musical paper! No mandate is so quickly or so cheerfully obeyed, as that which proceeds from love and good will; the way was now plain ;classes must be adjourned, lectures and other engagements postponed, and to Birmingham we must go.

It was Saturday night. The ride on the hard boards of the

* One in connection with the Home and Colonial Normal School, and the other to Teachers of the Birkbeck Schools.

second class, had been tedious, for we had been detained nearly an hour by the circumstance of a luggage train ahead of us running off the line. As soon as we could get a little refreshment, we went out into the crowded streets. On Saturday (as we understand) the manual laborers, or operatives, are released from their weary toil at an earlier hour than usual, and they then crowd the streets in search of fresh air, and to see or hear, or buy such things as they need for the coming day. The streets, and especially those in the vicinity of the market, were literally jammed full of people of all ages, from the child at the breast, to worn-out, feeble and tottering old age. It was difficult for one to press along, through the dense mass of human beings who thronged the ways. How different the appearance, from that of the multitude at Dusseldorf, where we were a few weeks since, on a similar errand to that which brought us here. The circumstances, indeed, were very different; there, was the commencement of a gay holiday-time for the people, and men, and women, and children, with clean faces, combed hair, shining shoes and "go-to-meeting" clothes, were thick on every side. They were more like the people of our own happy land; there being scarcely any evidence of deep poverty and degradation. It was otherwise here, for little children and old men and women were seen clothed in filthy rags, and it was enough to put to the test the olfactory nerves of the stoutest man to crowd his way through the motley groups. The people, too, in Dusseldorf, were interested in the festival,—indeed it was the people's festival, and if there were some who could not hear, all took delight in seeing. But here, the common people are entirely cut off from the music; it is intended only for the rich, and only they can go to the expense of purchasing admittance. There, the people make their own music; here, the greatest performers, vocal and instrumental, the world affords, are

brought together, at an enormous expense, to give an exhibition of the triumph of art.

We followed the multitude into the market-place, and it was an alleviation to the circumstance of their apparent poverty, to see for how little money they could buy bacon, shoes, cheese, hats, potatoes, trowsers, sausages, cabbages, flutes, candles and other like things necessary and convenient. Very cheap are such commodities on a Saturday night in and about the market houses of the large manufacturing towns in England. There was a great plenty, too, of good fruit,—as pears, plums, and apples. A pint of ripe sweet plums could be had for one or two pence. Many of them were eaten upon the spot, and every now and then, one and another treading on the slippery skins, would slide and fall, not upon the floor, for there was not room enough for that, but against others by whom he was surrounded. The only music we heard here was the busy hum of voices, the cries of the sellers, "this is the cheapest stall in the market," "a pint for a penny," the whistling of boys, the crying of children, and now and then the distressed howlings of a poor suffering member of the canine society, who had been cruelly trodden under foot by some heedless passenger. We stopped at a Bible-stall and bought a very excellent copy of the New Testament, well bound, for four pence. Thanks to that noble institution, "the British and Foreign Bible Society," for such a provision as this, in the market.

We left the market-place and the crowd at half-past nine, and made our way to our lodgings; thinking of our happy country, and the better condition of the laboring poor there, than even in the best-regulated manufacturing towns here.

Sunday came, and we attended, first, the church of Rev. Mr. James. How could we do otherwise? What American, spending the Sabbath in Birmingham, would fail to hear this

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distinguished man, since there is no better preacher anywhere to be found, and since there is no living English divine so well known, by his writings, across the Atlantic? We well remember his influence in the early history of Sabbath schools in the United States; for, when they were yet in their infancy, his Sunday School Teachers' Guide" did more to mould them and give them a right direction, than any other work; and during the score of years that have since passed away, many of his books, of great practical worth, have been republished and widely circulated. Mr. James preached from the text, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." I wish I could give a detailed account of his sermon, for I am persuaded it would be a report as interesting to many as any that can be made of the progress of song, and it would do musical as well as other readers good to contemplate the subject in the light he presented it. Suffice it to say, he represented it very clearly as something to do; he made it out also to be an extensive thing, reaching the whole man, entering into his whole life; moreover, he gave to it great power sufficient for any emergency, and leading, if necessary, even to martyrdom. Any self-denial not reaching thus far, is not that which the text calls for. But I must not enlarge. Mr. James' delivery is not very good, and he often allows his voice to sink so low in power as not to be heard in the latter part of a sentence. He is, as to his manner, a son of consolation, and the kind, the gentle and tender prevail. Indeed, his whole manner, as well as the spirit which he manifests, seems to say, "thy gentleness hath made me great." There are little things about his delivery that should not, we think, be imitated by young men; for example, the frequent abbreviations of can't, won't, shan't, &c.; however they may be tolerated in conver