The Press. — London, England, 1856-08-30 00:00:00

886 But from tolerably extensive reading on the subject, I am convinced that any attempt to carry into action even the moderate corrections which he proposes would unsettle more than it is likely to establish, and entirely fad to counterbalance by its good the mischief it would originate. Scholars sould argue still, the unlearned would be alarmed, and a translation, which combines the grandeur of Milton and the felicities of Shakespeare, and carries with it the devout homage and deep veneration of the millions of our people, would, in all likelihood, suffer considerably iu the issue. Let us learn to labour and to wait. An "East-end Curate " also writes : No Protestant, I believe, will say that there is even one error of translation serious'y affecting the faith and duty of a Christian. Our version as it stands is amply sufficient to guide plain men iu the " way of life.;" while for those who desire to know more of the force and beauty of parti calar passages commentaries are cheap and abundant, and explanatory and critical remarks are continually heard from the pulpit. No translation, however near perfection, would enable us to dispense with these, as there are beauties and shades of meaning in Greek and Hebrew words only to be expressed by periphr;►sis, and which the commentator on the preacher would will feel bound to explain. While the advantages would be thus small, how serious would be the evils which an attempt to establish a new translation of the Bible must introduce. To this the " Canterbury Incumbent" replies by asking what text King James's translators followed, aid continues : The simple fact is, that since it was executed a vast number of manu•cripts—some extremely ancient—have been discovered and examined ; and thus the means afforded of setting forth a much more correct text, and consequently a much more correct translation, than was then possible. Under such circumstances is it, or is it not., a worthy design to enable the common people to par• tioip de in the fruits of a century and a half of learned labour? I should have thought that in a Protestant country there would have been no hesitation about the answer; but unhappily we have fallen upon times when it pays much better to inflame Protestant prejudices than to act out Protestant principles. That the knowledge both of Hebrew and Greek is far more accurate at the present d•ty than it was in the time of King James no one who has more than a schoolboy's knowledge of either will deny. " A Clergyman " remarks that Dr. Cumming has shifted his ground of objection between his first and third letters. First, it would be a "party revision "; now he does not think it likely that the Church of England contains a body of scholars and div nes who could revise the Bible in such a manner "as to be accepted by various denominations within and with out tile Church." He questions the assertions of the rev. doctor that a new version would be generally unacceptable, and maintains that unless the Church "publish a new version, there will soon be a variety of versions ": The forty-seven men (not fifty-four, as Dr. Cumming states, fur seven of the fifty-four died before the work commenced) who published our present version were, in deed, able masters of the Engl►sh language and of the art of translation, but they were not critical schol ors. The Church of England possesses a body of men at this day who are infinitely superior to the translators of James I.'s reign in a knowledge of all those niceties of the Hebrew and Greek languages on which a faithful translation must mainly depend. The real truth is, unless the Church of England will publish an authorised version of the present translation of the Bible, there will very soon be &variety of versions, and those versions—however stained by individual instances of unfairness—will in many respects be superior to our present translation; and they who resist all attempts at a revision by authority of the Church incur the fearful re sponsii.ility of exposing God's Word to the certain dangei of variety of erroneous interpretation. THE ASCENT OF MOUNT ARARAT, a ccuTospondent to the Times this week declarrs, was accomplished on October 8, 18'20, by Piotessor I'arrot and party. The pariculars of the ascent will be found in Kelts's " Scripture Land," M. Automonoff, a Russian tra veller, is said to have also achieved the ascent in 1831 THE BRITISH ARCHEOLOGICA: ASSOCIATION have bald their thirteenth annual meeting at Bridgewater this week. Yesterday the association adjourned to Bath. On the opening day (Monday) Mr. J. F. Pettigrew gave an introductory sketch of the antiqui ties of SomerAt t:— The primeval antiquities of Somersetahire were either few in number or had been scantily reported. In Roman antiquities Somersetshire was pronounced to be exceed ingly rich, every part of the county appearing to be capable of yielding examples illustrative of its occupation by the Romans. Villas have been discovered and pavements ex cavated. Many of the churches of Somersetshire were specially deserving of attention. They were in general remarkmble by the absence of aisles (except in very large edifices, much as St. Cuthbert), by the frequent presence of tranmepts, by the octagonal form of their towers, and by the abundance of cruciform specimens. The lecturer then enumerated the leading peculiari ties of the churches proposed to be visited—Glas tonbury, Wells, Yeovil, and Clevedon—by the asso ciation, and concluded by an eloquent vindication of the study of antiquitiec, in elucidating the history of former ages, the progress of the arts, the history of many useful inventions, and the manners and habits ot our ancestors. TIIE PRESS. alusic. BRADFORD MUSICAL FESTIVAL. SUCH per'ormances of Mendelssolin's Elijah and Costa's Eli, as were given in St. George's-hall, Bradford, on Tuesday and Wednesday last, mark an epoch in our musical annals. The glories achieved triennially at Birmingham have been the growth of half a century's experience and improvement, but it is, indeed, a curious and striking fact, that a manu facturing town like Bradford, without a proper eddies for concerts ou a large scale, and without local choral societies of any note, should suddenly take a proud position amongst festival towns by the erection of a magnificent music -hall, and by the organisation of triennial gatherings, second only in importance to that of Birmingham. Yesterday (Friday) the second festival was completed in Brad ford, and the working committee who have produced the brilliant artistic results are entitled to unquali fied praise from all true lovers of art progress. Sums miscalculations have been doubtless made, some mistakes have occurred, but the errors have been those of enthusiasm and excess ; there have been no shortcomings, the programmes have been full, varied, novel, and interesting ; the amount of vocal and instrumental talent engagAl ha:- been enormous; the administrative arrangements have been ad mirable, and yet financially there will be a deficit in the receipts to cove: the outlay, and a call must be 'nada on tue guarantee fund. Next week, in the general sittnniary of the week's doings, some remarks with be submitted on the difficulties and opposition thrown in the way of the executive at Bradford; at present it is the interpretation of Elijah and Eli which claims morn than a mere record of its general perfection. Aod, first of all, a word or two as to one of the finest orchestras Costa ever collected under his baton. It seemed as if the balance of sound had never before been so nicely adjusted. The twenty first violins, the twenty second violins, the twelve violas, the twelve violoncellos, and the twelve double basses, making in round numbers seventy stringed in struments, have been exceeded on the Continent and in this country over and over again, but *hat has been gained in quantity has been too often lost in quality. The seventy-six players at Bradford, in point of tone, would equal nearly double that number of execu tants in France, Belgium, and Germany; and this opinion is advisedly written. In the first place, as regards tone, our orchestras are unrivalled ; and this mainly arises from the pride taken by our executants in their instruments, which are of rare and costly workmanship. In polish, in refinement, or the ex quisite observance of nuances, Paris and Leipsic instrumentalists take the lead ; but in dash, fire, and energy, in the gradual working up to climaxes, Costa's band cannot be approached. Then he has a pecu liar tact in pairing off his players, accurately judging artistic temperaments, and placing men in their right places. The wood and brass players, again, excel remarkably in tone and precision. It is not the flashy st.doist who always makes the best orches tral player; and this tact is often overlooked in forming a band. It will, therefore, be no surprise to those who glance at the names of Costa's Bradford orchestra to learn that the execution of Mozart's symphony in G minor, and Rossini's Gazza Ladra, at the first evening concert, fairly astounded ama• teurs who had listened to the Paris, Leipsic, Berlin, and Brussels famed orchestras. The overtures and accompaniments in the two oratorios were as highly finished, and as elaborately developed ; no inner working of the score, no masterly undercurrent of instrumentation, being lost to the ear by coarse violence and obtrusiveness. There was finesse as well as finish. Next in point of distinction comes the northern choral singers, who seem to appertain to the sunny south in artistic sentiment. How do justice to these admirably-trained choralists, with their fresh, tuneful voices, that vigour or attack, their nice observance of light and shade? How bright and clear were the organs of the women in those choruses which Mendelssohn and Costa have specially appropriated to them! and how the whole body revelled in the madrigalian compositions, marking the pianos and fortes with such unerring ex• actitude ! If the mechanical portion of the singing won admiration, more potently did the poetry of the SATURDAY, Choral singing impress itself on the heart. It was felt that they were in earnest, and to the London amateur there was indescribable delight experienced in being emancipated from the automaton and shouting style of the ancient choral stagers of the metropolis. The local chorus master, Mr. Jackson, has reason to be proud of his troops both in Elijah and Eli. This last-mentioned work created &power ful sensation. It was interesting to watch the auditory. It was evidently in the first part a suspi cious one. It was difficult to give up familiar names. Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn are such house hold gods. But there is no finality in art, and oratorio-writing cannot be confined to Germany. The canonic, chorus, " The Lord is good," broke the ice. The revel chorus evidently caused a flutter. The corale, " How mighty is Thy name," came down in massive harmonies on the hearers with palpable effect. The war song of Sims Reeves was the signal for the smothered volcano to burst forth, and the hall rang with plaudits until the martial strain was repeated. The fugued finale of the first part renewed the excitement. And then, in the second part, Viard , .t appeared—Viardot, who, the day before, in the Elijah, had thrilled the audience with her grand declamation, and who, in the music of Samuel, affected the auditory to tears by her profound pathos and intensely devotional fervour. The two prayers, especially the evening one, " This night I lift my heart," produced that breathless silence, that all absorbing attention, which, more than the noisiest plaudits, prove the supremacy of the singer of genius. The unaccompanied quartett sung by Mine. Novello, Mme. Viardot, Mr. Sims Reeves, and Herr Formes, was reilemanded at once, so finely sustained was the execution of this masterly piece of harmony. The march elicited warm approbation, particularly when the choralists joined in it. At the close of the oratorio the ovation to the composer and conductor wa.s from all parts of the ball, as well as orchestra, and was loud and protracted, an enthusiastic dean giving the signal for three cheers to Costa, who was recalled for the second demonstration. Of the new compositions at the festival, the notice must be postponed till next week. DEATH OF BAUMANN, THE BASSOON PLATER.— A paintul sensation was created at Bradford on Wed nesday last amongst the orchestra of the fsstival by 'he news received that day of the death of the cele brated bassoon player, Baumann, who expired at his house in London last Monday of congestion of the liver, after an illness of only a few days. Baumann was a Belgian by birth, and was for the last quarter of a century a resident in this country. His age was about fifty-two. He has left a widow and one child. As a soloist and orchestral player his place will not be easily filled. To great purity of tone he added an executive facility of marvellous skill. CANT.—To listen to some folks, you would think that all the boys and girls one sees, " like gay creatures of the element," dancing under a chan del.er pendant from the roof, like some starry con stellation, were quadrilling away to the sound of music into the bottomless pit. Is it not, for ex ample, most disgusting and loathsome, to hear some caitiff, of some canting caste, distinguished in private and public life for the gross greediness with which they gobble up every thing eatable within reac% of their hairy fists—preaching and praying, and exhorting young people, full of flesh and blood of the purest and clearest quality, to forsake and forswear the world—to quell within them all mortal vanities, and appeti.es, and lusts? To whom is the hound haranguing? What means he by lusts, while the sweet face is before him of that innocent girl of fifteen or twenty? For what are years to her, into whose eyes God and the Saviour have pitt that light angelical ?—that ineffable loveliness, as pure from taint as the beauty of the rose blushing on her lily breast, which she gathered in the dewy garden a few hours ago, among the earliest songs of bird, while yet the pensive expres sion had not time to leave her countenance, still lingering there from the piety of her soul• breathed prayers? Shocking, to hear the ugly monster coarsely canting to such a creature of her—corruption ! She knows that she belongs to a fallen nature. Oftentimes her tears have flowed to think how undeserving she was of all the goodness showered on her head from heaven. Often hath she looked on the lilies of the field and envied their innocence. Meek and humble is she, even in her most joyful hgppine-s ; contrite and repentant even over the shadows of sin that may have crossed her spirit, as the shadows of clouds suddenly over " a stationary spot of sunshine." Even for her sake she knows that " Jesus wept." With what a reverent touch do these delicate hands of hers turn over the leaves of the New Testament! Her father and her mother intensely feel themselves to be Christians, while she reads to them the story of the crucifixion. She remembers not the time when she knew not Him who died to save sinners,--Professor Wilson's Essays, vol. i.