The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-01-18 00:00:00

WEYMOUTH.

FRIZICH STEAKER. —The arrival in oar harbour
last week of the Prowl; screw steamer Le Faim, has
given rise to various conjectures and speculations as
to the object of the visit. The steamer in question
it appears by the TimeA, has been engaged in in-
quiries °clod with the herring fisheries, and she
has put into %Vey th for the ostensible purposes
of coaling awl painting.
TOTAL AILiTINICSCK Swim.- -This society held
its annual tea meeting on Thursday week, at the
rooms in Commercial Buildings. Tilt. social party
tiered about 120. After tea the chair was taken
by Mr. Lester, the president of the Portland Absti-
nence Society, and addresses were delivered by the
Chainnan, Bev& H. Reeve end Du ~,, i t Mr. S.
Kemp, and Mr. IWe. The pledge was taken by 6
persons at the close of the meeting. It was also
signified that a " Band of Hope " would be formed
for the puqsise of inculcating total abstinence princi-
ples on the ls of the rising generation.

LlTKnainf AND SclENTlEle-
session comuieneed on Wednesday ev g with a
lecture on "Music " by Mr. Spinney, the organist
and choir-master of Sturminster and Sutton Wal-
dron. The chair was taken by Mr. T. 11. Groves.
The lecturer first alluded briefly to the theory of
music, observing that the busineas of the practical
musician was rather with the results that. with the
rules of Overt. The audience were then entertained
with a duet from Seiniramide, by the lecturer and
Miss Spinney, on the harmonium and pianoforte ;
this piece was executed with great taste and pre.
cisiou, the young lady well sustai ll i ll g the character
accorded her by the Metropolitan press, as the
" Nightingale of the Pianoforte." The lecturer
then proixtedeil to the earlier history of music, re-
marking that the Scriptures showed music to he
grateful to the Creator, and he could not imagine
how those who are not partial to music will fare in
a future world, whose occupations are entirely those
of praise. From the song of Miriam in the Pmts.
tench, to the Song of the Lamb in the Revelations,
there is scarcely A page where sanction of music is
not direct or implied. He also spoke of the system
of notation as invented by the Bishop of Milan, and
its subsequent improvements and additions. He
then passed to ancient Church music, and described
the Gregorian system of chanting, remarking on the
alterations which marked the modern mode of chant-
ing. He said that the adoption of the Gregorian
style in churches was considered by some as a badge

of Puseyism ; this, however, was a great mistake, as
beautiful music belonged to no party. lie said that
the present state of our Church Psalmody is really
disgraceful. since there was not uniformity, the
selection of psalms and hymns, as well as their tunes,
being left to the caprice of the minister or organist.
lie gave several mousing illustrations of the un-
suitableness of certain tunes to particular words, one
living that of the tune "butte Flacks" as applied
to a certain hymn wherein the line "Our great Cap-
tain be our ;" the repetition caused a ludicrous
break in the middle of the line, au that it was ren-
dered " our great cap "--" our great cap." Ile
spoke highly of the Bishop of Salisbury's selection of
hymns, and selected the 122n1 and Zara as being
peculiarly beautiful. These were sung by Mr. and
Miss Spinney and some of the Sturniinster choir,
who also rendered with much ability various piece,
illustrative of the different schools of Church music.
The lecture concluded with the consideration of secu-
lar music. Mulct-Ulm(' of which were given in seve-
ral very charming four-part songs, 011 well as solos on
the pianoforte by Miss Spinney. The lecturer
himself also sung, with appropriate expression and
humour, Klita's song of " king Alfred in the Banish
Camp," which was highly approved by the audience,
and loudly encored. A cordial vote of thanks win
pillined to Mr. Spinney for his very excellent and
entertaining lecture.