works. Some interesting additions have been made to the collection of type-printed music.

The additional manuscripts contain some of great interest, viz. a vocal score of Mendelssohn's Elijah, chiefly in his autograph; the autograph score of the March composed by Auber for the Opening of the International Exhibition in 1862; the scores of Handel's Solomon and Acis and Galatea, with the additional accompaniments composed for them by Sir Michael Costa in his autograph; an autograph "Consort" for stringed instruments by Matthew Locke; a service by Dr. Greene, and works of various kinds by Dr. Arnold, Samuel Wesley and Michael William Balfe, all in the autographs of their composers. The numerous unpublished Lectures on Music of the late Professor Taylor, with the music employed in their illustration, also stand conspicuous in this depart

ment.

The department of Musical Literature has been greatly augmented. Many valuable Treatises and Essays (both ancient and modern) on the science and practice of music have been acquired, and large accessions have been made to the Musical History and Biography, subjects which have of late years received (particularly in France and Germany) more than usual attention. There will also be found several Sermons and other writings relating to the Music of the Church, as well as some interesting publications illustrating that of the Theatre. There is likewise a very fine and nearly perfect copy of the Holy Scriptures issued in 1585, of the version known as "The Bishops' Bible."

For the possession of nearly one hundred and fifty of the works which appear for the first time in the present edition of the Catalogue, the Society is indebted to the liberality and friendly feeling of several of its Members and others.

W. H. HUSK,

October, 1872.

Librarian.

INE years have elapsed since a Catalogue of the Library of the SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY was presented to the Members, and seven years have passed away since a Supplement to that Catalogue was issued. During the latter period the acquisitions of the Library were neither few nor unimportant, and a desire was felt by many Members that a knowledge of them should be communicated in the form of a second Supplement to the Catalogue. Upon careful consideration, however, it was deemed more advisable that an entirely new Catalogue, embracing the whole contents of the Library, should be compiled.

In placing such Catalogue before the Members, it will not, perhaps, be thought superfluous that it should be preceded by a few remarks on other musical libraries.

Whilst the students in other Arts and Sciences, or particular branches of Learning, have generally enjoyed the advantages derivable from libraries attached to some public institution relating especially to each,-such, for instance, as the Divinity collections in the Library of Sion College and that of Dr. Williams, the Law Libraries of the Inns of Court, the Library of Oriental History and Literature of the East India Company,. and others of a like kind,-the musical student has had to seek his knowledge, more particularly concerning the history of his art, in widely scattered and scantily furnished repositories.

It is true, indeed, that in the magnificent Library of the British Museum, and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, there are very many volumes of music and works relating to it, and that their numbers are, at least as regards English publications, being annually increased by means of the copy privilege possessed by those institutions; but such works are in both establishments mingled with the general library, and must be sought for in the general catalogue, a circumstance greatly diminishing, and, in some cases, almost destructive of, their usefulness.1 The Library of Christ Church College, Oxford, possesses the valuable collections of ancient music bequeathed to it by Dean Aldrich and Professor Goodson, which, it is believed, are kept separated from the general library, but these collections are (as can be seen by reference to the manuscript catalogues of them in the Society's Library) limited in character, and no means have ever been taken to extend them. These observations are also applicable to the collections in the Music School at Oxford, and to those in the Libraries of some of the Cathedrals.

The same system prevails in the Public Libraries of the Continent as in those of England; the musical works not being kept apart from those on other subjects. The only exception is in the Imperial Library at Vienna, where a collection of 9,000 musical works contained in 13,000 volumes is said to be kept quite distinct from the general library.

The students of the different continental Conservatories of Music have, usually, it is believed, the advantages of good libraries. The Library of the Conservatoire de Musique at Paris contains about 13,000 volumes; the collection being peculiarly rich in operas, and works of a kindred nature, but deficient in other departments. It includes an extraordinary assemblage of libretti of operas and musical pieces, bound in 5,000 volumes.

Whilst such is the state of music in libraries in general, and when the comparative destitution of the English musical student

At the British Museum there is a separate Catalogue of Music; but Musical Literature is confined to the General Catalogue.

in respect of library provision is considered, it must be obvious that a library expressly devoted to the reception of music and works connected therewith, established on a comprehensive basis, so as to embrace all classes of music and musical literature, capable of almost indefinite extension, and placed under such regulations as to render it as generally accessible as is consistent with a proper regard for its preservation, is a possession of which a musical society may justly feel proud. Whether the library of the Sacred Harmonic Society is of such a character or not will be best judged of by a perusal of the following catalogue.

In drawing attention to some of the most prominent and interesting objects in the Society's Library, the extensive assemblage of early musical works printed from type, comprising church music, madrigals, songs, and other vocal and instrumental compositions, many of uncommon rarity, calls for particular notice. The madrigals include a nearly perfect series of the productions of that brilliant constellation of talented men—the English madrigal writers who flourished during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The Ecclesiastical music comprises the Sarum Missal of 1527, and that of Ratisbon of 1518; the Offertories, Hymns, Motetts, Masses, and other productions of Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, Adrian Willaert, and many other eminent composers of the Italian and Flemish schools; the Cantiones of Tallis and Byrd; the Musica Deo Sacra of Thomas Tomkins; the very rare and curious sheet published by Matthew Locke, containing his Communion Service, with the Kyrie set ten different times; both editions of Edward Lowe's Directions for performance of Cathedral Service; several metrical Psalters; and numerous other valuable and interesting works. The most notable of the type printed works of this class, however, is Barnard's Selected Church Music, of which the Society has the good fortune to possess eight of the ten vocal parts. This important work (the first collection of English Cathedral Music ever published) appeared in 1641, but, from its being printed in separate parts only, many of which have, from various causes, been lost or destroyed, it has resulted that, for a very

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great number of years, no such thing as a perfect set has been known to exist. For a considerable part of a century, eight vocal parts in the Library of Hereford Cathedral formed the largest number of the parts remaining in any one place, the Library of Lichfield Cathedral coming next with a set of seven parts, and some other churches and private persons possessing an odd part or two. In January last, however, the eight parts now in the Society's Library (which contain amongst them the two parts deficient at Hereford) were acquired by purchase, thereby placing this Library, as regards the possession of this work, in the same enviable position as that of Hereford. The acquisition of these parts becomes of higher interest from the fact that the Society also possesses seven manuscript volumes (containing as many separate vocal parts) of the collections used by Barnard in the compilation of his printed work. The typeprinted music of an early date likewise includes the Psyche of Matthew Locke, several of Purcell's dramatic compositions, some of the operas of Lully and contempory French composers, as well as other productions for the theatre. greater portion of the numerous collections of songs published during the Commonwealth and the subsequent period, until the reign of George I., by John Playford and his contemporaries and successors, as well as some curious sets of old French songs, are also to be found in this collection. Music for that once popular but now obsolete instrument, the lute (amongst which may be particularly pointed out the Booke of Tabliture, published by William Barley, at London, in 1596; the Nobiltà di Roma of Gasparo Fiorini, published at Venice in 1573; and the Lautten Buch of Wolf Heckel, printed at Strasbourg in 1562, which exemplify the different kinds of tablature for the instrument in use in England, Italy, and Germany), and for other instruments also fallen into desuetude, possessing an interest not only for the musical antiquary, but for all who are desirous of tracing the progressive course of instrumental composition, will likewise be met with here. For the many other interesting features of this part of the collection the reader must be referred to the Catalogue itself. In one point of view, the collection of type-printed music-produced in different