SIR FREDERICK GORE OUSELEY.* To form a true estimate of

the life of Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley one would have to pass in review the history of English church music during the last half-century. For which reason we are not ill - pleased that his present biographer, Mr. Joyce, has concerned himself rather with the history of the man than with that of the musician, and has not insisted too strongly on the undoubted services which Sir Frederick rendered to the cause of sacred music. The character of Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley, the man, is one. too, with which we are always pleased to be better acquainted. Neither a genius, nor, indeed, a great man in the strict sense of the word, he was nevertheless endowed with exceptional talents, which he applied with exceptional perseverance and self-devotion to a certain end, manifesting, meanwhile, those human failings which rather tend to endear a man to his fellow-creatures, an impetuous temper and a somewhat un- discriminating spirit of benevolence.

It says much for the natural good sense of Sir Frederick Ouseley that he was always extremely modest on the score of his musical aohievements, for, from his infancy even, he was surrounded by the wondering admiration of friends and relations. His sister has recorded how at the early age of three months the wonderful child displayed the "power of distinguishing particular tunes, listening to every air his sisters played, but more earnestly marking his approbation of Weber's waltz in the Freischntz ' by various kickings in his nurse's arms, and other strange exertions." At three years of age he was wont to keep a strict watch upon the harmony

• The Life or Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley. By F. W. Joyce, M.A. London : Methuen and Co.

of Nature, informing the world about him that the wind whistled ia D, that the heavens thundered in G, and that his father, afflicted with a bad cold, gave forth the same note when he blew his nose. It is only fair to add that Sir Frederick, when in after years he was

reminded of these feats of his infancy, merely remarked, "What an abominably disagreeable child I must have been !" The musical Duchess of Hamilton raved about the little prodigy ; Malibran herself came to hear him improvise and sing his opera, L'Isola disabitata. "So much affected was she by the performance, that she cried almost to hysterics."

However, they did not succeed in turning the little man's head; and in spite of a delicate constitution, and the fact that he was never sent to school, Ouseley in his youth was never anything but a fair specimen of the ordinary, shy, and modest young Englishman. He passed through his University career, with some credit, as a gentleman commoner of Christ Church, and on quitting Oxford he elected to enter the Church, his father's death leaving him free to choose his own profession. From his father he inherited some fortune

besides the baronetcy, and this fortune he determined to devote to the cause of religion, and more particularly to the cause of religious music. At no time, perhaps, was music at a lower ebb in England. The general public was not only unmusical, but it harboured an active dislike for music and musicians. And in no phase of English life had this neglect

and contempt produced stranger results than in the services of the Church. People who only know the choral services of big towns to-day can hardly imagine the peculiar musical performances which were the rule some fifty years ago in "choirs and places where they sing." Of course Ouseley was but one of a vast band of reformers; but in his own line he did yeoman's service, more particularly in curbing the emotional zeal of his colleagues. He hated emotional sentimentalism even more perhaps than the lifelessness which had preceded it in church music ; and his contributions to the list of

modern hymns and anthems form a marked contrast to some of the hysterical effusions which were poured forth about this time. What a rich man, or rather a comparatively rich man, could do, Sir Frederick did most ungrudgingly. The foundation of St. Michael's Church and College, and its endowment as a training-school for church organists and musicians left its founder with but a scanty margin of income for his own. needs. Nor was it only money that he gave ; for he devoted his whole time and energy to making the work of his college

successful. He brought the same zeal to bear upon his duties as Professor of Music at Oxford, a post that, before his time,

had been treated as more or less of a sinecure. In the exercise of his duties as examiner, his kindness of heart was often at variance with his anxiety to raise the standard of the musical degree; and he suffered terribly from the piteous appeals which candidates, whose prospects, or liveli-

hood perhaps, would depend upon their securing some particular degree, were wont to address to him. Sometimes the disappointed candidate would merely show an angry

resentment, as, for example, the man who, having had hie exercise rejected as utterly hopeless, wrote to this effect :— " Sir,—Your rejection of my exercise confirms the opinion I have long entertained of your utter incompetence for the office you hold."

That form of reproach was at least bearable; what distressed Sir Frederick was the other kind :—

" Another man who had gained the degree of Mus. Bac., but had been rejected for the Mm. Doc, degree, is said to have followed the Professor about Oxford, from one place to another, weeping copiously. Sir Frederick called in on several friends, hoping thus to escape ; but on each occasion when he came out he found himself waylaid on the doorstep. At last, in desperation, the poor Professor of Music ran in by the Tani Street entrance to call on the Rector of Exeter, who let him out by the other

entrance into Broad Street and liberty." •

Otherwise he was pleased enough with his duties at Oxford, especially when at Commemoration time he used to preside in his official capacity at the organ which, thanks largely to. his own exertions, had been erected in the Sheldonian Theatre. On those occasions be used to pride himself on the skill with which he softened the manners of the noisy undergraduates,. or drowned a sudden uproar with his own strains. It was after one of these performances that he received the fol- lowing letter from some discontented colleagues :—

" Sir,—We blowed for you on Tuesday. Is we to be paid ? And is you to pay us ?—ours. THE BLOWISTB."

Sir Frederick had a pretty humour of his own, and most of the stories connected with him in this book have an amusing side. Not the least entertaining of them is the account of a somewhat arbitrary lady who was one of his parishioners. On his first arrival in the parish, where he built St. Michaels, Sir Frederick was regarded with some suspicion by the neighbourhood, and especially by this lady, who went about roundly accusing him of Roman Catholic tendencies :—

"When, as he so frequently managed to do, Sir Frederick had made a friend of his enemy, he took her to task for what she had said. But she stoutly maintained her position, resting her theological opinions on this statement : I must know, for I am great-niece to Hervey's Meditations ! ' The same lady, on another occasion, had the pleasure of hearing Sir Frederick play the over- ture to Bather on the organ, and thanked him for 'that beautiful chorus of Handel's.” Well, it is an overture,' said Sir Frederick ;

not exactly a chorus'—' Indeed, I think I ought to know,' was the answer, considering my great-aunt once heard Handel play on the organ I Some of the stories of Sir Frederick's musical experiences among his neighbours in the country are delightfuL At one house his hosts regaled him after dinner with a performance of the Hallelujah Chorus played on three flutes. Even more extraordinary was the musical reception provided for him by a brother clergyman who was possessed by a great passion for musical-boxes. Indeed, there is plenty of entertainment —including a most thrilling and well-authenticated ghost- story—in the pleasant, gossiping account which Mr. Joyce has given of his friend. We cannot say that the biographer's own literary style is of the highest order ; but at least it is as simple and straightforward as it is unpretentious.