A Selection of Irish Melodies, with Symphonies and Accompaniments, by SIR JOHN STEVENSON, Mus. Doc. and characteristic Words by THOMAS MOORE, ESQ. Seventh Number. London. Power.

Few collections of songs have risen to more celebrity or enjoyed more extensive circulation than the volumes which have preceded the publication which stands at the head of this article. Three circumstances have contributed to bring them into notice-(1.) light and agreeable melodies, easy of execution, and almost certain in their effect-(2.) captivating poetry, and (3.) national self love. The idea of preserving the common ballads of a people was not entirely new, but in this instance it has been very happily executed with a view to give them fresh scope and popularity. Their ancient and more vulgar garb was changed to suit the growing intellectual habits of the classes to which they were now to ascend. They received also a sort of decorative habiliment in the accompa niments of SIR JOHN STEVENSON. Thus the original airs remained in the place of the naturally homely viand which furnishes the basis of a modern fricandeau. It gives perhaps the name to the dish, and all the real nourishment it contains, but the flavour and the poignancy which most relish upon the palate, are derived from the superadded ingredients. Plain wholesome food may be at the bottom, but it becomes a la mode or a la braise, in the process of cooking, and without the sauce piquant it would have probably continued to be thought fit for none but the coarser appetites of the multitude.

MR. MOORE is undoubtedly entitled to the rank and estimation of one of the classics in our language. He is indeed the Anacreon of his age; and if the grape does not prove as fatal to him as to his original, his poetry and his practice do not agree. But with this allowance of authority to his writings, we hold, that in the instance before us, he has somewhat stooped the chastity of a classical taste to the popularity of his work, or suffered it to melt away before the glowing heat of his imagination. The design of perpetuating the native airs of his country in their pristine purity would have been more perfectly completed, had he conveyed to posterity the ori ginal sentiments with which the music was associated and which either inspired or were inspired by it. In some instances this would have been impracticable; but it was due to the genius of

Ireland to have pursued the principle as far as it could have been carried, and such notices as could have been added concerning the authors and the time of their production, should have been given. By such a method the genuine and original impress of the individual as well as the national feeling, would have been set upon the airs, and the generations to come would have been made acquainted with all that they could possibly have wished to learn concerning their construction.

As it is, MR. MOORE has undoubtedly sent forth to the world a publication comprising in itself much of the remains of national melody that is valuable. He has united this melody with "thoughts that breathe and words that burn," but the sentiments are of a different age, are in fact his own, and this objection bears with a good deal of strength upon the political character he has invested some of them withal. It is true his axioms are usually given in general terms, but they still have the unsavoury odour of politics about them, and MR. MOORE will be obnoxious to the charge that he

"To party gave up what was meant for mankind," so long as his opinions are neither those of all Ireland, nor even of the majority of his warm-hearted countrymen. We could neither open nor close the volume before us without this reflection, for the first and last airs are both tainted by words that force it upon us.

These observations will, however, apply, and may be taken to the account of the entire work, for the seventh number is, we think, upon the whole, the best which has appeared. In our review of the new publication of national airs which Mr. MOORE has so successfully begun, we imagined a subdued fire in his manner, and that his thoughts were suggested from past rather than by present or anticipated joys. There is in this number an instance which so completely yet so beautifully confirms our supposition, that we are tempted to quote the entire song as containing the sweetest verses we remember from the poet's hand, with the exception only of" Lines written at sea."

In the morning of life, when its cares are unknown,
And its pleasures in all their new lustre begin,
When we live in a bright beaming world of our own,
And the light that surrounds us is all from within;
Oh 'tis not, believe me, in that happy time
We can love, as in hours of less transport we may;
Of our smiles, of our hopes 'tis the gay sunny prime,
But affection is warmest when these fade away.

When we see the first charm of our youth pass us by,
Like a leaf on the stream, that will never return;
When our cup which had sparkled with pleasure so high,
Now tastes of the other, the dark flowing urn;
Then, then is the moment affection can sway
With a depth and a tenderness joy never knew;
Love nurs'd among pleasures, is faithless as they,
But the love born of sorrow, like sorrow is true!

In climes full of sunshine, tho' splendid their dyes,
Yet faint is the odour the flow'rs shed about,

"Tis the clouds and the mists of our own weeping skies,
That call their full spirit of fragancy out.

So the wild glow of passion may kindle from mirth,
But 'tis only in grief true affection appears;

To the magic of smiles it may first owe its birth,

But the soul of its sweetness is drawn out by tears.

There is a depth and concentration of feeling in these stanzas, that will have way. Nor is the number wanting in lines of "the brightest hue." "If thou'll be mine" has all the freshness and the fragrance of the breath of love and youth, while " To ladies eyes a round boys" is among the most inspiring, most piquant, most gallant songs for the table (before the ladies have left it,) that we can call to mind. Capt. Morris's " My spirits are mounting," and " The tear that bedews sensibility's shrine," certainly exceed it in the high and rich tone of their sentiment. But they are both compounds of mirth and melancholy. "To ladies eyes" is unmixed, is sparkling, brilliant, and joyous as the theme itself, and has too the very cast of exquisite archness, that could alone inspire the second stanza.

Thus we think the poetry superior as a whole as well as in parts to any preceding volume, while the airs are certainly not below the former standard. SIR J. STEVENSON has scarcely at all disturbed their native simplicity and expression, and our most insurmountable objection rests against the repetition of them in duetts and glees. We should have preferred to have seen more from that store in reserve which the preface promises in continuation. Their natural beauty is certainly not exalted by the addition of parts. They have an intrinsic character which appears to us to be always either weakened or lost in the complication. By the way one of the strongest peculiaritics will be found in the uniformity of the closes. Though MR. MOORE at the outset spoke of the "minor third and the flat seventh which intrude into the liveliest strains,

throws its shade as it passes, and makes even mirth interesting," we have not been yet able to discover the features, that undoubtedly give the whole collection the genuine likeness of one people, except in the strong resemblance which the closes all bear to each other. The receipt to make such music probably is to be found in feeling and association, (for science has little to do in it) though we have been told that Scotch tunes are to be composed by avoiding the white keys of the pianoforte as much as possible, and such a method does actually infuse a considerable similitude into melodies so constructed, with a regard to the way in which Scots airs are commonly divided in point of time and accentuation. The Irish melodies have, however, their own distinctions, and it is sufficient for us to say, that those excellencies which have secured them a favourable reception from the public hitherto, will not, we think, be found wanting to the seventh number, if intrinsic merit be considered.