ood, and that it is a
source of the most elevated and refined enjoyment when rightly
cultivated and practiced, no one who understands its power or has
observed its effects, will for a moment deny.

'Thou, O music! canst assuage the pain and heal the wound
That hath defied the skill of sager comforters;
Thou dost restrain each wild emotion,
Thou dost the rage of fiercest passions chill,
Or lightest up the flames of holy fire,
As through the soul thy strains harmonious thrill.

Who does not desire to see the day when music in this country,
_cultivated and practised by_ ALL--music of a chaste, refined and
elevated style, shall go forth with its angel voice, like a spirit of
love upon the wind, exerting upon all classes of society a rich and
healthful moral influence. When its wonderful power shall be made to
subserve every righteous cause--to aid every humane effort for the
promotion of man's social, civil and religious well-being.

It has been observed by travellers, that after a short residence in
almost any of the cities of the eastern world, one would fancy "every
second person a musician." During the night, the streets of these
cities, particularly Rome, the capitol of Italy, are filled with all
sorts of minstrelsy, and the ear is agreeably greeted with a perpetual
confluence of sweet sounds. A Scotch traveller, in passing through one
of the most delightful villas of Rome, overheard a stonemason chanting
something in a strain of peculiar melancholy; and on inquiry,
ascertained it to be the "_Lament of Tasso_." He soon learned that
this celebrated piece was familiar to all the common people. Torquato
Tasso was an Italian poet of great merit, who was for many years
deprived of liberty, and subjected to severe trials and misfortunes by
the jealousy and cruelty of his patron, the Duke of Ferrara. That
master-piece of music, so justly admired and so much sung by the high
and low throughout all Italy, had its origin in the wrongs of Tasso.
An ardent love of humanity--a deep consciousness of the injustice of
slavery--a heart full of sympathy for the oppressed, and a due
appreciation of the blessings of freedom, has given birth to the
poetry comprising this volume. I have long desired to see these
sentiments of love, of sympathy, of justice and humanity, so
beautifully expressed in poetic measure, embalmed in sweet music; so
that _all the people_--the rich, the poor, the young, and the old, who
ha