ith."'

'I should like it very much.'

Dickens' only contribution to hymnology appeared in the _Daily
News_ February 14, 1846, with the title 'Hymn of the Wiltshire
Labourers.' It was written after reading a speech at one of
the night meetings of the wives of agricultural labourers in
Wiltshire, held with the object of petitioning for Free Trade.
This is the first verse:

O God, who by Thy Prophet's hand
Did'st smite the rocky brake,
Whence water came at Thy command
Thy people's thirst to slake,
Strike, now, upon this granite wall,
Stern, obdurate, and high;
And let some drop of pity fall
For us who starve and die!

We find the fondness for Italian names shown by vocalists and
pianists humorously parodied in such self-evident forms as
Jacksonini, Signora Marra Boni, and Billsmethi. Banjo Bones is
a self-evident _nom d'occasion_, and the high-sounding name of
Rinaldo di Velasco ill befits the giant Pickleson (_Dr. M._),
who had a little head and less in it. As it was essential that
the Miss Crumptons of Minerva House should have an Italian
master for their pupils, we find Signer Lobskini introduced,
while the modern rage for Russian musicians is to some extent
anticipated in Major Tpschoffki of the Imperial Bulgraderian
Brigade (_G.S._). His real name, if he ever had one, is said
to have been Stakes.

Dickens has little to say about the music of his time, but in
the reprinted paper called _Old Lamps for New Ones_ (written in
1850), which is a strong condemnation of pre-Raphaelism in art,
he attacks a similar movement in regard to music, and makes
much fun of the Brotherhood. He detects their influence in
things musical, and writes thus:

In Music a retrogressive step in which there is much
hope, has been taken. The P.A.B., or pre-Agincourt
Brotherhood, has arisen, nobly devoted to consign to
oblivion Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and every other
such ridiculous reputation, and to fix its Millennium
(as its name implies) before the date of the first
regular musical composition known to have been achieved
in England. As this institution has not yet commenced
active operations, it remains to be seen whether the
Royal Academy of Music will be a worthy sister of the
Royal Academy of Art, and admit this enterprising body
to its orchestra. We have it, on the best authority,
that its compositions will be quite as rough and