Bless, we
beseech Thee, this College to the perfecting of science and skill in Thy
pure gift of Music; and grant that the good intent of its Founders may
be so answered in the diligence and virtue of its students, that both
the restful delight of man, and the glory of the Divine worship may be
enhanced ever more and more; through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen."

The collect, "Prevent us, O Lord," and the Lord's Prayer, closed the
religious service. Sir George Grove, Director, then said: "It is now
almost exactly fourteen months since your Royal Highness held the
remarkable meeting which assembled at St. James's Palace on the 28th of
February, 1882, and in which your proposition of the Royal College of
Music was launched on the country. It may well be called
remarkable--first, because of the place in which it was held; secondly,
because of the lucid and exhaustive statement which your Royal Highness
vouchsafed to address to it; thirdly, because for the first time in
English history music was taken out of the domain of personal and
professional questions to which it is too often relegated, and placed
upon that national basis which its social and civilising powers entitle
it to demand. Your Royal Highness's hearers embraced many of the most
distinguished English musicians of the day, but these were not the main
constituents of the meeting. The bulk of your audience consisted of the
representatives of the counties, cities, and towns of England, the lords
lieutenant, mayors, and town clerks of the United Kingdom, while
surrounding your Royal Highness on the platform were His Royal Highness
the Duke of Edinburgh, the leader of the Government, the leader of the
Opposition, the head of the Established Church, an eminent Scotch peer,
and the Lord Mayor of London. A meeting so truly national in its aspect
gave, if I may use a not inappropriate figure, the key-note of the
movement.

"The hope so long entertained by your Royal Highness, and your advisers,
that the chief existing musical institution of the country would join
your movement, was unfortunately dissipated. But the absence of the
Royal Academy of Music from your Royal Highness's project was
counterbalanced by the active adherence of the towns and cities of the
country which through their municipal officers, with hardly an
exception, rallied as if by instinct round a movement so boldly
conceived and so happily inaugurated. The key-note thus struck at St.
James's Palace r