to the service of the Church."

"Pardon me," interrupted Bateman, "Gregorians were Jewish, not Pagan."

"Be it so, for argument sake," said Campbell; "still, at least, they
were not of Christian origin. Next, both the old music and the old
architecture were inartificial and limited, as methods of exhibiting
their respective arts. You can't have a large Grecian temple, you can't
have a long Gregorian _Gloria_."

"Not a long one!" said Bateman; "why there's poor Willis used to
complain how tedious the old Gregorian compositions were abroad."

"I don't explain myself," answered Campbell; "of course you may produce
them to any length, but merely by addition, not by carrying on the
melody. You can put two together, and then have one twice as long as
either. But I speak of a musical piece, which must of course be the
natural development of certain ideas, with one part depending on
another. In like manner, you might make an Ionic temple twice as long or
twice as wide as the Parthenon; but you would lose the beauty of
proportion by doing so. This, then, is what I meant to say of the
primitive architecture and the primitive music, that they soon come to
their limit; they soon are exhausted, and can do nothing more. If you
attempt more, it's like taxing a musical instrument beyond its powers."

"You but try, Bateman," said Reding, "to make a bass play quadrilles,
and you will see what is meant by taxing an instrument."

"Well, I have heard Lindley play all sorts of quick tunes on his bass,"
said Bateman, "and most wonderful it is."

"Wonderful is the right word," answered Reding; "it is very wonderful.
You say, 'How _can_ he manage it?' and 'It's very wonderful for a bass;'
but it is not pleasant in itself. In like manner, I have always felt a
disgust when Mr. So-and-so comes forward to make his sweet flute bleat
and bray like a hautbois; it's forcing the poor thing to do what it was
never made for."

"This is literally true as regards Gregorian music," said Campbell;
"instruments did not exist in primitive times which could execute any
other. But I am speaking under correction; Mr. Reding seems to know more
about the subject than I do."

"I have always understood, as you say," answered Charles, "modern music
did not come into existence till after the powers of the violin became
known. Corelli himself, who wrote not two hundred years ago, hardly
ventures on the shift. The piano, again, I have heard, has almost given
bi