ouch of the master, also bear
the impress of genuine sympathy, by calling upon my friend Mr. Irving,
and myself, as representatives of the drama and of music, to return
thanks for those branches of art to which our lives' efforts have been
devoted.

I may add, speaking for my own art, that there is a singular
appropriateness that this compliment to Music should be paid by the
artist whose brain has conceived and whose hand depicted a most
enchanting "Music Lesson." You, sir, have touched with eloquence and
feeling upon some of the tenderer attributes of music; I would with your
permission, call attention to another--namely, its power and influence
on popular sentiment; for of all the arts I think Music has the most
mighty, universal, and immediate effect. ["Hear! hear!"] I know there
are many educated and intelligent people who, absorbed in commerce,
politics, and other pursuits, think that music is a mere family
pastime--an ear-gratifying enjoyment. Great popularity has its drawbacks
as well as its advantages, and there is no doubt that the widespread,
instantaneous appreciation and popularity of melody has detracted
somewhat from the proper recognition of the higher and graver attributes
of music. But that music is a power and has influenced humanity with
dynamic force in politics, religion, peace, and war, no one can gainsay.
Who can deny the effect in great crises of the world's history of the
Lutheran Chorale, "Ein' feste Burg," which roused the enthusiasm of
whole towns and cities and caused them to embrace the reformed faith en
masse--of the "Ca ira," with its ghastly association of tumbril and
guillotine, and of the still more powerful "Marseillaise?" These three
tunes alone have been largely instrumental in varying the course of
history. [Cheers.]

Amongst our own people, no one who has visited the Greater Britain
beyond the seas but must be alive to the depth of feeling stirred by the
first bar of "God Save the Queen." It is not too much to say that this
air has done more than any other single agency to consolidate the
national sentiment which forms the basis of our world-wide Empire.
[Cheers.] But, sir, my duty is not to deliver a dissertation on music,
my duty is to thank you for the offering and the acceptation of this
toast, which I do most sincerely.

With regard to the more than generous terms in which you, sir, have
alluded to my humble individuality, I need not say how deeply I feel the
spirit in w