make neither the pulse quiver nor the eye wet; and then such a sweeping
judgment is arrested by a work like the 'St. Jerome' in the Vatican,
from which a spirit comes forth so strong and so exalted, that the
beholder, however trained to examine, and compare, and collect, finds
himself raised above all recollections of manner by the sudden ascent
of talent into the higher world of genius. Essentially a second-rate
composer,* Donizetti struck out some first-rate things in a happy hour,
such as the last act of 'La Favorita.'"

* Mr. Chorley probably means "second-rate" as compared with
the few very great names, which can be easily counted on the
fingers.

Both Donizetti and Bellini, though far inferior to their master in
richness of resources, in creative faculty and instinct for what may
be called dramatic expression in pure musical form, were disciples of
Rossini in their ideas and methods of work. Milton sang of Shakespeare--

"Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child,
"Warbles his native wood-notes wild!"

In a similar spirit, many learned critics have written of Rossini, and
if it can be said of him in a musical sense that he had "little Latin
and less Greek," still more true is it of the two popular composers
whose works have filled so large a space in the opera-house of the last
thirty years, for their scores are singularly thin, measured by the
standard of advanced musical science. Specially may this be said of
Bellini, in many respects the greater of the two. There is scarcely
to be found in music a more signal example to show that a marked
individuality may rest on a narrow base. In justice to him, however, it