the good work already accomplished and we all hope that Mr. Faber may long enjoy the satisfaction of helping forward our increasing prosperity. One word in conclusion; we have been enabled to make a good beginning and the ten years now ended have been on the whole, ten years of unclouded prosperity and unchecked progress. May our future be as bright as our past and may we each and all do our best to make the Huguenot Society of London as successful as its most sanguine well-wishers can desire. On the conclusion of the Address the ballot was taken for Officers and Council for the ensuing year with the following result: Officers and Council for the year May 1895 to May 1896. President,-Sir Henry William Peek, Bart. Vice-Presidents,-Major-General Sir Edmund F. Du Cane, K.C.B.; Arthur Giraud Browning, F.S.A.; William John Charles Moens, F.S.A; Robert Hovenden, F.S.A. Treasurer,-Reginald St. Aubyn Roumieu. Honorary Secretary,-Reginald Stanley Faber. Members of Council,-Adrian C. Chamier, F.S.A., Alexandre Louis Foucar, T. Noel Hugo, Perceval Landon, Edward H. Lefroy, J. Miller Maguire, LL.D., Victor Maslin, Henry Merceron, William Minet, F.S.A., William Page, F.S.A., W. Harry Rylands, F.S.A., William Chapman Waller, F.S.A. CONVERSAZIONE. By invitation of the President, Sir Henry W. Peek, Bart., a Conversazione was held on Wednesday evening, May 22, in the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. A great many Fellows and their friends and other visitors, English and foreign, were present, the number altogether being nearly five hundred. There was a reception by the President and Council from 8.30 to 9.30, after which a selection of French music, vocal and instrumental, was very ably rendered by M. Arnold Dolmetsch, assisted by Mde. Élodie Dolmetsch, Mlle. Hélène Dolmetsch, Mr. W. A. Boxall, Mr. Treffry, the children of the French Protestant School of Westminster, and several friends. The instruments used were the lute, viol d'amore, tenor viol, viol da gamba, and harpsichord, and the music was chiefly of the 16th and 17th centuries, music and instruments being thus specially adapted to each other. The programme was as follows: Psalm XLII. (Comme un cerf altéré brame). Accompanied by the viols and harpsichord. Translated by Bèze; melody by Bourgeois, 1551. Psalın LXVIII. (Que Dieu se montre seulement). Accompanied by the viols and harpsichord. Translated by Bèze; melody by Greiter, 1539 or earlier. Two Pieces for the Lute. 1. A little fantasie for the tunyng of the lute, by Adrien Le Roy, (pub. 1570). 2. A prelude from Le Secret des Muses, by Nicolas Valet, (pub. 1618). Three Songs. 1. Charmante Gabrielle, (accompanied by the lute), by Henri IV. 2. Plus ne suis ce que j'ai été (accompanied by the harpsichord), by Clément Marot. 3. Vive Henri IV, (accompanied by the harpsichord), a popular air of the 16th century. Suite of Lessons for the Harpsichord, by Lulli, circa 1660. 1. Allemande. 2. Courante. 3. Sarabande. 4. Gavotte. Cantique by Bost. Ils ne sont plus 0 Dieu, ces sombres jours d'orage. VOL. V.-NO. II. b Suite of pieces for the Viol da Gamba, accompanied by the Harpsichord, by Marin Marais (pub. 1695.) 1. Prelude. 2. Allemande. 3. Sarabande. 4. Gigue. Song; Tu crois, O beau Soleil, (accompanied by the harpsichord), by Louis XIII. Suite d'Airs à Danser, composed for Louis XIV, by Mouret, circa 1710, for violins, violoncello, and harpsichord. 1. Entrée. 2. Air en chacone. 3. Air de Paysan. 4. Menuet. 5. Carillon. 6. Rondeau. 7. Passepied 8. Gigue. 9. Cotillon. March of the Old French Guard, (viols and harpsichord), composed about 1670. The Psalms in this programme are examples of those most frequently used by the Huguenots. The 42nd. was, and remains to this day, their favourite devotional Psalm. The 68th. was invariably sung on the eve of a battle or immediately before going into action. The measured and stately rhythm of the old-time tunes is in sharp contrast with the rapid singing usual in modern English churches, while the long pause at the end of each line of the Huguenot Psalms recalls the persecutions which beset the Church in the Desert' when the ear had ever to be on the alert for approaching danger, even when the lips were praising God, or imploring His protection. It is interesting to remember that in this same month of May, in the year 1558, in the Prè aux Clercs at Paris, a few of the promenaders began to sing to Goudimel's music one of Marot's metrical Psalms. Both music and words were fresh from the composer and could hardly have been learnt except orally, yet we are told that the tune was quickly caught up, and soon the vast concourse, either through sympathy or love of novelty, joined in the singing. The King and Queen of Navarre, and many of the chief personages in the Kingdom were among those who took part in it. The singing was repeated for many nights, until complaint was made by the Doctors of the Sorbonne to the King that to sing the Psalms in the French tongue rather than in Latin was irreverent, and to sing them out of doors tended to sedition, so the King immediately ordered the singing to be stopped. A loan exhibition of objects illustrative of Huguenot history was arranged in the central gallery: Amongst the articles which chiefly attracted the attention of visitors were the plate lent by the Directors of the French Hospital (La Providence), the fine series of medals exhibited by Mr. A. G. Browning, V.P.; the beautiful miniatures exhibited by Mr. Perceval Landon and friends; the many specimens of Huguenot silk-weaving lent by Mr. C. Norris, which by their brilliant colours and exquisite texture excited general admiration; the celebrated De Dibon Bible shown by the Hon. Secretary; and last, though not least, the two cases filled with engravings, books, miniatures, needlework, gold-and-silver-work, and other objects of historic interest too numerous to specify, exhibited by Mr. Charles J. Shoppee, Deputy-Governor of the French Hospital. |