constant reader of them, and honoured Baxter with his friendship. Bishop Wilkins praised him in the phrase that Johnson afterwards applied to Goldsmith: "he has cultivated every subject which he has handled;" and Dr. Isaac Barrow said, that " his practical writings were never mended, and his controversial ones seldom confuted." Baxter left behind him a Narrative of the most Memorable Passages of his Life and Times,' which was published in a folio volume after his death (1696) by his intimate friend Mr. Matthew Sylvester, under the title Reliquiæ Baxterianæ.' It is here that we find that review of his religious opinions written in the latter part of his life, which Coleridge speaks of as one of the most remarkable pieces of writing that have come down to us. (See Coleridge's Biographia Literaria.') Calamy's 'Life of Baxter' is a kind of abridgment of this work, which abounds in notices of the men, the transactions, the habits, and the opinions of the stirring period in which he lived.

There are a few poems by Baxter, not long ago published in a small volume. His World of Spirits' has been lately reprinted.

The name of Baxterians, adopted by his more immediate adherents, is now almost extinct: but Baxterianism is still the resting place of many who do not approve of the extremes of Calvinism. The Baxterians hardly ever attained the rank of a separate denomination, even when they were most numerous; and they are now completely scattered among different communions. Their writings are most popular among the orthodox dissenters.

HENRY PURCELL, the pride and boast of the English school of music, was born in the year 1658, in the city of Westminster, it is generally supposed. His father Henry, and also his uncle Thomas Purcell, were appointed gentlemen of the chapel-royal at the Restoration, and are named, in the archives of the herald's college, among the persons who officiated at the coronation of Charles II. The young Henry lost his father when but six years of age, about which time he appears to have entered as one of the children of the chapel under Captain Cook, then master, to whom therefore it is rather more than probable he was indebted not only for his initiation in the principles of music, but for much of his knowledge of its practice, and of its theory as applicable to composition. It is true that on Dr. Blow's monumental tablet in Westminster Abbey it is triumphantly recorded that he was "master to the famous Mr. Henry Purcell ;" and no doubt the youthful musician,

when he quitted the chapel on his voice changing, received some instructions from Blow, a master then in high repute, and from whom a few lessons were enough to recommend to public notice a young man on his entrance into the world; but to Cook the credit is due for the right guidance of Purcell's inborn genius, and for its early cultivation. Sir John Hawkins says, "it is certain that he was a scholar of Pelham Humphrey, who was Cook's successor," but gives no authority for this, and assigns no reason for his belief. Humphrey became master of the children in 1672, when Purcell had attained his fourteenth year, who consequently could not have remained long, if at all, under the tuition of the new master: Cook therefore must not on such doubtful evidence be deprived of the praise to which he is entitled for his large share in the education of our great English composer. But, as Dr. Burney has well remarked, "there is nothing more common than this petit larceny among musicians. If the first master has drudged eight or ten years with a pupil of genius, and it is thought necessary, in compliance with fancy or caprice, that he should receive a few lessons from a second, this last instantly arrogates to himself the whole honour both of the talents and cultivation of his new scholar, and the first and chief instructor is left to sing sic vos non vobis."

Purcell was remarkable for precocity of talent, and seconded the liberality of nature by his zeal and diligence. While yet a boy-chorister he composed more than one anthem; and in 1676, though only eighteen years of age, was chosen to succeed Dr. Christopher Gibbons as organist of Westminster Abbey, an appointment of high professional rank. Six years after, in 1682, he became one of the organists of the royal chapel; and there, as well as at the Abbey, produced his numerous anthems, many of which appear in different collections, and nearly all of them have recently been published in one complete work. These were eagerly sought, almost as soon as written, for the use of the various cathedrals, and thus his fame quickly travelled to the remotest parts of England and Ireland. Had Purcell confined himself to