of round notes was used. The purchaser of the book which is now in the Library of Congress has written the price as six shillings. The copy of Law's Rudiments of Music, which is in the library of the Harvard Musical Association, was presented to it by Timothy Swan, a contemporary composer and recognized as the author of the minor tune "China," which is still in common use.

Two other publications of his are The Harmonic Companion and The Art of Playing the Organ. Copies of these may be seen in the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. The former is thus described in an advertisement:

The first and second parts of the Art of Singing are comprised in the Harmonic Companion, which is a volume of 120 pages. It contains the rules of psalmody, 145 psalm and hymn tunes and eight set pieces.

It was first issued in 1807 and reprinted in four editions. The Art of Playing the Organ was a small pamphlet of eight pages, printed in 1807 also and reprinted twice.

In 1814 Mr. Law began a series of Essays on Music. They were copyrighted August 24 and printed at Philadelphia for the author. Two numbers were issued. The first was on the general subject of music and in his second essay he says, "One object of these essays will be to notice the musical publications of this country." He then proceeds to discuss critically one of the recent books of church music.

An idea of the esteem in which Andrew Law was held by his contemporaries may be had in a sen

tence taken from the notice of his death in a newspaper of 1821:

To his correct taste and scientific improvements may be ascribed much of that decent, solemn and chaste style of singing so noticeable in so many of the American churches. He led a life of exemplary obedience to religious impression and has doubtless entered "into that rest which remaineth to the people of God."

Though he may have improved upon the manner of singing, his style of composition did not abide, and his tunes have passed from the hymnals. Dr. F. L. Ritter, in his History of Music in America, says of him:

Law was more thorough in his musical knowledge than many of his contemporaries. The different collections of church music he published prove him to have been a singing teacher of comparatively good taste and judgment. Billings and his style seem not to have had much attraction for him. His aim was more serious. He selected his tunes with more care, and the harmonic arrangement of his pieces is simple and correct, and more in accordance with the spirit of church music. He did not indulge in much "fuguing." He does not seem to have been very popular as a compiler or as a composer. Only one of his original tunes, "Archdale," acquired great popularity. It was for a long time reprinted in almost every book of church music. Law's most efficient work was that of a singing teacher. He did good pioneer work in the New England States and in the South.

THE REV. SOLOMON HOWE

1750-1835

SOLOMON HOWE was a native of Massachusetts, born in North Brookfield, September 14, 1750. At the age of twenty-seven he graduated from Dart

mouth College, 1777, and started on a career which was rather eccentric and desultory at times. Part of the time he was a preacher, then a teacher, then he practiced the art of printing, and when not otherwise engaged he turned his energies to farming. He was living in Greenwich, in the western part of Massachusetts, when his three music books were published, and he had attained to the age of eightyfive years when he died November 18, 1935, at New Salem.

His first music book was called The Worshiper's Assistant and contained, besides the rules of music, which at that time were usually introduced into every singing book, "a variety of easy and plain Psalm Tunes adapted to the weakest capacities and designed for extensive utility as an introduction to more critical and curious music." This was printed from music type by Andrew Wright at Northampton for the author in 1799. "The author has put his own hymns to the following tunes and has in manuscript five hundred more which he intends to publish in the future."

His second book was The Farmers' Evening Entertainment, was printed by the same firm in Northampton in 1804, and contained new hymns and a number of new tunes of as various airs and meters as the compass of the book will admit. An interesting side light on the time for which a copyright was issued is found in the statement that the copyright was secured to the author for fourteen years, one half the period of a copyright at the present time, or one third if a renewal is made. The next year, 1805, he issued a collection of 92 pages, Divine

Hymns on the Sufferings of Christ, "for the use of religious assemblies." None of his hymns are now

in use.

ELIAS MANN

1750-1825

ELIAS MANN was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1750, but most of his life was spent in Northampton, where he taught music during the week, and led the singing in the Congregational church on Sunday. The time of his removal to Northampton is approximated by the date on which he and his wife joined the First Congregational Church there, which was in 1796. Here in the town made famous by the long pastorate of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, he taught singing and printed books. At one time he was employed by the town to teach singing school on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings during the months of December and January. He was paid twenty-six dollars for this service, and was to lead the singing on the Sabbath. He was again hired to conduct the singing school for two days a week from November to May, for which he was to be paid fifty dollars. The years during which these schools were to be held are not stated. He was one of the fifteen who met in Boston in June, 1807, to organize the Massachusetts Musical Society, from which sprang the Handel and Haydn Society, which was founded in 1815. He appears to have stopped in Worcester before settling in Northampton, for in the Massachusetts Maga

zine, printed in 1789 and 1790, we find that there were several pieces of music credited to E. Mann, of Worcester.

His earliest compilation was The Northampton Collection of Sacred Harmony, printed in that town by Daniel Wright and Company in 1797, and a second edition in 1802. He next issued The Massachusetts Collection of Sacred Harmony, a book of 200 pages, printed in 1807 by Manning and Loring in Boston. The first tune in this book is "Confidence," by Oliver Holden, and the copy of this book in the Library of Congress is the presentation copy from the compiler to Mr. Holden. On one of his visits to Boston he was asked to write a recommendation to The Psalmodist's Assistant, which Abijah Forbush had compiled in 1803.

Elias Mann died in Northampton, May 12, 1825, and was buried there with five of his children, and his widow, who survived him till April 22, 1842.

HERMAN MANN

Herman Mann, whose work as a printer of music may be considered with that of his relative, was born in Walpole, Mass., November 10, 1771. During his young manhood he taught school, but after he had removed to Dedham, in 1797, he engaged in printing. For a year he lived in Providence, Rhode Island, but most of his days were spent in Dedham. From 1797 to 1804 he published a newspaper called The Minerva, but it was not a profitable business, and it was discontinued. From 1804 to 1815 he printed a number of music books compiled by Daniel