borrows its exact sequence and its curious halting rhythm from the Croatian “Miši prave svatove”— [Music] Clearly, in Haydn’s vocabulary “popular” meant Slavonic. It may be objected that this example proves nothing. Grant that Haydn was living in a certain district, and that he was asked for once to write in a popular style; what more natural than that he should adapt himself to his surroundings, and use the idioms that he found in common currency? A man readily drops into dialect when he is addressing a rural audience, and does not become a countryman by seasoning his discourse with a few country proverbs and metaphors. This rejoinder would be of more effect if the “Mass” were an isolated phenomenon: it somewhat loses weight when we remember that the music only turns to Church use the tendencies that have already been noted in symphony and quartet. Still, our case would undoubtedly be stronger if we could find Haydn appealing, in the same tongue, to the Austrian Empire at large, and using the native Slavonic for some great political or ceremonial occasion. Here, at any rate, is a test which we may reasonably regard as crucial, and which, if successfully applied, should go some way towards settling the question. Unfortunately, the Croatian melodies are not, as a rule, well suited for such a purpose. They are bright, sensitive, piquant, but they seldom rise to any high level of dignity or earnestness. They belong to a temper which is marked rather by feeling and imagination than by any sustained breadth of thought, and hence, while they enrich their own field of art with great beauty, there are certain frontiers which they rarely cross, and from which, if once crossed, they soon return. One limitation in particular will have been observed by every student. It frequently happens that a Croatian or Servian tune will begin with a fine phrase, and then fall to an anti-climax—either losing sight of its tonality, or wavering in its rhythm, or ending with a weak or commonplace cadence. In almost all the examples quoted above, it is the opening of the tune which Haydn has borrowed; its conclusion he has nearly always improved or re-written.[29] And the reasons that impelled him to this practice may be illustrated by the following variants, in all of which are apparent the same touch of inspiration, and the same weakness of development. (_a_) The song “Stal se jesem,” as sung in Marija Bistric[30]— [Music] [29] See in particular the song “Na travniku” (p. 46), and the first Kolo tune (p. 50). [30] The musical stanza, in this song, goes to a half-stanza of the words. The first is— Stal se jesem rano jutro _i.e._, In the early morning stood I malo pred zorjum. Close upon the dawn. (_b_) The same song as it appears in the district of S. Ivan Zeline— [Music] (_c_) The same as it appears at Medjumur (Murinsel)— [Music]