the blessed air, and, mingling with the first, form a harmony so exquisite, that his rapt soul seems to melt within him with delight;—when, from a third quarter, and a fourth, celestial music bursts out to swell the glorious concert,—till the whole heavens with all their angels seem to be pouring forth a united and uplifted song of joy and praise, that rises swelling to the throne of the Supreme. Where now is the sound of his requiem? Where now the regret for the earth-born music he has left behind? He has found in its place the music of heaven.
Have we supposed too much? Not, upon the rational premises which have been before laid down,—namely, that death has no effect on the spirit, but only on the body—that the essential character of the mind continues unchanged, except that it is purified and exalted, when released from the presence of matter:—these considerations, perfected by that further and still more delightful one, that all the good and great of all ages, congenial spirits, meet, by the law of mental attraction, meet and associate after death—these principles combined were sufficient to account for the high concert we have supposed, as meeting the rapt ear of the released Mozart. For how many great masters of the musical art,—how many fine souls attuned to harmony,—must have passed from earth into the spiritual sphere, in the ages before Mozart? To name but one, Handel:—Handel was already there, and had been there for more than thirty years.[1] While on earth, he had composed his sublime "Messiah:" would he hot be able to prepare and utter a still more perfect strain of glorification and praise, when ascended into those
- ↑ Handel died in 1750; Mozart, in 1792; Haydn, in 1809.
