THE STABAT MATER
THE Stabat Mater, with the Dies Iræ, poſſeſſes the power of imparting a ſhadowy impreſſion of its meaning by the melody of its verſe. Its ſoft, ſad cadence echoes the feeling of its pathetic words. In fame it ranks next to the Dies Iræ, yet is neither ſo ſimple nor ſo grand; nor does it riſe, like the Great Hymn, above ſectarian faults. It has attracted the ſame great admiration, and been praiſed and repeated by the fame great admirers, but always in a leſſer degree. As the Dies Iræ has been pronounced the greateſt, ſo the Stabat Mater univerſally is deemed the moſt pathetic of hymns.
The life of its author was in fit keeping with its plaintive utterances. He was born at Todi, of the noble Italian houſe of Benedette, and roſe to diſtinction as a juriſt. A few years
