and the press resounded with the taunts of the poet and pamphleteer, illustrious and obscure, who found abundant food for their invectives in the troubles with Spain over its exclusive pretensions to the continent of America and its claim to the right of searching English vessels. The minister long resisted the pressure of the opposition for war, but at the close of 1739 he abandoned his efforts to stem the current, and with a divided cabinet was forced, as the king would not allow him to resign, into hostility with Spain. The Tory minority known as “the patriots” had seceded from parliament in March 1739, but at the commencement of the new session, in November 1739, they returned to their places with redoubled energies. The campaign was prosecuted with vigour, but the successes of the troops brought little strength to Walpole’s declining popularity, and when parliament was dissolved in April 1741 his influence with his fellow-countrymen had faded away. His enemies were active in opposition, while some of his colleagues were lukewarm in support. In the new House of Commons political parties were almost evenly balanced. Their strength was tried immediately on the opening of parliament. After the ministry had sustained some defeats on election petitions, the voting on the return for Chippenham was accepted as a decisive test of parties, and, as Walpole was beaten in the divisions, he resolved on resigning his places. On the 9th of February 1742 he was created earl of Orford, and two days later he ceased to be prime minister. A committee of inquiry into the conduct of his ministry for the previous ten years was ultimately granted, but its deliberations ended in nought. Although he withdrew to Houghton for a time, his influence over public affairs was unbroken and he was still consulted by the monarch. He died at Arlington Street, London, on the 18th of March 1745 and was buried at Houghton on the 25th of March. With the permanent places, valued at £15,000 per annum, which he had secured for his family, and with his accumulations in office, he had rebuilt the mansion at great expense, and formed a gallery of pictures within its walls at a cost of £40,000, but the collection was sold by his grandson for a much larger sum in 1779 to the empress of Russia, and the estate and house of Houghton passed to Lord Cholmondeley, the third earl having married the premier’s younger daughter.
Walpole was twice married—in 1700 to Catherine, eldest daughter of John Shorter and grand-daughter of Sir John Shorter, lord mayor of London, who died in 1737, having had issue three sons and two daughters, and in March 1738 to Maria, daughter of Thomas Skerret, a lady often mentioned in the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. He was succeeded in his earldom and other titles by his eldest son Robert (1701–1751), who had been created Baron Walpole of Walpole in 1723; the 3rd earl was the latter’s only son George (1730–1791), “the last of the English nobility who practised the ancient sport of hawking,” and the 4th earl was the famous Horace Walpole (q.v.) the youngest son of the great Sir Robert. Horace Walpole died unmarried on the 2nd of March 1797, when the earldom became extinct, but the barony of Walpole of Walpole passed to his cousin, Horatio (1723–1809), who had already succeeded his father, Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton in that barony. In 1806 he was created earl of Orford, and this title still remains in the possession of his descendants, Robert Horace Walpole (b. 1854) becoming the 5th earl in 1894. When Horace Walpole died his splendid residence at Houghton and the Norfolk estates did not pass with the title, but were inherited by George James Cholmondeley, 4th earl and afterwards 1st marquess of Cholmondeley.
Sir R. Walpole’s life has been written by Archdeacon William Coxe (1798 and 1800, 3 vols.), A. C. Ewald (1878) and John Viscount Morley (1889). See also Walpole, a Study in Politics, by Edward Jenks (1894); English Hist. Rev. xv. 251, 479, 665, xvi. 67, 308, 439 (his foreign policy, by Basil Williams); Bolingbroke, by Walter Sichel (1901–1902, 2 vols.); the histories, letters and reminiscences by his son, Horace Walpole; and the other lives of the chief political personages of the period. (W. P. C.)
ORFORD, a small town, once of greater importance, in the
south-eastern parliamentary division of Suffolk, England,
21 m. E. by N. of Ipswich. Pop. (1901) 987. It lies by the
right bank of the river Alde, where that river flows south-westward
on the inner side of the great beach which has blocked its
direct outflow to the sea, and swells out seaward in the blunt
promontory of Orford Ness. The church of St Bartholomew is
of much interest. It retains a ruined Norman chancel of rich
and unusual design, while the body of the church is Decorated.
Of Orford castle the keep remains, standing high on a mound; it
is partly of Caen stone and partly of flint work, and is of Norman
date.
ORGAN, in music, the name (from Gr. ὄργανον, Lat. organum,
instrument) given to the well-known wind-instrument. The notes
of the organ are produced by pipes, which are blown by air under
pressure, technically called wind.
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| Fig. 1.—A portion of the Table with the open grooves seen from above. |
Pipes differ from one another in two principal ways—(1) in pitch, (2) in quality of tone, (1) Consider first a series of pipes producing notes of similar quality, but differing in pitch. Such a series is called a stop. Each stop of the organ is in effect a musical instrument in itself. (2) The pipes of different stops differ, musically speaking, in their quality of tone, as well as sometimes in their pitch. Physically, they differ in shape and general arrangement. The sounding of the pipes is determined by the use of keys, some of which are played by the hands, some by the feet. A complete stop possesses a pipe for every key of some one row of manuals or pedals. If one stop alone is caused to sound, the effect is that of performance on a single instrument. There are such things as incomplete stops, which do not extend over a whole row of keys; and also there are stops which have more than one pipe to each key. Every stop is provided with mechanism by means of which the wind can be cut off from its pipes, so that they cannot sound even when the keys are pressed. This mechanism is made to terminate in a handle, which is commonly spoken of as the stop. When the handle is pushed in, the stop does not sound; when the handle is pulled out, the stop sounds if the keys are pressed. An organ may contain from one to four manuals or keyboards and one set of pedals. There are exceptional instruments having five manuals, and also some having two sets of pedals. The usual compass of the manuals approximates to five octaves, from C to c⁗ inclusive. The compass of the pedal is two and a half octaves, from C to f′. This represents the pitch in which the notes of the pedal are written; but the pedal generally possesses stops sounding one octave lower than the written note, and in some cases stops sounding two octaves below the written note. Each manual or pedal has as a rule one soundboard, on which all its pipes are placed. Underneath the soundboard is the windchest, by which the wind is conveyed from the bellows, through the soundboard to the pipes. The windchest contains the mechanism of valves by which the keys control the admission of wind to the soundboard. The soundboard contains the grooves which receive the wind from the valves, and the slides by which the handles of the stops control the transmission of the wind through the soundboard to the pipes of the different stops.
The grooves of the soundboard are spaces left between wooden bars glued on to the table of the soundboard. There is usually one groove for every key. The grooves of the bass notes, which have to supply wind for large pipes, are broader than those of the treble. The bass bars are also thicker than those of the treble, that they may the better support the great weight which rests on the bass portion of the soundboard. The table forms the top of the grooves. The grooves are generally closed below with
