scholars were leaving Bath; and then to my sorrow I saw almost every room turned into a workshop. A cabinet-maker making a tube and stands of all descriptions in a handsomely furnished drawing-room; Alex putting up a huge turning machine (which he had brought in the autumn from Bristol, where he used to spend the summer) in a bed-room, for turning patterns, grinding glasses, and turning eye-pieces, &c. At the same time music durst not lie entirely dormant during the summer, and my brother had frequent rehearsals at home, where Miss Farinelli, an Italian singer, was met by several of the principal performers he had engaged for the winter concerts. . . . . He composed glees, catches, &c., for such voices as he could secure, as it was not easy to find a singer to take the place of Miss Linley. . . . . Sometimes, in the absence of Fisher, he gave a concerto on the oboe, or a sonata on the harpsichord; and the solos on the violoncello of my brother Alexander were divine! . . . . He also took great delight in a choir of singers who performed the cathedral service at the Octagon Chapel, for whom he composed many excellent anthems, chants, and psalm tunes.[1] As soon as I could pronounce English well enough I was obliged to attend the rehearsals, and on Sundays at morning and evening service, which, though I did not much like at first, I soon found to be both pleasant and useful.
- ↑ Although a considerable quantity of Sir W. Herschel's musical compositions exist in manuscript, much has unhappily perished. His sister writes:—"I only lament that this anthem was left with the rest of my brother's sacred compositions, which were left in trust with one of the choristers. The morning and evening services each in two different keys, and numerous psalm tunes most beautifully set. The organ book containing the scores; the parts written out and bound in leather, in a box with lock and key which was always kept at the chapel. All is lost. With difficulty many years after, one Te Deum was recovered, and when I was in Bath in 1800 I obtained two or three torn books of odd parts." The chorister's wife openly charged Mr. Linley with having taken possession of these treasures.
