* that very bafis or foundation of mufic which had long before been
* compiled for the inftruclion of youth in the rudiments of mufick,
* by that moft worthy and excellent author thereof, Ralph Winter-
* ton, Dr. of Phyfick and Regius Profeflbr of the fame in the univer-
' fity of Cambridge, in his own words and methode ;' but, by fome
* Thefe particulars were communicated by a perfon now living, who was one of tie
daughter's little pupils, and, though turned of fourfcore, retains a remembrance of his
perfon.
f This was the ufage in cathedrals for many years, but in fome, particularly St. Paul's
and Canterbury, and at Weflminfter, the practice has been, and (till is, inftead cf a volun-
tary to ling the ianc"r.us to fo'emn mufic in the interval between morning prayer, conclud-
ing ith the Benediction, and the fecond or communion fervice, which is certainly a
change lor the better. In the Temple church, which by the way i9 neirher a cathedral
nor paio hial church, a voluntary is inttoduccd in this part of the fervice, but at no other
in London.
* unac~
352 HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Book III.
unaccountable miftake, this table or bafis, whatever it be, is omitted
in all the copies of the book that have come to our hands, and in-
ftead thereof is inferted * A Pfalm of Thanklgiving to be fung by
' the Children of Chrift's Hofpital on Monday and Tuefday in Eafter
' holydaies at Saint Maries Spittle, for their founders and benefactors,
* compofed to Mufick by Thomas Brewer.'
This book, as it contains not the mufic, but only the words of
the fervices and anthems in ufe at the time of its publication, is Co
far at leaft valuable, as it ferves to fhew what was the ftock of mufic
which the church fat out upon at the reftoration, as ,alfo who were
the compofers of greateft eminence at that time ; and thefe appear to
have been William Bird, Thomas Tallis, Thomas Weelks, Richard
Farrant, Edmund Hooper, William Mundy, John Shepherd, Or-
lando Gibbons, Adrian Batten, Dr. Tye, Robert White, Dr. Giles,
Robert Parfons, Thomas Morley, John Ward, John Hilton, Dr.
Bull, Richard Price, Albertus Bryne, organift of St. Paul's cathe-
dral j Michael Eaft, Henry Lawes, Hen ry Smith, ?4r. Cob, Henry
Molle, Mr. Johnfon, Thomas Tomkyns, Chrift. Gibbons, Lawrence
Fifher, Mr. Stonard, Henry Loofemore, Mr. Jeffries, Randolph
Jewett, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Wilkinfon, Mr. Gibbs, John Amner,
John Holmes, Mr. Cofte, Mr. Cranford, Dr. Wilfon, Richard
Gibbs, organift of Chrift Church in Norwich ; Mr. Wigthorpe, Leo-
nard Woodfon, Richard Hutchinfon, Mr. Rogers, Martin Peerfon,
Mr. Mudde, John Heath, Dr. Child, Edward Smith, Peter Strin-
ger, organift of Chefter cathedral ; Richard Hinde, Richard Port-
man, George Mafon, John Hingeftone, Richard Carre, Giles Tom-
kins, William Lawes, Edward Low, Pelhsm tiumfrey, John Blow,
and Robert Smith, the three latter children of his majefty's chapel ;
Henry Cook, Efq. mafter of the children, and one of the gentlemen
of his majefty's chapel royal ; Matthew Lock, Efq. Sir William
Leighton, Robert Jones, Alphonfo Ferabofco
The number of workmen in England being found too few to
anfwer the demand for organs, it was thought expedient to make of-
fers of encouragement for foreigners to come and fettle here j thefe
brought over from Germany Mr. Bernard Schmidt and
Harris ; the former of thefe, for his excellence in his art, and the
following particulars reflecting him, deferves to live in the remem-
brance of all fuch as are friends to it,
Ber-
Chap. 8. AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC.
353
BERNARD SMITH
ORGAN-MAKER.
ixiafo,*! /,/ //£. . //„.„;., /!/„.„/. ,:,w„.,.-.
Bernard Schmidt, or, as we pronounce the name, Smith, was a
native of Germany, but of what city or province in particular is not
known. Upon the invitations of foreign workmen to fettle here, he
came into England, and brought with him two nephews, the one
named Gerard, the other Bernard; and, todiftinguifh him from thefe,
the elder had the appellation of Father Smith. Immediately upon their
arrival Smith was employed to build an organ for the royal chapel at
Whitehall, but, as it was built in great hafte, it did not anfwer
the expectations of thofe who were judges of his abilities. He
had been but a few months here before Harris arrived from France,
Vol. IV. R r r bring-
554 HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Bcok III.
bringing with him a fon named Penatus, who had been brought up
in the bufinefs of organ-making under him ; they met with little
encouragement, for Dallans and Smith had all the bufinefs of the
kingdom; but upon the deceafe of Dallans in 1672 *, a competition
arofe between thefe two foreigners, which was attended with fome
remarkable circumftances. The elder Harris was in no degree a
match for Smith, but his fon Renatus was a young man of ingenuity
and fpirir, and fucceeded fo well in his endeavours to rival Smith,
that at length he got the better of him.
The contefr. between Smith and the younger Harris was carried
on with great fpirit; each had his friends and fupporters, and the
point of preference between them was hsrdly determined by that
exquifite piece of workmanfhip of Smith, the organ now ftanding in
the Temple church ; of the building thereof the following is the
hiftory, as related by a perfon who was living at the time, and in-
timately acquainted with both Smith and Harris.
* Upon the deceafe of Mr. Dallans and the elder Harris, Mr. Re-
" natus Harris and Father Smith became great rivals in their employ-
* ment, and fevferal tryals of fkill there was betwixt them on feveral
* occafions ; but the famous conteft between thefe two artifis was at
' the Temple church, where a new organ was going to be eretfted
' towards the latter end of K. Charles the fecond's time : both made
' friends for that employment ; but as the fociety could not agree
« about who fhould be th« man, the Matter of the Temple and the
' Benchers propofed they both fhould fet up an organ on each fide of
« the church, which in about half a year or three quarters of a year
* was done accordingly ; Dr. Blow and Mr. Purcell, who was then
* in his prime, fhewed and played Father Smith's organ on appoint-
* ed days to a numerous audience j and, till the other was heard,
* every body believed that Father Smith certainly would carry it.
c Mr. Harris brought Mr. Lully, organift to Queen Catherine, a
* very eminent mafler, to touch his organ, which brought Mr.
* Harris's organ into that vogvie ; they thus continued vying with
' one another near a twelvemonth.
* An infeription on a ftone in the old church of Greenwich afcertained nearly the time
of his denth ; Strype pives it in ihefe words: ' Ralph Dallans, Organ-maker, deceafed
* while he was making this organ ; begun by him Feb. 1672. James White his partner
* finished it, and eretted this (tone 1673.' Circuit Walk. Greenwich. The organ at
New College Oxford, as alfo that in the mufic-fchool there, were made by Dallans.
« Then
Chap. 8. AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 35$.
« Then Mr. Harris challenged Father Smith to make additional
* flops againft a fet time; thefe were the Vox-humane, the Cremo-
* na or Violin flop, the double Courtel or bate Flute, with fomc
' others I may have forgot.
f Thefe ftops, as being newly invented, gave great delight and
' fatisfaction to the numerous audience ; and were fo well imitated
' on both fides, that it was hard to judge the advantage to either : At
* laft it was left to my Lord Chief Juftice Jeffries, who was of that
' .houfe, and he put an end to the controverfy by pitching upon Fa - .
' ther Smith's organ; fo Mr. Harris's organ was taken aw.iy without
' lofs of reputation *, and Mr. Smith's remains to this day. *****
' Now began the fetting up of organs in the chiereft parifh.es of the
' city of London, where for the moft part Mr. Harris bad the advan-
â– tage of Father Smith, making I believe two to his one ; among
' them fonie are reckoned very eminent, viz. the organ at Saint
* Bride's, Saint Lawrence near Guildhall, Saint Mary Ax, &c. -{-'
Notwithflanding this fuccefs of Harris, Smith was confidered as an
able and ingenious workman ; and, in confequence of this character,
he was employed to build an organ for the cathedral of St. Paul +.
The organs made by him, though in refpedt of the workmanfhip they
are far fhort of thofe of Harris, and even of Dallans, are juftly admir-
ed ; and, for the finenefs of their tone, have never yet been equalled.
* Harris's organ was afterwards purchafed for the cathedral of Chrift Chuich at Dub-
lin, and fet up there; but about twenty years ago Mr. Byfield was fent for from England
to repair it, which he objected to, and prevailed on the chapter to have a new one made
by himfelf, be allowing for the old one in exchange. When he had got it he would have
treated with the parifhioners of Lynn in Norfolk for the fale of it ; but they difdainingthe
o*fTerof a fecond-hand inftrument, refufed to purchafe it, and employed Snetzler to build
them a new one, for which they paid him 700I. Byfield dying, his widow fold Harris's
organ to the parilh of Wolverhampton for 500I. and there it remains at this day. One of
two eminent matters now living, who were requefted by the churchwardens of Wr'ver-
rnnipton to give their opinions of this inftrument, declares it to be the beft modern organ
he ever touched.
Mr Francis Piggot was the firft organift of the Temple church. This perfon had been
an organift extraordinary of the chapel royal, but, upon the dcceafe of Dr. Child, was
appointed to fucceed him as organift in ordinary, and was fworn in accordingly, 10
Apr 1697. He died in 1704, and was fucceeded at the Temple by his fon, who died
about the year 1736. As the church is common to both the focieties of the Inner and
Middle Temple, there have for many years part been two organilts of it.
f Dr. Tud way's letter to his fon above cited.
% He alfo made the organ for the Theatre, and Chrift Church, and for the church of St.
Mary at Oxford ; and at London he made that of St. Mary at Hill, St. Clement Danes,
and of St. Margaret's Weftminfter. That at the Theatre was taken down, and removed
to the church of St. Peter in the Eaft at Oxford, and a new one, made by Byfield and
Green, erected in its ftead.
The
356 HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Booklll.
The name of Smith occurs in the lifts of the chapel eftablifliment
from 1703 to 1709, inclufive, as organ-maker to the chapel, and alfo
to queen Anne. He had a daughter, married toChriftopher Sch rider, a
workman of his, who about the year 1710 fucceeded him in his places.
The organ of St. Paul's, erected foon after the year 1700, had
eftablifhed the character of Smith as an artift j whether Harris had
been his competitor for building an inftrument for that church, as he
had been before at the Temple, does not now appear ; but in the
Spectator, No. 552, for December 3, 1712, is a recommendation of
a propofal of Mr. Renatus Harris, organ-builder, in thefe words :
* The ambition of this artificer is to erecl: an organ in St. Paul's ca-
* thedral, over the weft door, at the entrance into the body of the
* church, which in art and magnificence fhall tranfcend any work of
* that kind ever before invented. The propofal in perfpicuous Ian-.
' guage fets forth the honour and advantage fuch a performance
* wou'd be to the Britifti name, as well that it would apply the
* power of founds in a manner more amazingly forcible than per-
' haps has yet been known, and I am fure to an end much more-
* worthy. Had the vaft fums which have been laid out upon operas
* without fkill or conduct, and to no other purpofe but to fufpend
* or vitiate our understandings, been difpofed this way, we mould
•> now perhaps have an engine fo formed, as to ftrike the minds of
* half a people at once in a place of worfliip with a forgetfulnefs of
' prefent care and calamity, and a hope of endlefs rapture, joy, and;
' Hallelujah hereafter.'
In the latter part of his life Renatus Harris retired to Briftol, and,,
following his bufinefs {here, made fundry organs for the churches in,
that city, and in the adjacent pariib.es, as alfo for churches, in the :
neighbouring counties. He had a fon named John, bred up under
him, who followed the bufinefs of organ-making, and made a great
number of very fine inftruments *.. In the Mercurjus Muficus forr
September and October, 170.0, is a fong infcribed ' Set. by Mr. Rene
* Harris..''
* The fu'c'fequent hiftory of organ-makers and of organ-making in this country- lies in,
fo fhort a compafs, that it may briefly be continued down from the time when Dr. Tud..
way's account ends, to nearly the. prefent.
Smith's nephews, Gerard and Bernard, worked chiefly in the country, as did alfo one-
Swarbrick, bred up under, the elder Harris, aiu one Turner of Cambridge ; their employ^
ment.was more in the repairing of old than the building of new organs. About the year,-
1700, one Jordan, a diftiiler, who had never been inftrucfed in the bufinefs, but had a me-,
thanical turn, and was an ingenious man, betook himfelf to the making of organs, and j
fWA.-
Chap. 9. AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 357
CHAP. IX.
IMmediatelyupon the reftoration the utmoft endeavours were exert-
ed for the eftablifhment of a choir in the royal chapel : three or-
ganifts were appointed, mmely, Dr. Child, Dr. Chriftopher Gibbons,
and Mr. Edward Low. Thefe had alfo other places ; for Child wa«
organifr. of Windfor, Gibbons of Weftrnjnfter-abbey, and Mr. Lowe
of Chrift-church Oxford; and, as they attended by monthly rota-
tion, their foreign places were rendered tenable with thofe at the
chapel. Henry Cook was made mafter of the children : this perfon
had been bred up in the king's chapel, but quitted it at the com-
mencement of the rebellion, and went into the king's army. In the
year 1642 he obtained a captain's commiffion, and ever after was
called Captain Cook. Not his loyalty alone, but that and his fkill
in mufic recommended him to the favour of Charles II. A hymn
of his compofing in four parts was performed inftead of the litany,
in the chapel of St. George at Windfor, by order of the fovereign
and knights of the garter, on the feventeenth day of April, 1661.
The eftablifiiment of the chapel of king Charles II. appears by
the following entry in the Cheque-book :
fucceeded beyond expectation. He had a fon named Abraham, whom he inftrucled in
the fame bufmefs ; he made the organ for the chapel of the Duke of Chandois at Cannons
near Edgwarc, and many organs for parifh churches. Byfield and Bridge were two ex-
cellent workmen ; the former made the organ for Greenwich hofpital, and the latter that
noble inftrument in the church of Spitalfields, for which he had only 6ool. Thefe are
all now dead. In the latter part of their lives, to prevent their underworking each other,
there was a coalition between them ; fo that whoever was the nominal artificer of any in-
strument, the profits accruing from the making of it were divided among them all.
Contemporary with thefe men was one Morfe of Bamet, an apothecary by profeffion,
•who would needs be a maker of organs. He made an organ for the church of St. Matthew
Friday-ftreet, and another for that of St. James Clerkenwell ; they were both wretched in-
ftruments, and were taken down in a very few years after they were fet up. One Griffin
a barber in Fenchurch-ftreet, alio pretended to make organs : he dealt with a few parifhes
in London in a very fingular way : in confideration of an annuity granted to him lor his,
life, he built for the contracting parifh an organ, and engaged to pay a perfon for playing
it as long as the annuity fliould be payable : encouraged by his fuccefs in three or four in-
ftances of the kind, this man flood for Grefham prpfeffor of mufic againft a perfon well fk.il-
ltd in the fcience, and, being a common-council man, and the electors alfo common-coun-
cil men of London, he was chofen.
Vol. IV. 9 s s The
35*
HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Booklll.
* The names of the Subdean, Gentlemen, and others of his Ma-
c jefty's Chapel Royal, at the time of the Coronation of King
' Charles the Second.
April 23d being St. George's day, 166 1.
jS
William Howes
Thomas Blagrave
Gregory Thorndell
Edward Bradock
Henry Purcell
James Cob
Nathaniel Watkins
John Cave
Alphonfo Marfh
Raphael Courteville
Edward Coleman
Thomas Purcell
Henry Froft
John Goodgroom
George Betenham
Matthew Pennell
*\
(Gent.
J
Dr. Walter Jones, Subdean.
Roger Nightingale
Ralph Amner
Philip Tinker
John Sayer
Durant Hunt
George Low
Henry Smith
William Tucker
Edward Lowe i
William Child [Organifts.
Chrift. Gibbons J
Henry Cook, Matter of the Chil-
dren
Henry Lawes, Clerk of theCheque.
Thomas Piers ")
Thomas Hazzard iGent.
John Harding J
Thomas Haynes, Serjeant of the Veftry.
William Williams, Yeoman.
George Whitaker, Yeoman.
Auguftine Cleveland, Groom.
* At which time every gentleman of the chapel in orders had al-
* lowed to him for a gown five yards of fine fcarlet ; and the reft of
' the gentlemen, being laymen, had allowed unto each of them foure
' yards of the like fcarlet.'
The ftock of mufic which they fet out upon confifted chiefly of
the anthems and fervices contained in Barnard's collection, and fuch
others in manufcript as could be recovered and made perfect : thefe
lafted about three or four years ; but the king perceiving a genius
in many of the young people of the chapel, encouraged them to
compofe themfelves ; and many of this firft fet, even while they
were
Chap. 9 . AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 35 g
were children of the chapel, compofed anthems and fervices which
would do honour to a mature age. Thefe were fung to violins, cop-
nets, and facbuts, the performers on which were placed in the
organ loft; and, by the king's fpecial order, had Symphonies and
Ritornellos adapted to thofe intlruments.
The falaries of the gentlemen of the chapel had been augmented
both by James I. and Charles I. and in the year 1663 Charles II.
by a privy-feal, farther augmented them to feventy pounds a year 5
and granted to Mr. Cook and his fucceflbrs in office, thirty pounds
a-year for the diet, lodging, warning, and teaching each of the chil-
dren of the chapel royal. A copy of this grant is entered in the
cheque-book ; in the margin thereof is a memorandum purporting
that it was obtained at the folicitation of Mr. Cook *.
* Charles the Second hail fome knowledge of mufic ; he underftcod the notes, and
fung, to ufe the cxpreffion of one who had often fung with him, a plump bafs ; but it no
where appears that he confidered mufic in any other view than as an incentive to mirth.
In a letter of his to Henry Bennet, afterwards earl of Arlington, dated from Bruges, Au-
guft 18, 1655, he fays, ' Pray get me pricked down as many new Corrants and Sarra-
' bands and other little dances as you can, and bring them with you, for I have got a
* fmall fidler that does not play ill on the fiddle.' bee the account of the prefervation of
King Charles II. after the battle of Worcefter, page 150.
And in another letter to the fame perfon, dated Sept. 1, 1656, he fays ' You will find
' by my laft, that though I am furnifhed with one fmall fidler, yet I would have another
' to keep him company ; and if you can get either he you mention, or another that plays
* well, I would have you do it.' Ibid, page 168.
His tafte for mufic feems to have been fuch as difpofed him to prefer a folo fong to a com-
pofition in parts ; though it muft be confefled that the pleafure he took in hearing Mr.
Goftling fing, is a proof that he knew how to eftimate a fine voice. This gentleman came
from Canterbury, and in 1678 was fworn a gentleman extraordinary, and in a few days
afterwards, a vacancy then happening by the death of Mr. William Tucker ahovemen-
tioned, a gentleman in ordinary of the royal chapel. He was afterwards fub-dean of St.
Paul's, and his memory yet lives in that cathedral. Purcell made fundry compofitions
purpofely for him, and, among others, one, of which the following is the hiftory.
The king had given orders for building a yacht, which, as foon as it was finifhed, he
named the Fubbs, in honour of the duchefs of Portfmouth, who we may fuppofe was in
her perfon rather full and plump. The fculptors and painters apply this epithet to chil-
dren, and fay for inftance of the boys of Fiammengo, that they are fubby. Soon after
the veilel was launched the king made a party to fail in this yacht down the river, and
round the Kentifh coaft ; and, to keep up the mirth and good humour of the company,
Mr. Goftling was requeued to be of the number. They had got as low as the North
Foreland, when a violent ftorm arofe, in which the king and the duke of York were ne-
ceffitated, in order to preferve the vcfTel, to hand the fails, and work like common fea-
men ; by good providence however they efcaped to land : but the diftrefs they were in
made an impreffion on the mind of Mr. Goftling, which was never effaced* Stiuck with
a juft fenfe of the deliverance, and the horror of the fcene which he had but lately viewed,
upon his return to London he felctted from the pfa'ms thofe paflages which declare the
wonders and terrors of the deep, and gave them to Purcell tocompofe as an anthem, which
be
j6o HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE Book III.
The encouragement given to church-mufic by king Charles II.
had an effect upon all the choirs in the kingdom. In cathedrals that
were amply endowed, as St. Paul's for inftance, in which a mainte-
nance is affigned for minor canons and lay fingers, the performance
was little inferior to that of the royal chapel * : In other cathedrals,
where the revenues were fo fmall as to reduce the members of the
church to the neceffity of taking mechanics and illiterate perfons to
affift in the choral fervice, it was proportionally inferior. But the
moft obvious effect of it was a variation in the church ftyle. It has
already been remarked, that the fervices and anthems contained in
Barnard's collection were the ftock which the church fet out upon at
the reftoration ; thefe were grown familiar after a few years prac-
tice j the king was in the flower of his age, and the natural gaiety
of his difpofition rendered him averfe to the ftyle of our beft church
mufic ; in fhort, he had not folidity of mind, nor fkill fufhcient to
contemplate the majefty and dignity, nor tafte enough to relifh
that moft exquifite harmony, which diftinguifh the compofitions of
Tye, ofTallis, Bird, Farrant, Gibbons, and many others. This
was foon difcovered by the young people of the chapel, and gave
fuch a direction to their ftudies, as terminated in the commencement
of what may very truly and emphatically be called a new ftyle of
church-mufic-j-.
Amongft thofe that affected to compofe in the light ftyle of
he did, adnpting it fo peculiarly to the compafs of Mr. Goftling's voicf, which was a deep
bafs, that hardly any perfon but himfelf was then, or has fince been able to fing it; but
the king did not live to hear it : this anthem, though never printed, is well known. It
is taken from the 107th pfalm ; the firft two verfes of the anthem are the 23d and 24th of
the pfalm. ' They that go down to the fea in (hips, and occupy bufinefs in great waters.
« Thefe men fee the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.'
King Charles II. could fing the tenor part of an eafy fong ; he would oftentimes fing.
with Mr. Goftling ; the duke of York accompanying them on the guitar.
* About this time it was very common for perfons of rank to refort in the afternoon to
St. Paul's to hear the fervice, and particularly the anthem ; and to attend a lady thither
was efteemed as much an act of politenefs, as it would be now to lead her into the opera.
In the life of Mary Moders, the famous pretended German princefs, who was executed in
the year 1673, for a capital felony in dealing plate, and who had been married to many
hufbands, it is related that whilft Mr. Carleton, one of them, was courting her, and in the
infancy of their acquaintance, he invited her to honour him with her company to St. Paul's,
to hear the organ, and certain excellent hymns and anthems performed by rare voices.
f The particular in ftances of innovation were folo anthems and movements in courant
time, which is a dancing meafure, and which the king had acquired a great fondnefs for
whie he was in France.
church-
Chap. 9. AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC. 36 1
church-mufic. Mr. Pelham Humphrey*, Mr. Blow, and Mr. Mi-
chael Wife were the chief; thefe were children of the chapel, edu-