Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/171

 12 S. IV. JUNK, 1918.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

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of an Italian organ-builder. Again, the passage relating to a " Dutch organ " mentioned in Hone's ' E very-Day Book ' is taken from a pamphlet published in 1810, that is, at the beginning of the nineteenth century not the eighteenth, as stated in the ' Encyclopaedia.'

Thus the whole evidence adduced by the lady seems to point to a German origin of the hand-played portable barrel-organ. But there were others of unmistakable Italian origin, as we still knew them here in England not many years ago. The instrument in this case was carried by the organ-grinder on a single wide strap across his shoulder, and was supported.while in action, on a pole. It had a more mellow tone than the much heavier and more noisy, brassy German instrument, which the player carried from place to place on his back on two straps, and deposited on a portable folding trestle or stand whenever he played it. The instrument on wheels is a later development which eventually became neces- sary with the heavy piano organs.

To return to the ' Encyclopaedia,' the instrument coveted by Horace Walpole in 1737 was raffled for 1,OOOJ., and could not have been a small instrument, although it was but " a thing " that would play only 8 tunes, and was easily outdistanced by the Earl of Bute's organ with 60 barrels (each 4 ft. 6 in. long and 18 in. diameter), built by Snetzlar, the Bavarian who built the church organs for Lynn Regis (Norfolk) in 1754, Halifax in 1766, and St. Martin's, Leicester, in 1774. In 1762, we are told, several of the most ingenious artists in the metropolis were engaged in building the said organ for the Earl of Bute ; but in the progress of building it some difficulties occurred which baffled all efforts until " Mr. Gumming " (probably a retired clock- maker of that name) came to their rescue. As far as I can understand, he eventually built anew instrument, for which 57 (56 ?) out of the 60 old barrels were utilized, and to which 6 new ones were added with 12 Scotch airs on each barrel, and 2 barrels " with cotillions, &c." That would have made 65 barrels, but in his list Gumming gives only 64 barrels, 28 of which played solely Handel's compositions, while the others reproduced pieces by various Italian com- posers and Scotch airs, besides such popular tunes as the inevitable ' Rondo ' from ' The Battle of Prague.' In 1785 the new organ was removed from Luton Park to High Cuff, where his lordship then resided for the benefit of the sea air. The Earl's residence

with the organ was bequeathed to his son, Lieut. -General Sir Charles Stuart, who had it removed when the sea undermined the cliff upon which the house stood, and had it re-erected in his house in Whitehall, but eventually parted with it. The instrument was bought for the " late " Earl of Shaftes- bury, and removed to St. Giles House This is all narrated by Mr. Gumming himself in his book published in London in 1812.

To finish the chronology, Adam Walker, in 1772, in a patent secured for his " Celes- tina," a keyed instrument >with one, two, or more strings, claims that his instrument could be made to play by means of "a pricked barrel as the hand or barrel organ."

To sum up, the name " Dutch organ " is not older than the pamphlet of 1810, earlier quotations only mentioning " hand or barrel organs." Hence all that is known seems to point to a German or Italian origin, or both, of the hand-played portable barrel- organ ; but, of course, I am open to correc- tion. One of the most famous German makers was Johann Daniel Silbermann (born at Strassburg in 1718), of the family who built, for instance, the fine organ of the Royal Church in Dresden in 1754.

L. L. K.

PRINCE CHARLES EDWABD STUABT AND A. FRENCH PRINCESS (12 S. iv. 18). Whether a project of marriage between the Young Pretender and a daughter of Louis XV. was ever seriously entertained or not, there appear to have been rumours of the possi- bility of such an alliance rumours for which Charles himself may have been in part responsible. See A. C. Ewald's ' Life and Times of Prince Charles Stuart,' vol. ii. p. 86:

" It was on these occasions, when the festive bowl went round, that Charles gave the toast of the Black Eye, ' by which,' explains Donald, ' he meant the second daughter of France. I never heard him name any particular health but that alone. When he spoke of that lady, which he did frequently, he appeared to be more than ordinarily well pleased.' " Donald was Donald Macleod of Guatter- gill in Skye, who attended the Prince during part of his wanderings in the Western Islands, and gave Bishop Forbes an account of his adventures.

On p. 141 of the same volume, after describing the French queen's kindness to Charles on his return from Scotland, the writer says :

" Nor are we led to believe that this sympathy was confined only to the Consort of Louis XV. There was, we are told, a dark-eyed daughter of