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196 for repeyling the organs to the organ maker at Bromycham 10s,"—organ-building must have been one of the few recognised trades of this town at a very early date. It is a pity the same accounts do not give the makers name of the instruments for which in 1539 they "paid my lord Abbot 4 marks," or name the parties who were then employed and paid for "mending and setting the organs up, 40s. Whether any of the most celebrated organs in the country have, or have not, been made here, is quite uncertain, though the Directories and papers of all dates tell us that makers thereof have never been wanting. In 1730 one Thomas Swarbrick made the organ for St. Mary's Church, Warwick, and the Directory for 1836 gives the name of Isaac Craddock (the original maker of the taper penholder), who repaired and in several cases enlarged the instruments at many of our places of worship, as well as supplying the beautiful organ for St. Marys at Coventry.—The tale has often been told of the consternation caused by the introduction of a barrel organ into a church, when from some catch or other it would not stop at the finish of the first tune, and had to be carried outside, while the remainder of its repertoire pealed forth, but such instruments were not unknown in sacred edifices in this neighbourhood but a short time back [see "Northfield"]—A splendid organ was erected in Broad Street Music Hall when it was opened, and it was said to be the second largest in England, costing £2,000; it was afterwards purchased for St. Pancras' Church, London.—The organ in the Town Hall, constructed by Mr. Hill, of London, cost nearly £4.000 and, when put up, was considered to be one of the finest and most powerful in the world, and it cannot nave lost much of its prestige, as many improvements have since been made in it The outer case is 45ft. high, 40ft. wide, and 17ft. deep, and the timber used in the construction of the organ weighed nearly 30 tons. There are 4 keyboards, 71 draw stops, and over 4,000 pipes of various forms and sizes, some long, some short, some trumpet-like in shape, and others cylindrical, while in size they range from two or three inches in length to the great pedal pipe, 32ft. high and a yard in width, with an interior capacity of cubic feet. In the "great organ there are 18 stops, viz.: Clarion (2ft.), ditto (4ft.), posanne, trumpet, principal (1 and 2). gamba, stopped diapason, four open d apasons, doublette, harmonic flute, mixture sesquialtra, fifteenth, and twelfth, containing altogether 1,338 pipes. In the "choir organ" there are nine stops viz.: Wald flute, fifteenth stopped flute, oboe flute, principal, stopped diapason, hohl flute, cornopean, and open diapason, making together 486 pipes. The "swell organ" contains 10 stops, viz.: Hautbois, trumpet, horn, fifteenth, sesquialtra, principal, stopped diapason, open diapason, clarion, and boureon and dulciana. the whole requiring 702 pipes. In the "solo organ" the principal stops are the harmonica, krum, horn, and flageolet, but many of the stops in the swell and choir organs work in connection with the solo. In the "pedal organ" are 12 stops, viz.: Open diapason 16ft. (bottom octave) wood, ditto, 16ft., metal, ditto, 16ft. (bottom octave) metal, bourdon principal, twelfth, fifteenth, sesqnialtra, mixture, posanne, 8ft. trumpet, and 4ft. trumpet. There are besides, three 32ft. stops, one wood, one metal, and one trombone. There are four bellows attached to the organ, and they are of great size, one being for the 32ft. pipes alone. The Town Hall organ had its first public trial August 29, 1834, when the Birmingham Choral Society went through a selection of choruses, as a kind of advance note of the then coming Festival.

Orphanages.—The first local establishment of the nature of an orphanage was the so called Orphan Asylum