Charles Dickens and Music

e interesting, inasmuch as they throw some light upon it during the earlier y

ught to be ashamed of himself, and offers to back himself for any

the direction of the clerk, a custom which had existed since the seventeenth century. The chancel was never used for the choir, and the children sat up in the gallery at the west end, on either side of the organ. In a City churc

wo at psalm time; to the gallery congregation's manner of enjoying a shrill duet, without a notion of time or tune; to the whity-brown man

rls. The congregations were small, a state of things which at any rate satisfied Mrs. Lirripe

things at a fashionable church. Carriages roll up, richly dressed pe

a short hymn, and the congregation condescending

om church to chap

he loudest pitch of their voices, unaccompanied by any musical instr

ey were written (1838). Very few chapels in London had organs, or indeed instruments of any kind, and there is no doubt that the congregati

say just referred to he mentions the fact that he attended a service in a West of En

allery extending across the church at the lower end; and the voices were led by the clerk, wh

ove, it was, according to his own account, far superior to what he heard in certain churche

drals when the organ has been playing, and in many English

hurch at Genoa on a feast day, an

a scroll, and a tenor, without any voice, sang. The band played one way, the organ played another, the singer went a third, and the unfortunate conductor banged

sh C

uch as to say 'You have heard our friend overhead; oblige me with your opinion of this style.' This gentleman subsequently became a 'play-actor,' but failed to achieve the success he desired. Solomon Daisy (B.R.) is bell-ringer and parish clerk of Chigwell, though we hear nothing of his exploits in

rapping himself on the breast. 'Daisy, you know-Chigwel

nd then muttered as it were mechanically:

he little man hastily, 'th

chievements are duly set forth in these pages, there are two others whose connexion with Cloisterham gives the

, cheerful, kind, good-natured,

lternate Musical Wednesdays' Society, and amongst his lesser duties is that

e early household, very softly touching his piano

ing-room, where occasion

h a knowing air of being up to the contents of the closet, and a musica

s musical talents, and on one occasion in pa

pleasure with which I have heard

self. He was the lay precentor or lay clerk, and he was also a good choirmaster. It is unnecessary to criticize or examine too closely the exact

s one of the lay clerks who looks after the music, but who of course has nothing to do with setting the music for the month. I don't think Dickens had much idea of church order or of

choir-trainer and teacher of music, but he is already weary of his position and takes little notice of words of eulogy. He wa

l other islands but this island, and all continents, peninsulas, isthmuses, promontories, and other geographical forms of land soever, besides sweeping the sea in all dire

three hours'-a somewhat unusual exercise even for the most enthusiastic choirmaster. But this was before the strange journey wit

g into their nightgowns' before the service, while they subsequently are 'as much in a hurry to get their bedgow

th

which Dickens mentions several times. Mr. Wilding (N.T.), after he had been pumped on by his lawyer in or

, Greene, Mendelssohn. I know the choruses to tho

ing-class in the warehouse, and a choir in the neighbouring church. Only one member, J

em foreign cellars pretty much for to go

not lacking i

and Hy

heir feelings are on reading the account of the meeting of the Brick Lane Branch of the United Grand Ju

the tune of the Old Hundredth, which he would request them to join in singing. (Great applause.)

nd that Dickens mentions any other hymn-tune. The hymns referred to are rather more in number. In The Wreck of the Golden Mary Mrs. Atherfi

g with the sun to run our little

nowledge. In The Cricket on the Hearth Mrs. Peerybingle asks John if he ever learnt 'How doth the little' when he went to school. 'Not to quite

to all, which stood upon the table, presented so lamentable an instance of angry

s in order to bring them into their way of thinking, and a prominent place in their ranks must be assigned to Mi

work or hea

while all poor people's children, such

rk, work. I

rst years

y give fo

d accoun

rom the good D

uthority on mischief, but Mr. Wickfield suggests that Dr. Watts, had he known mankind

ob Trotter. No answer was vouchsafed, the fact being that the title is a pure invention, and no such collection has ever existed. It is scarcely necessar

wrote an introduction to her Legends and Lyrics, in which he tells the story of how, as editor of Household Words, he accepted verses sent him from time to time by a Mis

ifficulty in regard to t

yer, O Heav

me down

gels, pure

ed their v

orities on the works of Dickens claim it as his composition, and include it in his collected works. On the other hand, Miller, in his Our Hymns (1866), states that Miss Harriet Parr informed him that t

n struck by this hymn when it appeared in Household Words, and wrote to thank him for it. 'I beg to thank you,' Dickens answered (Christmas Eve, 1856), 'for your very acceptable letter, not the less beca

the phrase 'I don't think' in its modern slang meaning on at least two occasions. Tom Pinch remarks 'I'm a nice man, I don't think, as John used to say' (M.C. 6)

as a frequent visit

he poem o