224 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°<i S. No 90., Sept. 19. '57. 



the bare posteriors of a suppliant youth laid across 

 his knee, whilst the other scholars are shown at 

 their forms, observing with fear the terrible ex- 

 ample before them. (Allen.) It appears by the 

 corporation records that engraving this seal cost 

 11. 2«. 4d T. Lampbay. 



DR. BUKNEY AND HANDEL S TRUMPET. 



Dr. Burney, in his account of the 1784 Com- 

 memoration of Handel, when recording his im» 

 pressions upon The Messiah performance remarks, 



" The favorite bass song. The Trumpet shall sound, was 

 very well performed by Signor Tasca and Mr. Sarjant. 

 Some passages however in the trumpet part have always 

 a bad effect from the natural imperfection of the instru- 

 ment. The fourth and sixth of a key on trumpets and 

 French horns are naturally so much out of tune that no 

 player can make them perfect. These sounds should 

 never be used but in short passing notes, to which no 

 bass is given that can discover their /a/se intonation. Mr. 

 Sarjant's tone is extremely sweet and clear, but every 

 time he was obliged to dwell upon G, the fourth of D (the 

 key sound) displeasure appeared in every countenance, 

 for which I was extremely concerned, knowing how in- 

 evitable-such an effect must be from such a cause. In the 

 Hallelujah Chorus G, the fourth of the key, is sustained 

 during two entire bars. In the Dettingen Te Deum, and 

 in many other places, this false concord or interval perpe- 

 tually deforms the fair face of harmony, and indeed the 

 face of almost any one that hears it, with an expression of 

 pain." 



So wrote Dr. Burney. Now for the truth. The 

 trumpet is a, perfect instrument in respect to all 

 sounds generated from its key sound or unit. All 

 its harmonics are exquisitely in tune. Hark ! at 

 the seventh where it comes — the ratio of 7 to 8 — 

 how pure and noble it is ! This seventh we never 

 hear on the piano, and only in one or two places 

 in the old-fashioned organ. From its own innate 

 perfection the trumpet refuses all unnatural, that 

 is imperfect, sounds, or ratios. They are obtained 

 •with great difficulty and heard with disgust. No 

 trumpet can generate the fourth of its key. But 

 the flat fifth is a pure primary harmonic, and this 

 is the sound trumpet players have to coax or tor- 

 ture into a fourth. The instrument is not the 

 unnatural wretch Dr. Burney imagines; it is the 

 instrumentalist who is the evil doer. The case 

 with the D trumpet stands thus. F sharp, its 

 third, is its |, 5 X2=10. A flat is its flat fifth or 

 tS:- Twice 10 is 20, twice 11, 22, Between 

 comes in 21, which is G natural, not the fourth of 

 D, but the pure seventh of A. Carry up these 

 ratios once more. Twice 20 is 40, twice 22, 44, 

 Now F sharp is 40, and A flat is 44, so that 41, 42, 

 and 43 lie between the two sounds. ^\ of D is a 

 very sharp major third, a primary harmonic. 42 

 is the 21 or 7th of A. But G, the root of D, or 

 rather its octave, stands between 42 and 43. Thus 

 the player has to coax 44 into 42 1^ or thereabouts. 

 Henby John Gauktlett. 



Savoy or Salvoy. — I copy from vol. iv. ch. 27. 

 p. 111. of Christopher Ness's Sacred History and 

 Mystery of the New Testament, fol., Lond. 1696, 

 the following, which seems worth being made a 

 note of: 



"The roadway betwixt Jericho and Jerusalem was 

 notoriously infested with Robbers, as our Highways near 

 London are too well known to be, and as Savoi/ (or Sol- 

 voy) was of old called Malvoy, which signifies an evil 

 way; because highwaymen abounded there, so that no 

 Travellers could have any safe passage to any place ; but 

 when those robbers were routed out, then was it named 

 Savoy (or Salvoy), which signifies a safe way." 



Mystically given as the worthy Christopher un- 

 doubtedly was, I presume that his illustration at 

 all events is to be taken literally, and if so, may 

 be acceptable to collectors of notices of London. 



Y. B. N. J. 



John Eliofs Indian Bible. — The village Church 

 Society of Dorchester, Massachusetts, recently 

 held a fair in Vose's Grove, on the banks of the 

 Neponset. It was on this occasion that the Rev. 

 Mr. Means alluded to the period when John Eliot 

 summoned the Indians of the neighbourhood to 

 meet him in this same grove, that he might have 

 a talk with them of the teachings of the Scriptures, 

 and if possible make them believers in a Christian 

 faith. Mr. Means also remarked, " that the Bible 

 which was then used by this worthy pilgrim 

 could be seen in the Cambridge University li- 

 brary, written in Indian characters which no per- 

 son now living could read." W. W. 



Malte. 



Sovereign Cure for the King^s Evil. — The fol- 

 lowing is worth preserving, if for nothing else, at 

 least for the traditionary link of evidence : — 



" Wye. There is an old woman now residing in this 

 parish, who has in her possession a silver figure of an 

 angel, which was placed round her great- grandmother's 

 neck by King Charles II., as a certain cure for the 

 King's Evil." — The Kentish Independent for Sept. 5, 1857. 



F. M. 



Blue Coat Boys at Executions. — It was for- 

 merly customary in Cork for the boys of the Blue 

 Coat Hospital to walk before condemned criminals 

 to the place of execution, singing hymns or dirges. 

 Many of the old inhabitants recollect having fre- 

 quently witnessed this solemn scene. For an in- 

 stance recorded, see Tuckey's Cork Remembrancer, 

 p. 173. H. C. 



Cork. 



Whai was Seditiontin 1797. — The following is 

 from a private letter in November, 1797. The 

 writer, though of course well known to his friend, 

 thought it best not to put his name, for fear of 

 accidents. The verses below were to be offered 

 to an editor, and the writer says, " I am not con- 



