626 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ments in mecliaiiics, and particularly the application of pneu- 

 matics, as shown in the magnificent American instrument by 

 Jardine & Sons recently erected in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, 

 have rendered the most complicated and extended ensemble ef- 

 fects capable of easy expression, while allowing the organist that 

 amount of muscular repose necessary for the mental demands 

 of his art. 



The Spaniards brought over the first organs heard on this con- 

 tinent, but so little is known concerning the subject that the his- 

 toric attempt of Thomas Brattle 

 to introduce an organ into the 

 King's Chapel, in Boston, in 1713, 

 may be accepted as the earliest 

 reliable contribution to American 

 organ history on record. Brat- 

 tle's organ is at present in St. 

 John's Chapel, Portsmouth, N. H. 

 Thomas Brattle, a native of Bos- 

 ton, after whom Brattle Street 

 and Brattle Square are named, 

 imported the organ referred to. 

 He bequeathed it to the Brattle 

 Street Church, provided " that 

 within a year from his death they 

 would procure a sober person who 

 could play skillfully thereon with 

 a loud noise, otherwise to the 

 King's Chapel." Whether it was 

 owing to the inability of the man- 

 ' ^l^^ ^^^'^ ^h^^^!^ ^ ^^ 'T'*^ agement of the favored church to 

 j ^ — ^ --^^^f^J^-gfJ \ *^^^~^ procure a " sober person " capable 



of playing with a '' loud noise " on 

 that historic instrument — which 

 is rather an asj^ersion on the abil- 

 ity of Boston organists of the 

 time, as well as a reflection on 

 their muscular capacity — or through prejudice against the instru- 

 ment as an alleged agency of the evil spirit, matters little now ; 

 suffice it for the historian to say that it was refused. It was 

 accordingly thrown over on the congregation of King's Chapel 

 and practically sent begging an owner, for King's Chapel also 

 refused to accept it. The executors of Brattle's will having done 

 their duty in the order intimated, refused to cart it away, and 

 after considerable discussion it was allowed to lie in the porch 

 of the church unpacked. It rested there for seven months, until 

 the question was reopened in 1714, ending with the erection of 



Fig. 5. — From an Ancient Engraving, 

 showing early key-board. 



