14 MEMOIR OF ALFRED SMEE. [CHAP. II. 



According to the rules of the Bank of England, its gates were 

 locked and barred at 10 o'clock at night (a few years later than 

 the time I am now writing about, the gates were not closed till 

 11 o'clock); consequently balls and evening parties were interdicted 

 to the members of the Smee family, for to have the Bank gates 

 opened after they were closed for the night was attended by so 

 much formality, such as ringing up the chief cashier, and having 

 the names of the party entered in a book, that practically it never 

 was done unless in a case of urgent necessity. Thus in a great 

 measure society was a sealed book for the young people, and 

 they were obliged to seek their amusements in themselves. After 

 dinner, which was always precisely at 5 o'clock, the family generally 

 used to devote themselves to music. Some played the piano, 

 another the violin, and another the violoncello, and the daughter 

 of the house sang ; and thus by delightful duets, trios, and even 

 quartetts and songs, the long evenings were beguiled. My grand- 

 father was a skilful amateur performer on the piano ; he had been 

 a pupil of Battershill, the well-known pupil of Handel. My grand- 

 father had, besides, a thorough knowledge of musical composition. 

 He would read off musical compositions as he would an ordinary 

 reading book. It is not, therefore, surprising to find that a 

 talent for music was inherited by the children, though in 

 various degrees. My father was generally too much engaged 

 with his numerous researches to be able to take a prominent 

 part in these musical soirees. He, however, was very fond of 

 music, and played a little on the violoncello. He had an 

 infallible ear for rhythm, and it was painful to him to have to 

 listen to performers (however skilful they might otherwise be in 

 their playing) if they did not give the precise accentuation : the 

 slightest fault his ear detected. His fayourite musical works were 

 those by Mozart, more especially the music of ' Don Juan ' and the 

 * Zauberflote ;' those by Meyerbeer, the music from 'Roberto ' being 

 the favourite ; and the music of ' Der Freischutz,' by Weber. He 

 liked, too, classical chamber music, although he used to say he 

 found that class of music too fatiguing to listen to after a long hard 

 day's work. He was especially fond of sacred pieces, such as the 

 ' Messiah' by Handel, the 'Elijah' by Mendelssohn, the 'Creation' 

 by Haydn, and other oratorios. For some years he regularly took 

 two stalls at Exeter Hall, and there weekly he and his family en- 

 joyed by turns the magnificent rendering of the various oratorios by 

 the great masters. Besides oratorios, my father liked chorals and 

 hymns, Pergolesi's ' Hymn of Praise ' being among his favourites. 



