SMITH. 



Ato. : in 1747 he pub!i(hed at Cambridge, in 8vo., a fecond 

 edition of Cotes's " Hydroftatical and Piieumatical Lec- 

 tures :" and in December 1748, he publifhed his "Har- 

 monics," of which a fecond edition, much aujjmentcd and 

 improved, appeared in October 1758. Ttie iilcription over 

 him is H. S. E. Robertu'? Smith, S. T. P. Hujus CoUcgii 

 Magilter, obiit Aug. 1768, statis 79. 



Dr. Smith left two annual prizes of 25/. to two com- 

 mencing bachelors of arts, who were to be the beit pro- 

 ficients in mathematics and natural philofophy of the year. 

 He alfo left 2000/. towards repairs of Trinity college, and 

 2500/. to the univerfity. 



Dr. Smith was a performer on the violoncello, and a 

 curious inquirer into the defefts of the mufical fcale on 

 keyed inftruments ; which he tried to remedy by many in- 

 genious experiments and calculations. He had a harp- 

 fichord made by Kirkman, with quai-ter-tones, as they 

 are called, with only a fuigle ilrmg to each note, by 

 which means the inltrument, not being crowded with two 

 or three firings to each, by pedals could make any key 

 perfeft, as it allowed of two firings for each of the five 

 fhort keys, differently tuned, to each note ; as F« and G b, 

 G« and A b. A* and B b, &c. which rendered thofe keys 

 delightful, and which, in the old tuning, were infufferable. 

 But this perfeift harmony only fuited regular and iober mo- 

 dulation : the compofitions of Haydn and Mozart, and 

 their imitators, would want a new fcalc every two or three 

 bars. Poor Claggett purfued this plan, and by means of 

 multiplied firings and pedals had acquired perfect intonation 

 to all the twenty-four keys. But by additional bridges, 

 and the preflure of fo many firings on the belly of the in- 

 ilrument, the tone was injured and enfeebled. This, alas ! 

 but confirms the two melancholy reHeftions, which tell us 

 that " we cannot have every thing ;" and that, " il faut 

 fouffrir dans ce monde." 



The great mathematician, Dr. Smith, had fo accuftomed 

 himfelf to perfeft harmony, that he neither could bear the 

 throwing of the imperfeftions of the fcale on the wolf, or 

 E b, nor even on two or three fhort keys feldom ufedin old 

 church mufic ; but all the compound ftops in the organ, 

 fuch as the fefquialter and cornet, and the fingle ftops of 

 the twelve and the tierce in the chorus, he took out of the 

 fine organ of Trinity college, Cambridge, built by father 

 Smith, and reduced the whole chorus to unifons andoftaves, 

 which was thought by many to injure the inllrument fo 

 much as to bereave it of all its fpirit, and render it ini5pid. 

 And after the deceafe of Dr. Smith we have been alFured, 

 that the excommunicated pipes have been again received 

 into the bofom of the church. 



Dr. Smith's " Harmonics," already mentioned, was pro- 

 feCFedly written to affill organ-builders and tuners to divide 

 the redundancies of the fcale equally, or nearly equally, 

 among all the twelve lemitones in the oftave by a table of 

 beats. To give the reader an idea of Dr. Smitli's plan, we 

 mult refer him to the article Beats, where this efTedt, pro- 

 duced by two organ-pipes nearly in tune, is explained. But 

 Dr. Smith's treatife, fo far from being intelhgible to tuners 

 of organs, and organ-players in general, requires a knowledge 

 in geometry and Huxions, which none but great mathemati- 

 cians able to read Newton's Principia pofl'cfs. Yet the book 

 is written in fo pleafing and alluring a ftyle, that many perufe 

 as much as they are able of the unfcientific part, and give 

 the author credit for the accuracy of his calculations. 



Smith, John Chkistopher, a good mufician, and a 

 rcfpcftablc man. He was the cldeit fon of the worthy 

 John Chriftopher Schmidt, Handel's copyill, Reward, and 

 confidential countryman, who came over with him from 



Germany, and lived an inmate with him to nearly the time 

 of h\i death. He ufed to engage and pay the performers 

 in the oratorios carried on by Handel himfelf; and being a 

 good mufician, was the moft correct copyill of his time. 



His fon, John Chrillian, was a Itudious and cultivated 

 man, and much efteemed by many of the firfl people in the 

 kingdom. He was particularly reirarded by the late lord 

 Barrington, and all that noble family ; and having early in 

 life travelled with a gentleman of fortune, at Geneva he be- 

 came acquainted with fome Englilh gentlemen of learning 

 and talentSj among whom were Mr. Price, of Foxley, Here- 

 fordfliire ; Mr. Windham, of Felbrig, Norfolk ; Mr. Tate, 

 of Mitcham, Surry ; and Mr. Benjamin Stiliingfleet, &c. 

 This gave him a talle for, and procured him admiffion into, 

 good company ; fo that he formed his charafter on models 

 of a higher clafs than that of a mere mufician. 



In the Monthly Review of a pamphlet publifhed in 

 1780, entitled "Anecdotes of George Frederick Handel, 

 and of John Chrillian Smith," there are fome pafTages re- 

 lating to the venerable Mr. Smith, which we fhall tran- 

 fcribe, being certain that they are accurate, from our own 

 knowledge. 



« After the period of Mr. Smith's return to England, 

 he mixed very httle with his profeflional brethren, though 

 he continued to compofe mufic, and to teach the harpfi- 

 chord, till the year 1760; when, being in pofl'efTion, not 

 only of l\\e /cores of Handel's oratorios, but of the fingle 

 vocal and intlrumental parts, which had been tranfcribed 

 for, and ufed by his numerous bands, Mr. Smith undertook 

 to continue the performance of oratorios in Lent, during 

 eight years, on Ms own account ; and during nine more, 

 jointly with Stanley. 



" We have heard, from the firfl contemporary authority, 

 that there was a fhynefs between Handel and the younger 

 Smith for feveral years, which kept them afunder till the 

 great mufician loft his fight : but the diflerence was occa- 

 fioned by no dignified caufe of quarrel. Mr. Smith, early 

 in life, having had fome inftructions from Handel, though 

 his principal matters were Dr. Pepufch and llofeingrave, 

 when about the year 1739, he pubhfhed a book of harpfi- 

 chord leffons, in 410. Handel took it amifs that his fcholar, 

 the fon of his copyill, Ihould prefume to have a title-page 

 to his leflons engraved exadtly in the fame form and text- 

 hand with his own firfl book of " Pieces de Clavecin," the 

 bell of all his produftions. Mr. Smith's pieces were then 

 perhaps inferior only to thofe of his model. Thuy con- 

 filled, as was then the general fafhion, of preludes, fugues, 

 allemandes, corants, and jigs. 



" Mr. Smith was certainly an elegant mufician, and in his 

 conduft and manners far above the general level of the pro- 

 feffors of his art ; but we are not certain, that his execu- 

 tion as a praftitioner was great, nor that his invention as a 

 corapofer was original. It is plain, that Mr. Smith's ftyle 

 of compofition was that of the day, without an attempt at 

 deviation ; a flyle, which Handel had rendered a-la-modc, and 

 to which not only Mr. Smith, but all the Englilh compofers, 

 flrictly adhered during more than forty years ; as is manifefl 

 in the works of Green, Boyce, Arne, (in his oratorios,) 

 Worgan, and Stanley. Arne, in his dramatic mufic, adopted 

 eafy and elegant paffages from Italian operas ; but we muft 

 except his Comus, in which there is much original melody, 

 as well as in his Vauxhall ballads. Mr. Smitli never was a 

 popular compofer. His oratorios, though new, and in fup- 

 port of wlucli he had the patronage of feveral lUuflrious 

 friends and great families, (particularly tliat of Barrington,) 

 were not heard and attended fo well as thofe of Handel, 

 which had been in conftant ufe for many years. The Eng- 

 lilh 



