MUSIC. 
its courfe to the pipes t a requifite of no Iefs importance 
than the former. 
The draw-flops fhould move with fufficient eafe and 
fmoothnefs; and fhould flop fo decidedly, as to leave no 
doubt of their being completely drawn, or flint. The 
touch of the keys fhould be free and elaftic, and exaftly 
the fame preffure fhould be requifite to put down every 
key throughout the fcale. No better proof can be given 
of a good touch, than that a turned lhake can be executed 
with equal facility in every part of the fcale, except per¬ 
haps in the lowelt oftave, where it is not to be expefted or 
defired. If all thefe things aft without noife, the mechanical 
parts of the organ may be confidered good, and in order. 
The goodnefs of the pipes is not fo eafily defcribed, 
becaufe much depends upon the quality of the tone, of 
which little idea can be given in words. A fine quality 
and great flrength can hardly be expefted from the fame 
pipe : it therefore depends fomewhat on choice which to 
prefer; though it does not follow that all foft-toned pipes 
are of a fine quality. Hut, be the quality what it may, 
it fhould be uniform from the top to the bottom : a requi¬ 
fite which cannot be too ftrongly infifled on in all inftru- 
ments, fo as to give the idea of all the notes coming from 
the fame pipe or firing. 
It is indifpenfable to an organ, that it have a good 
flopped diapafon, as that flop is the foundation of the 
organ, and is never fhut, except when the dulciana or 
flute are ufed as folo-flops. It is of great importance that 
it be fufficiently full and bold in the bafs, particularly in 
thofe chamber-organs which have an open diapafon; as 
that flop is feldom extended lower than G-gamut. And 
in large church-organs, where the open diapafon goes 
through the fcale, the lower notes are feeble, if not fup- 
ported by the flopped diapafon ; and it may be obferved, 
that no flop fhould be loudell at the top. Of the open 
diapafon, little more need be faid, than that it fhould be 
full, fmooth, and articulate. In fmall organs it is en¬ 
tirely difpenfed with ; and in thofe which are larger, it is 
in the treble only, or more orlefs extended into the bafs, 
according to the fize of the organ,or choice of the builder; 
and it may be proper to obferve, it is better that the loweft 
pipes fhould not be fo loud as to make the break very 
perceptible. In large church-organs there are frequently 
two open diapafons through; and nothing can be a 
greater recommendation to an organ than its having good 
diapafons. What has been already faid will apply to all 
other flops generally, when taken fingly ; but their rela¬ 
tive flrength is of great importance to the goodnefs of the 
chorus. As a Angle flop fhould not be loudeft at the top, 
fo the chorus-ltops fhould not predominate over the dia¬ 
pafons ; a fault very general in the old organs, arifing 
from the bad tafle of the times in which they were made. 
The chorus fhould be rich, brilliant, and articulate; and 
the twelfth and tierce, and their oftaves, fhould not be 
heard, except when liflened for. The trumpet-flop, when 
good, adds greatly to the majefly, as well as to the flrength 
of the chorus ; and its oftave, the clarion, increafes its 
brilliancy. 
The goodnefs of thefe, and all other reed-flops, befides 
the requifites already mentioned, depends upon their 
fpeaking readily and quickly; and being free from the 
nafal tone, fuch as is produced by bad players on the 
clarionet or hautboy. And it had been well if the trum¬ 
pet had never been ufed as any other than a chorus-flop; 
for its ufe, as an imitation of a real trumpet, has given 
rife to the introduftion of a variety of imitation-flops ; 
moft of them a difgrace to the noble inflrument in which 
they are fufl'ered to intrude; and its confequence, a 
trifling and vitiated flyle of performance equally dif- 
gracetul to the tafle of this country, w'here only it is 
cultivated. 
We have mentioned (p. 368.) the fcarcity of organ- 
builders at the time of the refloration. Harris, fen. and 
Renatus Harris, his fon, two eminent organ-builders, 
called hither from France, foon after the refloration, to 
x 
371 
fupply our churches with inflruments, (which, during 
the time of the republic, had been injured, banilhed, or 
deflroyed,) were excellent workmen, only inferior to fa¬ 
ther Schmidt, to whom Renatus, after the death of his 
father, in 1672, became a formidable rival. The conten¬ 
tion between thefe eminent artifls, at the time of erefting 
the admirable organ which Hill hands' in the Temple- 
church, w'as carried on with fuch fpirit, not to fay vio¬ 
lence, as perhaps never happened before or fince on a 
fimilar occafion. 
About the latter end of the reign of Charles II. the 
mailer of the Temple and the benchers, being determined 
to have as complete an organ erefted in their church as 
oflible, received propofals from both thefe eminent artifls, 
acked by the recommendation of fuch an equal number 
of powerful friends and celebrated organifls, that they 
were unable to determine among themfelves which to 
employ. They therefore told the candidates, if each of 
them would ereft an organ in different parts of the church, 
they would retain that which, in the greatefl number of 
excellencies, fhould be allowed to deferve the preference. 
Schmidt and Harris agreeing to this propofal, in about 
eight or nine months, each had, with the utmoll exertion 
of liis abilities, an inflrument ready for trial. Dr. Tud- 
way living at the time, the intimate acquaintance of both, 
fays that Dr. Blow and Purcell, then in their prime, per¬ 
formed on father Schmidt’s organ, on appointed days, 
and difplayed its excellence ; and, till the other was heard, 
every one believed that this muft be chofen. Harris em¬ 
ployed M. Lullie, organift to queen Catharine, a very . 
eminent mailer, to touch his organ, which brought it 
into favour; and thus they continued vying with each 
other for near a twelvemonth. At length, Harris chal¬ 
lenged father Schmidt to make additional reed-flops in a 
given time; thefe were the vox-humana, cremorne, the 
double courtel, or double baflbon, and fome others. 
Thefe flops, then newly-invented, or at leaft new to 
Englifh ears, gave great delight to the crowds who at¬ 
tended the trials ; and the imitations were fo exaft and 
pleafing on both fides, that it was difficult to determine 
who had bell fucceeded. At length, the deciiion was left 
to lord chief-juflice Jefferies, afterwards king James II’s 
pliant chancellor, who was of that fociety, and he termi¬ 
nated the controverfy in favour of Schmidt; fo that 
Harris’s organ was taken away without lofs of reputation, 
having fo long pleafed and puzzled better judges than 
Jefferies. The Hon. Roger North, who was in London 
at the time of the contention at the Temple-church, fays, 
in his Memoirs of Mufic, that the competition between 
father Schmidt and Harris, the two belt artifls in Europe, 
was carried on with fuch violence by the friends of both, 
that they “ were juft not ruined.” Indeed old Rofeingrave 
affured Dr. Burney, that the partifans for each candi- 
date, in the fury of their zeal, proceeded to the moft mif- 
chievous and unwarrantable a6ts of hollilities; and that, 
in the night preceding the lall trial of the reed-flops, the 
friends of Harris cut the bellows of Schmidt’s organ in 
fuch a manner, that, when the time came for playing 
upon it, no wind could be conveyed into the wind-cheft. 
Harris’s organ, after its rejeftion at the Temple, was part 
of it erefted at St. Andrew’s, Holborn, and part in the 
cathedral of Chrift-church, Dublin. 
Befides this complete organ, there are other organs of 
fmaller fizes and more limited powers, adapted to church, 
chapel, and chamber, ufe. There is alfo th ebarrel-organ, 
which has the parts of other organs, with the addition of 
a cylinder, or barrel, revolving on pivots: on the cir¬ 
cumference of this, by means of wires, pins, and ftaples, 
are let the tunes it is intended to perform. Thefe pins 
and ftaples, by the revolution of the barrel, aft upon the 
keys, and give admiflion to the wind, from the bellows to 
the pipes. The barrel-organ is frequently made portable, 
and fo contrived, that the fame aftion of the hand which 
turns the barrel fupplies the wind, by giving motion to 
the bellows. 
Of 
