April II, 1 9 1 8 
Land & Water 
17 
t 
little journal in which he 
has recorded all their names 
and ages. 
For a while he was so 
popular in political circles 
that he represented the 
Republic of Geneva as official 
agent, but when the Revo- 
cation of the Edict of Nantes 
took place, in 1685, disaster 
came, and troubles were 
serious and swift. The king 
tried to protect his favourite 
artist, but in 1686 Petitot 
was arrested and confined to 
prison. 
Bishop Bossuet visited him 
many times, but to no 
purpose, and at length his 
health gave way, an'd then, 
owing to special efforts on the 
part of the RepubUc of 
Geneva, he was released and 
left Paris in 1687 for his 
native town. There, at first, 
he was not too well received, 
but presently was able to 
settle down to his profession 
and to produce many famous 
works for the weU-to-do 
people of his country and 
for the Court of Poland. 
While in the full strength 
of his work, and actually 
when paiiiting a portrait, he 
was seized with paralysis, on 
April 3rd, i6gi, and died 
that very night, at the 
Downwards:Viewof Front, Left, Right and Back 
advanced age of 84. A 
touching account of his last 
hours was written by his 
son Paul in the httle journal 
to which we allude, and 
which we have seen. It is 
adorned with portraits from 
his own hand of himself and 
his wife, and besides that has 
other drawings in it and by 
him, and a vast amount of 
genealogical information in 
his handwriting, and in that 
of members of his family 
and of their descendants. 
It was mainly prepared in 
1674, and has never left the 
hands of the family. It is 
the chief source of all the 
i'nformation respecting 
Petitot that we possess, 
and to it we have to go also 
for information concerning 
his almost equally well-known 
son who bore the same name 
and carried on the sanie 
tradition of fine work. _^ 
Other artists of high 
renown, such as the Cupers, 
the Bordiers, and the Prieurs, 
are alluded to in its pages, 
and on some future occasion 
we may perhaps return to 
it, and give some notes- 
regarding two of these men, 
of whom but little, save 
their splendid productions 
in enamel, is known. 
Our Band: By Etienne 
MEETING an old shipmate at the sign of 
Capricomus, fhat Zodiacal spot known only 
to naval officers and to a few of the very 
best soldiers, wluch bears four cables north- 
west of Piccadilly Circus, we refreshed our- 
selves, then retiring to a corner which was adorned by the 
flag of a defunct U-boat, we discussed the old ship and the 
Navy in general. 
I had left the ship some months previously, but my friend 
was stiU in her, and he explained his presence in London by 
the fact that the old junk was at last getting a decent refit. 
"Fourteen days' leave of the best and brightest," said he, 
with smug satisfaction. "There are rumours of strikes 
amongst the riveters, so we may get an extension of four 
days," he added quietly, as a thoroughly unpatriotic after- 
thought. 
This last remark amused me, for, when I had last refitted 
in the ship and there had been labour troubles which had 
delayed us somewhat, I remembered my friend had ful- 
minated for hours in front of the wardroom stove as to the 
iniquity of strikes in war time, and the grave danger we ran 
of missing an operation which a cousin of his in high places 
had told him was impending. 
For half an hour he told me all the local news, of how the 
"sub" had nearly got engaged, and that the "Pay" was 
suspected of designs on a Scotch widow in Edinburgh, of 
how they had at last wangled triplex glass out of the dock- 
yard, of how the engineer-commander had been defeated in 
the quarterly auctions for back numbers of La vie Parisienne 
by the assistant-paymaster after a duel which ran the price 
up to two shillings a copy. He told mc that the piano on 
which I used to make such hideous noises was still going 
strong, though a bit queer in the treble, as a green sea, 
coming down a badly battened skylight, had half-filled up 
the noble instrument, and the treble strings had broken, 
and the ship, being far from civihsation at the time, the 
torpedo-lieutenant had replaced half a dozen of the missing 
strings with electric fuze-wire of various sizes. 
All these matters, and many others,, concerning their 
comings and goings, what they had seen — and more especially 
what they had not seen — in the North Sea, my friend told 
me of. Until at length I asked him about that which had 
been as an ewe lamb to me in the ship. 
"And what of our band?" said I. 
"Broken up," he replied,and I'll swear his hand trembled 
slightly as he lifted his glass. When I had left the ship, 
I had turned over the business of fathering our band to this 
officer, and he had taken it over without a murmur. The 
stupendous and well-filled "spring-back," replete with bills, 
a few receipts, and reams of official correspondence, the 
endless reports of band committee meetings, all these things 
he had cheerfully taken on his shoulders — so I had known 
him to be an enthusiast. V 
Well, the band served its purpose, and now that its 
chequered career of three years has ended, it seems fitting 
that there should be some historical record of the "Voluntary 
Band of H.M.S. Orpheus." It originated in the very early 
days of the war, as the result of a brain-wave between the 
secretary and myself. It was then of the drum-and-fife 
variety. 
'We managed to wheedle £% out of the ward-room, by 
striking when the iron was hot, after a very cheery guest 
night. The secretary attacked the admiral for a subscrip- 
tion the day he got his decoration, and touched him for £2 
— which shows what enormous influence secretaries have 
over admirals. With this capital of ten pounds we pur- 
chased instruments and started operations. 
But the "matelot" is one of the most ambitious creatures 
on eartli ; wood-wind but ill-satisfied his desire for music, 
once the appetite was excited. One of our number. Able- 
seaman Thomas, suddenly produced a cornet, upon which 
instrument he proved to be a remarkably good performer. 
A brass band was forthwith suggested and it was enthusias- 
tically approved. 
In strict historical fact, the honourable part played by 
the torpedo-lieutenant should come in here ; but if this 
meets his eye, he will, I feel sure, excuse me if I show a 
reluctance in attempting to describe the extraordinary com- 
pUcated transactions which took place before the drum-and- 
fifers were amalgamated with the " brassers" with a minimum 
of resignations from either camp. I had never fully under- 
stood the trials which theatrical managers and producers 
have to undergo in their dealings with the artistic tempera- 
ment — I do now ; all the members of our band claimed 
the artistic temperament, and A.B. Thomas was the greatest 
artist on tlie lower deck. His opening gambit, when 
