FROM THE LIBRARY OF

REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON. D. D.

BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO

THE LIBRARY OF

PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

w

EDWARD HODGES Q0CT20193/

DOCTOR IN MUSIC OF SYDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

ORGANIST OF THE CHURCHES OF ST. JAMES AND

ST. NICHOLAS, BRISTOL, ENGLAND, 1819-1838

ORGANIST AND DIRECTOR IN TRINITY

PARISH, NEW YORK, 1839-1859

By His Daughter
FAUSTINA H. HODGES

Clarum et venerabile nomen "

c;. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK LONDON

27 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 24 BEDFORD STREET STRAND

%,\t f nuheitbocher ^rtss
1896

Copyright, 1896

BY

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

Zbe Iknicbecbocber iprese, mew ^ovb

NOTE.

MISS FAUSTINA HASSE HODGES,
eldest daughter of the late Dr. Edward
Hodges, herself a gifted musician and organist,
had in preparation for many years a memoir of her
Father, " the founder and illustrious representative
of the Anglican cathedral school of music in the
American Church." Miss Hodges died in 1895,
before completing her labor of love, and from the
mass of material she had collected, the following
selections have been made by Miss E. Dodds, at
the request of the Executors.

The work has been revised by her brother, the
Rev. J. Sebastian B. Hodges, D.D., Rector of
St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, and is now published
as her loving tribute to the memory of her Father.

New York, April, 1896.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. — Boyhood and Youth

II. — Early Married Life

III. — Doctor's Degree at Cambridge University,
IV. — Glimpses of my Father's Life as Seen in

HIS Diary
V. — More Diary Extracts .
VI.— The Windsor Trial
VII. — Last Years in Bristol
VIII. — Tempora Mutantur
IX. — Early Days in America
X. — The Hudson Street Home
XL — My Father's Three Organs
XII. — Dr. Hodges at St. Paul's Chapel

Trinity Church ....
XIII. — My Father's Musical Work
XIV. — My Father's Anthems .
XV, — Musical Life in New York
XVI. — My Father's Inventions
XVII. — The Last Sounds from the Harp of Many

Strings

XVIII. — The Churchyard at Stanton Drew
XIX. — Disconnected Recollections Extending

OVER Many Years
XX. — Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix

8

28

40
55
70
81

99
107
123
132

143
151
160

175
194

211

221

232
244

Contents

CHAPTER

XXI.-

XXII.-

PAGE

-Reminiscences by Various Friends . -258
-In Memoriam. Testimony to his Worth
FROM Various Journals .... 269
XXIII. — Reminiscences by Dr. S. Parkman Tuck-

ERMAN 286

XXIV. — Conclusion 298

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Bristol

PAGE

Frontispiece
ix

Portrait of Edward Hodges .

Portrait of Faustina H. Hodges

All Saints' and St. Nicholas' Churches

Malmesbury Abbey ....

Priory Lodge, Bristol

Cloisters, Bristol Cathedral ,

Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge .

Trinity Chapel, Cambridge

King's College Chapel, Cambridge .

Clifton

St. George's Chapel, Windsor .

St. Stephen's, Bristol ....

Residence of Dr. Hodges in the Cloisters, Bristol

Norman Gateway from Lower College Green

Norman Arch in College Green, Bristol

St. Mary's, Redcliffe, Bristol

Temple Church, Bristol

Priory Lodge

Bristol Cathedral

Bristol Cathedral

Norman Vestibule of Chapter

Clifton Parish Church

Malmesbury Abbey

Clifton Churchyard .

Room, Bristol

I
8

12

i8

28

32

38

60

72

86

96

104

120

136

152

166

182

190

198

204

210

216

Vlll

Illustrations

St. Mary's Church, Stanton Drew-
Stanton Drew ....
St. Mary's Church, Stanton Drew
Malmesbury Abbey
St. Mary's Church, Stanton Drew
University Church, Cambridge .
St. James's Church, Bristol

PAGE

222

226

230
248

264
272
292

^^:lU^^^^ C/^*^ ^^fe^^r^*^

PREFACE.

THIS book is in no sense a life-narrative, but
is merely meant to preserve in vivid colouring
and freshness some of the marked events of my
Father's life ; and more especially the striking
individualities of his character, with the impressions
they created on the lives and minds of those with
whom he came in contact ; running through all, the
golden thread of his musical life and work, yet
without being an approach to a scientific account
of his musical career.

It is supported by facts taken from his early
journals and a few letters, until my own memory
takes up the subject — a subject to which I can never
do justice. I have written as an observer, as a
mtiszctan, and as a daughter; but in all these I
must fall short.

Having touched upon my Father's diaries, I
must go on to say that, above and beyond their
being absolutely astonishing as to their size and
number, they are equally so as specimens of

X Preface

beautiful writing — ready for the press as they leave
his hand, perfect in diction, refined, often classic in
style, and all in marginal, indexical, and datal order.

And they present a Life ; his life.

Beginning at fifteen, after the " translation " of
his father, a hard, rational, boyish, practical life of
work, diligence, and thought ; steering clear of evil,
adhering to good.

Life, evincing strength of purpose, steadfastness
in religious principles ; regular observance of Sun-
day, and thoughtful attention to sermons.

Life in emotion, religious and passionate ; life in
effort, surmounting difficulties ; life in progress, in
music, in reading, in study, in observation, in
scientific research, in inexhaustible power and
generality of invention.

Life in practical philosophy. Life in politics, as
embracing duty to man, to his country, and to his
sovereign.

Life in adversity, in resistance to temptation ; in
social enjoyment and mental elevation.

Life in sorrow and loss.

Life as a battle-ground.

Life in its highest aspirations ; life as a probation.

Life in hope, in patience (which never failed), in
tribulation, in faith, in trust and resignation ; and
in and through all these : life in victory.

Preface xi

In studying m)^ Father's life, one must be struck
with the variety and versatiHty of his powers, and
the thorough-going earnestness with which he fol-
lowed up any one of them. His knowledge was
never allowed to remain superficial.

For the time that any one subject occupied his
mind, it was pursued with such whole-headed zeal
and vigour and exhaustiveness, that that one seemed
as if it must be the ptii^suit of his life.

He went deeply into the study of Natural
Philosophy ; and found it quite natural that he
should compare his thoughts and their results
with those of Sir Isaac Newton, where they met
on musical grounds.

This penetrating and microscopic sense of his
seemed to accompany and to govern him in all sub-
jects that attracted him as being worthy of thought
at all.

Such was his tone of mind when, quite young,
he took up Chemistry, and then, later, Mechanics,
and the abstruse Science of Acoustics, and the laws
of the String, and the nature of Sound. What a
fountain of crlorious action and investig^ation is
indicated by these flowing and unending streams of
thought, going out, as it were, into so many lands
and regions of inquiry !

Side by side with the universality of his inven-

xii Preface

tiveness, goes his practicableness. He always saw-
that he could gain his point, though he knew well
the means to do so could be improved. Each
one of his schemes meant something useful, some-
thing to help on to more perfect knowledge. This
is easy to see ; and the only things difficult to
realize as we read are his youth and far-ahead-
ativeness, according to the advancement of art and
science then, and the practical application of so
many subjects on which he wrote and thought.
Many of his plans and inventions may appear crude,
but their very clearness and possibility disarm criti-
cism, and we love to read them as the honest,
ingenious workings of a solitary young thinker,
seventy years ago. He always had a clear pur-
pose, a well-defined plan ; he knew what he wanted
to do, and often solved difficult problems by the
work of his own brain before he had recourse to
help from other minds.

He seems to turn to his diary- friend under every
stress of thought, every painful difficulty in life,
every outward-run of inventive fancy, every passing
feeling, whether sorrowful, hopeful, depressing, ex-
hilarating, joyful, crushing, almost annihilating — so
keen was his sensitiveness — as one by one, either
in the newly awakened energy of the morning, the
driving activities of the day, the reflection and

Preface xiii

sociality of the evening, or the subHme meditative
soHtude of midnight, they swept by turn the chords
of that spirit-harp so truly called "A Harp of a
thousand strings," so keenly responsive was its
sound to the touch of their unseen hands.

We are surprised also as we read the exquisitely
written book ; not a dot, or a comma, or a word
wanted or omitted.

It is wonderful also to observe how, after secur-
ing his Doctorate with all the labour and study and
real work which his Exercise evinces, and which
would have been to many a sufficient and whole
life-work, he was still not content, but pursued with
unabated vigour many other branches of science, in
addition to the one in which he had gained pre-
eminence. He seemed to revel in his dips into
Acoustics and Sound, Harmonic Proportions, etc.
His sign was ever upward ; ever a learner, ever
advancing.

Another thing I see as I read is his face over his
book. He speaks of his having " real delight" in
his thoughts and some results of his beautiful Har-
monic experiments. How many have delicate
sensibility of thought, of perception and knowledge
to follow him there ? I have seen his face brim
over with happy thought as he realized his own
suggestions. Indeed, I can describe his face on

xiv Preface

many occasions, but as one full of happy thought,
and expressing a contented, intellectual goodness.

Reading at this late day of another, also un-
known till gone from us, the following words, relat-
ing to him, come with great force applied to my
Father: "A high and reverend simplicity, which
vindicates the greatness of real goodness, and the
goodness of real greatness."

His life teems with touching incidents and lofty
thoughts which discover his great heart. His
sympathy with those in sickness or in sorrow was
sincere and practical, and instances of its generous
and self-denying expression are without number.
They glint and glisten on the structure of his beau-
tiful character, as the sunlight tips and touches,
point by point, the interior of one of our own
cathedrals. Intelligence and benignity were the
lights of his face and the manifestation of his spirit ;
but far more than any glowing eulogy would he
prefer me to say what all who knew him believed
to be true ; the same words that he used of another
during his Bristol life : " A more honest and up-
right man than he was, is perhaps not to be found
on the surface of God's earth." True of himself
also are his few words on the departure for Dub-
lin of Dr. Okely, the Moravian minister, a man

Preface xv

whom he loved and highly esteemed : " Thus has
left us one of the greatest men Bristol ever knew ;
nay, Bristol knew him not."

Two decades will soon have passed away since
my Father " fell on sleep." For fully two-thirds of
that time I could write nothing. If I attempted it,
tears blurred the page as I realized that the rare
and beautiful character I saw unfolded only too late
to take it in, either as a whole or in detail, was gone
from me forever.

By effort — continued effort — I made myself dwell
on his earlier life, till it grew into an intense fasci-
nation. I lost sight of my Father in the beautiful
and gifted young life I saw opening out before me.
I felt for him so keenly in his struggles that I
longed to have been there to aid and sympathize
with him. I saw how the hard, practical duties to
which he fell heir, clashed with, but never quenched
his ambition and his determination to attain to the
lofty position in art and usefulness, which by his
natural gifts he knew to be his. I watched his
fortitude and endurance in diflficulty and trouble ;
I marked his increasing diligence in the pursuit of
knowledge, and the manifestations of his varied
and versatile gifts. Passing on to his maturer life,
it seemed as though his pages became luminous as

xvi Preface

he told simply of kindly deeds, and unselfish acts,
and sympathy never withheld. Each glimpse of
his many-sided character opened up other scenes
as interesting to describe as the last. Both his
works and his life are its illustration ; the latter a
living example, his musical works an embodiment
of scientific thought and consecration of talent,
moving upwards to the unattainable here and the
perfect knowledge hereafter.

I saw his great diligence for his children's sake,
and as I realized what he had done for me, and
what I owe him, I found that this only was left to
me : To tell from my heart what would recall him
to other hearts that loved him ; or, if I should not
reach them, that those who knew him not " in the
flesh " would, through my words, detect the great,
kindly, human heart, and the excellent Christian
spirit, which in him were mingled with the soul of
the Church Musician, and which appeared in his
daily walk, as well as in the loftiest strains of his
ennobling harmony.

I could tell how he never feared that " enemy in
the rear, wasted time " ; and that, without help of
any kind to make him a scholar, he yet became a
Scholar in the truest enlightenment of intellect and
mind. I could show that although he received no
help to make him a Musician, yet he became one

Preface xvli

of England's most learned sons in music ; and
further, that although he had no training in dis-
tinctive Church principles, yet he himself became
not only a learned man in her theology, but an
ornament to that branch of it which England claims
as her own ; which is strengthened by the mighty
intellects of her sons, and sealed by her martyrs'
blood. He would not despise my effort. Indeed,
many things he said to me when he had passed
through and borne the burden and heat of the
day and come to his eventide rest, and which I
now recall, have been an incentive and spur to
my action.

I also realized that while my Father's life was
one of singular coherence and unity of aim, it had
been a divided life — divided by an ocean — spent in
two hemispheres. And if it were impossible for
me to collect the material for an account of that
life as a whole, I could at least bridge the chasm,
and give enough to satisfy friends on either shore
until the fuller narrative shall appear, of the love
and esteem in which he was held in his own old
city, and of his remarkable experience and triumph
at Cambridge ; and at the same time, tell to friends
here of his work in Church Music in the New
World ; of the love of true hearts there, and of the
widespread influence he gained in his self-chosen

xviii Preface.

character of a " Musical Missionary" ; and also in
the more pathetic words he loved to adopt and apply
to himself, that he was but a " stranger and a so-
journer in the land."

F. H. H.

London, 1886.

EDWARD HODGES.

EDWARD HODGES.

CHAPTER I.

BOYHOOD AND YOUTH.

EDWARD HODGES was born In Bristol,
that old commercial seaport, smoky city of
churches and high chimneys, on the 20th of July,
1796. His father's residence, warehouses, and
place of business were all in Bridge Street, near
the Churches of St. Mary-le-Port and St. Nicholas,
and not far from Bristol Bridge. It was not a
very encouraging atmosphere for a scholar or an
artist ; yet here. In spite of all discouragements, the
extraordinary gifts of which young Edward was the
possessor, pushed their way into notice, as wind-
sown plants will do In shady and stony nooks.

His early childhood marked him as possessing a
delicate, intellectual, and sensitive nature ; but he
had a good constitution. His rudimental instruc-
tion in music, which was all the musical instruction

2 Edward Hodges

he ever received, ceased at the age of eleven
or twelve. Probably his school life did also. Of
that period no record remains ; but this tradition
exists, which comes from a source on which we are
bound to rely : " There is no mischief in the school,
but Ned Hodges is at the bottom of it." So said
the master.

His father, Archelaus Hodges, was the head of
a large paper business, and it was his wish, expressed
also in his will, that his son Edward, the eldest of
three brothers, should succeed to it.

The time came only too soon. His father, to
whom he was deeply and tenderly attached, died
when Edward was fifteen years old, and his mother
followed him two years afterwards. The home was
broken up and the little family scattered. The
brothers were sent to school, the sister was taken
by loving friends, and Edward went to live with his
cousin, Mr. W. H. Baily, the brother of the sculp-
tor, E. H. Baily, R.A.

As the years in his regularly-kept diaries are now
seen to pass under his honest and graphic pen, we
have a marvellous unfolding of the leaves of a life.
We find him applying himself to the business as
steadily as a youth of life and vigour of mind could
do to work that was not only hard and without a
particle of pleasure, but which awakened absolute

Boyhood and Youth 3

dislike. His punctuality, integrity, good sense,
honour, honesty, and general trustworthiness were
all brought into play in turn ; and, young as he
was, he was consulted and his opinion taken in
all matters requiring judgment and discrimination.
At the same time he was full of love for all active
sports, especially boating and skating. At skating
he was a great adept, and he invented and drew
diagrams of the Rolling Skate. This is substantially
the same as was invented later, and first used in
Paris. This and two or three other inventions —
one which he named a " Bundle Machine," to re-
lieve the burden of raising heavy loads on to the
backs of men, another for breaking large stones,
and one for raising heavy ladders, — were only the
first of the long list of inventions he recorded, some
of the most important of which are hereafter men-
tioned.

His intellect was stimulated by wide and com-
prehensive reading. H is gradually collected library
contained works on Chemistry, Geometry, Theol-
ogy, History, Poetry, Logic, Mathematics, Archi-
tecture, and Mechanical Science. Into Chemistry
he went quite exhaustively. He spent all his
money in books and chemical apparatus for experi-
ments. Places of amusement are never even men-
tioned in his diary. He procured the best author-

4 ' Edward Hodges

ities on every subject. Of languages, Latin was
his favourite, and he used it for his daily journal for
months, in order to acquire fluency in it. He
studied German and French, and desired to add a
knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, but time did not
allow of their pursuit.

And where is Music all the while, the great
master-study of his life ? It seemed all these years
of his youth to be only a delightful social enjoy-
ment and recreation. The earliest mention of his
playing is that, while still a child, his father is
reported to have often said to him, " Come, Ned,
play me ' Lord of all power and might.' " He was
very fond of practical jokes, and once puzzled his
father by shutting the cat in on the piano keys, and
sitting down to read, quite ignorant, apparently, as
to who was the player of the modern " Cat's
Fugue."

On the breaking up of the Bridge Street home a
sale was advertised of all the household effects, in-
cluding the organ. My Father was distressed at the
idea of losing his beloved organ, and spoke to his
cousin, Mr. Baily, and found that he had a friend
at court. Mr. Baily, who was one of his father's
executors (the other one being in favour of selling
the organ), not only said that the organ should not
be sold, but that it must be brought to his house

Boyhood and Youth 5

that very night. Off went Edward In high glee.
He had some delay and difficulty in securing the
keys of the deserted house. That done, he got
Samuel, his porter, another man, and a barrow, and
before long they were pulling the organ all to
pieces, placing it on the barrow, locking up the
house, and wheeling away the dissected instrument
through the dark streets to Mr. Daily's house in
St. James's Square. The mysterious little proces-
sion arrived at the house, my young Father set hard
to work, and by nine o'clock had it all put together
again. He then had a good ''play" on it to cele-
brate its arrival and the discomfiture of those who on
the morrow would go to view the " Organ for sale."

In his early youth he and his intimate friends
formed a Musical Society. They numbered eight
or nine, and played both wind and stringed instru-
ment. Money now went for violincello, violin, and
tenor, all of which instruments my Father played,
though the 'cello was his favourite. Their music
was also an important item of expenditure : they
bought largely, and of the works of the best com-
posers, though they seem to have played chiefly
Hook's and Haydn's Concertos. They also formed
a Debating Society, and my Father studied and
practised speaking, so as to be able to express him-
self in public thoughtfully and fluently.

6 Edward Hodges

Sunday attendance at the Bridge Street Inde-
pendent Chapel, of which his father was a member,
and later at Church, was never omitted, except in
case of illness, through all these years. The ser-
mons he heard directed his attention to intellectu-
ally-religious subjects, and of these he loved to
converse. His religious opinions were matters of
conviction ; he had fought his way to them without
bias from any party either in the religious or secu-
lar world, and therefore he could help others, and
he did. When his friends crossed the line between
revelation and rationalism, he was distressed for
them, and not only argued as one whose feet were
firmly set on the " things which cannot be shaken,"
but by lending them scholarly books and bringing
forward the power of his own educated reason, he
strove with them to bring them back to the only
sure line of thought. To him science and religion
were inseparable.

My Father's earliest associations were not in the
Church. His convictions and affections led him to
it by a gradual process of thought, after the reading
and study of many learned writers on the subject.
His mind, by its very construction, could have
rested nowhere else. His love, his loyalty, his
artistic sense, could only have been satisfied in that
Church of his own country, in whose glorious

Boyhood and Youth 7

liturgy and services his highest gifts found utter-
ance. During his early manhood he had an intense
desire to study for Holy Orders, but the obstacles
to the attainment of his hopes were too great to
be overcome, and he was obliged reluctantly to
abandon them.

His remarkable and almost sudden development
of latent musical powers may have been due to his
early concerted practice of music with his com-
panions, and the pleasure they had in it ; for after-
wards, when writing full anthems without previous
study, his accompaniments showed a knowledge
both of orchestration and instrumentation. As he
played his part in these early gatherings, one feels
that he must have noted not only the musical
structure and combination, but also the scope, the
individuality, the nature, and powers of each
instrument employed. As he listened and played,
improvements suggested themselves, which he
afterwards planned, in the trumpet, the trombone
and the pianoforte ; thus he proceeded step by step,
from the power to render simply and musically the
simplest melody, to the farthest intricacies of double
counter-point and fugue.

CHAPTER II.

EARLY MARRIED LIFE.

IT is the early Spring of 1818. Leaving smoky-
old Bristol by chaise or coach, and passing
through already green country, we arrive at the
old Town of Malmesbury.

The River Avon runs through, and round about
it ; and we soon catch a glimpse of what remains
of one of the largest, richest, and most ancient of the
abbey foundations of England. We pass the still
perfect Market Cross ; and through a Norman
gateway we enter the ancient churchyard, thronged
with monuments and tombstones, below which lies
the human dust of many centuries. We see the
whole southern side of the Abbey Church before
us. The massive tower arches to the west ; and
parts of the walls of the transept to the eastern
end, though broken, are still standing, half covered
with rich thick ivy. We see the beautiful Clere-
story windows, the flying buttresses, and the rare
stone tracery around the upper walls. Only the
nave is left ; transept, choir, lady chapel, all are
torn away and gone.

MALMESBURY ABBEY.

Early Married Life 9

Let us enter this great Norman archway, a twin-
sister to the one at Tewksbury Abbey. This is
now the Parish church. Across the eastern end is
a great modern, unsightly wall. What massive,
noble columns are these ! What would we not
give for a sight of this Abbey Church at the time
when, instead of the plastered wall, there opened
to view the sombre glories of the eastern end ! Pass-
ing up the aisle between the rigid, grand columns,
is a group of a few persons. They pass up to the
altar rail. It is a weddinor : the bridegroom is the

o o

young Bristol musician, Edward Hodges ; the bride,
Miss Margaret Robertson.

Miss Margaret Robertson was the youngest
daughter of Mr. Matthew R. H. Robertson, of
Maunditts Park, Malmesbury, Wilts. Her family
were Moravians, i.e., members of Count Zinzen-
dorf's order of the Grain of Mustard Seed, also
named the " Unitas Fratrum." She was educated
at the Moravian school at Tytherton, renowned for
its high standard of music. In this art, Margaret
distinguished herself, and became a thorough
student. She understood Harmony and Modula-
tion, and was able to take my Father's duty at the
organ if he were prevented by sickness. But it was
in vocal music that her rare excellence lay. Her
voice was one of power and exceeding sweetness.

lo Edward Hodges

She rendered the solos of Handel and Haydn with
superb effect, and especially revelled in that grand
free air by Handel, "O had I Jubal's lyre, and
Miriam's tuneful voice." This she sang at St.
Nicholas's Church, Bristol, at the baptism of her
second son, Jubal, to whom it seemed natural that she
should transmit a magnificent organ talent, as she
transmitted her tuneful voice to her daughter
Miriam, who as a child possessed a wonderful voice
in compass and sweetness.

My Father records his resolution to choose none
but a musical wife. She was united to him on the
day she was nineteen. A romp in childhood, she
grew up to be a happy-hearted, winning, amiable,
lovely girl ; and developed into a devoted, loving
wife and mother. She bore the affliction of a long
illness without a murmur, and even cheerfully.
And as my memory holds her dear, she was one in
whom, during her short life here below, dwelt every
Christian grace.

The Children of Edward and Margaret Hodges were:

DIED AT THE AGE OF

George Frederick Handel .

20 years.

Faustina Hasse .

72 years.

Miriam ....

15 years.

Jubal

42 years.

John Sebastian Bach .

Deborah ....

2 years (about)

Cecilia

Asaph

I year (about)

Early Married Life 1 1

Not long did my Father remain in the dull and
noisy surroundings of the Bridge Street parental
home where he took his bride in 1818. He found
his way naturally enough towards the Cathedral.
Passing through the Norman gateway, which no
doubt was the principal entrance to the Monastery
of St. Augustine, he came to an irregular building
in the Lower Green, called the Prior's Lodge. This
was the only picturesque and interesting relic of old
times left. It at once arrested his attention, and he
swiftly saw what, with a little time and money, he
could make of it. It was Canon Ridley's house for
two months in each year, when "in residence,"
while my Father could occupy it during the other
ten months. So, as he used to say, " he com-
menced operations."

The change that came over the old building in
a few months was marvellous. In the great gable,
looking westward, he put a large Gothic stained-
glass church window ; and here was his capacious
music room. The outside was imposing, the inside
arranged for music. On the apex of the gable, he
put a stone cross, and up to it before long the ivy
climbed. He planted many trees, and himself cul-
tivated his sequestered garden, trained and pruned
his vines, and gathered grapes plentifully, — chiefly,
as he says, " for Margaret."

12 Edward Hodges

The London Athenceum thus refers to Priory
Lodge shortly after its demoHtion in 1884 :

"The fine old fifteenth century house at the S.
W. angle of the Bristol Cathedral, the so-
called ' Minster House ' or ' Prior's Lodge,' has
recently been pulled down, quite without excuse,
by the Dean and Chapter. It was not only a valu-
able specimen of Mediaeval architecture, but was
also of special value as being one of the very small
parts that still existed of the monastic buildings of
the old Augustine Abbey of Bristol."

Here in Priory Lodge his amateur musical friends
regularly assembled in numbers, enjoying to the
utmost his social gatherings, and singing his newly-
composed anthems, and anon the catches and glees
which his humorous and fertile fancy threw off with
ease and freedom. " Truly," he said, " my music
room is the envy of one sex and the admiration of
the other." It was indeed altogether a dwelling
that would satisfy the most ecclesiastical craving,
being, as it were, under the very shadow of the
Cathedral Tower.

We get little pictures at this time of his musical
life in the Prior's Lodge very pleasant to see. I
make a few Diary extracts, including his words
written on the day of his taking possession :

" Sept. 27, 1822. Hard at it in removing. Struck the

fMmm

mm^

Early Married Life 13

bedsteads and fairly changed my habitation. Dined at
Bridge St. for the last (regular) time, and after much
bustle and some little confusion, we all had comfortable
tea here in College Green. May the Lord preserve us and
make us to show forth His praise here tenfold more than
we ever have done in our former house.

" N. B. At midnight I was in my Oriel window enjoy-
ing the beauties of the look-out by ntoonligJit.

" Oct. 5. Immediately after breakfast, I proceeded to
business and labouring hard all day I got the Organ to-
gether and in tolerable tune before 9 o'clock. I then
sang a Solo (' Now Vanish ') from the Creation. The
music goes capitally in that new room ; but I must get a
new Organ.

" Oct. 12. My brother Britton popped in to supper,
and we had a little music ; he with his Flute, Margaret
the Organ, and I the second Violin or Tenor.

" Dec. 9. We had some Instrumental Music, I playing
second Violin ! Margaret the Organ, Kimber, Bass ; Hill,
Flute ; Withington, 1st Violin.

" 26. William Okely and I amused ourselves by scrap-
ing on the Fiddle and Bass. Went skating again with
Okely.

" I have given one grand Rout at which one of the
Sheriffs of the City did me the honour to be present."

In numbering his household at the end of the

year he says :

" Myself as Master
Margaret as Mistress
G. F. H. H., a son and heir
Two maids
Nimrod the dog, and

The cat, whom we brought from Bridge St., and who
seems to relish her new quarters very much.

From my little Study in the Lower College Green."

14 Edward Hodges

"Jan. 9, 1823. In the evening Daniell came, and he
Margaret and I played some hour or two on the Flute,
Violin and Piano ! ! ! Prior to that Margaret and I
played through a whole volume of Duetts (viz. Don Juan
by Dr. Crotch) on the grand Piano.

" June 15. Spent two hours at Howell's playing Sona-
tas at sight with Violin and Bass accompaniment. I was
nearly all the morning practising Bach.

" 19, At the Cathedral ; sang Bass through the whole
service."

" July 2. Tuned the old Harpsichord for little Crook's
practice." Previously he says, " I occupied myself the
whole morning in doctoring the old Harpsichord." And
again, " I accompanied Mr. Hague on his Violin in some
ancient music on my Harpsichord, in true antique style."

My Father gave a succession of concerts in his
Music room, w^hich he styled the " Nailheart Con-
certs." They were largely attended ; on one
occasion seventy and upwards, who all went away
highly pleased with their entertainment, a good
supper always following the music. Sometimes he
calls these parties " Grand Bawls." They seemed
to have been mightily enjoyed, the singers and per-
formers being amateurs and friends. They also
had a society called "The Larks." They met at
7 A.M., and sang an hour before breakfast. My
Father says, on one occasion, " I composed a Catch
for my morning company the day before."

On referring to the list of his compositions, we
see that this year he had the heaviest musical

Early Married Life 15

works on hand, and was not only doing the duty of
two Churches and superintending the erection of
Clifton Organ, but composing services and anthems
for particular occasions in the Church. I omit
many entries of his practice at the organ of the
fugues of Bach and the overtures by Handel. Of
the former, on a previous occasion, he writes : "In
the evening I had an hour or two's spell out of Se-
bastian Bach. His noble fugues are an inexhaust-
ible source of delight."

The organ of St. James's was opened on Sun-
day, May 2d, 1824, and was the first in England
having the C Compass, and 32 ft. pipe.

Diary. May i, 1824. Prior's Lodge.

" The music went off well, and for the greater part of
the time I felt in good spirits for the performance."

" May 3d. I was almost all day receiving the gratula-
tions of my friends on our yesterday's exhibition, which
seems to have given universal satisfaction.

" May 7th. I received a letter from the Vestry Clerk
enclosing the thanks of the Vestry of St. James's for my
complex exertions and a vote for a Snuff Box.

"This is as it should be. What shall I do next? "

" 17. Margaret and I played through a long duett of
Beethoven. In the evening I practised on the Piano-forte
and Harpsichord, Moscheles, Bach and Scarlatti.

" June 20. I attended the Organ Committee Meeting,
where I was presented in due form with my GOLD SNUFF
BOX.

" Withington informed me that the Right Worshipful
the Mayor intends filling my new box with snuff for me."

1 6 Edward Hodges

A Bristol paper, subsequently to 1850, speaks
thus of St. James's Church and organ :

" The Benedictine Priory and Parish Church of
St. James's, Barton, were built in 1129 ; the tower
in 1374. The Church is one of the oldest struc-
tures in Bristol, the nave being Norman.

"The celebrated Dr. Hodges was once organist
here.

" The Western Gallery contains the largest organ
in Bristol, having four rows of keys. This Organ
is a re-construction (in 1824) under the direction of
Dr. Hodges. Besides being the first in England
to have the 32 feet C, and most of the Doctor's
improvements, it has his own Triple Slat swell of
tremendous crescendo power, from the veriest /z'^-
nissimo.

" The tower has a ring of ten bells of remarkable
beauty of tone.

" The motto on the fifth (B) is, ' Fear God and
honour the king.' "

In September, 1824, he removed from the Prior's
Lodge to the Prebendal House in the Cloisters,
belonging to Lord William Somerset, Canon of
the Cathedral.

Of the Bristol Cloister properly speaking {i.e.,
the arcade of stone-work which formerly lined each

Early Married Life 17

side of the quadrangle, as at Gloucester and West-
minster now) only the eastern side remains. This
has entrances to the Cathedral, the Chapter Room,
the Churchyard, and the Bishop's Palace. These
cloisters surrounded the burial grounds of the
monks in many cathedrals ; though some of them
may have been done away with in the destructive
changes that overtook our monastic establishments
in the reign of Henry VIII.

Within this Bristol Cloister one of the grandest
specimens of Norman architecture is to be found,
consisting of the vestibule of the Chapter Room,
and the Chapter Room itself ; the interlaced arches
being in perfect preservation, and the pillars of the
vestibule very massive and grand. My Father's
residence occupied the whole southern side of the
quadrangle. There was something fascinating to
him in all this, and here he used to walk and medi-
tate at night, when no sound broke the stillness but
the watchman's rather plaintive cry, and the regular
sound of the Cathedral quarter-bell.

It is probable that he here thought out his degree
exercise ; his chosen words being "The dead praise
not Thee, O Lord, neither all they that go down
into silence." At that time as he may have stood
at the churchyard gate when the night wind swept
coldly over the thickly-laid graves, the words would

1 8 Edward Hodges

come with terrible meaning, but he follows them
with the succeeding words of life and action : " But
we will praise the Lord from this time forth for
evermore. Praise the Lord."

There was in my Father a blending of the contem-
plative— and even a strong vein of the sentimental
— with an intensely practical nature ; that ability to
work which even Goethe seems to think but an-
other name for genius. It may be that this union
of the sublime in thought with the intensely prac-
tical in work forms the true artist.

Here then in the cloisters my Father made his
home during the remainder of his Bristol life.

He continued his work at composition, including
many settings of whole Psalms, and his Coronation
Anthem, with full orchestral accompaniments, for
King William IV. This latter he considered one of
his best works. The rambling house, museum-like
in appearance, resounded with the sound of these
anthems, grandly rendered by the large musical
parties assembled there : my young mother, and
afterwards my brother Handel, who inherited her
vocal talent, always sustaining the leading parts.

My Father also had frequent chess parties, being
exceedingly fond of the game. His social circle
increased rapidly and steadily, and being fearful
that the frequent informal gatherings would inter-

Early Married Life 19

fere with his work and home regularity, he put up

the following couplet :

" All those who wish to be welcome again,
Must please to move homeward at half past ten."

His visits to the Philosophical and Commercial
Rooms brought him into contact with all the scien-
tific men of the neighbourhood. His knowledge in
Mechanical Science was said to be profound, and
his suggestions and plans always in advance of his
time.

As a citizen of Bristol his influence became
widely felt. He was identified with her progress in
every way. He was consulted on public questions,
and his presence was sought on civic occasions.
Whether at public dinner or meeting, the impres-
sion he left on the minds of all with whom he was
associated was one of splendid moral courage,
unflinching principle, clear common sense and fore-
sight, and perfect courtesy as a gentleman. In
politics he was a Tory ; but his great heart was lib-
eral. Strong in his churchmanship, his Christianity
was broad as God's light.

His prolific pen also brought him into notice in
many political scenes ; one of his poems, published in
the Mirror, entitled " Scenes in a Town Council,"
which I produce here, was full of strength, satire,
and humour.

20 Edward Hodges

SCENES IN A TOWN COUNCIL.

I.

I have seen on a fine summer's morn
The industrious ants at their toil ;
How they labour, a small grain of corn
To warehouse beneath the hard soil.

11.

I have witnessed the bees at their work
Exploring the blossoms all o'er ;
How they filch every sweet that may lurk
Within them to add to their store.

III.

These things, I have seen with delight
And would witness with pleasure again ;
But alas ! what a different sight
When I turn to the doings of men !

IV.

The ants and the bees,

Though they forfeit their ease.

No doubt their ozvn pleasure pursue ;

And in this one respect

'Tis not hard to detect

A resemblance to that which men do.

But if you ask to what that pleasure tends,
Then here, alas ! the pretty likeness ends.

For bees and ants

(Like trees and plants)
Subserve the purpose of their first formation,

Early Married Life 21

But who will dare
The same declare
Of this perverse, vain-boasting generation.

VI.

Such was the salutation of the Muse
When recently she came,
After long absence, to inquire the news
Of the Town-Council game.
Etc., etc.

In the spring of 1829 the " No Popery" agita-
tion took place, and Bristol was much excited in
consequence of Mr. Peel's bill for the admission of
Roman Catholics to seats in Parliament. Swiftly
my Father's spirit moved as this breeze swept over
the land, and February 8th the following spirited
poem, written partly on Sunday in his organ gallery
during service at St. James's Church, was produced.
By Tuesday it was printed and posted up in the
city. His diary says :

" My poem seems to attract public attention very
strongly."

The next day he set it to music as solo and chorus ;
" aiming at simplicity and truth more than learn-
ing," and sent it up to London for immediate
publication.

No doubt he mingled with the crowds on the
Exchange who stood there reading his spirited

22 Edward Hodges

patriotic words ; few, if any, of them knowing that
the quaint, pleasant, thoughtful-looking young man,
with the broad-brimmed hat and unfashionable cut
of coat, was the author of them.

NO POPERY.

Up men ! for your Country, your Altars, your King,
And this be the cry with which Heav'n's vault shall ring,

No Popery.

Though Ministers flinch and the Premier turn tail.
The Protestant spirit shall ever prevail.
Then rouse yourselves, Britons, bestir you like men ;
Your lives may be once lost, but never again.

Up then for your Country, etc.

Be courage, and firmness and wisdom combined —
And charity too, in each Protestant mind ;
But let not the march of concession o'erwhelm
The Protestant safeguards of Britain's fair realm.
Up then for your Country, etc.

Our fathers where are they? Some, led to the stake
For conscience, for faith, and for liberty's sake,
Were fearfully martyred by Rome's cruel men.
Whose creed is the same at this day as 't was then.
Up then for your Country, etc.

The right both of Papists and Turks we admit,
To worship their Maker as they may see fit ;
And yet, not contented with this, they demand
A right to make Laws for our Protestant land.
Up then for your Country, etc.

Early Married Life 23

Now God save our King, our Religion, and Laws,
And help us if need be to die for our cause ;
Our famed Constitution preserved unimpaired
May thus by our childrens' descendants be shared.

Up then ! for your Country, your Altars, your King,
And this be the cry with which Heav'n's vault shall ring,

No Popery.

As a child I was often taken by my mother to
St. James's Church on a Sunday evening.

I remember the sound of the bells as we walked
up that churchyard which was so terribly filled with
grave-stones. I remember the sight of the crowds
in the galleries under the Norman arches and be-
low, as we passed up the narrow stair to the organ :
and the glance into my Father's mysterious little
organ-box as I passed the door, — truly a magician's
den to me.

Then from my little corner by the green curtain,
I could watch him as he sat before his four ranks
of keys. The organ-loft was roomy, divided by
the projecting choir-organ as usual. I used to
listen for the sound my Father made in drawing his
stops ; and catch his animated glances as he spoke
to the gentlemen opposite, or to his beautiful son
Handel, who stood at a raised desk at his left.
There was such an air of power and mystery about
my Father as his face and form were brought out

24 Edward Hodges

into relief by the gloom of his organ-box behind
him. And what a change would come over his
face as he began to play ! " Play " is not the word.
There was both in his face and in the sounds he
evoked from the keys and the pipes around him, a
suggestion of something unearthly, almost inde-
scribable.

It was customary at St. James's to sing the
hymn

" From all that dwell below the skies "

before the service, without its being " given out."
So it fell to my Father's lot to announce the en-
trance of the clergy, and to bring the whole mass
of the great congregation to their feet : and this he
did magnificently, at the same time raising, by his
magic power, the immense volume of singing from
below, which was like the surging of the sea. I
gazed down on the great crowd, the many lights
seeming only to render the old Norman build-
ing more sombre as they revealed the crowded
galleries and recesses behind the round arches and
heavy columns, and the great dim painting of the
Transfiguration covering the eastern wall of the
church. Both the sight and the sound were over-
powering to me. I felt that my Father was not
playing ; it was a wonderful spiritual giving out of

Early Married Life 25

himself into his music, — or I should say, into the
grand words his music carried to every heart. It
absolutely controlled the hundreds below, drew out
their voices at his will, and sent an electric thrill
through all. " Eternal are Thy mercies, Lord ! "
Mercy reaching to endless ages was the ** eternal
truth " he made us feel.

" His praise shall sound from shore to shore.
Till suns shall rise and set no more."

This was the climax, which he, with illuminated
countenance and magnetic force, made us feel.

He did not merely play ; he forced on us great
religious truths. He played on spirits, not on keys
only ; and through the stops of his organ he un-
stopped our ears to voices not of this world.

It was then, as he brought out the words of
Eternal Truth, that I first saw my Father s face.
It was a vision of an inspired and transformed
countenance. Its light was a living one, spiritual
and inward, and gleamed with an intense happi-
ness, as, revelling in the consciousness of his own
powers, his spirit seemed to ride those rolling
waves of harmony which he evoked from his mag-
nificent organ. I cannot describe it ; it was the
face of a spiritual conqueror ; and I know that
what I saw in it then is that by which I shall know
him hereafter.

26 Edward Hodges

Very original was my Father's way of summon-
ing us to his study to give us our lesson in singing
the scale.

Opening his door, he began to " tune up his
fiddles," on the piano, which was our call. It was
an improvization in imitation of tuning the orches-
tra to the dominating A, with its background of
harmony.

Running from any occupation or any part of the
house, we made for the study, and took our places
around him at his right, according to our ages, and
listened. From the leading A came the E (fifth)
above, his fingers purposely stumbling on the E"^ as
though it needed tuning up — the other string notes,
the fifths below, followed ; while all the while he ran
freely on in all possible modulations, his organ-
chords grandly rolling in, and the penetrating, per-
sistent A always steadily there, till at length, with
his countenance lighted up with pleasure, he got
his fiddles all tuned up, and made a grand finale,
while we stood watching, listening, and taking in
the scene in silence.

He then proceeded to give a lesson in the scale,
and in holding long notes, and managing our
breath. He paid great attention to crescendo and
diminuendo, and always took us to the easy extent
of our voices, avoiding straining them. He taught

Early Married Life 27

us how to breathe in and retain breath, as I, many
years after, watched Jenny Lind do.

If any one of us did not open his mouth suf-
ficiently, a gag was threatened and applied.

These were lessons of great value for life, both
in harmony and modulation, and in the true princi-
ples of vocalization ; and never afterwards could I
attend a concert and listen to the tuning of the or-
chestra and hear the fifths crowding in, in their
musical confusion, while the organ behind them —
that great thing of solid and overwhelming power —
was reducing them to order and compelling them to
agreement, without being carried back to that far-
off old cloister study, and seeing again my Father's
playful, kindly, and beaming face, as, with the ser-
ried ranks of books beyond him, he sat at his piano,
backing with such spirited and manifold harmonies
the ever-recurring, irresistible A.

After a good practice in many keys he
" chaunted " the ''Nunc Dimittis'' with us, and the
lesson was done.

CHAPTER III.

doctor's degree at CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.

IN May, 1825, at the age of twenty-eight, my
Father entered Sydney Sussex College, Cam-
bridge, as a Fellow Commoner, and proceeded to
his Doctorate there, without taking the degree of
Bachelor previously, as is usual. In this he was
strenuously opposed by Dr. Clark-Whitfield, Pro-
fessor of Music at Cambridge, and organist of
Hereford Cathedral. The Professor also advised
him to go to Oxford for his degree. This aroused
the spirit of the sister university, and an effort was
immediately made to get him entered at Trinity
College. This was refused on the ground that no
musical degree was there given. Of the correspond-
ence which ensued between the Professor, my
Father, and the Rev. Dr. Guildford Waite, of St.
John's College, an old and valued friend of my
Father's writes :

" Strange and almost incredible as it may appear,
the young Bristol organist and musician, without

28

Doctor's Degree at Cambridge 29

the culture and polish of a University course, stands
out unmistakably superior, not only in the clear-cut
sufficiency of his flawless English, but in ready, yet
elegant, mastery of a perfect epistolary style. He
never loses his imperturbable patience ; his temper
remains cool and collected ; he is never betrayed
into the natural and even justifiable pungency of a
disputant who carries the most precious interests of
his career in his hand. The letters of Mr. Hodges
exhibit a world of practical shrewdness, foresight,
and the quiet assurance of one who is confident of
success and victory. The key to the story of his
success is found in the lively personal interest that
Dr. Waite had conceived in the brilliant reputation
which Mr. Hodges had already achieved, which had
long outgrown the critical and aesthetic appreciation
of his provincial city.

" Although a cathedral city, that reputation had
failed of recognition among the old-time officials
and place-holders. The simple fact that Mr.
Hodges had presumed upon a career of the high-
est ecclesiastical music without the indispensable
pupilage at the feet of a cathedral organist — and if
we may trust the testimony of contemporaries, not
a few of the cathedral organists were poorly quali-
fied for their high vocation, — settled the question
so far as Mr. Hodges was concerned, at least among

30 Edward Hodges

the cathedral officials of Bristol, and he was turned
over to a larger, nobler criticism outside.

" Dr. Waite proved to be the man needed at that
pivotal period. Without his energetic, almost im-
petuous urgency, and his semi-official representa-
tion, the young musician would not, then at least,
have recognized the narrowness of his environment,
and demanded a more authoritative and learned
recognition.

"The world has changed since 1825, even in
Cambridge. It is an altogether different world that
awaits the aspirant for honors in the musical profes-
sion now. Nothing seems left to accident or conjec-
ture ; everything is anticipated and provided for.

" A resident Professor of Music represents the
University, and promotes rather than obstructs the
operations of the statutes. Procedure is amply
marked out, and no man worthy to enter into the
examinations is left at loss or in doubt. No nook
or cranny remains for lurking prejudice or personal
animosities. There are the statutes, there the pro-
cedure, and there the examination papers, read and
known of all men concerned. The result is abso-
lutely determined by the candidate himself. If he
succeeds in " flooring " his several " papers " within
the required conditions, his degree is sure. Indeed,
it appears that the conditions are quite as generous

Doctor's Degree at Cambridge 31

towards the candidate as they are just to the in-
tegrity of the University.

" How differently circumstances shaped them-
selves in 1825 !

"The road to the acquisition of the musical doc-
torate had almost ceased to be an open thorough-
fare ; and only at rare intervals do we find records
of one who had successfully braved its difficulties.
The department of music itself, under such adverse
conditions, had fallen far below its earlier renown,
and the University, as represented by its legislative
body, the Senate, had not only lost all interest in
its operations, but had seriously considered the
question of refusing it place or recognition among
the University Faculties. Even the proposition of
abrogating the professorship was seriously con-
sidered ; the professor had, as a non-resident, prac-
tically withdrawn from university life ; and we find
this extraordinary situation in the ancient Uni-
versity, that had for many generations conferred
its doctorate upon many illustrious ones among
Anglican composers, that for the time being it was
without a musical Faculty, and more than indiffer-
ent to the culture of the divine art.

" It is hardly possible to repress a smile as we con-
template the Professor while opening ^/le exercise
sent up by the young aspirant. Having at the out-

32 Edward Hodges

set laid down (or suggested) a four-part composi-
tion, while insisting on the preliminary Bachelor's
Degree, and afterwards waiving it under the com-
pulsion of the situation, for an exercise in eight parts,
he opens his eyes upon a composition in twelve
parts, duly orchestrated, abounding in consummate
graces and contrapuntal intricacies, in wealth and
dignity of invention, in fugue and canon, with
masterly treatment of three choirs, such as Purcell
would have admired, and even Handel might have
approved ! Here was a work, an Opus indeed, far
transcending the measure of his own artistic
capacity, while demonstrating the futility of his own
obstructive policy. He had assuredly never looked
upon such a masterpiece before from one seeking
University honors ; and we are left to wonder at
the maturity, fertility, and inspiration of a genius,
so modestly reared in the twilight, and reaching
such an exalted climacteric without the intervention
of masters, or schools ; the outgrowth of his own
untiring industry and recondite study.

" In comparison with this exercise for three choirs
in twelve parts, what superficial and even meretri-
cious compositions, before and since that day, must
have bridged the way to a Doctor's degree, not only
in Cambridge but elsewhere !

" It is no longer Ad Cantab, but In Cantab.

TRINITY CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE.

Doctor's Degree at Cambridge 33

There is the eventful coaching journey along the
most exquisite highways and byways, every mile of
it rich in ancient and mediaeval historic legend and
association, and the young neophyte reaches the
city of his pilgrimage.

" His alacrity and courage are wonderful. Noth-
ing intimidates, hinders, or irritates him. He mar-
shalls his forces, who promptly come from Bristol,
London, Ely, etc. (for a consideration !), to see him
through. Chapters in his diary fairly crackle and
snap with brisk and crowded details that must be
looked after. And in such a whirl of unwonted
toil and excitement, this delicate, sensitive, highly-
strung young man is, day after day, pushing his
way towards the approaching crucial service on
that Sunday in Great St. Mary's and the ceremonial
to follow in the Senate House. He finds oppor-
tunity, through his growing celebrity, to give the
University men and the public a taste of his quality
at the keyboard of more than one college chapel
organ, though the local organists are chary of any
perilous competition. Then the perpetual demand
for heavy fees, stipulated and provided for at the
multiplied stages of his advance towards the Senate
House ; they spring up at the most unlooked-for
times. What a touch of nature is this, when he
first assumes the college cap and gown and feels as
if he had ' always been a gownsman ! '

34 Edward Hod^^es

fe

" The evolution of order and even an approxima-
tion to an impressive delivery of his ' Exercise,'
seems something among the impossibilities. Then
there is dramatic, almost tragic, interest in the story
of his buffeting and struggling in the crowd, which
beleaguered the doorway of St. Mary's, and nearly
crushed the life out of the slender composer before
he could reach the organ ! That the Exercise
' went off well ' after such an ordeal, is most
astonishing of all.

" It is only the sure, masterful hand that can pluck
success from the most hostile conjunction of cir-
cumstances, and that day assuredly the intrepid
young composer from Bristol had conquered, and
won his degree almost by acclamation."

His degree exercise was an anthem, in twelve
parts, for three choirs, chorus, orchestra, and organ.
The words were taken from the 17th and i8th
verses of the 115th Psalm : "The dead praise not
the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.
But we will bless the Lord, from this time forth
and for evermore. Praise the Lord." This anthem
was performed in the University Church of St.
Mary, Cambridge, on Sunday, the 3rd July, 1825,
with sixty-nine performers, before the Vice-Chancel-
lor of the University and the college dons, and a
very large congregation of undergraduates and

Doctor's Degree at Cambridge 35

others ; and on the following Tuesday, my Father
graduated as Bachelor and Doctor in Music, by
accumulation, the ceremony taking place in the
Senate House, Cambridge.

Apropos of the obstacles put in my Father's way
towards taking his degree in music, I must quote
from the able article or critique which appeared in
the London Qiuirterly Musical Magazine on his
" Morning and Evening Service and Two Anthems,"
published by D'Almaine & Co. in the same year,
1825.

The writer had been speaking of music in its
highest sense, or rather what he terms the sublime
in music, and says :

" When a composer therefore enters on this distinct
and supreme department of his Art, he does well, be his
talents what they may, provided his motives are as pure
as human motives can be. The requisites for excellence
in this exalted course are indeed limited to the gifted few ;
for how few are great in genius, great in science, great in
meditation; but yet a sufificiency of science, with musical
feeling, sincerity and piety, is no uncommon attainment,
we hope ; and which he that possesses need not despair
of exerting effectively on this elevated ground of mental
exertion. That the world ever has duly appreciated, or
ever will appreciate the highest objects of Music, let no
man hope till knowledge, experience, fine feeling and
reflection become common properties. Superior minds
must be content to disseminate those principles of im-
provement in science and in virtue that may impercep-

36 Edward Hodo;es

&

tibly carry on the work of human reformation by the
gradual advance of irresistible accumulation.

" When the principles of Music become generally un-
derstood, the art will be properly estimated, even by the
many; and this knowledge is even now working its way
silently, surely, and effectually amidst the frivolities of
fashion and the choke-damp of professional competition.

" The last mentioned obstacle to struggling merit and
popular improvement is a case in point of which our
readers in general are undoubtedly not aware, unless the
reports that have reached us are groundless ; for a little
bird sings, that much opposition has been made to grant-
ing the composer of the music before us his Diploma,,
though on what score we are at a loss to guess. Not on
the score before us, we hope ; which in our opinion quali-
fies the composer for the Degree as much as any exer-
cise ever submitted to the Professor of Music at either of
our Universities.

" Truly, we see no just cause or impediment why Dr.
Hodges and Alma Mater should not be joined together,
particularly after certain alliances of the kind we wot of,
alliances as oiitr^ as that of the Doge of Venice to the
Adriatic. * De tion appareiitibiis et non existentibiis eadevi
est ratio.'

" No such objections therefore occurring to us, we would
fain ask in legal phraseology. * If not, why not ? '

" He that is ambitious to ascend this high scale of com-
position must qualify himself for the task by sufificiently
studying the Cathedral music of our country, and this
qualification Dr. Hodges possesses, in our humble opinion,
as manifestly as any composer we know of, dead or alive.

" In a word, the publication before us, is a satisfactory
proof that the Doctor has done that for which he is fully
competent, and merits all the encouragement that such
labours ever deserve, but seldom elicit."

i

Doctor's Degree at Cambridge 37

From the Rev. W. H. Havergal to Dr. Hodges,
December, 1825 :

" I know not whether to sympathize with you or con-
gratulate you upon the ill and invidious treatment which
it seems you are accustomed to meet with from the
world. Perhaps it is fit I should do both. I am sure
that I cordially feel for you, especially as your statements
are novel to me. I had heard but little in a recent letter,
and that little was manifestly the offspring of envy.
Your answers to my queries will suit my purpose excel-
lently well, and enable me to say exactly what I wish to
say. But I must congratulate you. All this malice, and
envy and calumny, and everything like mean and petty
attempt to thwart you and depreciate you, only furnish
to every candid and contemplative mind, a pretty urgent
proof, that your rivals (if I may use that appellation) are
conscious that they have somewhat to fear from you.
Besides, this thorny path is the very road in which
many an individual has proceeded to eminence. Did
not Handel himself meet with much jealousy and vexa-
tion at his outstep in the world? I think he did ; but I
have not time to refer ; you doubtless know whether he
did or not. I can only say, Do not be discouraged. Nil
desperandum. Abide by your motto. Practically too,
mark and study your other signet. Oreimis prepares the
way for Cantemus, or still using ecclesiastical Latin, Ex-
2tlteimcs. You know as well as I can remind you the
exhortation which saith ' Commit thy way unto the LORD,
and He shall bring it to pass.' ' Casting all your care,
temporal as well as spiritual, on Him for He careth for
you.'

" I do not know Dr. Crotch sufficiently to communi-
cate with him ; I have spoken to him and that is all. I
will most readily do anything that is within the compass

38 Edward Hodges

of my little power to forward your views. I shall try
hard to get your music into use at Canterbury. When
you are Editor of the Musical Review I shall take it in.
All I know of the Royal Institution is, that Dr. Crotch
gave up his good situation at Oxford for it."

On July 5, 1825, Mr. Havergal wrote :

" Woodcock, Organist of New College, Oxon, died
very recently. In his stead was elected a very young
man named Bennet. Merit only was the ground of his
appointment. Cross, Organist of St. John's College,
Christ Church, and the University, is also just dead. I
hear that the Dean and Chapter intend giving the situa-
tion to the most likely candidate. How glad should I
be to see you in a station of such eminence and oppor-
tunity ! Take the hint.

"W. H. H."

C. C. Clarke, Esq., to the Rev. W. H. Havergal :

"The Doctor's abilities certainly deserve a fair field for
their exercise.

" How his old opponent Cummins could think him
unworthy of a Degree surprises me ; for I believe a cer-
tain knowledge of the science qualifies for that — does it
not? And tJiat no one can dispute the Doctor possesses,
who knows anything at all about the matter. His possess-
ing the power to create new musical ideas that shall be
pleasing to Mr. Cummins, or to any one else, is quite
another affair ; and in my mind would in no way affect
his reputation as a man of talent — though it would as a
man of genius.

" He is no ordinary man in either point of view.
" Believe me,

" Faithfully yours,

•' C. C. Clarke,
"Organist of Worcester Cathedral."

king's college chapel, CAMBRIDGE.

Doctor's Degree at Cambridge 39

It is a source of pleasure to me to recall and
revive these early years of my Father's friendship
for Mr. Havergal. It was as strong as it was deep,
and a very loving one ; it began when they were
both young men, my Father but twenty-eight, and
Mr. Havergal three years older, and it lasted to the
end of their lives.

There was something strongly akin in their souls ;
both having devoted their lives to the service of
the Church. The one from the pulpit and desk
sought help from the sacred musician at the organ,
who he knew had devoted every intellectual power
and the zeal of his life to the same sacred cause.
This zeal did not pass in spasmodic effort, but con-
tinued after my Father had crossed the Atlantic.

From expressions in the letters we see that my
Father had much to bear from the remarks of envi-
ous or jealous minds ; and how much harder would
it have been but for the strong help of this true and
faithful friend. It was truly a brotherly love which
existed between them ; and it lasted till they, within
but a year or two of each other, entered into that
larger life beyond our ken, where, even now, they
may not be divided.

I record here my own esteem for him and his
loving wife, and my friendship for the bright and
beautiful sacred minstrel, Frances Ridley Havergal,
that subtle player on invisible harp-strings ; for his
other highly gifted daughters, and for my kind
friend the late Francis T. Havergal, D.D., Preben-
dary of Hereford Cathedral.

CHAPTER IV.

GLIMPSES OF MY FATHERS LIFE AS SEEN IN HIS
DIARY.

I

N 1 82 1, as the year is just closing, my Father
writes :

" May God give v<\^ faithfulness to inyself while I write
my Memorabilia," (as the Moravians have it).

" Music is, must be, and shall be my forte. Here will I
dwell, for I have desired it : and even in Eternity it shall
accompany my joys and heighten Celestial bliss. I have
dedicated it to the service of God : and trust He will add
His blessing upon my endeavours."

" I beseech Him, notwithstanding Mr. Biddulph's
anathema on ' Intellectual Attainments,' to grant me a
capacious intellect, and opportunity for constant progres-
sion in improvement ; that I may grow in grace and in
the knowledge (He knows all things) of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to Whom be glory for ever. Amen."

Diary Extract.

" July 27, 182s.

" Resolving not to waste more time, I commenced a
series of notes for Lectures or Essays on Music.

" I fear my knowledge of the subject is very confined,
but by a little labour perhaps I can brush up more.
40

Glimpses of My Father's Life 41

" I apprehend the Theory of Sound itself, the basis of
Music, is as yet very imperfect. At all events, be I
where I may, I must do something. I think of cutting
out my time into portions and devoting it to various
studies. Among them, I must revive my lost Latin. I
ought to get acquainted with Greek ; German and Italian
are indispensable, as is also a knowledge of some branches
of Mathematics. These things, coupled with the constant
practice and composition of music, will find me plenty of
employment."

" Aug. ij, i82j.

" Zinc Organ Pipes.

" I went with Charles Murray, Esq., to the manufac-
tory of Patent Zinc, and took Smith, the Organ builder,
with me. The object of my visit was to see whether that
metal might not be made available in the construction of
Organ pipes. I have hopes of it. WJien warmed it is
easily bended to any shape, and, on cooling, fixes quite
hard. It seems remarkably firm in its texture, and to
have a sonorous quality. As left by the rolling mills too,
its surface is remarkably smooth, a circumstance which I
think of great importance for the interior of a pipe. They
promised me to send a sheet of the metal to Smith's shop
to try the experiment."

" Aug. 16, 182J.

" Mathematics.

" This morning before breakfast I professedly took my
first lesson in mathematics. For this purpose Mr. T. S.
Davies attended. It was rather a conversation than a
lesson. Davies seemed to be a shrewd man and to have
the 'root' (query Square root?) of the matter in him.
I am afraid my advances will be but slow. Sometimes I

42 Edward Hodges

fancy that my power of apprehension or comprehension
is not so quick as it once was. At other times I lose by its
rapidity. I understand a point perfectly and so pass on
before it has time to fix itself in my memory. The next
day I have to refer to my first principle again. Davies
tells me that in order to cure myself of this propensity,
I must xvork several of the problems."

" Davies breakfasted with us. I lent him old Bishop
Wilkins' Philosophical and Mathematical works. In town
I fell in with Jackson the Artist. I met George Wash-
bourne, Master of St. Peter's Hospital, and he accom-
panied me to Smith's shop to enquire about the Zinc pipe
manufactory. Smith promised to make the experiment
next week. We all then went to St. Thomas's Church,
where Smith has been putting in two Copula movements,
and otherwise repairing the organ. I must again declare
I do not like the intrument. Although the tones are
good and the Church favourable to musical effect, the de-
ficiency in the Bass of the instrument more than counter-
balances these advantages. Its having what is technically
called ' short octaves,' cripples all power of modulation.
The organ has no effect out of one or two keys.

" I played there for an hour, nearly, and then made
haste home."

" / March, 1826.

" It appears that my mind is now going to take a new
turn, as I feel a composing fit coming on.

" Would that the strength of my body were but equal
to the energy of my mind, methinks I would work won-
ders ; but alas ! it is not, and I must be content to waste
my time in large masses, lest my sublunary existence
should be the sacrifice of application. This is doleful ;
but many are in far worse plight than I am, both men-
tally and bodily, therefore I have good reason to be
thankful.

Glimpses of My Father s Life 43

" As I have not strength for incessant exertion of any
sort, I must let the plodders fag through the laborious
processes of art and science, and do as well as I can by
fits and starts with the means and opportunities God has
given me.

" The occasion of the approaching change of pursuit
seems to be the receipt to-day of No. 28 of the Quarterly
Review, wherein there is a most flattering and encouraging
critique upon my Opera prima. This doubtless is the im-
mediate cause, though the remote one be my usual fickle-
ness of disposition, which never allows me to stick long to
any one pursuit. Some condemn this ; others think it
good. My own opinion is, that nature, when she strongly
leans in any direction, is our best guide.

" Some men are pre-disposed for intense and long con-
tinued application to one object. Let them fag on. It
is their bounden duty so to do. Others cannot apply
themselves at all. This is a woeful extreme. They must
continue blockheads.

" The class to which I belong is that which delights to
follow an object con fiirio for a time, then to rest the
faculties by a change to a different pursuit, calling other
powers into exercise, and then to return to the former with
increased zest and delight.

" So with me. Music is my leading or principal study ;
and this contains an amusing variety in itself; in practice,
the mode of performance on various instruments, and the
act of composition ; in theory, the nature and variety and
laws of Sound.

" But even this is not for me a sufficient range. Other
objects occasionally present themselves, and I follow tKem
with avidity, only to return to the master theme.

" After reading the news at the Philosophical Institu-
tion, I applied myself to the perusal of the article on
Acoustics, in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. It did not

44 Edward Hodges

please me, seeing it produces no other proof of the nature
of sound than the old experiment of a bell yielding none
in an exhausted receiver, which, it says, demonstrates that
it is a pulsation.

" I see that some vague notion of the connection of
sound with Electricity has been started, but not carried
out to constitute anything like a plausible hypothesis.

" I heard my son Handel read a little. He improves.
(£t. 4.) "

" January 2j, 1826.

" What is the reason why good taste is to be so rarely
found in connection with zvhat is called evangelical reli-
gion ? Evangelical, surely it is not. It were blasphemy
to affirm that God would disapprove of Music, Poetry,
Painting or Sculpture, when pursued with a view to His
praise and glory. It were blasphemy to affirm that such
a Being could be properly worshipped through the me-
dium of the nonsense found in many of the hymns. But
hold! perhaps, I judge rashly. If a man offer to his
Maker that which he esteems to be the best of its kind,
it will be accepted.

" Unanimity, perhaps, never will be attained, more
especially in matters of taste. But seriously, I contem-
plate the propriety of my renunciation of the office of
organist. It continually involves me in squabbles with
some party or other. Where so many are concerned, all
can never be satisfied, and the devil gets the vantage
ground, to raise disturbance ; for those who are contented
with existing arrangements say nothing, and thus the
voices of a few, frequently repeated, pass for the voices
of the majority."

" yanuary JO, 1S26.

" In Park St. I was apprehended by two of the Com-
mittee of the Philosophical Institution who insisted upon

Glimpses of My Father s Life 45

the expediency and propriety of my giving a lecture or
course of lectures upon Music there.

" In the evening, I began a second time arranging my
ideas for a series of lectures on Sound and Music.

" I find much difificulty in making them fall into any
sort of order, the subjects branch out into so many differ-
ent ways,

"Thus Music may be considered either as Melody or
Harmony, or both united ; either as plain or florid, as
secular or sacred, as public or chamber, as national or
universal, as vocal or instrumental, as natural or artificial ;
neither is it possible to reduce these to a regular connected
order.

" For exercise I have recently thought of adopting a
new idea, which is, to procure a good log of oak, and set
to work at intervals to carve out of it a chair.

"Such an undertaking would serve to amuse me per-
haps for years, and when complete might be handed
down to my posterity as the work of their ancestor ' the
Doctor ! '

" When I reflect on the numerous projects, which my
poor imagination has given rise to and my utter inade-
quacy to fulfil or execute them, I have a distinct and
useful feeling of the vanity of earthly hopes and expec-
tations.

" Nevertheless I will go on whilst my strength shall
last, and though I live not to accomplish my projects,
my hints may be of use to others, when I shall be no
more seen."

''May 6, 1826.

" In reading Locke yesterday upon identity and diver-
sity, a sudden thought came into my head of writing a
work upon my idea of the possible occupation of separate
spirits.

46 Edward Hodges

" I wish to infuse into the minds of the populace a
more merry notion of Celestial happiness than the par-
sons allow them to entertain.

" I also thought of making the work a vehicle for some
of my more extravagant thoughts upon Music ; e. g. the
infinite divisibility of musical intervals, and the boundless
extent of the scale, the unlimited number of primes, and
the celestial possibility of millions of real parts. Much
of my work was to have been filled with conversations
upon these subjects, between such men as Tubal-Cain
and Handel.

" Then I had the wild thought of introducing the doc-
trine of Transmigration of souls, in such a manner as not
to contradict any doctrine of Revelation, and to make
adventures of this sort the source of much amusing dia-
logue above. So much for a passing thought.

" I read a goodly portion of Locke to-day, and con-
tinued at intervals to complete the accompaniments of
my Duett, ' The God of Heaven shall set up a Kingdom.'
The composition is not despicable, but it falls far short
of my expectation."

" I begin, I perceive, to entertain a somewhat different
notion of the cause of my last week's uneasiness to that
which has for so many days made me miserable.

" I see in it now the chastising hand of a merciful
Father. I was beginning to be puffed up. Church
Music had been my study ; perhaps I was resting on it.
I had operated some small degree of improvement, and
was almost in the daily receipt of adulatory congratula-
tions on my success. I did not give God the glory as
was His due. Let me never henceforth engage in any
Divine Service without lifting up my heart to God for
His gracious blessing on my humble efforts. I will work
yet more in dependance upon Him, Whose I am, and
Whom I desire to serve. I will continually implore His

Glimpses of My Father's Life 47

guidance, as well for the government of myself as for the
management of my unruly fingers.

" I will yet more than ever despise that bubble reputa-
tion ; and seek only to gain the approbation of a con-
science void of offence. Come what may I shall be
armed. Anonymous scribblers may wear their pens out,
and exhaust their inkstands ; I will by Divine help keep
on the even tenor of my way.

" Yet a little while, and all will be over. All these dis-
cords of suspension will be resolved. There will be no
squabbling about loudness or softness, intricacy or sim-
plicity, variety or uniformity.

" All will be order. All will be peace."

One great individuality of my Father's mind,
equally rare and valuable, is distinctly brought out
in this thought of " Celestial Dialogues."

I refer to the union of technical knowledge — the
machinery of parts as it were — with an almost
boundless imagination. In most minds these are
separare gifts. A nie^'ely religious mind would
here have freely described what it believed would
be a natural gratification of its highest faculties ;
the soul would be filled with adoration, and occu-
pied in music, embodying probably no higher idea
of the latter than most people are able to form of
it in this world.

But we see how the Scientific Musician comes in,
with his expanded, God-given intellect, bringing a
treasure of thought to those able to follow him. It

48 Edward Hodges

is almost impossible for us to realize what he means
— bound as we are by accepted and contracted no-
tions of music (as well as of everything else !) — by
" the infinite divisibility of the usual intervals, the
boundless extent of the scale, the unlimited number
of primes, the celestial possibilities of millions of
real parts."

To think of all this seems impossible to ns ; and
what a glimpse it gives us of the scientific and re-
ligious workings of his own mind ! How unique,
too, his choice of Tubal-Cain and Handel as hold-
ing a conversation ! It seems as though he were
still uniting in imagination two great representa-
tives, thrown apart by ages : one, the great worker
in metals, and the other the musician who has given
us in music the sublimest religious thought the
world has ever received.

His use of the word "merry," too, in connection
with the future occupation, is significant. Perhaps
he was driven to it by the narrow and contracted
theological teaching of his day, at which he fre-
quently revolted.

Intellectual life and sublime thought were to him
inconsistent with lugubrious, dismal, pietistic re-
ligion.

From the Diary.

" October i, i82g.

" I proceeded with my brother Archelaus to Redcliff
Church, where we witnessed the really astounding per-

Glimpses of My Father's Life 49

formance of Samuel Wesley upon the noble organ there-
in. It was the most wonderful I ever heard, more even
than I had before been capable of conceiving ; the flow
of melody, the stream of harmony, was so complete, so
unbroken, so easy, and yet so highly wrought and so
superbly scientific, that I was altogether knocked off my
stilts. Before such a man and organist I am less than
nothing and vanity. A Duett was performed by him
and his son, Samuel Sebastian Wesley. The Concluding
Fugue was sublime. A few Choruses and Songs were
interspersed but I wished them away. Samuel, Edward,
and George D. Fripp, besides a host of professional
Organists were present, and were doubtless carried into
the third Heaven. I exchanged a few words with the old
man and his son on the performance being over. I walked
home afterwards, but my head was full of naught but
Samuel Wesley and his seraphic genius. I wrote a para-
graph for the Mirror^ laudatory of Mr. S. W. No words
can sound his praises too highly. He is the Prince of
Musicians and Emperor of Organists."

" October 4th.

" I performed two or three movements out of Sebastian
Bach on my Piano, but was completely out of humour
with my musicality. Why, however, should I repine ? Is
it not as much a man's duty to be content with such in-
tellectual powers as God may be pleased to impart to
him, as it is to be satisfied with his rank and station in
life ? God has made one man a Wesley, another a Hodges ;
I pray for a grateful heart and humble spirit. Who knows
whether Wesley's visit to Bristol be not ordered by divine
goodness to detach me from the world, and to make me
see that * all is vanity and vexation of spirit ? '

" I thought myself something in music at least, but even
that is taken from me.

50 Edward Hodges

" Yet I will endeavour to ' play before the Lord, and if
I have not the skill of an Arch-Angel, He will graciously
accept my more humble offering, and I will wait His good
pleasure to be enabled to praise Him in loftier strains
above.

" I got through my duties somehow (I will not say I
played the organ) at St. Nicholas' in the morning and at
St. James' in the afternoon and evening."

" October ^th.

" At one o'clock I hastened to Redcliff Church to wit-
ness Sam. Wesley's astonishing powers once more. I was
of course delighted, but was not completely carried away
as I was on the former occasion. The sinning sinners, or
singing singers came around me and accused me of being
the author of a paragraph in the papers, which spoke
slightingly of them. I did not satisfy them."

They would have been less satisfied had they
been aware that the solemn young man who spoke
to them so courteously had in an " aside " called
them a motley group of bawlers and a sorry set of
scrubs. The bills said an " effective choir."

" October jth.

" I spent a very rattletrappish sort of morning, and
between twelve and one set forth in Wilkin's fly to
witness Mr. Wesley's third and last performance on the
organ.

" In this instance I did not experience so much gratifi-
cation as upon either of the former occasions ; but cannot
be sure whether this arose from a sense of satiety in my-
self or a perception of a falling off (comparatively with
the preceding exhibitions) in him.

Glimpses of My Father's Life

" In an article published in the Bristol Mirror, Oct. 4,
I expressed the high sense which I, at the first perform-
ance, entertained of Mr, Wesley's superlative merits.
Although somewhat bombastic and stiltified, it was the
genuine production of the impressions made upon my
mind and fancy."

I quote from the article :

" Mr. Wesley's performance upon the organ at Redcliff
Church was of such a nature as to baffle all powers of
description. His splendid extemporaneous effusions left
his hearers perfectly astounded. Such concatenations of
splendid harmonies passed through the noble vaultings
of that venerable pile, as can alone be produced by the
highest efforts of genius, inspired by Divine enthusiasm,
in man or angel. The effect was literally superhuman.
Seldom indeed does it fall to mortal lot to witness such a
sublime exhibition of seraphic skill. In a duett by Mr.
Wesley and his son the climax of the concluding Fugue
was grand beyond conception ; the imagination of the
hearers was necessarily over-whelmed with ideas of
immensity and infinity, and the stupendous powers of the
magnificent instrument upon which the father and son
were exerting, but evidently not exhausting, their talents
were absorbed and totally forgotten in the melodious
torrent, which seemed as it were to sweep ' all Heaven's
harmonies before it.' On such an occasion praise and
'' puff ' are alike futile and superfluous."

His Diary proceeds :

" Now that I have heard the great man two or three
times, I can begin to analyse, not only my own sensations,
but the means by which he contrives to excite them and
it may be well to record an observation or two on the
subject.

52 Edward Hodges

" Wonder never can be permanent.

" I was at first taken by surprise by Wesley's exceed-
ingly full harmonies, many of which seemed to be
incomprehensible ; by the march of his modulations, which
seemed almost incapable of detection ; by the incessant
flow of apparently new melodies, which seemed to emanate
from an exhaustless source ; and by the delicate rapidity
and precision of his complex execution, which seemed to
defy human rivalry.

" But these points successively either vanished
altogether, or were lowered somewhat nearer to the
ordinary range of mortal ability, on every successive
hearing; towards the end, indeed, in almost every suc-
ceeding piece performed. The full harmonies all resolved
themselves into the classes into which I am distributing
them in my ' Tentamen,' ^ viz. either Diatonic or CJiro-
niatic Mixtures, and had been rendered at first
inappreciable by me, because I was not sufificiently
accustomed to the precise pitch of that particular organ,
to determine what were the notes actually sounding.
Thus my imagination wandered through a host of keys
without attaching a definite notational idea to any one of
them.

" Now, much of this was gone on the second perfor-
mance taking place, and all was removed long before
the third was over, still his harmonies were fine and
masterly.

" Again, from a similar cause, his bold modulations
were at first astounding, because mysterious ; but they
anon became familiar, though used with unw^onted skill.
Still it might not have been the skill of a genius of the
third Heaven.

" The flow of melody is also a point in which Wesley
did not maintain his first impressions; for many of the

' An exhaustive work on Thorough Bass.

Glimpses of My Father's Life 53

passages occurred over and over again. Yet was there
enough of novelty on each occasion to entitle him to the
praise of lofty imagination. And lastly his execution,
which perhaps was the best (or at least second best)
point of his performance, seemed on further investigation
to be perfectly attainable by a little regular practice,
combined with the attainment of a sound knowledge of
Harmony. Thus, bit by bit, it would appear as though
all his merit was to be frittered down to the ordinary level
of humanity. Not so, however, or more than one
Samuel Wesley would be discoverable in the world. He
must be ranked as a man of superlative talent and first-
rate genius.

" But notwithstanding all this, I shall come to a little
closer criticism yet. His grand forte is confessedly
extempore ftigiie. The subjects are generally bold and
striking, the opening clear and well compacted together
secundum artem, the organ-points towards the end skil-
fully introduced, and worked up with the most scientific
harmonies, and the concluding cadences characteristic and
effective.

" But lo ! the subjects themselves seemed to be but
illegitimate offsprings of Sebastian Bach, (Sam. Wesley's
idol,) and the opening of each fugue has doubtless been
well studied."

" Samuel Wesley, the Prince of Organists," was
the toast given by my Father at a dinner-party,
October 12 1829, in Bristol, on the occasion of
his meeting Dr. Wesley, whom he does not hesitate
to call, " The first organist in the world." Around
were seated many of the choicest spirits of Bristol,
and when my Father rose and proposed the toast, it

54 Edward Hodges

was received and drunk with enthusiasm. He
writes : "Mr. Wesley was visibly effected. It
gladdened the heart of the old man," who was,
my Father knew, at that time in trouble.

" Cloisters, October 28, i82g.

" Between eight and nine Wesley came to breakfast and
both before and after that meal, I amused him by show-
ing him some of my Musical Conundrums. He flattered
and encouraged me. He begged me to go on with my
Anthem for the King ; and added that it was, as far as
done, really good ; and added, morever that Attwood
never could have written such a chorus as that beginning,
' Thou O King, art a King of Kings.' He commended
my style for strength."

CHAPTER V.

MORE DIARY EXTRACTS.

THE year 1834 was a time of domestic sorrow.
The long-continued illness of my Mother
incapacitated my Father for any heavy or continu-
ous mental work, and his energies went out in dili-
gent, unselfish actions, visiting and caring for his
aged and sick relatives, and bringing comfort to
many others in their sickness and sorrow, — and in
quiet reading and study at home.

My dear Mother died on the Feast of St. Michael
and All Angels, 1835, at the age of thirty-five, be-
lieving surely that she would meet us again, and
knowing Him faithful in Whom she trusted.

I quote again from the diary :

"Si. fames' Church, Dec. 2^, 1834.

" During the morning service I felt at a loss for an
appropriate L. M, Tune, and composed one, principally
whilst the Nicene Creed was being read (the idea did not
occur to me to write one at all until the minister began
the Gospel for the day) of which I had time only to set
down hastily the Bass.

" I made for Handel a rough copy in pencil whilst the
55

56 Edward Hodges

Clerk was giving out the first verse, which I completed as
he gave out the second, and the little fellow sang it at
sight bravely. Such an occurrence as this does not happen
every day, and therefore, although a trifle, it deserves to
be recorded."

' ' Sunday, Decetnber 6, i8j^.

" Before I left home after dinner I made the children
sing a few notes for Thomas Cook to hear them. On this
occasion Miriam exhibited a truly astonishing compass of
voice, viz., four Octaves ! from F, the bass clef note, to F
in altissimo. Sebastian's was very nearly the same, but
he could not reach either of the extremes so well as his
sister.

" Both Faustina's and Jubal's voices are of shorter
compass."

" Perhaps it is a good thought that I cannot better
employ a portion of the little property which has recently
fallen to me than by endeavouring to increase my profes-
sional reputation, which if it may not ultimately benefit
vie, may have a reflective and beneficial effect upon the
prospects of my children.

" I will think about it, and probably consult my friend
Havergal.

" I have several ponderous Anthems which I should
like to bring out ; but will people condescend to purchase
them ? There 's the rub."

A reflective effect upon the prospects of my chil-
dren ! True in his grand unselfishness, his humility,
and his prophetic spirit !

Regarding myself, where in the world could a
duty have been more plainly indicated than mine ?
And in the discharge of it, little as I have been

More Diary Extracts 57

able to do, I have had a happiness in sending one
gleam — one " reflected " gleam of my own pros-
perity and success back to their generous and
undoubted source.

To return to the Diary :

" In the evening I brought up this account and turned
over a few pages of music. Thus passed a comparatively
unprofitable close of a (shall I say ?) misspent day. No.
No day is altogether misspent, in which a frail mortal has
been made more sensible than before of his frailty.

" And yet, with this increased consciousness of frailty,
I found myself frail still — "

One of my Father's strongest characteristics was
his love and reverence for his Father.

In the sketch of his own life (in his Grandfather's

Bible), after noting his own baptism, he has written :

" The register thereof will be found in the Bristol
Tabernacle (for his Father was a Dissenter, albeit a good
man nevertheless)."

All who remember my Father would here trace
his vein of natural humour.

In his Journals he marks the "Translation" of
his saintly departed by a crown and initials.

' ' Nov. 6, i8j4.
" The Anniversary of my good Father's translation.
May I be enabled to follow him as far as he followed
Christ, and by God's good grace, with him to inherit the
promises.

58 Edward Hodges

" Three and twenty years of labour and sorrow have
elapsed since his decease, but they have been also three
and twenty years of mercy and loving-kindness.

" I have seen a little during that period, and endeavoured
to observe what I saw ; but behold ! ' All was vanity and
vexation of spirit ! '

" The course of the world is in itself, and abstracted
from all proofs else derived, a sufiBcient indication that
this state of being is not the ultimate condition of an im-
mortal being. I express myself badly. Here good and
evil are mixed without any apparent reference to moral
attributes in the man, as they would assuredly be in a state
of probation.

" Hence this state is not final."

" Aug. 7, 183s.
" Faustina's birthday.

" The Lord preserve her and keep her alive that she
may be blessed upon earth."

Was it not answered to the full ? — F. H. H.

" Jan. SI, 1836.

" Thou who wast tempted in all points (Oh ! the unspeak-
able comfort of such a passage !) like as we are, ' yet with-
out sin' Amen, and Amen.

" No. Temptation is 7iot sin. I thank God for that.

" ' Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for
when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which
the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.' "

My Father as a general rule summarised his
works and progress at the end of every month,
often passing upon himself the most severe and
searching criticism and judgment.

More Diary Extracts 59

The life that we saw needed not this indeed,
these words in the form of a prayer, occurring
amongst his serious thoughts at the age of twenty-
seven :

" Enable me so to act that I bring no descredit upon
myself or the Profession of Godliness,"

Diary.

"'Feb. ^7, /<5j6.
" Mr. Bunt wished me to undertake a Secretaryship to
one of the Sections of the British Association (to meet in
Bristol next summer,) but I declined it."

" Cloisters, Atig. i, i8j6.

" T. G. Bunt came in after dinner, and told me that my
name had been proposed as a member of the British As-
sociation, I being a scientific individual, entitled to ad-
mission without further payment than the customary
small annual subscription ; and that it had been unani-
mously agreed to ; some gentlemen having volunteered
to speak very favourably of my character and attain-
ments !

" So far, so good ; but it was all done without my
knowledge or sanction."

The following sweet significant picture is a
characteristic sketch of my Father among church
bells ; one of the very rare glimpses we get of
him as a schoolboy : — on a Sunday, too !

" Br-istol, April 2j, 1836."

After describing a busy morning in the city he
says :

6o Edward Hodges

" I walked off towards Kingsdown. On my way I fell in
with Mr. T. G. Bunt, and prevailed on him to accompany to
St. Matthew's Church (newly erected). There we ascended
the steeple, in order to inspect the operations going on
in hanging the peal of eight bells presented by old Mr.
Bangley. We spent a considerable time there, and the
men were so civil as to lift the tenor bell from the planks
on which it rested, in order that we might hear its tone,
which strongly reminded me of that of Chelwood Church,
when I was a school-boy and used to amuse myself as I
sat in the chancel on a cold stone seat by forming har-
monies to it with my voice. One of the men said the
note was E. Mr. Bunt thought F. The weight is nearly
21 cwt. and that of the whole peal 78 cwt."

On a cold stone seat in the chancel of the old
village church, and his mind at work on harmonies
as he listened to the bell from the tower !

To continue from the Diary :

' ' Cloisters, May 9, 18 j6.

"Another exhilarating morning. I could not find it in
my heart to waste such a day by sticking to my desk, so
I put on my hat (no great coat however) and marched
out. After making an appointment with John Smith for
to-morrow, I directed my course to Clifton, through that
delightful parish to the verge of Durdham Down, and so
by the Turnpike road to the side of the River, the tide
just flowing. I truly enjoyed the ramble and felt grate-
ful adoration towards the Giver of all good.

"At and about the Hotwells I tarried for a consider-
able time (two hours I suppose), witnessing many steam
boat motions, and the departure of a large American
Brig (the Tuscan)') full of emigrants, towed down against

More Diary Extracts 6i

wind and tide by the two new steam Tugs the Lioness
and the Fury. From the Wells I departed by the bank
of the new course of the Avon and so across Prince's
Bridge into the city."

My Father's graphic description of one walk is
an indication of his enjoyment of the hundreds of
rambles he took to Rownham and St. Vincent's
Rocks. Here was not only a grand manifestation
of the forces of Nature in the upheaval and rending
of the Rocks — a truly imposing sight — but away
and beyond towards the Avonmouth, where at the
Channel it joins the Severn, there is a richness and
varied beauty of green and woodland, trending
down to the water level, and an expanse of view
which no other city affords. At this time the sec-
ond seaport in the kingdom, the shores of its
water-way were a delightful resort. It was a beau-
tiful, as well as a suggestive sight at the flow of
the tide, to watch the ships and steamers passing
up and down the river, whose winding course
doubled its distance from Cumberland Basin to the
Channel.

Added to this, my Father had opportunity for
the indulgence of his favourite study of Mechanics
in various ways ; for carrying on his observations,
and thinking out his own thoughts, about steam
engines, and propellers, and paddle wheels, and

62 Edward Hodges

mud removers, and dock gates, and all other me-
chanical contrivances in which his heart delighted.

''Jamiary i8, i8jj.

" I put in at Fletcher's office and at length obtained
an interview with that gentleman. I mentioned the cir-
cumstance that I had a railway improvement idea to dis-
pose of, and my wish to bring it before the Coal Pit
Heath R. R. Comp. (of which F. is secretary), referring
to Mr. Brunei for a character of the invention, but with-
out describing it. It was agreed that I should write a
letter to Mr. F. which he promised to lay before the
Committee on Friday.

" At four I dined at a party at W. H. Baily's. Did
not get home till nearly midnight. Took up Buckland's
Treatise and finished it."

"April 14, 1837.

" I learned a piece of intelligence which is far from
giving me pleasure, viz. that a Patent has been taken out
by some man for an invention to do away with the neces-
sity of employing stationary or assistant power in ascend-
ing inclined planes on Railroads. Most probably it is
identical with my invention herein recorded (though I
believe not described) and which I communicated several
months ago to Mr. Brunei. My inventions have almost
invariably been claimed by other people."

" Cogitanda.

' ' Dec. ji, j8j6.

" In taking a review of the past year, I cannot but feel
most sensibly that life is a dream, and that all ' things
temporal ' are but shadows at the best, conducing only
to 'vanity and vexation of spirit.' Not indeed that my
lot is or has been particularly hard, although I may some-

More Diary Extracts 63

times be foolish enough to fancy so ; but in the course of
my forty years' experience, the sentiment just declared
has continually gained ground upon me until it has at-
tained the authority of settled conviction. Still I can
enjoy the good things of this life as well as most men,
and I hope that I can enjoy them with gratitude to the
* Giver of all good.' Certainly my life hitherto has been
a life of continued trial ; but my hope is above. This is
not in any sense my ' continuing city.' All the troubles
which I have experienced have, as I confidently trust,
been administered or permitted in mercy and in love, by
Him who cannot err. Notwithstanding this comfortable
dependence, whilst I am here I must feel with humanity,
and in no year of my earthly sojourn have I felt more
acutely than in that now just on the point of terminating,
that all things here are precarious and transitory, illusory
in prospect and deceitful in possession. Perhaps of all
the shades and descriptions of experience in life, that is
the most favourable to the idea of earthly good, in which
there is the greatest quantity of ungratified hope. If so,
my lot has fallen amongst the most happy !"

' ' November 6, i8^i.

" Forty years ago my Father, then ten years younger
than I am now, was translated into the world of spirits.
And it is now a few days more than thirty-eight years
since my Mother was likewise taken away.

" Good Lord ! so teach me to number my days that I
may apply my heart unto wisdom."

There was a simple dignity about my Father's
hour of Evening Prayer. At ten o'clock the little
family assembled. His " Grandfather's Bible " was
brought in from the study on a a cushion by one of

64 Edward Hodges

his sons and placed before him ; the cushion was
for him to kneel on. The rays from the lamp fall-
ing on his thoughtful and reverent countenance,
his exquisite reading, and the light thrown on the
chosen chapter by his intelligent study of the
Sacred Text, and the emphasis that study indicated,
made my Father's reading of the Bible a memory
to be treasured all one's life.

I have said that my Father chanted (or as he
liked to say and write, C haunted^ the "Nunc
Dimittis" the last thing before he retired at night.

This was one of the most exquisitely plaintive
prayers one could listen to.

In December, 1835, my Father made a short
visit to London. The rapidity of his movements
on these occasions, the number of visits he made
and the amount of ground he got over, are truly
astonishing.

I will select a few of his most interesting entries ;
Cooper and Attwood were the Organists at St.
Paul's Cathedral and the Chapel Royal (St. James's)
respectively.

-Dec. 7.

" Snow has been fast falling hitherto all the morning.
I went into the city and lounged semi-studiously at the
Commercial Rooms.

" I penetrated as far as the Temple Church in the
evening and attended Divine Service. The organ was

More Diary Extracts 65

managed lamely and tamely and lifelessly enough. Cogan
preached a good sermon from the text 'Who is this?'
I sat in one of the free seats at the bottom of the church.
As I entered the church they were reading the Psalms.
The first words which caught my ear were, ' Dwell in the
land and verily thou shalt be fed,' {Ps. xxxvii) the
same with which a poor old deranged woman addressed
me as I entered the Cathedral ; a phrase also which
both the late Mrs. Weare and my late aunt Elizabeth
Hodges frequently enforced on my attention when I
talked of the necessity of my removing from my native
city. On the present occasion the words fastened them-
selves strongly upon my mind, and many other passages
of the same Psalm seemed to be expressly intended for
my comfort and encouragement. It was this which
induced me to take a seat and hear the whole Service,
for I had wandered into the Porch idly, merely to hear a
bar or two of the organ playing.

" May the good Lord realize in my experience this
gracious promise for His Mercy's sake. Amen."

" Friday, December nth.

" Lunched with Cooper at his house. Afterwards went
to St. Paul's. Service chaunted. Spent the evening at
Baily's. Cooper there also, and looked over some of my
Anthems.

" I2th. Call on Flight. Visit to a soup-shop, long
ditto to the ' Gallery of Practical Science.' Dined at
Baily's. Collard there in the evening.

" 13th. Sunday. At. St. Paul's at the morning and
afternoon service. ' Played out ' at the latter, as also at
St. Sepulchre's in the morning, and the Percy Chapel in
the evening. Dined with Cooper, made a miserable meal.
The fault not his. Attwood very hearty and cordial, and
in love with the idea of my Organ Swell.

66 Edward Hodges

" 14th. Nothing to be done with Paine and Hopkins
about the pubHcation of nny ' Church Reform ' Anthem.
Went to Mill-Wall, Poplar, to look for Mr. Seaward to
confer about my steam-boat project. Conversation with
Capt. McArthur on a stage coach on my way back. At
St. Paul's at three o'clock. Played the ' Nunc Dimittis.'
Cooper and Baily dined with me at the Percy at five.
Cooper to tea also. Concert by the Society of British
Musicians at the Hanover Square Rooms. Cooper supt
with me afterwards.

" 15th . . . Paine and Hopkins refuse to publish
for me unless entirely at my own risque. At St. Paul's
in the afternoon. My A'^ chaunt done. Altered and spoilt.
Flight called in the evening. I showed him the Steamer
Model and took him to Baily's, where we spent a merry
evening with Cooper, etc., etc.

" i6th. Wednesday. Morning spent with Flight,
principally at the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science.
Called on C. C. Clarke. Dined at Baily's. Took a share
(10 guis.) in his lottery for a superb statue called ' The
Sleeping Nymph.'

'* 17th. Packed up and left London by nine.

" At Windsor by eleven. Chat with French, etc.
Chapel visited. Off to Maidenhead. Dined with Mr.
and Miss Atkinson.

" Slept at the Bear. Off at ten for Bath. Arrived
there at 7 P.M. Spent the evening at Mrs. Gibbs' cheer-
fully. Slept at the Greyhound. Left Bath as soon as I
had swallowed my breakfast and reached home before
noon.

" 19th. Since my arrival at home I have unpacked my
travelling baggage and delivered to my children certain
little toys which I purchased for them in London."

More Diary Extracts 67

(On hearing of the death of Dr. Clark-Whitfeld,
Professor of Music, Cambridge.)

''Feb. 27 1836.

" The vacant Professorship of Cambridge has excited
(but very gradually) no little ambitious feeling in my
heart. Yet what vanities are all worldly distinctions !
Shall I however be content to occupy but a low position ?
As a servant of the Most High, I feel that I may law-
fully aspire to such a position in society as in His good
providence may be within my reach, trusting that He
will grant me the grace to use what honour may accrue
to me for the promotion of His glory and the good of
my fellow creatures.

" If it be not His will that I should attain the post now
unoccupied, vain will be my attempt. I hope that I have
by this time learnt a little of true and unfeigned resigna-
tion. This methinks a man may have, under defeat, and yet
not be blind to the circumstance (if so it were) that as far
as man was concerned he had been unjustly dealt with."

" Oct. 28, 1837.
" The affection of my eyes still continuing, I have medi-
tated upon the posibility of my becoming blind, and
endeavoured to commit a fugue (a short one in D minor
by Sebastian Bach) to memory. This is with me a matter
of intense difificulty. I have never yet been able to play
Memoriter more than a few Chaunts, Psalm-tunes and
simple melodies."

As far as I know my Father suffered only from
over-straining his eyes.

Regarding what he says of himself, the question
arises how could so creative a mind as his, one so

68 Edward Hodges

full of the power not only of fugue extemporisation
— and that thoroughly in all the parts — but of the
ability to write elaborate fugues of three subjects —
how could such a mind feel disposed to memorize
similar compositions even by 2. g7'- eater mind ? Are
there not existing antagonistic mental powers ? It
would be interesting to follow up this enquiry ;
whether the greatest fugue writers were also the
greatest iw^wo. players, or were not, simply because
they might not have had the time to give to the
necessary study which committal requires.

The mental power of musicians may be as varied
as their faces — no two alike.

We all know that the best of memories may at the
merest trifle, the stir even of an insect's wing, prove
treacherous and untrustworthy ; and the very fact
of his reverence for his two great masters made him,
if possible, more artistically true to them. It was
remarkable how distinct he kept the great mind he
was rendering from his own powers as composer.
In the one case he was, as it were, in the traces of
truth and honour to another ; he was the '' voice
of one" speaking through his mind and fingers
with renewed life ; but when he spoke of himself
at his organ, in prelude and fugue, in mysterious
grandeur or spiritual meditation, or in the exalta-
tion of the " Hallelujah," when his thoughts were

More Diary Extracts 69

inspired by the service, when people stood trans-
fixed in the aisles, as the gorgeously coloured light
from the windows fell through the church : then it
was that his Pegasus was free ; and, bounding
above our limited imaginary views, he struck the
mountain-tops in the lightness of his footfall, seem-
ing to pass the clouds themselves, and to take his
way to the very Source of life and genius, of sacred
song and aspiration.

What need had he to memorize? he, whose
perennial fount of fresh improvization, or medita-
tion, or jubilization was so grand and exhaustible?

Never shall I forget the sound of his exquisite
fugue-playing as I treasure it on one particular
occasion. It was after the Great Western had
brought my sweet sister Miriam, and myself, to
New York in the summer of 1841.

We were all living, ourselves and our newly-
found Father, near St. John's Park, in the house of
Mr. Charles Horn, grandson of a former organist of
the Chapel Royal, Windsor, and son of Mr. Charles
E. Horn, the fascinating singer of Beethoven's " Ade-
laide" and composer of "Cherry Ripe " and lots of
taking unforgetables in popular music ; and the two
actresses, daughters of Wallack, (then, I believe,
a leading man on the stage) were there also.

CHAPTER VI.

THE WINDSOR TRIAL.

IN March, 1835, a vacancy having occurred in
the post of Organist at St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, my Father became a candidate for the
position. From a warm friend of both the com-
batants I received the following account of the
competition that took place for the appointment,
the facts being given to him by one who was
present on the occasion.

" It appears that there were no less than thirty-two
applicants of every degree and kind, J. B. Knight, the
ballad writer, being one of them. The number, after a
partial trial of nearly all, was reduced to twelve, then to
six, then to four, and finally the Dean and Chapter
decided upon two candidates, Dr. Edward Hodges and
George J. Elvey, each of whom was required to accom-
pany the choir at one of the services, with the privilege
of selecting both Service and Anthem used on the occa-
sion. Mr. Salmon told me that your Father played
'Gibbons in F,' and the Anthem by Boyce ; and his
accompaniments were greatly admired by the choir and
congregation. The following day young Elvey's turn
came. He was only nineteen, and had many friends and
70

The Windsor Trial 71

admirers; and his brother, Dr. Stephen Elvey, was at that
time Organist of New College, Oxford. When the Dean
and Chapter met for their decision, objection was made
to Elvey 's youth, but it was over-ruled by the majority,
on the ground that he would be easier to manage than
Dr. Hodges. A majority of the Chapter thought the
latter candidate would be more desirable ; and here again
the Dean interposed by saying he did not fancy the
broad-brimmed hat and white necktie, and boots with
pointed toes, suggesting to him an individuality that
might prove difficult to control — and all this happened
nearly fifty years ago. Every one of the chief actors
has passed off this stage of life, and Elvey alone remains !
When he goes we shall have seen and heard the last of
the true type of thoroughbred Cathedral Organists and
Musicians.

" Mr. Salmon, in speaking of your Father's accompani-
ments with unstinted praise, said to me: * Dr. Hodges
had a very dif^cult task before him in having to play
on an F manual Organ with an F pedal keyboard when
for many years he had been accustomed to a C manual
and pedal.' You of course know that the Organ in St.
James's Church, Bristol was the first CC manual and CCC
pedal keyboard made in England ; and if I remember
rightly, it had a 16-foot stopped pipe, speaking the 32-
feet tone. Among my books was a volume issued as
long ago as 1843, containing exclusively your Father's
compositions, and among them his * Morning and Even-
ing Service in C,' and the Anthem especially written for
the opening of St. James's Organ. Sir George Elvey told
me that he did not dare to play in public upon a C man-
ual and pedal, he could take no big chords with his left
hand (G and A, for instance) and he was constantly put-
ting down the CCC pedal key, thinking it was the FFF.
While speaking about Organs I may tell you that the

72 Edward Hodges

late Dr. S. S. Wesley said to me that a G manual with G
sharp was the proper compass for all Organs ; but in all
cases, there should be a C pedal keyboard. I think he
was right."

It was in the glorious Chapel of St. George, so
truly called " Royal," rich in its storied heraldry
of kings and emperors, where the very air, that
hardly sways the banners that hang there, is filled
with the religious loyalty of England, where the
Royal Standard floats before the rich organ case,
where the iridescent gleams of light from painted
window tint and touch cornice, capital, or column,
or fall athwart some exquisite monument or tomb,
that the contest for the office of organist took
place. My Father himself tells the story of it in
his diary in the cloistered seclusion of his own
home :

' ' May 22, i8jj.

" On Monday evening (past lo o'clock), March 2, 1835,
on my return from a chess party I received a letter from
Mrs. Pigott, announcing the death of my friend Skcats,
the Organist of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, couched
in such terms as left no doubt that it was the dying
wish of the deceased officer that I might succeed him.
With the customary misfortune attending anything
connected with my interests, strange to say this letter
(which in due course of the post ought to have been
delivered at my house by 10 A.M.) had been ' missent to
Westbury/ the consequence of which was that it was not
delivered until evening, and / lost the zvhole day. Perhaps

The Windsor Trial 11

this delay may have occasioned some of the (so-called)
ill-luck which followed, although doubtless ail was ' ordered
aright ' by the great Disposer of events.

" I prepared for my journey the next morning, moved
off in the evening by the Mail Coach, reached Windsor
early on Wednesday (the first day of Lent,) made a very
favorable impression the next day by a little preliminary
performance upon the organ, left my Testimonials, from
I to 51 inclusive, for the inspection of the Chapter, and
returned home to await a summons to appear there again
for a more formal exhibition of my talent as a player.

" In due course I received a letter from Mr. de St.
Croix, Chapter Clerk, appointing Thursday, the ninth of
April, for my performing exhibition.

" I accordingly went to Windsor again (reaching it on
the 8th) and on the morning of the appointed day I per-
formed the whole of the musical service. (Gibbons in F,
and Boyce's noble Anthem, ' O where shall wisdom be
found ? ') from score. Afterwards I played for an hour
various pieces of music and extemporary movements ;
and when I had concluded, received the congratulations
and commendations of two or three members of the
Chapter, who spoke in such a vein as clearly conveyed
the impression that they looked upon me as their future
ofificer.

" However, all this was vain and illusory. I returned
home full of flattering expectation that I was now at
length just about to attain the object of my long formed
wishes. The election was to take place on Monday, April
27, 1835, and did so ; but not myself but a young man
named George Elvey was elected."

The following letters, bearing upon the subject
of the election, are of interest.

74 Edward Hodges

From the Rev. Canon Bowles, A.M., of Brem-
hill to the Rev, R. Musgrave, of Windsor.

Canonry House, Salisbury, March 14, i8j^.

" My Dear Sir,

" Dr. Hodges, of Bristol, one of the most scientific and
practical Musicians in England, as composer, as well as a
most skilfull organist, is anxious to obtain the post of
Organist at Windsor Castle Chapel. I say this from some
knowledge and the most fervent love of this Art, as the
powerful auxiliary to our affecting Cathedral services.

" His compositions in this line are sublime and affect-
ing, and I am equally sure I can equally recommend him
as an exemplary and pious character and admirable
player.

" You will, I am sure, put forward as far as shall be in
your power among your Chapter-brethren this summary
of his merits,

" And believe me ever sincerely,

" W. M. Bowles."

From the Rev. R. Musgrave, Canon of Wind-
sor, to the Rev. Canon Bowles of Salisbury.

" May 7, 183s.

" My Dear Sir,

" I trust you will not think me remiss in having suf-
fered your letter to remain so long unanswered. But I
was unwilling to write to you till I could communicate
the result of the contest for the vacant situation of
Organist at Windsor.

" I need not say that I lost no time in forwarding your
high testimonial of Dr. Hodges' merits (who, as I am told,
performed Luther's Hymn in the most affecting and beau-
tiful manner) to the Chapter.

The Windsor Trial 75

" There were several other most highly talented Candi-
dates— young men of excellent character, upon one of
whom the election devolved, a Mr. Elvey from Oxford,
whose merit I think will not be lessened by the circum-
stance of Dr. Hodges' having said that he thought him
one of the most talented young performers he had ever
heard. I need not assure you what pleasure it would
have afforded me had the election terminated according
to the wishes expressed by one whose sound judgment
and beautiful taste in Cathedral music is so universally
and justly appreciated.

" Always with great truth,

" R. MUSGRAVE."

Part of a letter from Mr, French, one of the
gentlemen of the Choir of the Chapel Royal of St.
George.

" Windsor, May j6, iSjS-

" To Dr. Hodges.

" My Dear Sir,

" I am at a loss to conjecture how your professional
talent can at all suffer from your not being appointed
here.

" Your performance was highly approved by all, and
your talent as an Organist and Composer stands too high
in the musical world to lose one jot from the disappoint-
ment which you lay so much to heart,
" Many thanks for the pamphlets.

" I remain dear Sir,

" Yours truly,

" JosiAH French."

The " Pamphlets " included one which Canon

76 Edward Hodges

Bowles styled my Father's " Admirable Defence
of Church Music."

From W. de St. Croix, Chapter Clerk of Wind-
sor Chapel Royal.

" fVindsor, AT ay, 1833-

" To Dr. Hodges.

" I sincerely sympathize with you under the disappoint-
ment you have experienced at the result of the election,
but you well know that ' the race is not always to the
swift.'

" Your performance of Luther's Hymn has made an
impression in favour of your musical talents that will
long be remembered by those who were so fortunate as
to be present at your trial ; and the favourable terms in
which you expressed yourself respecting the merits of a
rival Candidate, so far from operating to your disadvan-
tage, was considered most honourable, generous, and dis-
interested conduct on your part, and met with the applause
to which such handsome conduct was entitled.
" I remain Sir,

"Your faithful and obedient servant,

" W. DE St. Croix.

" Dr. Edward Hodges, Bristol."

From the Diary :

Saturday, yune 18, i8j^.

" Soon after I reached the house I chanced to take up
" Felix Farley," and almost the first thing I observed was
a notice of the decease of Mr. Paddon, Organist of Exe-
ter Cathedral. This suddenly stirred me up to think of
making another attempt to secure such a post as he has
vacated, but I confess that I have very little notion of

Last Years in Bristol T^

succeeding at Exeter, neither have I so strong an inclina-
tion to reside in that city, as I had to effect a settlement at
Windsor.

" However, ' not as I will.' As a matter of duty I
resolved to make some inquiries upon the subject, and
accordingly I waited upon Mr. Martin (an Exeter man)
in the evening, and obtained from him some particulars
as to the names of some of the ofificers of the Cathedral.
He read me a paragraph from the Exeter newspaper,
wherein the Editor states his understanding that the
ofifice of organist is to be thrown open to free competi-
tion, and that Sir George Smart is to be appointed um-
pire or judge on the occasion. If so, there will be no
hope for me. One of his own pupils will be sure to gain
the appointment. However, I resolved to write to Exe-
ter for official information as to the nature of the pro-
ceedings to be adopted, and accordingly, when I came
home, I wrote a letter to Ralph Barnes, Esq., the Chap-
ter-Clerk, asking a few questions and stating my desire to
become a candidate provided the election is to be con-
ducted upon the just ground of the general qualifications
and character of the candidates, and not upon the mere
agility of their fingers."

''July 31st.

" I received a letter from Exeter this morning. It was
from Mr. Barnes, couched in the kindest possible terms,
to inform me that the Chapter of Exeter had come to the
decision to prefer two candidates before me, one of whom
had been bred up in a Cathedral Choir, and the other had
had the management of such a body. (I instantly fixed
upon Dixon and young Wesley as the two parties referred
to.) This communication had a strange effect upon my
spirits. I felt horribly depressed, not that the choice had
not fallen upon me, but that the reason now tactily

78 Edward Hodges

assigned was the defect of my education as not being a
Cathedralite.

" Well ! well ! my Master can yet provide for me, but it
would seem as though it were not to be in my own way.

" I went into town and read the papers."

After an interval my Father continues :

" The Exeter Cathedral appointment is not to be con-
ferred upon me, and for this reason, because I am not a
Cathedral-bred man. If the objection be valid it shuts
up my prospects /<7r life. Aye more. It consigns me to
an early grave. Not that I am now in danger of com-
mitting suicide, but that I am convinced that I am not
calculated by constitution to contend with an uninter-
rupted course of vexatious circumstances. Character and
qualifications seem to have been allowed to be proved to
the fullest extent (saving only practical demonstration,
and I begin to regret that this was not had recourse to),
yet my pretensions were unceremoniously set aside, with-
out a trial, because I did not have the happiness (shall I
say misfortune?) to be trained under a Cathedral Organ-
ist, a man who for the greater part neglects his duty, and
leaves the services to be conducted by any scrub who can
get throiigJi with them. The thing galls me, and not-
withstanding the marked politeness and kind attention of
Mr. Barnes, the Chapter-Clerk of Exeter, a man who
though unknown I begin to love, does not increase my
affection for Deans and Chapters generally, who seem to
be actuated by a very queer set of motives."

July 31st.

" It chanced that on entering my study this morning, I
noticed a large black, and strange bird in the Bishop's
Garden beneath my windows. On enquiry I found he

Last Years in Bristol 79

had been seen there several hours. In the course of the
morning I sent for the key of the garden, in order to ex-
amine the bird, to ascertain why it continued there, as it
appeared to be unable to f^y, and not very expert in hop-
ping about.

'* The key could not be obtained, but Mr. Crook hap-
pening to come in, he undertook to scale the garden wall
by the help of my ladder, and after a diligent search,
found the poor bird in a dark corner of the ruins of the
Bishop's Palace, and brought him in. We placed him in
a cage I had brought for a pair of doves several years ago.
The bird proved to be in very good condition, rather tame
than otherwise, but to have lost one foot ! I thought it
was a Raven, but on reference to a book on Natural His-
tory we agreed to pronounce it a crow, as it had not the
dimensions assigned to the former. The fellow ate and
drank heartily and did not appear incommoded by its
imprisonment.

" Now this little occurrence suggested to my mind an
odd fancy, in the shape of an analogical prophecy. I had
two Cathedral organs in prospect, as the bird had doubt-
less originally two feet. But he has lost one of them. So
have I. His leg or ankle, however, betrays no wound, the
bird is none the worse for it. Why should I be for my
loss? The remaining leg and foot are sound and ser-
viceable. Perhaps my remaining leg may be trustworthy
yet ! Who knows? Should Sam Wesley gain his point
at Exeter, how the bull will run at Hereford ! But what
fancies do I run into ! Does Providence intimate its will
by the intervention of crows or ravens? Truly it may :
for God sent the ravens to feed his prophet, and he may
have sent a crow to comfort me in my disappointment."

Aug. 14th.

" After I had discharged my customary morning en-
gagements, I wrote a letter to Mr. Barnes of Exeter,

8o Edward Hodges

thanking him for the very great kindness evinced in his
correspondence, and at the same time venturing to con-
travene (as far as written words can) the principle laid
down by the Chapter of Exeter, as operating to my ex-
clusion from all competition for the situation of Cathe-
dral Organist. This I did first by direct attack on the
maxim, as being one which could only be proved or dis-
proved by experiment, and next by adverting to some
facts in my personal history not hitherto brought
forward.

" It is barely possible that, if the Chapter have not
come to a definite decision, this letter may reach their
hands ; and that in that case it may produce some small
effect on their minds. But the greater probability is,
that the matter has been, ere this, definitely settled."

' ' A ugust 77, i8ss-
" In the Cloister I found a letter awaiting me from
Exeter, wherein Mr. Barnes informs me that the Chapter
have elected Mr. Wesley of Hereford."

After hearing of Wesley's election, my father
sent his testimonials to Hereford.

CHAPTER VII.

LAST YEARS IN BRISTOL.

T^ROM the Bristol Mirror :

" February, i8j6.

" The organ of St. Stephen's Church now building by
Mr. John Smith the younger, under the superintendence
of Dr. Hodges, is rapidly approaching completion, and,
although not large, promises to be a superior instrument,
embodying all the latest improvements."

The Anthem, Ps. ij6, which I have denomi-
nated a prince among my Father's compositions,
was performed at the opening of St. Stephen's
organ, regarding which ceremony, as well as the
composition of the Anthem, I give a few interest-
ing particulars from the Diary.

" Jan. 2_5, 1836.

" I made a fair commencement of an anthem (Ps. ij6j,
and, with intermission, continued the employment until
II P.M.

" ^an. 27, i8j6.

" In the evening I worked again at my new anthem
and made a little progress, but laboured under too much
real sadness to prosecute such an undertaking with likeli-

6 81

82 Edward Hodges

hood of success or rapidity. I wish the composition to
be cheerful, yet my heart is in heaviness. My way is alto-
gether shut in. I cannot get forth."

On the subject of organs everywhere, in town or
country, in Church or Chapel, for the erection or
reconstruction or drawing up specifications for new
ones, my Father was the sole authority. Through
the organ builders of London and Bristol, his im-
provements and suggestions became adopted by
degrees ; and to the best of my knowledge brought
him oftentimes not even the credit of the inven-
tion. It was a strange and true remark made to
me by the excellent Dr. Garrett of St. John's,
Cambridge, only a few years ago : " I had always
a mooning idea that in the matter of organs we
owed very much to your Father." A mooning
idea ! Very suggestive simile ; conveying an idea
of extensive good, though you could not quite place,
nor define it,

" Jan. J 1st.

" Amidst my troubles and complicated sorrows I have
commenced the composition of a Thanksgiving Anthem,
which I trust will prove a solace and comfort in my dis-
tress."

" Feb, nth.

" Wellington came in the early part of the evening and
I had a couple of games of chess with him. The fact was

Last Years in Bristol 83

that my head was by that time pretty well fagged, and
ached too, and my imagination was more disposed to
revert to ' Sehon, king of the Amorites and Og, the king
of Basan,' than to form chess combinations with facility.
" I read for a considerable time out of Matthew Henry's
Commentaries, but was more than ever impressed with
the conviction that such human labours rather tend to
impair than to exalt the effect of the perusal of the Bible,
excepting always such commentaries, and such only, as
have for their object the actual explanation or elucidation
of the text, the fixing of dates, &c., &c."

From his Monthly Review.

" February 2gth.

" I have worked at my new Anthem ( Ps. ij6) very
slowly, and latterly the work has been altogether sus-
pended by my bodily afifliction, I am afraid that as a
whole it will turn out but poor disjointed stuff. It is to
conclude with a double fugue in eight real parts, a work of
no small labour, I ween.

" In the afternoon I took about ' forty winks ' of sleep,
and in the evening made a commencement of my fugue,
upon (with but trifling variation) the same subject which
I had thought of before I wrote a single bar of the
Anthem ! "

" March jth.

" John Smith and I still disagree about the tone of the
Instrument (St. Stephen's Organ). He almost insists
upon retaining the old and abominable Wolf ; instead of
distributing it throughout the system, throwing it into
glaring prominence in the Key of Al^."

" March gth, rSjj.

" John Smith called this morning and I gave him per-
mission to cover the Swell-box of St. Stephen's organ

84 Edward Hodges

with box-boards instead of milled-boards, the former
being perhaps in some respects even better adapted to
the prevention of the transmission of sound than the
latter, and lo pr. cent, cheaper."

" March 2 2d.

" I made an attempt to bring the anthem to a conclu-
sion, and think I now see my way clear to the doublebar."

" Never have I bestowed more labour on a composition
than I have done on this ; and never perhaps felt less
self-complacency on a review of the work when approach-
ing its close."

And a few days before he says :

" My Fugue proceeded a little way. It is a very heavy
up-hill sort of a job."

' ' March 31st.

" I have contrived to finish my anthem fPs. ij6j, and
T. H. Crook now has the Score to make a fair copy.

" Whether the composition be good for anything or not
is more than doubtful. Probably it is too elaborate."

" April ijth.

" I learnt to-day that a general invitation has been given
to the whole of the Choral Society to attend and assist at
the Opening of St. Stephen's Organ.

" At this rate I shall have a pretty mess of it ! 'T will
never do for me ! "

" April igth.

" In the evening the church warden and one of the
Vestry of St. Stephen's called here officially to request my
undertaking the Opening of their new Organ, when we
had a long discussion upon the proper mode of conduct-
ing that business.

" My notion and suggestion was that the most appro-

Last Years in Bristol 85

priate method was simply to get up a little quiet music
on the occasion in proper course, as forming part of the
regular church service, including an Anthem in the even-
ing, and this course was ultimately resolved upon."

" May 3d.

" I went into town and spent much time at St. Stephen's.
The action of swell does not please me, being very unequal.
I begged Smith to try to improve it.

"At home at four. I dined with Jubal.

" England tuned my Piano-forte this morning. He
declined rendering any assistance on occasion of the
Opening of St. Stephen's Organ, on the ground that as a
Roman Catholic he could not join in the religious cere-
monies of any other ' sect.'

" I wish that all Protestants were as rigid ! Roman
Catholic Music in this country would then be at a very
low ebb."

A plan had been entertained of having a showy
performance, with additional vocalists and instru-
mentalists from Bath ; but my Father simply said
in that case he would withdraw ; whereupon his
plan and ideas were carried out.

By the loth of May the weather had become
beautiful ; his sufferings were well over, and his
notes were notes of thankfulness. He writes,
"■ After nine hours of unbroken sleep I arose re-
freshed and gave God thanks." His hours pass
rapidly in furthering his musical choir and organ
arrangements. " Exhilarating mornings of glori-
ous sunshine " succeed each other, and he says :

86 Edward Hodges

" I am thus picking up health by out-of-door exercise,
and am truly thankful to my gracious Master for the im-
provement in that respect, of which I am conscious, and
which my friends also have observed. 'T is wonderful
too, considering the load of anxiety I have on my mind."

" May nth.

" Before dinner I took Faustina and Handel a good walk
through Clifton and the Hotwells. We witnessed the arri-
val of a good deal of shipping, the wind having veered
round to the Westward. Home by four, after being absent
two hours. Cold beef for dinner. Good meat and good
appetite. In the evening we had a grand muster of vocal-
ists and others, for a third rehearsal of the music for St.
Stephen's. There were present twenty-four, including
Handel (who led the second choir) and myself. We re-
hearsed nearly all the music that is to be done ; but there
was toward the last some confusion owing to the frolic-
someness of three of the gentlemen aided by the sly
humour of two others. All off by half past eleven.

" I was much fatigued, my patience having been worried
in a very great degree. I did not go to bed for more than
an hour later."

" A/ay 13th,

" Another delightful morning. I spent it ' up in town '
in a very vagabondish manner, vibrating principally be-
tween St. Stephen's and certain printing ofifices in the
vicinity. Soon after noon I ascended St. Stephen's
Tower, in company with L. Livett and two other gentle-
men. We there enjoyed the panoramic view of the city,
and partook of bread and cheese and bottled porter!

" At half past six the grand Rehearsal took place at the
Church.

" I sent for a fly and rode thither in company with a
great quantity of music books. All the pieces, except my

ST. STEPHEN S CHURCH, BRISTOL.

Last Years in Bristol 87

* Cantate ' and ' Deus Misereatur,' were rehearsed. We did
the Anthem thrice, and the Fugue yet once more. Still it
was by no means tvell done. I hope and beHeve that all
will go better on Sunday, when the parties will be inclined
to conduct themselves decorously, if not devoutly. I was
annoyed by some of them entering the Church and the
Organ Gallery too, with their hats on. I placed Crook
at the Organ to rehearse the ' Te Deum ' : he went on
with the ' Jubilate ' also. The organ answers very well,
but requires the employment of its full power in accom-
panying nearly all the vocal music, otherwise the voices
do not keep together."

" 14th.
" All the afternoon I was closely engaged writing out
Psalm-tune Parts for my numerous choir of to-morrow ;
and at night I tried in vain to settle on a subject for an
extempore voluntary to-morrow, but was obliged to go
to bed without accomplishing the object."

" Sunday ijt^.

"The service commenced precisely at eleven o'clock.
The church was completely filled — aisles, chancel and all.
Croft's ' This is the Day ' went off with great spirit. I
played a voluntary extempore, but was by no means
happy in the effusion, and felt cramped by the limited
nature of the Instrument. The Service (mine in C) went
off trippingly, both morning and evening. The * Kyrie '
was particularly well sung, and the Psalm Tunes became
(what they should be) genuine Chorales. The Anthem
in the evening did not pass off as well as I could wish,
some few of the points being either not taken up at all,
or imperfectly executed. Had Handel been leader of the
principal Choir, the whole would have gone off much
better. For the postludes I took, in the morning ' The

88 Edward Hodges

Horse and his Rider,' Chorus of Handel ; in the evening,
the Overture in ' Saul.' For the Voluntary in the evening
I played Bach's splendid Organ Pedal Fugue in G minor
as a duet with Crook. Neither of my Assistants however
were sufficiently steady.

" The Chaunt in the evening was mine in G* minor
played in G*', which was pronounced by Mr. Attwood,
man-milliner and organist (!) to be one of the dullest
things he ever heard ! "

" Sept 22d.

" I called at Christ Church and inspected the new organ
in progress there. Some of the Stops of the Choir and
Swell are done ; but none as yet of the Great Organ.
More of this instrument another time."

''Sept. 26th.

" I spent some time at Christ Church. The Swell there
on my new principle will be a fine one. They have
adopted also my Brass Pedals."

" Nov. 14th.

" I took Revs. John and Thomas West to Christ
Church and there played the organ to them for a little
while. As the instrument approaches completion I do
not like it as well as I thought I should. Many of the
arrangements are very awkward, clumsy, and ill-contrived.
The Swell Pedal is out of the way and heavy in operation.
The Pedals are too remote from the key-board and too
far under the keys. It is altogether a disagreeable instru-
ment to play on, although the contents are upon the
whole very good."

' ' Nov. 2 1st,

" Going through town I put in first at Christ Church
(where the new organ approaches completion) and had a
rattle upon the instrument."

Last Years in Bristol

" June 21, iSjy.

" The official intelligence was this morning promulgated
in Bristol that

" King William IV died yesterday at 2^ 12 A.M.

" Of course the bells tolled mournfully, but there was
no grief.

" Concerning his short and inglorious reign I will say
nothing here. May the next be more prosperous."

-2sd.
" I endeavoured to select some words for a Funeral
Anthem for the late King, and again failed ; I could find
nothing appropriate."

" All the evening I was busy selecting words for a
Funeral Anthem, or rather collecting words from which
hereafter to make a selection. They say the King is to
be buried on the 6th of July. If I do anything I must do
it quickly."

" 1 came home and made an attempt at the opening
recitation, etc., of an Anthem for William IV. I worked
until after midnight but did not make any very satisfac-
tory progress."

'' yu/y ist.
" I proceeded with the Anthem until nearly noon."

" yiilp 4th.
"Before I went to bed I did a little (in pencil) at my
Anthem, and finished it to-day."

" July 6th.

" King William IV. was buried this day at Windsor, but
the Clergymen of Bristol were on this occasion too lazy
to indulge their flocks with divine service on the day of

90 Edward Hodges

interment, as they had done on the decease of former
monarchs.

" The shops were shut ; so were the churches and
chapels. Of course therefore my new Anthem could not
be publicly performed. Nevertheless I was bent upon
launching my little composition after having taken the
trouble to construct it, so I ordered some bills of the
words to be printed (by Fuller, a radical, all the tory
printers being full to overflowing of election work) at the
foot of which I inserted the following memorandum :

" * Composed for the day of Interment, by Dr. Hodges;
and now intended to be performed at St. James' Church,
Bristol, after the evening service,

" ' on Sunday July 9, 1837.'

" The bills to the number of one hundred and twelve
only, were very nicely executed, and sent home in the
evening.

" Meanwhile I ascended the hill and dined with my
sister at Kingsdown Parade. In the evening I returned
(about 8 o'clock,) picked up J. Birtill by the way, and
held a second little partial rehearsal of the Anthem with
him, Sam. Wallis, F. Hodges, and Handel.

' ' Sunday, July gth.

"9.15 A.M., Domestic prayers. 10.30 I was at St.
James,' and at 11 at St. Nicholas', where I distributed a
few papers among particular friends.

" At 2.30, at my house in the Cloisters, we held another
partial rehearsal of the Anthem.

"At 6 o'clock I was at St. James', and mustered up
something like a choir. At the conclusion of the service
there was a considerable augmentation of both the con-
gregation and choir. I played the ' Dead March in Saul '
and after a little delay we proceeded to perform my new
Funeral Anthem for King William IV. The Anthem

Last Years in Bristol 91

was got through pretty well. We could have added
many more to the choir had we had copies wherewith to
supply them. The audience was immense. The parson
remained in the pulpit, the people remained in their
pews. Crowds arrived from other places of worship. I
hope they were gratified. All over, I came home to sup-
per in peace and quietness."

The same year he wrote the following poem on
Queen Victoria.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

CHORAL GLEE.

Long life to our Queen!
The fairest e'er seen,

And death to her foes.

If such the world knows.
May a spotless renown
Attend on her Crown,

And her glory extend

Ever, world without end.

May peace and virtue never cease.
Through her long reign to find increase ;
And be Victoria's name enrolled
On all our hearts — as on our gold.

Long life to our QuEEN !
The fairest e'er seen.

And death to her foes,

If such the world knows.
May a spotless renown
Attend on her Crown,

And her glory extend

Ever, world without end.

92 Edward Hodges

It was November 4, 1835, more than a year after
the severe domestic affliction had befallen him, that
he was invited to dine at the house of his learned
friend, Dr. Alfred Day, and there to meet an Ameri-
can gentleman, the Rev. I, O. Choules.

He says : '' The evening was spent very agree-
ably, principally in lively gossip about American
manners, etc."

My Father's life then flowed on in its numerous
channels, and on March 6 of 1836 he again met
Mr. Choules, and says :

" We talked a little about my possible emigration to
the United States. Choules said, that a man's sons con-
stituted Wealth in that country."

The next day, according to promise, Mr. and
Mrs. Choules visited my Father in his cloister
study ; and the reader has only to fancy the old-
time look of the large quaint room, with its artistic
surroundings, and the host's genial, pleasant cor-
diality,— that freshness of youth mingled with the
" old antiquary " suggestion of his dress and style,
— to form a very pleasant picture. His own words
give the interview best :

" I worked to-day at all available intervals at my An-
thems, but actually wrote in nothing.

" Mr. Choules called by appointment about noon, and
brought his wife with him. We now had a little discus-

Last Years in Bristol 93

sion on the topic before alluded to, and he asked me, with
evident seriousness, whether, if a good offer were made to
me in America, I should be tempted to accept, and I re-
plied most unhesitatingly in the aflfirmative. He under-
took to bear the matter in mind, and said ' very probably
I should receive a letter upon the subject, most likely
from Dr. Wainwright.'

" I made up into a little parcel, ten copies of my
' A-pology for Church Music,' for Choules, after inscribing
three or four of them with the designations of certain in-
fluential and musical Clergymen, whom he named, inclu-
ding Dr. Wainwright aforesaid. Choules was begging
books for a College Library now forming in the State of
Maine, and I gave him ' Hume's Essay ' and an anony-
mous * Commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians.'
Had we not been in such a hurry, I would have found
him many more. His wife was particularly friendly, and
both of them seemed much pleased with my old habita-
tion. They remained here but a short time, and took a
most affectionate leave. I believe that I shook hands
with Mrs. C. no less than three times on her departure,
viz., once in my study, (which Mr. C. said was the best
study and most to his liking of any he had ever anywhere
seen), once below stairs, and once more outside the house
door."

And here of the good couple, we lose sight.
Even this little characteristic, I might say national,
friendliness of Mr. and Mrs. Choules may have
had its effect on my Father and strengthened his
inclination to the United States, although he did
not at once decide to leave England.

Time again passes busily on with my Father, until

94 Edward Hodges

' ' November- 2^, i8j6.

" At Smith's shop in Terrell Street, I heard casually,
that Mr. Gray, of London, has just built a large organ for
Boston, America. This led to an idea that possibly the
Bostonians might make room for me as an Organist, and
acting upon it, I wrote a letter of enquiry to Mr. Gray
about it after my return home."

Mr. Gray after some days informed my Father
that Dr. Wainwright was in England, and this re-
sulted in my Father's meeting him at Portsmouth,
where two or three conferences were held, which
my Father says were " satisfactory " ; and he returns
to Bristol in the " Celerity " coach, " which," he
says, " was a very lazy one."

In his monthly retrospect my Father says :

" I have little doubt but that I shall receive a call to
enter upon a new field of labour, on the other side of the
Atlantic. I feel that I begin to set my heart upon this
as the intended means of bringing my small talent into
efificient exercise."

Another month passes, and in pessimistic vein
perhaps, he writes :

" The taste of the age is carrying music into egregious
folly. Everything now is done in an exaggerated man-
ner. All old principles are uprooted and thrown aside.
The vagaries of the Opera are to be brought into the
Church. All system is to be exploded. Discord is to be
exalted above concord, order and method are to be ex-
punged, and our devotional melodies are to be constructed

Last Years in Bristol 95

in subservience to the arch-demon of Reform. Sink or
swin, — I cannot, I will not submit. If I continue in this
my native country, it shall be one of my constant efforts
to try to stem this torrent and to divert the public taste
into the channel of common sense. On all hands it is
confessed, that ecclesiastical music will not pay, and in
composition I am doing just nothing at all.

" Even now a winged messenger may be on his way
across the mighty deep to beckon me to the American
shore. There, I shall start in a new scene, with new
vigour, new views, new encouragement, and what would
be newest of all, every prospect of benefitting others and
reaping a comfortable revenue for myself."

Again his active life goes on, and on the 17th
May, my Father receives a letter from Dr. Wain-
wright, which, although conveying no definite offer,
speaks very confidently of his success in the event
of his resolving to cross the water. He refers him
for further information to a Mr. Mason, by whom
he (Dr. W.) had sent a letter, and couples an invi-
tation to visit Boston with the offer of hospitality
at his own house. Finally, he says that he is about
to get up some of my Father's music at his own
Church, and hopes to hear from him soon again.

' '3fay 24th,
" On this day the Princess Victoria, Heiress presump-
tive to the Throne of these realms, became of Royal
age (eighteen years), and bells were rung in Bristol, but
there was no general holiday.

" I began writing to Dr. Wainwright yesterday. I
wrote to Mr. Lowell Mason, inviting- him to Bristol."

96 Edward Hodges

And in his closing review of the month, he says :

" Two flattering letters have just at this critical period
arrived from Dr. Wainwright, encouraging nny idea of
Emigration to the United States. I have since, however,
corresponded with his friend, Lowell Mason, now in Lon-
don, who does not appear quite so sanguine of my chance
of emolument in Boston or New York as the Doctor.

" America, too, happens to be in a state of fearful com-
mercial embarrassment, and all things considered, I have
resolved to postpone for a time the project of expatria-
tion and to try once more to effect a comfortable settle-
ment in my beloved native country."

The last weeks in our old Cloister home
passed in a kind of sad, confused dream, as
though some dreaded event impended. Our Father
seemed already removed from us in purpose and
occupation — but doubly near us in anxiety and
sympathy. I shall never forget the portending look
of the large trunks in his study and the prepara-
tions being made for a journey to Canada, as well
as a voyage to New York, in those days points of
tremendous distance.

That which I remember very distinctly was his
own individual character, which so impressed itself
upon me, viz. : his marvellously strong and un-
wavering purpose, his rapid, nervous action, his
suppression of every feeling that might have caused
himself pain or encouraged sorrow in us, his great
influence on all around him and their confidence in

RESIDENXE OF DR. HODGES IN THE CLOISTERS, BRISTOL.

Last Years in Bristol 97

his strength and judgment (for many friends were
there to carry on his wishes and see to final arrange-
ments), and the courage with which he went bravely
working on and cheering us by his spirit and
energy.

The last day came, — the carriage was at the door,
and the last piece of luggage put upon it.

With amazing calmness and courage he sum-
moned all the household around him in our usual
sitting room. He took his seat at the table ; behind
him above the mantel, was the great carved shield
which had on it these words, in his splendid large
writing :

" Omnia Vanitas^

True enough it was of worldly things ; but before
him lay his large Bible, which he opened at the
46th Psalm, and from this indeed there came a dif-
ferent voice. Silence fell on us all, and we watched
his face with a sense of awe, as he proceeded to
read in firm tones, yet with evident and deep emo-
tion, the Deus Nosier Refugiu7n, the old Festeburg
of Luther. Each verse of this noble burst of sub-
lime trust of the Hebrew Monarch came out with
a power unknown to us before. It seemed to be
pointing out, as he meant it to be, both to himself
and to us all, in this sore trial and for all our lives,
a veritable Refuge and Strength.

98

Edward Hodges

Many a cloud have I passed under since that
day, many a struggle for strength has been gone
through, many a prayer for help been uttered,
many an hour have I endured when the " chilling
rain " made " life seem never the same again " ;
but the deep impression of that scene of my child-
hood in the old Cloister home can never fade away ;
and again I see my Father's inspired face, as in his
sorrow and great trust he read the grand words,

" The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob
is our Refiige^

CHAPTER VIII.

TEMPORA MUTANTUR.

IT is in Bristol in the fail of the year 1838, and
the Cathedral service is just over. Two
ladies, who have come in late, evidently in travel-
ling costume, and have enjoyed the service from
the transept, stand awhile listening to the last
" Amen," lost in thought in the significant silence
which follows it. They listen also to the Voluntary,
and then follow the white-robed procession into the
cloisters. They seem to be strangers, yet evi-
dently acquainted with the place. They pass the
Norman pillars before the Chapter Room, and the
Churchyard gate and the Bishop's Palace door, and
soon stand before the now deserted looking Eliza-
bethan house, missing from the central door the
brass plate on which was engraved in pretty large
letters. Dr. Hodges.

They ring, and they knock with the great, old-
fashioned, circular, black knocker.

No answer.

One of the old Cathedral vergers, seeing them,
99

loo Edward Hodges

comes forward, and in answer to their questions, in-
forms them that the Doctor has "gone to America,
taking with him his oldest boy, ' Master Handel ' ;
that the two daughters are up at Kingsdown, at
Miss West's school."

"And the little boys?"

" They are at Dr. Day's School, Ma'am, and the
very little one is well cared for until he is old
enough to go there too."

The pleasant, English face of the honest old ver-
ger lighted up as he went on.

" A sore loss to us all. Ma'am, is the Doctor.
It don't seem right that he had to leave us. He
was always right pleasant, and had a cheery word
and a joke for us always ; and many 's the good
kind deeds he did when he heard any one was in
trouble. He would take long walks and put him-
self out to help them. There was nights. Ma'am,
when the cloisters seemed full of music, such
grand singing ! and all from his study window up
yonder. There was one kind of music he did not
like himself, and that was the old organ grinders ;
and as sure as ever they got themselves and their
monkeys inside the gates and begun grinding their
old hurdy-gurdy, out would come some one from
the Doctor's with a sixpence for them to 'be off.'
Ah ! we 've had a loss, and Bristol too ; for every

Tempora Mutantur

lOI

one seemed to know him, and a kindlier gentleman
never walked the streets o' Bristol. And the schol-
ars, too, was after him ; but 't was not for that he
was so much thought of.

" I used to think myself, Ma'am, that he had
some trouble on his mind at times, as he would
walk to and fro, up and down, in the cloisters there
oftentimes till after nightfall. Maybe he was think-
ing his music. We all knew that he was a great
musician and the music we heard from that window
up there was his own writing out. Yes, 't is a big
loss for us all. The cloisters don't seem the same
without him, and Mr. Handel too ! As full of
mischief as ever a boy was, was he ! I mind the
time when he and other boys with him clambered
the high wall and was over in a jiffy into the
Bishop's garden, and there they was robbing the pear
tree like fun. ' Old Phillips ' got wind of it and
went quick to the garden, as those was his favour-
ite pears — and was just in time to catch one boy up
the tree; but Mr. Handel — nobody could ever
catch him ! He made for the old ruins, and there
he hid away ; and old Phillips came along to the
cloisters with one big boy by the collar, and poor
little Mr. Jubal who was crying for fright about his
brother. He was too gentle and too little to have
gone in with these boys. Mr. Handel, he came in as

I02 Edward Hodges

right as could be, with the pears in his pocket, and
the big boy got out of the window where he was
shut up in PhilHps' house, and made off fast on his
legs.

" A mighty mischievous boy was Mr. Handel,
and beautiful too, and how he did sing ! that voice
of his ! no matter if the Doctor had a hundred
singers, Mr. Handel's voice would clear them all ;
so sweet and strong it was.

" The Doctor had some sad times here too.
Ma'am. He 'most broke his heart for his little
Deborah, when she died, and was carried from here
to St. Maryport Churchyard. There was another
too, but she was but a little baby when she died,
and did not know him, and trot after him as Debo-
rah did. Her name was Cecilia. Deborah never
minded what he did to her. When she heard his
knock and ring, she would run to the door, and he
would tuck her up like a bundle under his arm, and
carry her along, she laughing like everything.

" And it is but like as tho' yesterday that the
Cathedral bell was tolled for Mrs. Hodges ; a lovely
lady was she, and so young to go, and leave her
family, and the little weeny boy but a month old !
'T was a sad October day that ! The black coaches
and the hearse was a sorrowful sight to see in the
cloisters, and sadder yet to see the poor Doctor

Tempora Mutantur 103

and his three boys all in the long black cloaks and
hat-bands. That is just three years since.

" Mrs, Hodges was a wonderful singer too, and
before her illness came on, her voice went clear
and strong over all the rest, just as Mr. Handel's
did after her.

" He was a wonderful boy at the organ too, and
has, for now eighteen months past, helped the Doc-
tor when Mr. Crook went to St. Michael's ; and
small as he is, there he would sit at the big organ
at St. James', or at St. Nicholas', and go right
through the service. Well, Ma'am, I must spare
telling you more, but we 've all had a great loss.
Every one who knew the Doctor loved him. There
never was a poor person he knew wanted, but in
many ways, not only in money, he would try to
help him. I have known him have to borrow a
little at Church if he had seen some one suffering,
when he gave all the change he had. They '11 get
a good man and a great musician too over the sea
in New York, and we have lost him ; but we can't
forget him here at home."

The verger left and the ladies gave a parting look
at the walled-in Norman arch at the end of the
house, above which were bunches of snap-dragons
and wall-fiowers growing, and the tendrils of a vine
hanging down. Then they passed the cloister

I04 Edward Hodges

gates, and turning down the " Lower Green," sur-
veyed the perfect Norman arch, built over with
stuccoed houses.

" This must have been one great entrance to the
Monastery ; and this was the way to the Bishop's
Garden, south of the Doctor's premises."

They found their way in ; and saw the ruins of
the Bishop's Palace, which ran out in a southerly
direction, dividing the large garden. " I do not
wonder Dr. Hodges chose this old place," said one,
" it has a charm of its own."

"Just see those immense walls! The Doctor
told me that some in /iis house are three feet
thick, and that both the Palace and his house are
built on a Norman substructure of low arches, such
as you see in crypts. Just see that lovely Gothic
window of the palace, and how the kind ivy has
draped it ! They say the eastern side is lovely
with terraced gardens and steps, and up to the left,
the really fine south-eastern end of the Cathedral
in full view ! No doubt these houses were built
over the destroyed Monastery, when Henry VHI.
converted Bristol into a See."

They hurried out, and turned up to the " Prior's
Lodge," where they stood admiring that interesting
and picturesque dwelling.

" T/ii's was Dr. Hodges' poetic dream of a house !
Every stone of it speaks of him. Gothic window,

Tempora Mutantur 105

music-room, study window, do you see how beau-
tiful it is ? And the ivy-hidden one above ? and
his garden and trees ? Then, what a very unique
and unlike-other-pcople look and way he had with
him ! Oh, it is all charmincr ! As if he belongred
to just such a place ! So close to this grand Arch,
too, 'The Monastery Gateway' and the Cathedral
Tower behind ! Hark, there is the Quarter-bell !
Let us wander round and close our ramblings in
the Abbey Church, thankful that amid the destruc-
tion that fell on so many magnificent Christian
Churches in this our little island, otti^s was at least
partially spared. Perhaps the former Nave reached
to this very spot ! "

Then they went into the Cloister again and en-
tered as the bell struck the " ninth hour — the hour
of prayer." Mutilated as was the Cathedral, it was
still solemn and imposing. The sweet organ-tones
of the Stopped Diapason were penetrating and
almost singing as the procession passed in. The
matchless service went on, with its plaintive mono-
tone, and sweet harmonies of the preces and ver-
sicles. Then came the Psalms, that unequalled
part of the service in the hands of this Organist,
the true antiphon of the melodious double chant,
floating and echoing away ; the taste and fancy of
the player all called out as he varied from swell
and solo, choir and pedals, according to the words ;

io6 Edward Hodges

all the voices of song blending in one fascinating
whole. There was no set Sei'-vice sung, nor was the
Anthem in any way remarkable ; and when the
beautiful evening prayers were said, and the last
" Amen " sung, our two friends went out, the very
last of the congregation, at the northern door into
the Green, and the verger locked it after them.

The foregoing is partly imaginary, partly fact,
indeed, all fact with imaginary speakers.

The Bishop's Palace was burnt at the Bristol
Riots in October, 1831, and has never been re-built.

The Cathedral has a mural tablet to the mem-
ory of William Phillips, the subsacrist, for his
bravery in defending the Cathedral door against
the rioters.

The interest and knowledge of our family shown
by the verger are not at all out of the common.
The men belonging to a Cathedral remain long
there, and become attached to those living in the
precincts. As children, the good old men were
like friends to us. We used to love to go in when
they opened the Cathedral to ring the quarter-bells.
Their gowns, and kind old faces, and attitudes, as
with one foot in the noose, they pulled regularly at
the ropes, all were fascinating. We always went
back to our house when the '' College boys " (and
hour of service) approached.

CHAPTER IX.

EARLY DAYS IN AMERICA.

MY Father was accompanied to America by
his eldest and brilHant son, George F.
Handel, without whom it does not seem possible
that he could have gone. On their journey to
Liverpool they were met at a Midland station by
the Rev. Mr. Havergal and his daughter, Miriam,
for a few parting words, Miriam bringing my
Father a beautiful bunch of flowers.

They sailed on the New York Packet Sheridan,
leaving Liverpool early in August, and arriving in
New York, on their way to Canada, early in Sep-
tember. My Father had received the appointment
of Organist to the Cathedral of St. James at
Toronto, but on his arrival there he found the city
in so disturbed a state that he was obliored to grive
up the idea of remaining there, and accepted the
call to Trinity Church, New York.

On the voyage my Father gave way to the usual
cheerfulness of his disposition which, when with
107

io8 Edward Hodges

others, never forsook him. His readiness of wit,
his marvellous power of adaptation to circum-
stances, his quick sympathies and happy sociality,
no doubt here had free play. He never regarded
any one as a stranger. Behind every human face
he knew there was a human heart ; and he had a
larger one himself than most. The benignant glad-
ness of his spirit was always ready to enliven a
passing social hour ; and the following verse shows
a vein of fun coursing^ through his mental structure,
one which was never ascetic or austere :

" Said Maurice to Daniel one day after dinner,

* How strangely you lick up your wine, you old sinner;
Every minute you 're lifting your glass from the table,
Repeating potations as fast as you 're able.'

* I do no such thing,' replied Dan in a passion ;
' De'il take me if ever I swallow that fashion.'

' Avast with your rage,' then cried Maurice to merry

Dan,
No longer swig claret, but always drink sherry, Dan ! ' "

The following extracts from the graphic and
affectionate letters of my brother, George F. Han-
del, to his sisters, written in all the natural fresh-
ness of boyhood and under the exhilaration of new
scenes in a new country, throw light on my Father's
life at that time. Much that shows the versatility
of my brother's character has to be omitted ; but
the one vein runninof througfh them all is his intense

Early Days in America 109

and thorough-going devotion to his father. He
was one with him in his position, his feelings, his
progress, and his prospects ; entering into his life
with an admiration and reverence for his person,
as rare as it was beautiful, and united to a feeling
of almost brotherly sympathy.

Amid the deprivations and difficulties which my
Father encountered during these early years of his
life in New York, the companionship and musical
intelligence of this loving son must have been an
inexpressible comfort to him. The sunshine of his
presence and his numerous talents, especially for
the organ, will not soon be forgotten. I have lis-
tened to warm mention of them as late as 1894. A
beautiful painting of his yet more beautiful face, by
Stephen Hague, grandson of a former Professor of
Cambridge, is still preserved.

The first glimpse we catch of my Father and
brother in the New World is in a letter dated

' ' Toronto, Canada, Sept. 24, i8j8.

" We sent on our heavy baggage to Toronto, and fol-
lowed ourselves, on the loth, for Albany, 151 miles, at
seven in the morning. Got there at 6 p.m.

" The steamer, that we came in is a nasty, ricketty old
thing, ten years old. She has four chimneys and four
boilers, with two engines on deck ; (as all the Yankee
steamers have.) We slept at Albany and proceeded for

no Edward Hodges

Utica at eight next morning by the Railroad. You never
saw such a wilderness as it runs through ! We had in
our train twenty-one coaches besides the baggage cars, all
crammed with passengers, the longest train they ever
had.

" In consequence of the length and having only one
engine, we did not get to Utica till three hours after the
time.

" It is ninety-six miles from Albany and we were eight
hours doing it.

"We took a Canal Boat (a line boat, — the packet boats
were all full) immediately ; but they had more than forty
passengers. We were obliged to have each meal three
times (served), the cabin was so small ; also we were
obliged to sleep in the Baggage Room on the baggage.

"Arrived at Syracuse at 6 P.M., Sep. 12. 308 miles
from New York. Slept at the Hotel ; took our place in a
Packet Boat (not a steam packet) for Oswego, sixty miles.
The Boat was to start at 10 A.M. but did not till 3 P.M.
We were in a delightful state of suspension, but not at all
impatient, as you may imagine. Arrived at Oswego at
one in the morning. Slept till five o'clock with our
clothes on, and then we turned out to look for a steamer
for Toronto, but were disappointed. So we took places
for Kingston in the Great Britain Steamer (English
colours once more) and got there at one, having started
at eight, d"] miles. I should imagine myself on the Atlantic
for all that I could see. There was no steamer for To-
ronto till midnight, so we went on board to bed at 10
o'clock. At 2 P.M., we started for Toronto and arrived
there safely at 8|- P.M. Sep. 15.

" Papa left me on board while he went to look for the
Archdeacon, got to the ' North American Hotel ' where
we still are ; but I must tell you more in my next. I
have to pay (at least my father has) \/\o\ d. on each

Early Days in America m

letter, so Papa says, I must not write too many. Most
likely I shall get into the ' Iron and General Hardware
Business.' The Archdeacon has called two or three times
about it. But Messrs. Ridout Brs. & Co. were out."

''New York, N'ov. loth, i8j8.

" You will no doubt be surprised when you see where
we are, but not when I tell you the reason. The times
were so bad, business so dull, everything so stagnant in
the way of work, that Papa made up his mind not to stay
any longer.

" We accordingly left in the Steamer William IV at
12 o'clock on Saturday morning, purposing to go to Os-
wego, but it was so rough we were obliged to put into
Kingston on Sunday morning. We staid there till Mon-
day morning, 5 o'clock, when we got on board the
United States.

" Arrived at Oswego in the afternoon, slept there, and
proceeded next morning by Canal Boat to Utica, got
there Wednesday morning at 8, took the nine o'clock
train for Albany and got there at four the same after-
noon. From Albany we came to New York in the
Steamer NortJi America and safely landed in New York
once more at 6 o'clock Thursday morning.

" The same morning, Papa found me a place as one of
the clerks to John Delafield, Esq., who is about to estab-
lish a new Banking Company in New York. I sleep and
board at his house.

" I must now tell you about Canada, which is again in
trouble. The Rebellion broke out the day we left, so we
got out of it in time. The Government have chartered
two steamboats, the Traveller and Queen Victoria and
have ordered the English steam boats not to touch
at any American Ports on the Lake. Two of the State
prisoners broke out of jail at Montreal, and have since

112 Edward Hodges

returned with about 2,000 rebels. One day in Toronto a
gentleman lent me his horse, and I rode three or four
miles up George St. and saw the place where the battle
of Montgomeries' Hill was fought last winter. There are
all the ruins of houses burnt down by the rebels there
yet, and it looks like a wilderness. It seemed to me just
like leaving home again coming away from Toronto ; I
had got acquainted with so many people there. There is
a great difference in the style of beauty here and in
Toronto. Here the ladies screw up their waists to almost
nothing.

" The winter had begun in Canada before we left.
Snow was three or four inches on the ground, and ice
was thick. When we got to New York it was raining
and the weather was too warm for a great coat ; while in
Canada we were glad to put on two or three, or else sit
by the stove. New York in one respect looks more
like England than Canada does, viz., in the burning of
coal instead of wood. We did not see one coal fire while
in Canada.

" The steamboats are very safe about New York, but
down in Mississippi they blow them up ' like everything.'
A steamer will not last more than a twelve-month, and
then it is either blown up by accident {par accident tou-
joiirs) or wrecked going down that immense river. Ad-
dress your letter to me or to Papa at Dr. Wainwright's,
to whose house Papa has removed."

My Father was made Director of the Music of
Trinity Parish in February, 1839.

" February 22nd, i8jg.

" I go to St. John's Church in St. John's Park, or Hud-
son Square. I go with Mr. and Mrs. Delafield, but do
not sit in their pew since Papa has been organist."

Early Days in America 113

The following letters give us an insight into my
Father's earliest work in Trinity Parish :

'' April lyth, i8jg.

" One choir consists of six paid persons and one super-
numerary, G. F, H. Hodges, by nan:ie, I generally being
an attendant in the organ gallery, in which Dr. Hodges
presides. Our music is very good, and, with a little more
practice, will get better. We sing a ' Te Deum ' and ' Ju-
bilate ' every Sunday, and that is more than you do in
your churches ; also, there is ' playing in ' and ' playing
out ' ; and some bad boys and girls on each side of the
organ play all through the service. The first Sunday, we
sang ' E. H. in F,' the second Sunday, ' Boyce in C,*
and the third and fourth, ' Hodges in F ' again. (This is a
great favourite this side of the water.) We have sung
' Jackson in E ' twice, and ' Boyce in C ' again. This
Service is considered rather heavy and does not go down
very well, although we sing it as well as any other. On
Palm Sunday, we sang the ' Benedicite ' to a chaunt, —
Easter Sunday, ' playing in ' full organ : ' Christ our Pass-
over ' to a chaunt of Battishill, ' Gloria Patri ' after last
Psalm, ' Te Deum,' 'Boyce in A,' (not liked so well as
' E. H. in F ' or ' Jackson in E ') ' Jubilate ' Do. Easter
Hymn to Dr. Worgan's Tune, and before sermon a Psalm
(metrical) to Papa's tune ' Benevolence.' Before the
Communion, an anthem ; Recitative Bass, Quartet and
Chorus, by Jas. Corfe (requested by Dr. Wainwright).

" Next Sunday, Papa's Service in C, a great favourite,
and next * Boyce in A ' again. This is for the twelfth time
of asking. If any of you know just cause or impediment
that side of the water, why Dr. Hodges and his choir
should not sing ' Te Deum,' etc., etc., on this side of
the water, as well (if not better) than you do on that
side of the water, ye are all herewith and hereby, in-

114 Edward Hodges

vited to come to this side of the water and hear for
yourselves.

" I remain your affectionate brother,

" George F. H. H.,
" on this side of the pool,"

" June 8th.

" This week has been an important week in relation to
our music, but Papa will, I doubt not, write to some one
and tell it better than I can, as he knows more of it. We
are restricted to two stops, all the rest being too loud.

" I played this afternoon, as Papa was too unwell and
too melancholy to come to church and be tied down to
such narrow compass.

" I only used two stops at the same time, and they only
in the Choir or Swell ; and only one stop when I played
on the Great Organ. Papa will no doubt give you some
of the news. He has written to Thos. Crook. We hope
he gets on well at Clifton Church and St. James."

" Sept. ijth.

" My business at the Bank goes on very briskly, I like
it very well. I get through there by 4}4 to 5 o'clock.
Then I generally go and see Papa; and if he is at home,
I sit a little while with him, and if we feel inclined, we
play a game of chess. If he is out or busy, I go to Mr.
Delafield's house in town and practice on the Piano.
Sometimes I get up at six in the morning and go and
practice there.

" To-morrow I move to No. 70 Franklin St. and Papa
moves in a day or two afterwards to the same house. He
will have a larger room and will have his Piano. I suppose
I shall not practice much on it except when he goes out,
and then I shall get down there and practice away ' like
everything,' as they say sometimes in New York, I wish

Early Days in America 115

you would give me some news of the Cloisters ; whether
they are going to re-build the Bishop's Palace.

" I have played for Papa several times at church.

" I saw the British Queen and the Great Western
both together the last time the former was here. The
British Queen is a great deal the largest, but I do not
think she is near so good a model as the Great Western

" Papa has gone into the State of New Jersey with a
gentleman to spend the day. To-morrow, I believe he
goes to Boston to meet Dr. Wainwright. The ladies screw
in their waists and dress most extravagantly. There is
no city where they pay more attention to dress than New
York, except perhaps New Orleans."

'''March 12th, 1S40.

*' My Dearest Faustina:

" It was with great pleasure that on last Saturday, I
heard that the Great Western was telegraphed at eleven
o'clock as being in the Lower Bay.

"At 12 o'clock, I ran round to the Battery, and was
just in time, for she was about half a mile off when I got
there ; and, although she had only been telegraphed an
hour, yet the Battery was thronged with persons to wit-
ness her arrival. It was blowing a perfect hurricane at
the time ; the water was at its height, and it looked like
a little sea. The waves beat on the Wall of Walks, so
that no one could go nearer than about twelve feet from
the edge. There were two sloops at anchor, and beating
against the wall, but we did not look at them. All eyes
were directed towards the magnificent steamer bowling
up, end on, with all flags hoisted, and leaning gently over
to the wind, every now and then firing a big gun. When
she got up to the Battery, she stopped her paddles, and
gently glided up the East River to her dock, foot of
Clinton Street. I almost shed tears at the sight, and I
believe that if any one had hullo'd (softly ! ) in my ear at

ii6 Edward Hodges

the time I should not have heard it, so intent was I on
the ship in question. I thought to myself, ' what news
does she bring? Good or bad ; forty-two days later from
England ! A great deal of good or evil might have hap-
pened in that time, almost four months since I have heard
from my dear Brothers and Sisters.' Such were my
thoughts at sight of the Great Western^

'''March I2ih.
" Papa and I play chess very often of an evening, but
he beats me rather shamefully, though he has a great deal
more trouble, as I do sometimes get a game now with all
the pieces on. And at home he could beat me with a
Queen and two Castles off."

''May jth.

"Our new organ at St. John's Church is almost fin-
ished, and the people are much pleased, delighted,
charmed and edified with it. Papa is quite well, though
he was very ill for two or three days, about three weeks
ago. 1 SiTnstnd'ing a. Commercial Advertiser. It contains
a paragraph referring to one of us ! Papa has been play-
ing over some of his old favorites, J. S. Bach's ' Fugues,'
and is now gone out for a little while."

"We have a very pretty little Tortoise shell kitten,
which occupies a great deal of my spare time after tea.
She is the dearest little cat I ever saw, not excepting your
old tom (can't even afford a capital t). This evening Papa
and I have been playing chess, and talking over the news
by the President, and I put the little cat into the chess
box, where she staid very good and quiet for two hours
and a half, without attempting to get out. Sometimes
she would put her little head out over the top and look
at our men. When we called ' check ' she would start ;
but the greater part of the time she was snuggled down
to sleep. She just filled Papa's old chess box ; at all
events, he never had a larger animal in it."

Early Days in America 117

''May 7th.
" Last Sunday I played at St. Paul's Church, morning
and afternoon. This is my first appearance in this quar-
ter. The late organist has left, and as some of the Music
Committee are out of town. Papa sends me to play until
they make an appointment. It is not by any means a
fine organ, except as regards the tone of some of the
stops. There are no Pedal pipes. Papa has a very fine
one at St. John's Church, which will be completed in
about a fortnight. It is certainly a very fine instrument,
and will be the best in the city, probably in the country."

''Xeiij York, June 21st.

" I am at present Deputy Organist, under Papa, of St.
Paul's Church. This morning (Sunday) I proceeded at
10 o'clock precisely out of the front door and was on my
way to St. Paul s, which I reached in .safety, and began
playing the Parson and persons in at iO|, our old St.
James' time, you see ! (U. C !) There is a pretty good
choir and we get along pretty well ; only since the first
week in May have I played there. The organ is no great
shakes, though I make some great shakes upon it occa-
sionally. It is an old one built by G. P. England, Lon-
don. There are no pedals, and each rank of keys is
separate and distinct from the other, and incapable of
coupling or combining.

" Papa has just sounded his call for me on the piano.
So I leave this ' till a more convenient season.

''New York, Nov. 30th.

" I sent you a newspaper called the Albion by the Presi-
dent, S. S. It contains a favourable mention of Papa,
which I dare say you have discovered. I bought ever so
many, and sent them to different friends in England, and
in this country. Papa played the organ at Mr. and Mrs.
Wood's first Sacred Concert, which I think was the cause
of the article.

ii8 Edward Hodges

"We had an exhibition of the organ at St. John's, of
which I will talk in Miriam's letter.

" I still play at St. Paul's Church. Papa told me at
dinner that he had heard my playing on Sunday evening
spoken highly of. Hurrah ! I cannot write more as I
want to practice on my piano. Good-night ! "

''Dec. I St.

" My Dearest Miriam :

" Last Friday evening, we had virtually, a Sacred Con-
cert ; though nominally, an Exhibition of the new Organ
at St. John's Chapel, where Papa is organist.

" I went round to the church a little before half-past
five and found everything right, a man lighting the lamps,
and another putting the Programmes in the pews. I took
about six or eight of these to Mr. Delafield's, to show and
give them to Mr. and Mrs. D., as I expected the church
would be crowded and they would hardly have a chance
to get any. Mr. D. told me he was going to send his
coachman to secure his pew for him so that they might
be sure of a good seat, his being in a very central posi-
tion. I then went home to tea, and went to the church
again at 7 o'clock.

" It was then almost full, and the people were pouring
in from the North and from the South, from the East and
from the West.

"I ran home for a lady who had volunteered her ser-
vices to help on this occasion. I seated her comfortably
in the organ gallery and left her peeping through the cur-
tain at some gentlemen, to go on my voyage of discovery
through the church. I found Mr. and Mrs. D. in a strange
pew, for although they had sent their coachman an hour
and a half before the time, yet their pew was filled, and
as the church was open to all, every pew was free. I had
a small conversation with them and also with Harriot D.,
who was some pews behind them. I thought I would go

Early Days in America 119

up the middle aisle to see the organ and how it looked,
and was in danger of being left there, for I could, with
difificulty, get to the door as the people were pouring in so
fast ; this was about twenty minutes before the time.
While engaged in the charitable work of trying to get
seats for some pretty girls and an old gentleman, the clock
struck seven. I hurried to get back again, but the people,
— who were now so thick that I could have walked on
their heads all over the church — kept crowding and push-
ing so that it took me several minutes of hard work to
get back to the organ gallery. I was almost going to give
it up as a bad job, but persevered till I gained my end.

" I sent you a Herald which you will receive before this
and which will give you an account of the performances;
and also contains a high compliment to Papa. So much
for that. I have a Piano and last night I played ' Home
sweet home ! ' upon it.

*' Your truly affectionate Brother,

Handel."

" April joth, 1 841.

" I went last evening to attend Rehearsal of the choir at
St. John's School-room. As it rained hard, only one or
two, including the organists, came. I wish you could
have seen Papa last night, wrapped up in his Macintosh,
(that funny check one), overshoes, and that green um-
brella and hat extra-ordinary. Do you think you would
have known him ? Nevertheless, he looked natural to
me, that 's flat. But I tell you he looked sharp at me,
when I entered, for he did not expect me."

My Brother had ruptured a small blood vessel.
He tried to prevent his Father's anxiety on his ac-
count.

I20 Edward Hodges

" New York, May ist, 1841.

" I continue to play the organ as Papa's Deputy at
St. Paul's Church, and occasionally encounter some stray
incidents. I will, if I can remember, repeat one.

" One Sunday evening, I was warming myself by the
fire before commencement of the service. Papa was in
the vestry, or else had not come, I forget which. I was
suddenly accosted after this manner by a thick-set, ugly-
looking, what-once-had-been-red-haired man, a non-official
but very officious member of the church : —

" * Mr. Hodges, we have heard that your Father is
going back to England and were in hopes that you are
going too, for we don't like your music at all.' Here a
long conversation ensued, which left no new principle
settled, and was only stopped by the bell announcing it
7^ o'clock, when I ran up to the organ, opened the door,
and began playing. We might have gone on with our
conversation to this day but for that bell. O, Miriam !
We have had such grumbling, such fault-finding and
such unpleasant speeches made in this church within
the last twelve-month that it has been a very unpleasant
berth.

" The same thing has been gone through at St. John's
and they have made up their minds to it ; so I suppose
we cannot expect a like reform in a shorter space,
especially when there are so many old folks."

" Sunday Morning, June ijtk, 1841, Hellgate,

" My Dear Brothers and Sisters :

" Being out of town as you see by the date, and it
being a wet morning, and as we are deprived of the
privilege of going to church, the best thing I can do is to
write a general letter to you all. How sorry we are to
hear of poor dear Miriam's illness ! What a trial it is !

Early Days in America 121

Let us all Jiope for the best, and at the same time be pre-
pared for the worst. ' We know not what a day may-
bring forth.'

" I have not been well at all this winter, having been
troubled with a severe cough. Seeing that I had got
very thin and lost all my colour, Mr. and Mrs. Delafield
kindly invited me to their cottage, whither I come every
afternoon after bank hours. Papa has procured some one
to play for me at St. Paul's this morning.

" I enjoy myself greatly out here and feel greatly bene-
fited. The weather has been very warm for the last three
weeks, having attained to 93 degrees at times, but yester-
day the wind got round to the northeast and we have a
cold rain. I am now sitting in an old green-house, which
Mr. Delafield has altered, having put a floor to it even
with the parlours, and made it into a very pretty little
sitting-room.

" The tide is just coming up, and vessels are passing
both ways.

" The air is delightful, it has just ceased raining, though
the sun has not yet made its appearance, and it is a ques-
tion whether it will to-day.

"The flowers and garden generally look much im-
proved ; the birds are singing delightfully ; the tree-
toads now and then croaking ; the katydids have not
yet made their appearance. Moschetos are very plenti-
ful and my hands, face, etc., suffer from their mischievous
bites.

" I read Jubal's letter to Papa to Mrs. Delafield. We
had several very hearty laughs over it. Where does he
get all his big words from ? Mrs. D. wants him to write
an ' elaborate account ' of what he finds in America,
should he ever visit it ; what he thinks of the people,
indeed she wants an ' elaborate account ' of his thoughts
on America and the Americans. She also expressed a

122

Edward Hodges

desire to see his Journal of his Voyage, and all his
thoughts that he writes down. Would it not be amus-
ing? Yes, ' I guess ' it would.

" My love to all dear friends.

" Your affectionate brother,

" Handel."

CHAPTER X.

THE HUDSON STREET HOME.

ON the nth of April, 1844, the organ of St.
Paul's Chapel, New York, gave forth its
most jubilant sound, as a small party turning from
the altar, proceeded down the middle aisle to the
Broadway gate. The player was my Father's
faithful disciple, John F. Huntington, who sur-
prised him by thus announcing the happy marriage
of Dr. Edward Hodges to Miss S. A. Moore, of
New York. The ceremony was performed by the
Right Rev. Benjamin T. Onderdonk, D.D., Bishop
of New York.

My second mother, Miss Sarah Ann Moore, was
one of the most charming and agreeable women in
the large and refined circle in which she moved.
Sparkling and fascinating in conversation, unosten-
tatious and natural in manner, it was impossible for
her not to attract all in the intellectual society,
which gathered around her brother, Nathaniel F.
Moore, LL.D., who at the time of her .marriage,

124 Edward Hodges

was Greek Professor and afterwards, President of
Columbia College, New York. Among the intellec-
tual she had a right to move, being the daughter of
a distinguished physician, the niece of Bishop
Moore of New York, and first cousin of Clement
C. Moore, LL.D., Hebrew Professor at the General
Theological Seminary, New York. She spoke
French and Italian with fluency and ease, her pre-
ceptor in the latter language having been Signor
Daponte, who had arranged the Libretto of Don
Giovanni for Mozart ; and she numbered literary
men of England, Italy, and France amongst her
friends.

During one of her visits abroad her bust was
taken by Thorwaldsen ; and in New York she had
received vocal lessons of Madame Malibran.
Naturally fond of music and highly cultivated in
opera and other branches of the study, sacred music
of a high order, and the school of our Cathedral
composers were quite unknown to her. The ser-
vices she had heard while in England had not
reached her heart. Thus she was the more ready
to acknowledge in my Father a Master in the
Sacred Art ; and devotedly true to this she re-
mained to the end of her life. She was attracted
curiously by his appearance and his dress ; and
used laughingly to tell the story of her first meet-

The Hudson Street Home 125

ing him at her cousin, Dr. Clement Moore's gate.
On asking Dr. Moore who that was, he repHed :
" Why, Sarah, that is the great Dr. Hodges ! "
" Dear me," she said, " I thought it was an old
Scotch peddler ! " When married to him she called
him her " old English pedaler." Another title she
gave him was, " The ineffable Hodges," as she
loved " Hodges in F." more than any other service
he used. Unaccustomed to the highest form of
German music, she used to exclaim as she heard my
Father's daily rendering of one or two of Sebastian
Bach's ' Fugues,' " Oh those horrid Fugues ! " But
gradually and surely her tone changed. She began
to like, and then to /o?fe them ; and on no account
would miss " the Doctor's morning ' Fugue.' "

She was very clever at extemporary versifica-
tion, but withal her character shone brightest in the
daily round of her life. She was beloved by all
classes ; rich and poor, the scholarly and the
humble. She could hear of no case of sickness or
sorrow without doing her utmost to relieve it. A
perfect sincerity governed speech and action ; she
was exactly the same whether adorning a literary
circle, or reading the Bible at the bedside of one
of her humble poor. She was generous in spirit,
faithful and loving in every relation of life. Per-
haps her most beautiful characteristic was the zeal

126 Edward Hodges

and entirety with which she entered into my
Father's life. With her practical mind she blended
a high and religious ideal. Her spirit was recep-
tive to a great degree, and was capable of great
exaltation through sacred music.

From the first she perceived, acknowledged, and
almost worshipped the gift that was in my Father.
This it was that united them in this world ; and
may we not hope that this " Blest tie that binds,"
is extended to a deeper, holier, loftier bliss, in the
" Realm of Perfect Accord."

We will take a glimpse at the Hudson Street
home in 1856.

Let us enter by the double door from the front
room into my Father's study. We must close the
door and think.

He is not here at the moment : all is silent, yet the
room speaks of him in every corner of its solitude.
His strong individuality seems impressed on every-
thing his hand might touch ; on the mighty Handel
on the mantel, in his majestic manliness, on the
volume of Bach on the pianoforte, on the keys
where his fingers play, as they unwind with love
and learning the intricacies of prelude and fugue.
And those books ! What voices, above all, have
they ! Large MS. volumes,' representing incredi-

' The MS. volumes alluded to are Dr. Hodges' own full Anthems, — many
of them being settings of whole Psalms, and several with orchestral accom-

The Hudson Street Home 127

ble labour of brain and hand. They belong to the
period we have read of, that seemingly wonderful
life in the other sphere : a life wonderful, not so
much for outward demonstration, as for erecting
these monuments of inexhaustible musical power
and fertility.

The accompanying poem of "The Cat's Fugue "
is one of many — humorous and clever as they all
were — thrown off by my Father, as he sat with his
family around him, on those cozy " Evenings at
Home," in his little gray house in Hudson Street,
New York, near old St. John's Park.

With the bright lamp burning and casting a
shaded light on the group around the table, and
with the curtains drawn, how pleasant it all looked !
In the central place — and truly the central figure —
was the Doctor ; his thoughtful and merry face
bending over his paper, as his pen scratched away,
taking down the rhymes which flowed so freely on.
Every now and then, as if thinking a while to get
the lines more smoothly written, out would come
the gold snuff-box, and he " took a pinch " as only
a gentleman can take it.

paniments ; Services ; arrangements from the works of J. S. Bach ; Graun's
" Te Deum," adapted to the English version ; Boyce's " Cathedral Coll." :
from the old Notation ; Purcell's " Ode " ; " Organ Fugues" ; " Stringed
Quartetts " ; besides smaller compositions for the Church : these present the
work of a life time.

128 Edward Hodges

Any little incident in his circle of friends or his
family furnished him with a subject for his poems ;
and the getting it into poetic or rhythmic form was
a pleasant rest, after a day of fatiguing brain-
work.

If interrupted by an evening visitor (which, how-
ever, was constantly the case), how quickly, to
quote from himself, "with humour and grace," was
the welcome given ! Then came the nice little
bread-and-cheese supper, and the glass of ale ; and
with them the interestinor and intelliorent conver-
sation, the original thoughts and flashes of wit ; the
keen comments on the topics of the day, or the droll
anecdote ; and, better than all, many a helpful
thought and scientific suggestion, or sound bit of
musical learning or advice, so pleasantly thrown in ;
all tending to make up a delightful and protracted
evening, often till after eleven o'clock ; the charm
of which those who participated in it can never
forget.

The poem is founded on facts. Greenfield was
the home of Dr. S. P. Tuckerman. He was the
sportsman, and he shot the cat.

The Hudson Street Home 129

THE CAT'S FUGUE.
Scarlatti.

There once was a man (so the story doth go)
Who shot at 2, pigeon, and yet killed a crow ;
But I 've heard of a man, who, far better than that,
Once fired at a rabbit, and murdered a cat.

Poor puss had been frolicking out in the sun,
And was flatt'ring herself it was capital fun ;
When she came in the view of our sportsman's keen eye,
Who cried, " There goes a rabbit ! " and straightway let
fly.

The people of Greenfield, amazed and perplexed.

All shook their wise heads to think what would come

next ;
And the penitent marksman was heard to exclaim,
" Woe is me ! woe is me ! that I shot such queer game ! "

" Now, George ! Up and run for a surgeon, George, run !
And bid him to come, and see what 's to be done."
So George he did run, and the surgeon he came ;
But I can't for the life of me tell you his name.

He looked in the eyes and he opened the jaws,
And he felt for a pulse in the cold, clammy paws ;
And then, with deep feeling and pathos, he said,
" In my humble opinion this creature 's stone dead."

Now this puss was a fav'rite, a pet, and all that ;
Indeed, you may say an exemplary cat ;
And soon the sad tidings were borne to her master,
Of all this most bloody and fatal disaster.

130 Edward Hodges

Surely, none that beheld him his grief could despise,
As he stood by the corpse, with big tears in his eyes ;
And the sportsman's soft heart, overflowing with pity,
Regretted that ever he 'd come from the City.

At length, when his feelings found vent, he exclaimed,
" That 't was /who the gun at the animal aimed.
And thus shortened the days of the dear little brute,
I will not, one moment, attempt to dispute.

" But surely it was not my wish or intent

To harrow your soul with so dire an event,

That I feel for your loss you shall soon be assured,

And thus we may hope that your grief will be cured."

Now, just at this moment, a five-dollar bill
Was transferred to the mourner with hearty good-will.
The effect was electric, like magic, so strange,
From sorrow to gladness, so quick was the change.

His tears now all dry, the man laughingly said.
That, in view of the cash, it was well puss was dead ;
And he added that now he would sell off his sheep,
And a good breed of cats he would henceforward keep.

Then, addressing our sportsman, with humour and grace,
" I hope I shaXl frequently see your sweet face ;
For whenever you wish for some game that is nice,
I will find you a cat at the very same price!'

E. H.

May 22, jSj6.

We have been favoured by a correspondent with
the annexed extract from the Christian Alliance

The Hudson Street Home 131

and Family Visitor. The letter is dated at Clif-
ton, Bristol, and is given under the head of " Eng-
lish Correspondence " :

" It must be gratifying to our estimable friend, Dr.
Hodges, to find that notwithstanding his long absence
from his native land, he is still remembered by the in-
habitants of Bristol ; and it is also gratifying to his friends
here to find that they thus bear testimony to the worth
and excellence of their former townsman."

In speaking of Bristol Cathedral, the writer in
the Alliance says :

" The Cloisters have some fine old buildings, which re-
call the days of the Tudors. Here we saw the Prebendal
house (built on the Norman sub-structure of low arches
on which stood the Monk's Refectory) formerly occupied
by the learned and accomplished Dr. Hodges, now Organ-
ist of Trinity Church, New York. This gentleman is a
native of Bristol, and is, we find, held in affectionate re-
membrance by the best people of the City. I rarely, if
ever, have heard warmer encomiums pronounced by finer
spirits than I have listened to in reference to the Doctor."

A New York paper, about the same date, says :

" We met that sterling musician of the true ecclesias-
tical school. Dr. Edward Hodges, a few days ago, and are
gratified to find that he is still presenting a bold and
unflinching front towards the innovations of modern
improvements, as they are termed by some, in the
compositions for the Church. He considers himself 'a
sojourner' in this country, to use his own words ; and will
undoubtedly return to England ere long."

CHAPTER XI.

MY father's three ORGANS.

1"^HE Opening- of the organs of St. John's
Chapel in 1841, Trinity Church in 1846, and
Trinity Chapel in 1855, were like milestones in my
Father's musical life in New York. The former
created great enthusiasm, as nothing approaching
such organ-playing and effects had been heard in
New York ; and no doubt, as this was my Father's
first large organ, he played with the freshness and
genius of his, here, undeveloped powers, excited by
the novelty of his position and the real grandeur
of that noble instrument.

Regarding the Consecration Service of Trinity
Church, the grandeur of which seems to have be-
come traditional, I will only remark upon the
rendering of the 95th Psalm, " Venite exultemus."

The music for this canticle chosen for the occa-
sion was the double Grand Chant in C, by Jones,
which my Father had arranged in eight parts.

There were probably more than two singers on

132

My Father's Three Organs 133

each part, with his band of trained choristers be-
hind (for the organ loft was quite full) ; and I can
truly say that the effect produced surpassed in
massive grandeur all that I have ever heard in the
way of chanting either before or since. This was
not only produced by his splendidly-drilled choir
and the spirit that came from the magnificent organ,
but the majesty and meaning of the 95th Psalm,
placed as it is at the beginning of our service, was
powerfully brought out. It must have been my
Father's spiritual conception and responsive devo-
tion that sent King David's words home to our
hearts. The organ was not finished then, but the
effects were none the less marvellous. The moving
organ-part, perhaps from his coupling to the choir-
organ his triple-slat swell at octaves, formed a
mystic, rich background to the substantial body of
voices, just as rows of Doric columns are thrown
out into relief by an aerial sea of blue behind them.
Added to that, the rolling at intervals of the great
diapasons and the mysterious depth of the 32-ft.
pedals, like the sound of the distant sea, — all com-
bined to create an ineffaceable impression upon the
mind, not only of devotional and musical grandeur,
but of my Father's interpretation of the service of
the Church, of which he was said to be a " true
liturgical minister."

134 Edward Hodges

Let me say a few words about the Consecration
Service of Trinity Chapel. It is hardly known
with what intelligent interest my Father entered
into the work of the erection of this noble Chapel ;
so also he was a familiar figure about Trinity
Church during the last years of the work there,
watching with keen interest every department, and
being consulted especially in the arrangement of
the clock and bells. He took great pleasure in
his friendship for Richard Upjohn, the eminent
English architect of both buildings.

On Nov. II, 1 85 1, the Diary says:

" I went down to Upjohn's Office and inspected the
plans of the new Chapel. Mr. Upjohn treated me very
kindly and explained portions of them. I am to see him
again. If I can only be trusted by this people, I think I
can make a most delightful Organ effect there."

And when the Consecration Day came, with its
unparalleled service of musical solemnity and
beauty, yet remembered by many, organ effects
were indeed produced which have never been ex-
celled.

The occasion called forth the now published
Anthem, Psalm 122, than which not one that my
Father ever wrote seems more full of devotional
science and lofty, chaste imagination.

From his original way of treating the subject, or

My Father's Three Organs 135

more properly from his own conception of the
scene and Psahrj, we seem to see the mukitudes
ascending to the Temple, and to hear their tramp
and catch the sound of their voices as they sing
their " Song of Degrees," " Let us go, let us go
into the house of the Lord." My Father evidently
saw the picture in his own mind, and the rendering
of his music places it before us. All seem now to
be gathered within the Temple walls. The mas-
terly and manly solo of the Hierophant, "I was
glad when they said unto me," echoing and ex-
pressing to the multitudes their own sentiments, is
followed and accompanied by a chorus of priests
and singers in true antiphon : " Qur feet shall
stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem." This is a scien-
tific and well-worked fugue, purely diatonic, and
most interesting and enticing to sing, the Hiero-
phant leading to the close.

The service for Jerusalem proceeds, the Hie-
rophant stating in a bold and original recitative
the glories of the city : " The seat of Judgment —
the throne of David." Three priests respond in
an exquisite trio : " O pray for the peace of Jeru-
salem." Of course a little fugue comes in ; but in
this case it seems particularly to exemplify the
meaning of the fugue in Divine worship ; the voices
echoing and following and answering each other; a

136 ' Edward Hodges

little triad in itself, a union of science, voice, and
spirit, as they blend together so softly at the last,
" O pray ! — pray for peace ! "

After this comes what is the crowning beauty of
the anthem — the Peace Chorus. This is virtually
the last movement, being interrupted by the lovely
little solo, " For my brethren and companions'
sake," which was composed for and sung by the
writer at that time. This is followed by the final
chorus for " Peace." The Composer supposes it
the prayer in heart of the vast multitude : " Peace
be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy
palaces." It is a gem in sacred composition, it
embodies an ideal which can be comprehended by
few and only by those who are capable of forming
or perceiving a religious ideal. It is in the key of
C, and in J time. There is a flowing, gently-moving,
passing on, of harmony and melody ; there are
interior passages of sixths in vocal and instru-
mental parts, which seem to be floating down and
around ; moving, yet ever at rest — satisfying, yet
causing us to crave for more. There is the regu-
lar, continued, soft beat of the deep pedal notes,
but from his own magic, mystic power at his organ,
which none could imitate or understand, there were
produced, just as he said, " some most delightful
effects." How simple his words! His marvellous

ST. MARY'S, REDCLIFFE, BRISTOL.

My Father's Three Organs 137

combinations, his exquisite swell, his octave coup-
lers, all were obeying him ; but there was a spirit
breathing out of those serried ranks of pipes around
and about him which was not of earth. His hands
— and who that had watched and noticed could
forget them? — moved or, as he used to say,
" crawled," over the keys ; but his face, illuminated
as it was, showed above all where the spirit had
caught its inspiration ; and back of him, above and
around, the words, " Peace ! Peace !" seemed to be
wafted downwards as though on angel's wings,
suggested by the falling chords of sixths and those
marvellously beautiful organ effects, " Peace be
within thy walls." But, as he said, " Peace is no
time of idleness, but of steady occupation," the
same pleasant little fugue comes back, inverted
this time, for to him it was as easy one way as
another, and, winding up with this happy employ-
ment, in almost unbroken silence the peace-laden
chords die away.

With a pathetic and prophetic spirit he gathered
around him on this occasion all his four children,
seeming to realize it would be perhaps his last
memorable service in the parish.

And it was so.

On the title-page of his own copy of this anthem,
my Father has written :

138 Edward Hodges

" The sermon reported to have occupied twenty-four
minutes ; the Anthem, twenty-two minutes. Balance in
favour of the former, two minutes."

It was my Father's habit to go to the Vestry of
old Trinity Church before morning service, to have
a few pleasant words with the clergy.

I have watched him pass down the south aisle,
carrying his broad brimmed hat sometimes on the
head of his cane, and occasionally passing his hand
through his hair — as he came from pillar to pillar,
perhaps touched by the rays falling through the
colored glass ; and I, with others, have realized
what a picture his form, face, and presence left on
the mind, and how he harmonized with his sur-
rounding of church architecture.

Arrived at the organ loft he seemed to belong
to the organ. His large choir, including his boys,
were in their proper places, and we all felt like
soldiers on duty and stood to our guns. He was
truly a beneficent "monarch of all he surveyed,"
and he met answering looks of devotion from all
on whom his brigrht ^lances fell.

Looking at the paper containing the " Psalm and
Hymn," I have heard him, with a quizzical expres-
sion, say :

"What shall I do with that? It is neither
praise nor prayer ! "

My Father's Three Organs 139

What a glorious thing it is for us all to look
back upon that we sang with ''Dr. Hodges at
Trinity Organ / " That we were close to him as
he manipulated the stops and played his inimitable
"opening Voluntary." Have we ever heard one
since? It was a poem — a prayer — and an artistic
epilogue. Then the rendering of Ps. 95, who
else ever gave it such a grand meaning ? If it
came to our lot to sing one of his own Sei'vices,
what a pleasure it was ; and though the playing of
King, and Rogers, and Gibbons was superb and put
new life into the old masters, still we preferred his
0W71, and revelled in them. He was very loath to
use his own Services ; we had to beg for them.
Then the " giving out " the tune ! no one else even
thought of such a thing ! It is a lost art ! but it
was superb ! Oh ! the sound of that organ ! will
it ever entirely die out of our ears? No wonder
that the people below wished over and over again
that the choir would "stop singing, and Dr.
Hodges play the hymns alone!" The conclud-
ing Voluntary was the summing up of all, for it
seemed always as if the service had inspired it.
Sometimes it was overpowering in its grandeur.
It had \.\\^ genius through it, the same kindling life,
whether the music were Bach, or Handel, or his

HO Edward Hodges

own. Those great minds again spoke in living
voice ; or his own thoughts partook of the gran-
deur of theirs ; only having more freshness and
freer modulation. No wonder people flocked to
old Trinity, for, musicians or not, they knew they
were in presence of a rare and great mind ; and
for me, all I could do, was to go far away in the
organ loft or down in the church and bury my
face, and listen ; following, as well as I could, his
overwhelming richness of improvization, or extem-
pore, thorough fugue-power. Ah, those days !
Days, indeed, never to return.

He had a magnetic hold on his choir. It was a
very different thing to any other " Church engage-
ment." He took them as huma7i nature as well as
singer's. There was one faithful bass whose voice
was not acceptable, and whose pocket was low :
and my Father gently silenced him and paid him
on from his own pocket.

There was an old dog named " Bouncer" down
at Trinity, and every Sunday morning my Father
put a " cracker " in his pocket for Bouncer.
Bouncer died at last, and the Sexton so grieved at
his loss, that my Father gave him another dog.
This was an intelligent dog, a real chtirch dog.
During service he lay in the porch ; and when

My Father's Three Organs 141

service was over, he would guard the entrance
under the organ, suffering no stranger to remain
inside who did not remove his hat.

After I had some httle organ experience I said
to my Father, " Sir, I have beaten you at last ! "

" Very extraordinary ! " he said. " What have
you done ? "

" I have played the people out, Sir."

(Something my Father never did.)

CHAPTER XII.

DR. HODGES AT ST. PAUL's CHAPEL AND TRINITY
CHURCH.

MY Father had great power at the organ in
governing a large body of people singing.
He said it was an art, but to him it seemed nattwe.

It was evinced grandly on one occasion, on
which the writer was present, and one never to be
forgotten, viz., the Convention held in St. Paul's
Chapel, during which that scene took place which
inaugurated the painful drama ending in the sus-
pension of our esteemed Bishop of New York.
The Church was crowded in every part and intense
excitement prevailed ; the Bishop on this occasion
having maintained his position with a decision and
manliness seldom witnessed. Giving no time for
further remark, he said, in a full tone of voice,
" Let the Gloria in Excelsis now be sung ! "

Before my Father could get to the keys, or rap
for wind, this hymn was begun by a voice below,
and taken up by many others. I watched my
Father as he first felt softly for the key in which

At St. Paul's and Trinity 143

they were singing, then by degrees he led them,
till, backed by the organ, the voices all swelled in ;
every one in the crowded body of the Church and
in the crammed galleries above, joining in the sound.
It was grand in the words " Heavenly King ! God,
the Father Almighty," rich and subduedly grand
in the prayer part, and culminated when my
Father, catching the full significance of the scene
and the power of the words, rolled out his full
organ at the words, 'Thou only, O Christ, with
the Holy Ghost, are Most High in the glory of
God the Father." The effect was superb. The
music of course was the " Old Gloria in Excelsis,"
known and sung by every one in the Church ; and
the power or volume given to it by that unity was
immensely enhanced by the deep feelings which
were then stirred.

Here is an extract from his Diary, which empha-
sizes in satire one spirit of the times.

" September 20, i8jj.

" I received by post two pamphlets by a Brooklyn Rector
with a copy of the Protestant Churchman, containing an
article commending the Pamphlets. These have given
me some reading, but not much of either profit or amuse-
ment. One Pamphlet contains an essay against the Daily
Service in Churches, and this by a clergyman !

" In the course of the evening, I finished the perusal of
the two Pamphlets above mentioned. They are lament-
able specimens of uncharitableness, and are directed

144 Edward Hodges

against the High Church party. The animus may be
gathered from the following supposititious prayer of such
a man as the Author, gathered in a great degree from his
own words :

" Prayer of an Evangelical Protestant Episcopal Phari-
see :

" * God ! I thank thee that I am not as other clergymen
are ; formalists, ritualists, rubricists, semi-papists, or even
as these Tractarians and Ecclesiologists : I keep no fasts,
or Saints-days ; I cannot intone the prayers, and I would
not if I could : I abhor and detest the Daily Service ; I
believe in experimental religion and a change of heart ;
and I give a portion of what I possess to Bible and Tract
Societies, and the great Evangelical Institutions of the
day.'

" It is a fair specimen of the spirit of the Pamphlets."

I cannot refrain from copying the following
page from the Diary :

" September 22, i8^j.

" Mr. Cook mentioned to me some touching circum-
stances connected with his family. He came from Nor-
wich, has been here a little over three years, has gone to
several churches (residing as he does on the Eastern side
of the City, and a long way from Trinity,) but finally fixed
himself at Trinity, because the music there affected him
deeply — had been accustomed to take a little son of his
about six years old with him, who likewise enjoyed the
music excessively, and who would catch the melodies of
the chaunts and shout them out at home, besides delight-
ing to describe to his mother for hours together how
beautiful the music was. The child died of croup, after
a very brief illness ; and just before his death, begged to
be carried to Trinity Church, that he might hear once
more Dr. Hodges play, ' Praise the Lord, O my soul.'

At St. Paul's and Trinity 145

' And now,' said the father, ' I go to Trinity and still
enjoy the music, and can never express to you the pleasure
it has afforded me ; and I often fancy that my little boy
is there too, — I think I can see him beside me.'

" I bless God for this little incident. It is encouraging.
The little fellow at home used to sit upon a high seat and
drum with his fingers upon the table as though playing
upon an instrument ; and bawl out ' Praise the LORD,
O my soul.'

" Doubtless he sings it still, but not in such gross strains
as ours.

" The pure and seraphic enjoyment of that little fellow
(six years old at the time of his decease) is to me a source
of greater and holier gratification than all the commenda-
tions I have ever received ! The boy's name was Alex-
ander Cook, his death was almost sudden, as he was ailing
but little more than an hour. Happy spirit ! He has got
ahead of me now, but I trust to meet him in the heavenly
choir — and perhaps then may have to learn of him !

" Before two I was at St. John's, scribbling on the black-
board for my boys ; and in due time they came, when I
gave them not only a pretty severe musical practice, but
also some very serious admonitions. I have some boys to
deal with whose domestic education is by no means what it
should be. It was past three o'clock when I closed the
exercise."

The mention of St. John's, and the " black-
board," and the " practice " and the " admoni-
tions " opens up a chapter in my Father's New
York life which, incomplete as this sketch is, should
not be passed over unnoticed.

The musical training he gave his Trinity boys

146 Edward Hodges

was valuable for all their lives ; but that seemed,
when they afterwards spoke of him, almost ignored
in the face of the great love they all cherished for
him, and the veneration they had for his memory.
A strict disciplinarian, whose laws were made to
be enforced, he was yet their loving and sympa-
thetic friend. How they love now to speak of the
little treats and pleasures he gave them, especially
his regular habit of taking them to have an ice-
cream feast on his birthday, July 20th. Wherever
or in whatever situation you meet an " old boy " of
Trinity, whether in Orders or in business, there is
but one story of their unfailing love for " the Doc-
tor" ; of the words he said ; of his quaint bits of
fun and repartee ; of his good advice ; of his sound
admonition and good counsel for life ; and of the
living example he set them by the justice, integrity
and high principle of his own character, which all
the time lay open before them. His trials and
annoyances were many, but his greatest happiness
out of it all must have been the consciousness that
he was sowing good seed for future years. He
had a real sympathy for the young ; and his ways,
so singularly transparent, appealed to their boyish
natures ; at the same time they dreaded his reproof
and owned his severe judgments right. One way
he had was of keeping all the money the bad

At St. Paul's and Trinity 147

boys paid in for fines, to buy prizes for the good
ones.

Though now grown up and married, and plunged
in the thick of the hard battle of life, I have
found over and over again, that this one spot of
love for my Father keeps green in their hearts.
The Bible he gave — the writing he wrote — the like-
ness of him, treasured up — all say one and the same
thing : that the memory of " the dear Doctor " and
old Trinity will not fade away with years.

My Father's influence as a warm, living, and
loving tie between our two countries, is a thought
impressed deeply upon my mind.

By one writer he is called " an Exotic." And
so he was. Yet he took root in America so firmly
that he seems to be absolutely claimed here. Some
friends could not think it at all right that this
'' Memoir," for instance, should begin in England !
" He is ours," they say, "he belongs to us." And
a grand tribute indeed it is to both parties, that,
gaining popularity here, he kept it, in spite of his
Toryism and his most pronounced characteristics as
an Englishman.

One great reason for this was his sweet geniality,
the freshness of youth brought up into manhood,
which instantly affiliated him with the young, as

148 Edward Hodges

well as with all that was generous and genuine and
honest in man, wherever found.

It was a living power he carried with him, — that
unique characteristic that, let one be but acciden-
tally in his presence for five minutes, something he
would say, some remark he would make, or some
thought he would give out, would linger in the
memory for life.

The " international " tie thus begun, was felt in
his music, which was part and parcel of his nature.
How, without that living genius and freshness,
could he, in the early years of his work (the decade
between 1840 and 1850) have created a love for,
and eventually an understanding of, the severe
English school of Cathedral writers. King, Gibbons,
Boyce, etc., etc., until this time quite unknown in
New York ?

Soon pilgrimages. Cathedral pilgrimages, were
made by the young and enthusiastic, as well as the
mature and more thoughtful of his friends, and a
love and appreciation for our Church music (es-
pecially for our cathedral services), was intensified.
Tliey heard of him who had quickened this love, at
Windsor, at Bristol, at York, and in London: — and
every grand C organ they listened to had a pipe
voiced to his name. While the echoing sounds in
the vaulted cathedral roof fell on their ear they

At St. Paul's and Trinity 149

could only say, " The noblest exponent of that
noble school has been transplanted on the western
shore. The calm, still air is here — the rich, quiet
breathing-in of music through the centuries ; but
the rushing wind is there. The steady light of
ever-new composition is here, but the quivering
flame and living gleam is there''

Twenty years pass. The workman may be re-
moved, but God carries on the work ; and the tie is
over and over again strengthened by the influx of
excellent English musicians who have entered into
the newly-opened field ; and " the cry is still, they
come." Yet his name, who threw open the field,
is not forgotten. It is yet a living name. He seems
yet present with those who, when young, heard his
familiar voice and his pleasant joke ; who knew
his face and form, and the merry twinkle of his eye.
And the pilgrimages have gone on, if but of a
faithful few, here and there ; some crossed the sea
to clasp the hand of their venerated musician once
more, while yet warm in the flesh, ere his spirit
caught the words, " Come up hither."

Another twenty years have passed, and the same
strong tie of sacred music in the Church' has led
other faithful hearts from the Western land to the
city of his birth, its surroundings, and the scenes of
his early life, as depicted in these pages. And

50 Edward Hodges

more, the memory of him, though personally un-
known to them, has beguiled some true hearts to
seek, amidst the rich historic associations of the
spot, that quiet village churchyard of St. Mary,
Stanton Drew, and the Latin cross, beneath the
willow tree.

Pilgrims' feet will, I trust, yet tread the sod of
that peaceful " God's Acre." And mingled with
the " Beati mortui " in their hearts, they may also
hear, as though gently whispered by the breeze, the
voice from afar, " Come up hither."

CHAPTER XIII.

MY father's musical WORK.

IT would not be right to withhold from even this
incomplete and general sketch of my Father's
life, some of his thoughts, views, and opinions
on the Theory of Sound, of Thorough Bass, and
Harmony.

'T is true, few may be able to follow him ; and
he seems to me, as I read his writings in those far-
off days of his youth, like one who enters a vast hall
of silence, where even the echo of his own footfall
is not heard. " Composers," as he says, " are not
often theorists." At the very door of his mind
there seemed to stand an array — a galaxy of intel-
lectual lights, avenues of thought, waiting to be
explored. That accounts for his oft-expressed
weariness ; they oppressed him so much that I have
often thought it was only the outlet of his grand
sacred music and his almost unearthly rest in that,
that saved his mind. He prayed for a " capacious
intellect." It was given him. It was a well bal-
anced and a clear one, and this renders his writing
151

152 Edward Hodges

on subjects we .do not really understand delightful
to read. We are content to follow and be led by
him. Many learned men make a subject appear
difficult and confused to us ; not so my Father.
With him we see, and by his eye we read. It is
just the difference between a profundity which is
impenetrable and muddy, and the clear dash of the
mountain stream. Where it stops in the deep hol-
lows of the rocks, it is pellucid, and clear, and sky-
reflecting, and we are content to gaze into it, or to
follow it to the shore of profound thought, open, as
he says, to His eye, " Who knoweth all things."

I quote from the Diary so early as August, 1825.
My Father had been suffering from great depres-
sion of mind. He had given a lesson in Thorough
Bass before breakfast, but after that he says :

" My day was good for nothing. My usual flow of
spirits was gone, and I was altogether miserable."

He was one of those whom Keble describes as

" By nature strung too high.
By suffering brought too low."

His Diary continues :

" In the evening I walked out alone on the turnpike
road above Park St., and as I walked I meditated, and
became more tranquil. Then I sought to apply my mind
to some useful topic, and adverted to the received princi-
ples and notation of

My Father's Musical Work 153

THOROUGH BASS.

" It has frequently occurred to me, that as at present
taught and practised, the Science (if it can be so desig-
nated) is a confused mass of barbarous dogmas, its very
first principles being as yet very unsettled. One writer
contends tJiis way and another that, which surely could
no longer be the case, were the rules laid down, founded
in nature and in truth.

" Rameau, in his dogma of the existence and stated
progression of one grand fundamental bass, did much to
check the progress of research and restrain the flight of
genius.

" Still this was entirely independent of the figuring or
notation, except in so far as it may have induced him to
give to certain disputable combinations, certain deter-
minate roots from which would follow certain resolutions
(as in the case of the added sixths which, though by the
best masters made to ascend, yet, according to his theory,
must, I apprehend, remain stationary). De gustibus no7t
disputandum est. Music is unquestionably a matter of
taste, but when a man has a system in his head, may not
he make his taste bend to his theory?

" Methinks there is always great danger in systematising
rapidly in the infancy of a science, and tho' the practice
of Music has attained a wonderful degree of perfection,
the science, even now, I consider to be but little farther
advanced than its childhood.

" In suggesting therefore new principles, I would wish
to do so with caution, and to consider nothing as estab-
lished, but what is susceptible of some sort of proof.

" I have two things in contemplation relative to this
subject: First, A new Theory of Fundamental Basses, and
secondly, a new Notation.

" Rameau, in insisting dogmatically that every musical

154 Edward Hodges

chord has its fundamental bass, only went a little too far.
If he had simply asserted that many, perhaps even most
of them have, he would not have advanced anything
objectionable, or which could not have been proved.
But in striving to carry his favourite theory through-
out, he had to combat with progressions which the
nicest ear, and the strictest judgment, and the purest
taste approve.

" The fact is, that laws in science are laid down as the
result of experience. Our experience has enlarged, our
laws are still contracted. Hence the outcry against the
Schools, and the danger of utter insubordination to all
classical authority. Even the ' mighty Masters ' have, in
the weakness of their great minds, occasionally descended
to speak contemptuously of the laws of their Art, and
feeling themselves above the region of the Schools, have
falsely inferred that they were at liberty to pronounce
them useless to everyone.

" But I am wandering. If I can elicit the principle
upon which (unknown perhaps to their respective
authors) the latest and best innovations upon the old
practice have been founded, I shall go not a little way
towards reducing to some order the confusion into which
the science has been thrown, and perhaps adding yet
more to the stock of materials out of which good music
may hereafter be constructed.

" I say then, let it be supposed possible for a chord to
have tivo real fundamental basses, or even more. It is
but to refer to the well-known 7, 0>, 4, 2, to be satisfied
that it will easily explain what else is left enveloped in
the mystery of creative genius. This supposed case will
resolve all the old dogmas of preparation and resolutio7t,
seeing the teachers thereby implicitly laid down the rule,
that no chord having two basses should be allowed, un-
less so much of them as belonged to \.\iQ previous bass had

My Father's Musical Work 155

been previously Jicard. So far good ; but when the ears
of the public had been sufificiently accustomed to these
discords in a prepared state, the Masters dished them up
unprepared.

" I am not prepared to say to what consequences
infringement of established rule may lead, though I fear
it tends to the destruction of sound composition,
whether or not, it makes a new code necessary, and a
dissertation to show how far the practice may be extended
with safety. This code I apprehended must be founded
on the admission of the principle that there are two
fundamental basses. Then the explanation of the f, f , ^,
etc., will be easily intelligible, and much of the mystifica-
tion of modern dogmatism will be annihilated.

" I will not enlarge further upon this branch of the
subject at present, but proceed to the subject of Notation
as far as Thorough Bass is concerned.

" Here we have intricacies enough. We have first a
string of figures, and then their qualifications, of %, l?s, Bs,
all to be read at a glance, and as instantly played, all
along bearing in mind the signature at the clef. This is
enough to puzzle any brain, and although I have myself
mastered the difificulties, I always feel for a young person
just entering upon them.

" Now as all the received combinations, though many,
are composed but of very few elementary intervals, I
thought of substituting for the mass of figures with their
attendants, certain arbitrary characters or signs, to each
of which shall be attached the idea of some given interval.
And as the chords are composed of these few intervals,
the signs of the chords, or the Thorough Bass notation
(which is after all, merely a musical short-hand) shall be
in like manner compounded of these characters. So if a
combination consist of a major third or perfect fifth
(which is a minor third above the major before men-

15^ Edward Hodges

tioned,) and a 7!^, which is still a minor third above the
fifth) the sign or notation of the chord would be first that
of a major third, then that of a minor third above it
(making together a fifth), and still above that another
minor third. Here the student would have before his
eyes the whole composition of the chord displayed, be
the key what it might.

" On my return home, I devised some characters, but
as they were hastily sketched, I found some objections
arise in compounding them. I shall however {Deo volente)
return to this subject at some future time. I calculate
that not more than six or eight characters are necessary."

" Jan. 12, 1826.

" 7, as a Musical Prime.

" I was all day busily engaged in studying the relations
of musical sounds as developed upon a Monochord, and
graduating a scale upon that instrument to afTord facilities
for future investigation.

" The more I reflect upon the exclusion of the number
7 from musical primes, and the oftener I hear the effect
of the employment of that number, the more thoroughly
I am convinced of the injustice of that exclusion.

" I have consulted Dr. Smith and Malcolm, yet does
not their statement of reasons convince me. The latter
says the result is inharmonious. I contradict it. That it
is natural, the French Horn, Trumpet and Monochord
abundantly demonstrate.

" Engaged in these thoughts, I entered deeply into
calculations, though as yet without any regular method.

" I look for some way of perfecting, or nearly perfect-
ing, the scale by the help of this same unfortunate num-
ber; and I have great hopes of introducing it into practice
by means of the Organ.

My Father's Musical Work 157

" Hague came in whilst I was engaged in this specula-
tion, and (as I should myself have done not very long ago)
contended that a good ear only was necessary to a good
musician, and that all such mysterious calculations were
good for nothing. . But in the particular object of my
research this is not true. There is no singer who makes a
perfect flat seventh, and the reason seems to be the con-
tinual reference in the early stages of vocal tuition to the
fixed tones, notes or sounds of some instrument. There
is not one performer in a hundred who has ever even
heard the interval, except perhaps from a Trumpet or
French Horn by accident, and then he has been universally
taught to consider it as a note out of tune, * a false note.'
Where the ears have been thus trained, little is to be
expected but determined opposition to innovation.

" If however I can succeed in forming a scale easy of
introduction upon keyed instruments, and employ this
forbidden ratio, I may steal a march upon their ears, and
convince their judgment through the medium of sense.

" I do not however anticipate the accomplishment of
so much without a world of pains and trouble.

" At a little before three I walked out, and, as yester-
day, gained the summit of Brandon Hill, took a pinch of
snuff, and came down again. I afterwards went into tiie
cathedral and heard part of the Service, but my head was
literally all ' sixes and sevens.' If it goes on at this rate
I shall be in danger of becoming mathematical !

" All the evening I was occupied upon the same topic,
and it did not forsake me even in bed. I begin to be
even expert in compounding ratios, though I find I must
do it my own way.

" When I look into other writers upon the subject, they
seem to me very muddy : diffuse where they ought to be
explicit, and explicit, or rather unintelligible, where they
ought to be diffuse and explanatory. I hope to be able

158 Edward Hodges

to make these things plainer to those who shall come
after me.

" Jan. ijtk.

" Immediately after breakfast Wilkins took his lesson.

1 explained to him, after I had examined his exercise, the
leading doctrines of Harmonics, and demonstrated them
to him on the Monochord. This lesson seemed to pro-
duce a prodigious impression on his mind, which probably
never will be erased. He will certainly not rest till he
has a Monochord of his own. After his departure I con-
tinued my speculations and operations upon the Mono-
chord, and before night completed graduated scales for
dividing a string into 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
15, 16, 18, 20, and 21 partsorany multiple of either of them.

" In this I have adopted what is perhaps an original
method. To avoid the confusion of so many subdivisions
in one scale, I have made longitudinal partitions, and kept

2 and its multiples (or sub-multiples) in one line, 3 and its
attendants on a second, 5 and its disciples on a third, 7
and its outlawed companions in a fourth, and 11, and 13
in a still further detached position, yet so as to be all
under command for experimenting on a single string.

" In consequence of my directions we had fish for din-
ner, a regulation which is to be observed on succeeding
Fridays.

" To-day I thought of embodying my musical matters in
the shape of an appendix to Dr. Calcott's Musical Grammar.
That work as far as it goes is very good ; but it contains no
more than the orthography of the language, or at farthest,
the declensions of the nouns and conjugation of the verbs.
The syntax is wanting. This deficiency I think I may
supply. Calcott has not touched upon the Laws of Com-
position ; neither has he a syllable upon Harmonics.

My Father's Musical Work 159

Thus the two extremes of the system he has altogether
avoided.

'* I was all the evening at my Monochordial calcula-
tions till my head was fairly confused.

" yan. 14th.

" Still it rivets my attention. De Boudry accompanied
me to a book-seller's to look for some tables of Logarithms,
to employ them in my musical calculations."

" In my Study, Nov. 6, i8j^.

" Mrs. Butterworth and her daughters attended me at
eleven o'clock, and had a further lecture upon Harmonics.
They seem to comprehend the drift of my chapter (in the
* Tentamen ' * ) upon the * Natural Derivation of In-
tervals ' very well indeed. I fancy that I really have
succeeded in making perfectly intelligible to ordinary
capacities and ordinary attention, a subject hitherto treated
so universally in an abstruse manner as to be, as it were,
completely locked up from the great bulk of even musical
people. This may encourage me to proceed with the
work, which I have so long intermitted."

* To my great regret this valuable and much-needed work on Thorough
Bass has not yet been found amongst my Father's effects.

CHAPTER XIV.

MY FATHERS ANTHEMS.

" In the beginning was the Word."
1829.

THIS Anthem conveys — as do all of my
Father's — by even a cursory study, this di-
rect impression : that before he put a pen stroke
on paper, he had a clear and full conception of the
whole subject in his mind, not only technically, as
to the art of composition, but of the higher art of
conception of an Idea. He had a wide mental
field, and on it he erected his visual structure.

The Anthem is in the key of C, J time. It opens
piano and crescendo on the simple bass octave, the
pedal bass C remaining steady for fourteen bars,
including the introductory six bars by the organ.
The upper part of this ascends chromatically with
harmony, to the middle C. Here the voices all
come in very softly, " In the beginning" in octave
and unison, but follow up the course indicated to

My Father's Anthems i6i

the next octave, arriving at the C to give emphasis
to the words, " The Word was God" (^). These
words once repeated in unison and octave, carry
the treble to G, the accompaniment being bold and
effective, while, the climax being reached, the im-
pression left is as grand as it is satisfactory.

This development, — capable of any degree of
fulness — though not resembling Haydn's " Fiat
Lux " in the Creation, bears a striking likeness to
it in conception. Haydn's is an immediate burst
of Light. This has preparation. It has been fore-
told, and comes gradually. It certainly needs Or-
chestral accompaniment to bring out the effects,
which lie hidden within it. It is easy to believe
that, even here, my Father did not give full sway
to his conception, although there is sufficient tO'
indicate its nature, as far as he has revealed it ; and
while reverently yielding to his favourite master,
Haydn, and not improbably taking an idea from
him, yet the leading thought was also his own, and
no doubt carried him farther, and wider, and
higher ; as he contemplated not the illumination of
our universe alone, but the Eternal Heavenly
Radiance of the " Light of the World."

The second movement (in ordinary tempo, in
C, marked Gt. Diapasons), " And the Word was
made Flesh," consists of an interesting, thorough

1 62 Edward Hodges

little Fugue in A Minor, exceedingly pleasant to
sing, and having an Obligato Bass accompaniment.
The Bass leads in the Fugue, which proceeds regu-
larly, and the movement, ending on the dominant
major, introduces a still longer and more elaborate
and spirited Fugue, "We beheld His Glory," the
tempo a little faster. The Alto leads.

Some striking effects are produced in this move-
ment by the union of voices, rather staccato, " We
beheld," and by the introduction of solo passages,
which add beauty to it, as well as relief at the
words, "The Glory as of the only Begotten of the
Father." These words carry a second subject,
which rather accompanies the first than is strictly
worked out itself.

It is only by the silent study of such a movement
as this in my Father's works that his intellectual
power can be known ; just as in playing or listen-
ing to the noble Fugues of Bach*s "Wohltemper-
irte/' the mind refuses, being unable, to follow the
beautiful working of the parts, filled as it is with
the dazzling harmony of the whole ; or, it may be
that the unity, power, and beauty of the whole,
render it impossible to divide the mind into a true
perceptiveness of the several parts.

This movement is virtually the conclusion of
the Anthem ; the two subjects now work faith-

i

My Father's Anthems 163

fully together ; the spirited flow of them only
once broken by a unity of vocalization on a for-
tissimo passage. The conscientiousness of this
Fugue work is somewhat marvellous, both as a
study and an example, the accompaniment follow-
ing rigidly the vocal parts. A working through
them is at last gained, by a hold of four bars on the
dominant bass, and the end is reached at 2l grand
fortissimo, where unity is given to the whole by
the free accompaniments being the same as stood
by " The Word was God " at the beginning, and
now giving grandeur and finish to the end at the
words, " Full of grace and truth."

But there follows, what is the middle part ; a slow
quartette in C Minor, unaccompanied, " For the
law was given to Moses," followed by the words,
" But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." The
smooth and graceful phrase which expresses these
words is remarkable for this, that it really seems to
enforce a reverent expression and bow of the head
at the pronunciation of the Holy Name. It speaks
alike for the reverential tone of my Father's mind,
and for the due attention he gave to words and
accent, that attention, in some later writers for the
Church, being much neglected, or made subservient
to the flow of musical ideas, not always appropriate
to them.

1 64 Edward Hodges

I hardly know whether this beautiful movement
would be called a Fugue or Imitation ; at any rate,
the one pervading phrase is taken by all parts,
sometimes three at once, sometimes inverted, and
displaying what Samuel Wesley called " great inge-
nuity " ; but the words would be worthless and
have no meaning, unless the thought, bearing the
intellectual and artistic work in itself, expressed a
loftier sentiment. The second Fugue " And we
behold His glory " is returned to, and the Anthem
is finished.

Of a beautiful Anthem composed in 1851 my
Father writes :

" Dec. J.
" I at length made a beginning of the Composition of
an Anthem (from Ps. cxxxiv) for the Consecration of
the Assistant Bishop of New York. Poor stuff ! "

The anthem was, however, not used until the
opening service of the General Convention, which
was held in Trinity Church, October 5, 1853. This
was one of the " grand services " of old Trinity. I
quote from one of the papers of the day :

" There could not have been many short of 3000 per-
sons present. In the procession of Bishops nearly every
State was represented, Bishop Boone of Chin.i, the ex-
Bishop of Madras, the Rev. Dr. Spencer, with Bishop
Brownell, taking the ante-Communion Service. The Ven.
Archdeacon of Middlesex, Dr. Sinclair, read the Litany ;

My Father's Anthems 165

after which the looth Psalm (' With one consent ') was
sung.

" At this time the Chancel presented a very imposing
appearance, the sunlight streamed through the stained
windows in its south side, and rays of blended gold, crim-
son, purple and ruby, fell in haloes around the heads and
forms of the Bishops, many of whom presented an ex-
ceedingly venerable appearance. It was a scene worthy
the inspired pencil of a Raphael or a Titian.

" The music was uncommonly fine ; Dr. Hodges, of
course, presided at the Organ, and he had about him a
choir of over thirty singers. The Te Deum and Jubilate
were Nares in C, and were given with great force and
effect. The Old Hundreth filled the whole church with
such a truly congregational volume of vocal praise as has
rarely been surpassed. The Anthem by Dr. Hodges him-
self was a beautiful composition. The call to ' Praise the
Lord,' starting with a single male voice, went on increas-
ing in number and power until the full chorus burst forth,
' Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary and Praise the
Lord.' The final ' Hallelujah, Amen ' was the crowning
beauty."

Speaking of his composition, he says in his
Diary :

''Feb. 25, i8s3.

" My slowness of composition is most lamentable. So
I presume it will be always, unless I can secure more
consecutive time for study, and greater privacy than I
now enjoy when engaged in composition.

" How often do I think with regret of my beautiful old
Study in the Cloister at Bristol, with its delightful seclu-

1 66 Edward Hodges

Yes ; there was a vast difference between the
old "Study in the Cloisters " and his small one in
his New York home. It is noticeable that all my
Father's elaborate works or compositions, consist-
ing of full Anthems, of whole Psalms, and all those
composed for events in the Royal Family, date
from the Cloisters. No wonder that he recalled
" its delightful seclusion."

From his deep bay window he saw nothing
but the trees and broad walks of the Bishop's
garden ; at the other end — for the room extended
the whole depth of the house — were the Cloisters,
and the rarely-broken quiet of the Cathedral close.

In this study, he formed a picture himself. I
can see him now in my mind's eye as he stood at
his high desk, writing, clothed in his long, black
velvet study gown, his unique, and, to me, always
beautiful and intellectual head bent forward as he
wrote. How soft and wavy his hair rose from his
temples ! No matter how the aspect of that
Musseum-like room affected you, with its wall-lining
of book-shelves, its bits of classic sculpture, its
musical curiosities, its piano-forte (standing bravely
out in the centre; on it, Horn's Edition of Back)
and its other attractions of study or comfort, you
would pass them all by, and your attention would be
fixed on that standing, reverent figure at the desk.

PRIORY LODGE, BRISTOL.

My Father's Anthems 167

I always knew when my Father was engaged on
a musical work. There was an abstraction about
even his manner ; I had an innate feeling that I
must not disturb him. His desire for solitude was
as marked then, as was his love for social pleasure
at other times when his mind was free.

When composing, it was never possible to get
any idea of his work, he touched the piano so
seldom. As a child I was impressed with the
marvellous grandeur of the final rendering, when
the whole work seemed to have been perfected in
that magic silence and seclusion. This struck me
forcibly in his noble translation of the 136th
Psalm ; I marvelled how in the unbroken quiet, day
after day, night after night, a labour of such power
and magnitude could have been brought into ex-
istence. I might have heard little suggestions of it,
a scrap of fugue, or a thought, unknowing that it
was a thought ; but of its entirety I had no notion
until it burst upon me as a whole, in its grand verse
and antiphon.

The Anthem, " For His mercy endureth for
ever," which was composed at Bristol, is a prince
among my Father's anthems ; and I remember
listening to his large band of amateur singers and
friends, and being arrested by his original way of
disposing of " Sehon, King of the Amorites, and

1 68 Edward Hodges

Og, the King of Bashan," which he put to the
Grand Chant by Humphrey, while the fine anti-
phon in the chorus was not interrupted in its
course.

I do not wonder my Father recalled his old
study with regret.

His power over people was very marked.
Nervously quick and full of musical irritability, he
was patience itself, and nothing but kindness and
goodness could come from his heart. But it was
not so much the latter characteristics as his power,
his knowledge, his precision, his own highly gifted
natural self that won the field, and made all who
approached him, willing and whole-hearted ad-
mirers. How his brilliant eyes would flash! and
though always clear in explaining a difificult pas-
sage, how impetuously and imperiously he would
dash through intricacies intelligibly and unfalter-
ingly, as though saying " This has to be done,
whether you will or no," and throtigh it would go.
They saw the Master in him, in the flash of his
eye ; heard it in the ring of his voice, and felt it in
the swift and unerring mastery of his Fugues, from
the announcement of the text or "subject," until
the exhaustive and magnificent close.

I find in his Diaries very much that would be of
interest to composers ; little items connected with

My Father's Anthems 169

Fugue subjects ; notes of times when it is easiest
to write, etc. For himself he decides that midnight
is the best time when, from the surrounding silence
and his own solitude, he finds his ideas flow more
easily.

It was in his New York home that on one par-
ticular occasion I heard and saved that succession
of chords to which I gave the name of " My Father's
Midnight Chant."

The evening was over ; stray guests had departed,
having enjoyed the " chat " and the bread-and-
cheese and ale supper ; the usual hour for Evening
Prayer had come, and gone, and the last foot-fall
had been heard on the stairs.

Then my Father retired to his study, as was his
wont, for he always much enjoyed reading alone.
I also had gone to my own room above his study,
and after a time, had put out my light.

From a half-asleep state, I was brought to con-
sciousness by an indistinct sound of rich and beau-
tiful harmonies, which seemed to suggest a picture
of a still lake over which organ-chords were floating
from some half-hidden monastery chapel. I at last
realised the truth. "It is my Father's midnight
music ! "

I quickly jumped up, struck a light, and ere he
had gone from the fascinating chords, I had them

lyo Edward Hodges

written down. I am sure the modulations must
have given him pleasure, or he never would have
repeated them often enough for me to write them.
They are very grand ; and he seemed to have
more than two handfuls of splendidly-distributed
harmony. I had them safe before my eyes ; and
when he had finished his — to me — unrivalled and
unsurpassable excursions into fields of unworldly
sound, he sang, as usual, his " Nunc Dimittis,"
came softly up stairs and passed my door. Then
he quietly closed his own, and I heard the click of
his little bolt.

Then I thought myself to sleep on the question
as to what it was that gave so unique and unsur-
passable a grandeur and beauty to my Father's
improvisations. That word, however, is not the
right one. They were more properly meditations.
They represented trains of thought, moods of the
mind, grades of deep religious emotion, powers of
the intellect and aspirations of the spirit, and even
seemed to express the relation of the soul to the
Great Arbiter of our destinies in some state of
being beyond this earth.

There was something /z'z/z'?^^ and >f/^^/^z>^^ through
his chords and modulations and consecutive,
thoughtful meditations which could never be con-
veyed by another. Melodies would gleam out

My Father's Anthems 171

here and there, speak to each other, and die away
in the environing clouds of soft, varied harmony —
Hke sunset hues — all distinct, and blended by his
perfect finger-power and graduated touch, while
suspicions and intimations of all the resources of
musical art, the developments of science, a height
of imagination, a depth of feeling, a width of sym-
pathy, were all condensed, as it were, into one
hour's expression in the night time ; a time when
the soul withdraws to its solitude, so truly called
" The Antechamber of the Deity," when " none
but God is near."

And it was this exquisite "finger-power" that
seemed to probe the depths of harmony ; to search
them, and exhaust them, bringing to the surface its
reasons and its meaning in a way and with a power
that, to my mind, no other hand has ever possessed.

He said to me once, "the grandest music has
never been written." So he taught me to realize
what I had already seen in him : the consecrated
gift, and its ultimate destiny and development.

In the morning, before my Father had come
down, I put the MS. on his desk. He sat down
and, looking at it, said, "What's this?" He
played it, and continued, "• \\. xs^ bad ! These are
perfect fifths ! "

Evidently he had no remembrance of it at all :

172 Edward Hodges

while I, having written it under the fear that he
would stop playing, or roam yet farther away, when
I should lose it altogether, had to get it down as
quickly as I could, the modulations being so close
and unexpected. The fifths had come from this
cause, and, of course, were mine. I knew the
chords were rich and substantial, and they were his
own: and I am thankful I rescued them.

When he was composing the Anthem '' I was
glad'' (Ps. cxxii) for the consecration of Trinity
Chapel, I noticed how rarely, and especially how
softly, he touched his piano-forte : just a thought
or a suggestion of a phrase would come now and
then ; and what a treat it was when he would play
a movement entire !

A remark, made only lately by one of his warm
appreciators, is singularly true :

"Your Father wrote for Scholars."

Very truly, my Father wrote " for Scholars," so
far as intellectual acquirements of a high grade are
perceptible in his music. He believed and taught,
that the intellect should be used in the Praise of
God as much as the emotions and aspirations of
the soul and spirit. He believed it to be, perhaps,
God's greatest gift, to be consecrated to Divine
Worship in every avenue of its development and

My Father's Anthems 173

thought. My great, Catholic-minded, worshipful
Father ! While he could soar to the highest, he
could stoop to the lowest : and the chief reason
why we do not hear more of his published music
is, that people have not soul enough to throw into
it its vital spirit of devotion. The great Bow of
prismatic Light and Sound spanning the archway
between the heavenly choirs above and our poor,
imperfect attempts here, is one of many more
colours than the Rainbow ! My Father seemed to
dream of it, and his writings give but slight intima-
tions of the soaring thought of which his conse-
crated intellect was capable.

He did truly write "for Scholars"; but in the
great field outlying the range of intellectual musical
acquirement, he reigned also supreme. Instance
that beautiful and touching incident of the little
dying boy, "Take me to Trinity Church, that I
may once more hear Dr. Hodges play 'Praise the
Lord, O my soul!'" and remember how he said,
" This little incident has given me more pleasure
than any commendation I have ever received."
What spirit is manifested by that simple confession,
but that the great aim of all his acquirements was
reached ? He had drawn one soul nearer its
Maker. It was the soul of a little child, and he
did not despise one of those " little ones."

174

Edward Hodges

And how many more had he moved, all unknown
to himself, as his spirit, subtle as the wind, floated
through the Church, bearing aloft the incense of
"prayer or praise," just as the same wind, which
the Blessed Saviour, in that profound midnight
converse with the Hebrew Rabbi, Himself likened
to the Spirit, bears away on its breath the odours
of myriads of flowers in its onward, unseen path.

CHAPTER XV.

MUSICAL LIFE IN NEW YORK.

IN that alanthus-shaded street where the katy-
dids and tree-toads chatted and argued until
the day-dawn, lived the strict and scholastic Doctor,
beloved and admired by all, in his unrelenting Eng-
lish dignity and geniality.

Yes ; and as the street was made lively from four
in the morning by the fruit-seller's insistent cries,
he would rise in the comparatively early coolness
of those New York August days, and play his
Fugue.

It was on the 23d that he was thus early at the
keys, probably minus coat, and the Fugue of course
was No. 23, in the key of B, Book i.

Not yet aroused from my heavy forgetfulness,
untraceable musical thoughts and suggestions
seemed to be mixed up with my dreams. I did
not know what I heard, nor where I was, as those
streams of winding melodies and harmoniously

176 Edward Hodges

flowing modulations passed through my mind At
last the truth fell in like a ray of light and I real-
ized all, and said, "It is my Father; my Father
playing his Fugue ! " And I listened in a state of
restful and intellectual delight. The reality was
lovelier far than the dream, and the sound of my
Father's fingers, so soft and masterly, will never
pass from my memory, though they spoke so long
ago.

And of all the Fugues so dear to me, there is
none more dear than 23, in that soothing, lovely
key of B, as it spoke to me on that morning.

There is a motion and a freshness in the air
from the western window ; a glint of sunshine
from the upper blue strikes through the half-closed
blind, as the green of the vine is revealed on the
trellis outside. A sun ray falls athwart his desk,
and, lying on the blotting sheet there, the eye
catches sight of a small home-made book.

It lies before me now, though nearly forty years
have passed since the musician's artistic fingers
constructed it.

It consists of two pieces of cardboard neatly
bound with a piece of broad twilled tape, and
leaves very neatly sewed in with fine string ; just
such an artistic, quaint affair, as only genius would

Musical Life in New York 177

devise, since it would despise a shop-bought
article.

On the outside cover are the words :

" M. W. Topics.
Aug. 1856."
and inside is written

" Topics for possible Articles

in the

Musical World.

E. H., Aug. 21, 1856.

1. Plain Song Mch. 1857.

2. Gregorian Tones Feb. 1857.

3. Numbers and Definite Proportions . 2, 3, 4, &c.

4. Music in Common Schools . . • (i)

5. Organ building.

6. Standard Organ Sep. 1857.

7. Encouragement of Native Talent.

8. Psalm Tunes in C, in f and | compared.

9. Individuality in performance . . Jan. 1857.

10. Grammar of Music.

Declensions, Government of cases, &c.

Touched Oct. 1857.

11. Skill in playing, not tested by velocity merely,

12. The teaching faculty .... June 1857.

Self-taught artists and teachers.

13. Sol- Fa system.

14. Practical Thorough-Bass.

15. Theoretical Do (3 touched)

78 Edward Hodges

i6. Musical Stenography.

17. Boston Music Hall and Organ.

18. Music Committees .... June 1857.

19. Choir Leaders.

20. (See 17.)

21. Music Halls in general.

22. Ratio of expense decreases with increase of magni-

tude.

23. Vibrations, Pulsations, Undulations, &c.

Matter of Sound . . . Touched 4. 5.
And again.

24. Sir Isaac Newton and Prismatic Music.

25. Music of Moschetoes !

26. Calliope and Steam Music.

27. Polarized Light, and analogy with sounds.

28. Elocution and Singing.

Touched by R. S. W. in his * Spoken Music'

29. Organ-grinding nuisance.

30. Crotchets and Quavers.

31. Tones and Semi-tones.

32. Sesquialtera, and other Organ names.

Mutation Stops Sep. 1857.

33. Clerical interferences not always beneficial.

34. Can every body learn to sing ?

35. Clefs. (The C Clef.)

36. Isle of Serpents !

-i^y. Salable Compositions.

Fashioti in Church-world.

38. Audible limits of Scale. Birds. Crickets.

39. Old Hydraulic Organ.

40. Music of Fishes.

41. Definition of Music difficult.

42. Testimonials to men and things given too readily.

43. Different Systems adapted by various Music

Teachers in public Schools.

Musical Life in New York 179

44. Attempts at New Notation. (Numerical Notation.)

45. Metronomes often incorrect.

46. Concert Criticism. What should it be ?

47. Originality in Composition. Possible in two or

three notes ?

48. Musical Merchandize.

49. Music for the Deaf and Dumb !

50. Elocution physical.

51. Effect of Floss paper on sound in a dining-room.

52. N. E. Cornwall's Book.

53. Positions of Choirs in Churches.

54. Sound of A. Amen. . . . Dec. 1857.

55. Letters in participles.

56. Education of Boy choristers.

57. Organist's qualifications. Playing for places.

58. Musical publications, dateless.

59. Congregational Music. Singing. . Oct. 1856.

60. Harmony, large or small, according to the place in

the Scale.

61. Instrument Makers. Players (Fiddles, Trombones)

Need of proportion and accuracy.

62. Scale of Ten Octaves, 15! to 32.000.

63- Negro Voices; National Voices; Effect of Cli-
mate on voices ; Boatman's Songs.

64. Consecutive 5ths and Bves, why forbidden ?

65. Counterpoint Dec. 1856.

66. Punctuality in Concert giving.

6-j. Progress of Music in New York, in the last ten or
fifteen years ; from G. F. Bristow.

68. Church Bells. Chiming, Tolling,

Ringing Oct. 1857.

69. Power of Association. . . . Jan. 1857.

70. Chaunting Feb. 1857.

71. Memory.

72. Rythm Sep. 1857. Partially.

i8o

Edward Hodges

73-

74.
75.
76.

n-
78.

79-
80.

83.

84.
85.

86.
87.

88.
89.
90.
91.

92.

Genius. Invention.

Originality Done, Sec 48.

Chiroplasts, and teaching machinery.
Rehearsals.

Musical Associations or Societies.
Key-note — the final Bass. Why? . Apr. 1857.
Character of Instruments and of individual instru-
ments.
E. H.'s Organ Improvements.

May 1857.
June 1857.
June 1857.
July 1857.
July 1857.
Aug. 1857.

Swell.
Pedals.

Polyphonic pipes.
Typhus Pedal.
Piano-forte Organ.
Reviews should be honest and independent.
Voluntaries. .
Psalm Tunes.
Interludes.
Services.
Anthems. .
Time. .
The Praise of Musicke.

Ordinary and Extraordinary remuneration, "Musi-
cal Emoluments."
Social standing of Musicians.
Attempted New Notations. E. H.'s

described. ..... Nov. 1857.

Pitch and its tide.
The Dot.

Should a Church Musician receive any Salary?
Mental participation of or Pecuniary
aid towards Music, say, in the
worship of the Devil ?
The proper and most effective mode of Teaching.
Also, A word on the importance of Music.

Sept.
May,

1S56.
1858.

Musical Life in New York i8i

93. Organ Style of playing.

94. Genius vs. Manufacture.

95. Instrumentation and Orchestration.

96. Choral Service.

97. Modulation.

98. Querstand.

99. Editorship of Collections, Psalmody, &c.

100. Orchestra . . In part only. 1 857.

10 [. Organs as Church Furniture,

as Church Instruments,

as Orchestral "

as Domestic "

102. Concerts; Management, Programmes, Expenses.

103. Notation. Complex. . . . Nov. 1857.

104. Whistling ! ! !

105. Out of Tune.

106. Prize Compositions May, 1858."

Subjects not before Mentioned.

'I. Harmonics.

2. Singing and Sand.

3. Study and Practice.

4. Progress of Music in the Church. Review of G. F.

Bristow.

5. Sympathy.

6. Pianology.

7. Suspensions.

8. Motives for Studying Music.

9. The New and the Old.

10. The Old and the New.

11. City Hall Bell.

12. Choral Service.

13. Anglican Chaunt.

1 82 Edward Hodges

14. Music and Morality.

15. Plagal Cadence.

16. Keynote.

17. Ancient Choirs.

18. Modern Choirs.

19. Clerical Management of Music.

20. Choir Places.

21. Drums.

22. Teeth.

23. Taste.

24. Musical Legislation.

25. Oratorios.

26. Music Committees.

27. How to hear Music.

28. Execution and Expression.

29. Clefs or Cliffs.

30. Plain Singing and Plain Song.

31. English Cathedrals.

32. Dr. Tuckerman's Lecture. . . Dr. Guilmette.

33. Church Organs. Ordinary Church Organ.

34. Glance at Musical Grammar.

35. A Parable.

36. The Mouse and the Deacon.

37. Art Encouragement.

38. How to shorten Divine Service.

(All published in the Musical World.) "

In the little book, I find the folloviring Auto-
graph, which may be of interest to those who
cherish the memory of the musical clergyman, as
well as of his beloved friend the clerical organist.

BRISTOL CATHEDRAL.

Musical Life in New York 183

"Suggestions for the Pen of * H.' in the

Musical World.

1. Difference between musical sentiment and devotional

feeling.

2. Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of

singing Chorales in Unison or in Harmony.

3. Wherein exists the peculiarity of Cathedral Music.

4. The little which English Cathedrals have done for
Cathedral Music.

5. Desirableness of clerical skill in Music.

6. Departed clerical composers and clerical organists.

7. The superiority of Handel in the Majesty, and
Beauty, and Independence of Accompaniment.

8. Charles and Sam. Wesley as Extempore Organists,
with Hints on Extempore Organ-playing.

Received from good Mr. Havergal, July 2, 1857, i" ^
letter, dated Worcester, June, 1857."

My Father had a very happy and original way
of calling us, musically, easily adapting our names
to a phrase in melody corresponding to them in its
syllables and accent. This was curiously and effec-
tively tried in St. John's Chapel, New York, one
Sunday morning during my Father's occupancy of

1 84 Edward Hodges

the organ-stool there, prior to the Consecration of
Trinity Church.

My brother had taken his usual seat in President
Moore's pew in the middle aisle, and I was with my
Father in the organ gallery. It was now the usual
time for him to play the first voluntary ; and calling
my attention, he said to me " I am going to call
Jubal. Watch him." His voluntary proceeded as
thoughtfully and smoothly as usual ; in the course
of it the phrase,

m

^

which was his call for my brother, was repeated
twice. It was distinct, and at the same time so
much a part of his improvization, that a general
listener would not have noticed it at all. At the
first time my brother seemed arrested by it ; at
the second he turned and looked up, but saw no
sign. When the call came the third time he de-
liberately took up his hat, and, leaving the pew,
walked straight up to his Father and said, " Do
you want me, Sir?" " Yes," said my Father, " Go
home and get my gold snuff-box." The errand
was speedily executed, the house being so near
St. John's Park. He handed the snuff-box to his
Father and returned to his seat.

Musical Life in New York 185

The following is a copy of his note-sheet, which
gives an idea of what he found or rather what he
did not find in New York ; of his plan of attack,
and his mode of reconstruction, remembering he
alludes only to the " Music " of our Church :

" Music — as it is in the United States.

Hindrances.
Absence of permanent Choirs.

" " endowed Professorships.

" " musical Rubrics.

' Anthem.'
" " authoritative standard.

False position of choirs.
Clerical ignorance !

Puritanical psalmody y^r.?/ on the ground.
Low standard of Organists.
Operatic importations.
Influx of Germans, etc.
Would-be independence.
Defective style of chaunting.
Pseudo Gregorian Music,
English Cathedral School neglected.

Two or three Services printed only.
Good books not to be had, except from abroad, and

then half useless.
Strange notions afloat as to the propriety of paying

musical officers of the Church,
Thorough training of Boys neglected.
Rarity of well directed efforts.
Holy Cross, Troy.
Holy Communion, New York.

1 86 Edward Hodges

Confusion of ideas concerning Anthems and Services.

(An Anthem read. Churchman.)
A whole generation necessary to work a radical change
for the better.

Remedies.
Found Professorships, especially in the Theological

Seminaries.
Found Church Schools, having particular reference to

Church Music.
Restore rubrics, and the Pointing of the Psalter.
Disengage Organists, etc., from necessary contact with

secular music /br a living.
Consider Music no longer as a mere stop-gap in Divine
Service.

Adherents of exclusive congregational singing.

Musical reputation built upon false pretences.

Decay of English Cathedral Foundations. Possible fur-
ther effect of California !

Cornwall's ' Warwick,' etc. Power of early associa-
tion.

Organ pitch raised; and why?

Projects of Neiv Notatio7t. (Zundel and von Heerin-
gen, etc.).

Good Friday music."

I find in the Diary the following entry :

" February /, i8j^.

" I composed a Chaunt at Faustina's request."

My Father mentions no key, in connection with
this " request " for a Chaunt. Therefore I cannot

Musical Life in New York 187

identify his writing me one at this time with the
one I refer to in my " Notes " in the pamphlet
entitled,

" Kyries, Chaunts and Tunes by Edward Hodges,
Mus. D." (Novello, Ewer & Co.).

It is quite possible I asked for "a Chaunt " at
this time, although I have forgotten it ; the other
parts of it all, I remember well ; so I copy my own
words, and append the Chaunt in the much more
beautiful original key ; one easily reached by Eng-
lish men and boys.

" One day, when we were living in the Cloisters,
I heard my Father improvising on his Broadwood
in the key of A^ This key having a strange fasci-
nation for me, I quickly went up to his study door
and knocked. He said 'Come in,' and I went in,
and stood by him silently. He continued to play on
for some little time ; and coming to a cadence, I
thought he had finished, and said, ' I 'm so fond of
A'^' ; without speaking, he played on until his
thoughts took a definite shape. Leaving the piano
he went to his high desk, at which he always stood
to write, and in a minute or two brought me this
beautiful Chant. He had headed it ' Faustina's
Chaunt. I 'm so fond of A'^.'

" Well do I remember his courteous and gracious
manner as he presented it to me, which could not

1 88

Edward Hodges

have been more marked had he been addressing a
superior in age, instead of his own child,

" Years passed by. He had gone to New York ;
the Chant had passed from his memory, but I had
kept it, and one day I placed it on the desk of his
Piano. He played it, liked it, lowered the key to
G^, and put it in his * Trinity Collection.' It soon
became a favorite, was copied into many collections,
and has been one of the most generally used Chants
in the United States."

^^. „ O, .1 I, . I I. — . r-^ , „ / , .1 'A.

From the Mtisical Magazine and Quarterly Re-
view, 1826, I make the following extracts :

"Dr. Hodges's Opus. i.

" Morning and Evening Service in C.

" With Two Anthems.

" It is refreshing to turn to the chastened Melody, fine
Counterpoint and proper clefs. This is music to retire to
from dramatic noise and nonsense. Dr. Hodges, in a
short preface, very properly waives all apology for the use
of the legitimate clefs. He opens his Te Deum with
plain, appropriate and effective harmony ; a solemn strain
of plain, full counterpoint. The fugal points, here and

Musical Life in New York 189

throughout, are designedly brief, the h'ghts and shades of
Harmony judiciously contrasted, and the modulation
sufficient and effective. The Te Deum is we think the
best part of the Service ; and some of the musical phrases
are of a very elevated character. It contains also a fine
instance of Canon.

" The whole setting of the Psalm 'O give thanks,' to go
no further, is a sufficient proof of the Composer's ability
in the style to which he aspires. In the two Anthems
the Doctor evidently rises in conception and grandeur.
The melodies and harmonies in the opening chorus ' O
give thanks ' are both sweet and dignified. The close, in
which due attention is given to the words, is grand. The
Chorus, which concludes the Anthem, opens k-la-Handel
too obviously. It is a dignified chorus in which the pas-
sage of Octaves forms a striking and grand contrast to the
full Harmonies ; and the fugal point, though very simple,
is on that account very impressive.

" The ' St. James Anthem ' opens with a short Overture,
where again we are reminded of Handel as well asCorelli,
and any attempt at originality is waived in favour of
classic propriety. A fine chorus in C minor follows the
Overture, and is sufficiently diverse in style from the pre-
ceding choruses. This is followed by a descriptive
Quartette and Chorus in the major relative, in which the
words ' Praise the Lord upon the Harp ' occur, and are of
course adapted to imitative music, and with interesting
effect. A fine double Fugue terminates the work. The
Fugue is scientifically and effectively constructed through-
out various modulations, and ultimately blends with the
solemn Hallelujah, both vocally and instrumentally, and
terminates with grandeur.

" Finally, if these compositions are not remarkably dis-
tinguished by originality, the apology is obviously that
they are modelled on a style where originality can scarcely

J go

Edward Hodges

be expected. The severity of that style, introduced, or
at least established by the Reformation, has banished
quirks and fantasies in Ecclesiastical Music, and original-
ity in the path of creative talent requires the most discreet
management, even from the sublimest genius."

I have spoken of my Father's invention and use
of little musical phrases to serve as ca//s for us.
My own was the following :

His usual attention to the number 3 is apparent.
The third time, my name came out with great
decision !

I give the bare harmony. Of course he filled it
in as he list.

His call for my good second Mother was the
leading phrase of his "Service in F."

My brother Jubal drew a most intelligent com-
parison between his Father and S. Sebastian Wes-
ley, as musicians, the genius of Wesley, transcendant
as it was, making him hold in even higher reverence
and estimation the abilities and powers of his
Father. He saw where his Father's thorough
fugue power came in, conveying the idea that he

Musical Life in New York 191

had trained his intellect somewhat at the expense
of his imagination. He also recognized his Father's
greater profundity and grandeur, combined with
equal scientific skill : above all, he felt in his Father's
playing a soul-compelling power, which seemed
permeated with a spirit of adoring worship and
spiritual exultation. " Could the two be shaken
together, and their distinctive genius blended," he
said, " what two magnificent, almost superhuman
minds should we have ! "

My Father's voice as I remember it, was of a
high Tenor quality, exceedingly sweet, delicate
and plaintive in tone, and exquisite in Chromatic
passages.

In his Bristol Diary I often find :

"At the Cathedral this morning I took a stall
and sang Bass through the service." Showing its
compass, he constantly speaks of his taking Tenor,
Counter-tenor or Bass in his Anthem or Service
music, where a part was required.

A musical friend in New York once startled me
by saying "What an exquisite singer your Father
is ! " Until then I had not fully realized the veiled
and rarely-heard perfection of his voice.

As I have written much music and have not pre-
served any "reviews" or "critiques" but the

192 Edward Hodges

following, I am tempted to insert it here. I value
it not only for its source, but because the writer,
whom I have never discovered or known, seems to
have read my mind, and interpreted my meaning.

My brother, the beloved Jubal, on leaving me
one day, said, " Write ' Blessed are the pure in
heart ' fo7' me^ In due time the music was written.
It was first published by G. Schirmer, New York,
and afterwards by my faithful old friend Dimoline,
of Bristol, who sent a copy to Novello. It is for
three voices. The notice which I copy is from the
London Musical Times of Feb. i, 1874. The
words were written four years after my brother had
entered that life which his "pure heart" on earth
anticipated.

" Blessed are the pure in heart."

" Here is a truly charming little Trio. Its chief
melody is most graceful, its harmony is fresh and
decidedly modern in character, without being more
chromatic than is necessitated by the phraseology
of the top part, nor than is easy to sing and de-
lightful to hear, and the effect of the combined
voices is admirable.

" The merit of the music stands high, claims
attention, and should secure wide acceptance for
the piece. We feel the naturally devout expres-

Musical Life in New York

193

sion of every phrase, though this is rendered in
unconventional forms, and we are glad to find a
writer who is so independent of custom's trammels,
that she can set scriptural words to notes that flow
from her heart, and so present them with an air of
conviction in their truth."

CHAPTER XVI.

MY FATHERS INVENTIONS.

THE details of these very numerous inventions
may to some seem tedious and unnecessary ;
while to others they may be the most important
part of all. Unless they are both clearly and
wholly given, what is the use of noticing the inven-
ventions at all ? We should thus leave one part,
and a very important part of my Father's life out
of sight altogether. It is very true, that the Mow-
ing Machine, and the Screw Propeller, and the
Dumb Waiter, and Sections in Ships, and the
Roller Skate, and the application of Electricity,
and the bleaching of India Rubber, and Iron
Steeples and Stairs, and I believe dozens of others,
all have respectively been done or brought into
use years after he first recorded them ; but they
are none the less his ; they occurred to his mind,
and each one of these had in his mind its full de-
tail and way of working, and received as much
194

My Father's Inventions 195

careful thought in kind, though not in degree, as
his most carefully worked-out Fugue. Not to give
the details then would be injustice to him.

The most remarkable points in it all, are : First,
the fact that one who is known chiefly as an emi-
nent Church Musician and Theorist should have
thought out all those other things ; secondly, his
extreme youth ; and thirdly, the state of know-
ledge then, and" his solitude in Bristol.

It was not so remarkable that he should have
soared into the regions of Acoustics, where New-
ton reigned supreme, or that the metaphysical part
of music so fascinated him. We cannot see things
as they were then, and as he saw them. We are
in the light of the knowledge he foresaw, and in a
very great degree enjoyed. His eye was prophetic,
as his aims were unerring ; and the result was sure,
though the latter may have been gained by other
ways than his.

Here is a little picture of his boyhood.

He is a lad of sixteen, and we see him making
his way one night up to the roof of the old Bridge
Street house, carrying something very carefully.
Immersed in acids (according to his knowledge of
Chemistry,) is a specimen of black, unsightly
Caoutchouc.

196 Edward Hodges

Now he has determined in himself that this
black stuff can be made tvhite. It never has been
done, but he has laboured for many months at it,
and will not give it up.

He also writes his belief that it is capable of
many different uses ; that it can take colours and
be moulded into many shapes. Up to the roof he
goes early next morning and finds that this, one of
his latest experiments, is partially successful.

Was not his forecast of India Rubber absolutely
verified ?

The year 1821 was for Dr. Hodges as an In-
ventor his Annus Mirabilis. He was at this date
twenty-five years of age.

There appeared about the year 1887 an article
in the Bristol Times and Mirror headed " Pro-
fessor Ericsson and Dr. Edward Hodges, of Bristol,"
from which article I extract the following :

"Sir:

" I think it will much interest many of your readers to
compare the statement made in the slight sketch of the
life and work of the Inventor and Scientist, Ericsson,
(whose death at the age of 85, has just been telegraphed
from New York,) with an extract from the Records left by
Dr. Edward Hodges of his own ' Projects and Inventions '
in the field of Mechanical Science. ' The Screw Propeller,'
Ericsson's most important invention, was invented in
1836. ' The Princeton ' with a Screw propeller was built
later. His last vessel (all this was in New York) was the

My Father's Inventions 197

' Destroyer,' which carried a sixteen-inch gun, which dis-
charges, with gun-cotton, a 1500 Ib.-projectile. In later
years Ericsson's attention was given to Solar influences.

" We will now turn to the record left by Dr. Hodges
of his 'Inventions and Projects, A.D. 1821,' and quote
verbatim.

" ' A method of impelling boats (by any mechanical
mover) by means of large screws under water. Smith
(Organ Builder) tells me that Lord Stanhope had the
same notion, and had tried it unsuccessfully.

Aug. 8, 1821.'"

On the subject of Explosives, Dr. Hodges writes
that he had

"An indistinct notion of applying the moderated,
gradual explosion of Gunpowder, as in squibs and sky-
rockets, to the impulse of ships. The resisting medium
being, of course, the water behind the vessel. Ships so
provided might get off faster when chased, and in a calm,
might even move with great velocity; but of course at
a great expense of powder."

It would be interesting to find out who was the
successful projector of '' Sections in Ships''; but
I crive Dr. Hodo^es's words —

" A project for the prevention of the destruction of
ships by fire or leakage by means of Sections (In bed, Jan.
22, 1 821). Wrote S. Gardener Esq. about it. Received
his answer Jan. 26. Learned that the scheme had been
communicated to several London Merchants, Feb. 4.
Result unknown. Appeared in * Bristol Observer,' March
12. Wrote R. H. Davis, M.P. Received a communica-
tion to apply to the Admirality."

198 Edward Hodges

Another quotation —

" An Hydraulic Mercurial Steam Engine which may
have the same force as the present most powerful engines,
yet restricted to perhaps less than an eighth of the space
and weight they now occupy."

Strangely too, Dr. Hodges as a lad, was invent-
ing his Photo-meter, and measuring the sun's light,
thus directing, like Ericsson, his mind to Solar In-
fluence. He recorded forty-three Inventions and
Projects in the year 1821 alone. They go over a
great deal of ground : came into his head at all
sorts of times and all sorts of places : in Church,
in the Commercial Rooms, (one of his favourite re-
sorts in Bristol,) in bed, in his walks and rambles,
or in conversation with a friend. Some are quaint
and curiously original, showing a wonderful fertility
and forecast of practical and mechanical knowledge ;
while all indicate a degree of observation and
thoughtful intelligence, remarkable in one who had
barely reached a quarter of century in years ; and
who, besides having his time and attention neces-
sarily given to business, was pursuing with extreme
diligence his studies in the Science, Practice, Com-
position and History of Music.

Of the forty-three inventions, seven were for the
Organ {vide " Improvement of Organs," 1826-182 7,
London Musical Magazine a7td Review, by Dr. Ed-

My Father's Inventions 199

ward Hodges) ; and the Organ of St. James's,
Bristol, was the fore-runner of all the large Organs
erected in England, as Trinity Organ, New York,
was of all afterwards built in the United States.
He was, as a Cathedral Organist told the writer,
called an " Innovator," in this instance a term of
honour. He wrote of his old organ at St. James's,
" the Organ is vile ! " He lived to see his innova-
tion universally adopted. Whether he received
the credit of it is another matter. It did not trouble
him much. " He was," said a distinguished Doctor
in Music, of Cambridge, "fifty years before his time."
He closes his record with this bit of Philosophy :

" As to my projects mechanical, some are good and
useful. They must some day come into popular use.
And then whether I have the honour of the Invention or
not, I shall have the satisfaction of feeling that I deserve
it. There are men in the world, who are at this moment
heaping up credit on the brains of others. I would not
give a straw to be esteemed the inventor of the Steam-
Engine itself, unless I had the consciousness of the fact
within me."

Here is a Diary Extract :

" From Mr. Samuel Wesley about my Typhus Pedal.

" London, 27 Duke St., Grosvenor Sq.
" February, 18 19.

" Sir,

" In answer to the favour of your letter, for which I re-
turn my thanks, I wish to observe, that your new inven-
tion appears to me exceedingly ingenious, and a great

200 Edward Hodges

increase of grand effect will be produced in the hands of
a complete master of Modulation and of the Organ : —
but that it is only in such hands that this end is likely to
be attained ; how far therefore it is of general utility may
possibly be a question, for I am sure I need not inform
you that the number of performers who understand the
entire management of an organ is comparatively few.

" I beg leave to add that I shall feel most ready to
receive any future communication upon the subject you
may judge proper to make to

" Sir, Your obliged and obedient servant,

" S. Wesley.

"To Edward Hodges, Esq., Bridge St., Bristol."

The above relates to a contrivance v^rhereby any
number of keys may be held down for an indefi-
nite length of time. It has yet, however, never
been made public.

In the Diary of this time my Father writes a
great deal about his Typhus Pedal. A clerical
friend, who knew him not, and yet seemed to re-
gard him, after all these years, as a living presence
in the church, has kindly furnished me with the
Greek, adding these pleasant words: "Your
Father was a good Grecian when he called his
"smothered grandeur" pedal, a TypJms Pedals
Tvcpo?, smoke, vapour.
Tvcpoo, to raise a smoke.
Metaph. Tvcpojusvo? | smouldering, but not yet
nols^o? \ broken out.
Tvcpoodii?, like smoke.

My Father's Inventions 201

The following extracts from the Diary bear on
the subject of his inventions :

" Jan. 24th, 1824.

"As I lay awake in bed during the night I cogitated on
the matter of tuning Trumpets, etc., when there came into
my head the mode of shortening the Tube and conse-
quently of altering the key-note by means of a tube with
a stop-cock.

'' 2Sth.

"As usual now with me I lay awake some hours last
night, and cogitated about Trumpets, Windmills, etc. I
devised a new combination for raising water in gardens,
viz., the appropriation of the Parabolic curved Tube, in con-
nexion with a horizontal windmill, or two, or three of
them, one above another, forming a little tower.

" Feb. 2nd.

" How to describe a spiral. This idea pleased me much
at the time; it occurred to me in bed, though not for the
first time. Take a Cylinder whose circumference shall be
just the distance you wish to have between the lines, then
wind a thread round it having a pen and pencil at the
end, first fixing it on the paper or board whereon you
wish to describe the figure. Then by keeping the line out
firm and marking the surface as you go, a true spiral is
obtained.

" Feb. 4th.

" I thought of a new method of constructing chimneys
and fire-places in a house, by making the fire in the plinth
of a large classical column, the column itself carrying the
flue."

Particulars are given and drawing made, and
drawings are given of the plans he had for improve-
ment in Trombones.

202 Edward Hodges

Oct. ijtk.

" Both yesterday and to-day I have both amused and
stored my mind in some degree by poring over the
Encyclopoedia MetropoHtana, upon Manufactures and
Machines.

" I have an idea of introducing a new process of print-
ing, which may be appropriately called Papyrography, as
distinguished from Lithography.

" I propose fixing my paper upon wooden blocks, by
means of india-rubber varnish, and am sanguine enough
to believe that I can manage to print both sides at the
same momeftt, which as far as I know has never been
attempted by anybody. I am in doubt as the employ-
ment whether of Jlat blocks or of cylinders, perhaps the
latter will be best for inking and watering. The opera-
tion of printing will be more rapid than any yet known.
I am delighted with the idea, and hope to apply it to
Music. But alas ! where are my funds for experiments ? "

In the year 1824 my Father records his invention
of a Flying Machine. He draws it, and gives full
details as usual.

Many years afterwards when in New York he
spoke in fun, as well as in sober earnest, of his
" Flying Pigeon " ; proving that the thought of
some machine to move 171 air was yet in his
mind.

''April, nth, 1824.

"Amid the multitude of my projects, I know not
which to encounter first.
My New Notation,
My Organ Improvements,

My Father's Inventions 203

My Rocket Ships, Life saving apparatus.

My Steam Apparatus,

My Musical Publication,

My Double Trombone (to speak a 62 ft. C)

My Double Bass, (to be stopped mechanically).

Besides various musical Compositions, which I

wish to commence or complete ; (The Last Day,

an Oratorio, The Psalms entire. An Anthem

from the Book of Ecclesiastes, Psalm Tunes, a

few hundreds, Accompaniments of various

pieces, Balaam and his Ass,) and Mechanical

Contrivances, which I cannot at the moment

even enumerate, all crowd upon me, and cause

my purpose to lose the name of action.

" Would that I had the capacity that would receive and

retain all kinds of knowledge, and a bodily fame fitted to

endure eternal study."

When anticipating an important Musical perform-
ance, he wrote :

" I rely on my past experience, that in time of greatest
need, I have the greatest confidence and the greatest
pov/er.

" Deo juvante."

" Oct. 4th, 1826.

" Heat Engine.

" The last idea I have at present to insert is but half
fledged, and is in fact but an indistinct apprehension of
the possible existence of a law of heat applicable economi-
cally as a source of mechanical power.

" It is known that a great quantity of heat is as it were

204 Edward Hodges

suspended or incorporated in our circum-ambient air, and
that much of this heat is given out when the air is sud-
denly compressed.

" A year or two ago I started one application of this
experiment, viz., a contrivance for boiling water by means
of a forcing syringe.

" Now, however, I am supposing it possible that there
may be some substance (whether solid or fluid matters
not), which, when acted upon by a given heat, may by its
expansion produce or elicit a greater power than would
be required to produce that heat by the means alluded
to, viz., the forcible compression of our atmospheric air.
Were this but the case with water, we might straightway
have a steam engine requiring not the aid of the heat of
fuel.

" But this is too grand a fact not to have been hereto-
fore detected, if fact it be.

" Here, however, let the idea rest for future contempla-
tion.

" I read Shakspeare and Rabelais much of this day."

" Oct. 1 6th, 183s.

" In Park Street to-day as I proceeded towards Clifton,
I overtook old Mr. George Cumberland, with whom I
strolled and conversed for a full hour. He is much inter-
ested at present about a school for the blind kept by a
man named Lucas, who is also the inventor of a system
whereby the blind can be taught to read readily from
embossed characters of a very simple description.

" I communicated to Mr. Cumberland my plan whereby
many years ago I enabled William Frost (blind) to amuse
himself and friend at a game of Draughts, I having pre-
pared a board whereon the squares were alternately cov-
ered with baize. The men were thin discs and squares of
millboard, covered on both sides with baize."

My Father's Inventions 205

The blind " singing at sight " !

" I also informed him that a few years ago I had formed
a design to make an offer of my Musical talent to the
Governors of the Asylum for the Blind, intending to en-
deavour to instruct the inmates in singing from a simple
notation of my invention ; but that I had been prevented
by the circumstance of their having engaged a paid
teacher to sing and play by ear, just as I was concocting
my project."

" Oct. 14, 1836. 10 A.M.

" Notation for the Blind.

" I give myself as subjects for meditation this morning
my proposed new system of Musical Notation for the
Blind, and the Papyrographical project."

"/o"^ P.M.
" I did not descend the staircase all day, but kept to
my study and amused (!) myself principally with my own
meditations. I made a complete scheme of my Nota-
tion, and saw my way clearly to a satisfactory accom-
plishment of that undertaking. In the Papyrographical
process I found I could make no further progress without
submitting certain points to the test of experiment. That
matter therefore stands over."

" Music Modelling and Casting.

"A new idea occurred in the afternoon. This is a
scheme for modelling music in clay or wax, which could
be done with great rapidity, and taking thence a cast in
plaster or some harder material, from which to print, as
in the Stereotype process.

" This also is worth thinking about, and should be sub-
mitted to experiment."

2o6 Edward Hodges

" Fire Extinguishing Project."

'■'■ December £th, i8j6.

" An odd idea entered my head as I was dressing my-
self this morning.

" It is neither more nor less than a project for extin-
guishing fire on board ships by the agency of the deadly
aerial products of gunpoivder !

" This must be thought of again.

" If it succeeds (and I confess I see not how it z^x\ fail,
if the access of the other air can be but moderately pre-
vented, for no flame could live in such an atmosphere) it
will be a noble thing to employ such an agent upon such
a service. Of course the powder must be slowly con-
sumed,' not exploded, (which can be easily done with the
aid of moisture) and the vapour must be conveyed be-
tween decks.

" Two or three barrels of powder methinks would pro-
duce enough to fill the area of a large ship."

' ' Feb. 22nd, iSjj.

" In the evening I meditated on my proposed galvanic
or electric engine, to supersede the Steam Engine ! and
for the first time thought I saw my way clear to a prac-
tical application of the principle on which I have so long
pondered.

" This and the Piano-forte occupied the evening until a
late hour."

" Ship Saving Invention Filched."

" SepL 2gth, 1837.

" I read the papers. Played some fugues upon a noble
Piano-forte at C. Hodges's shop ; chatted with various
friends and others in various places, and at length got
home to dinner at four o'clock.

My Father's Inventions 207

" Before six I was on foot again. I rambled to the
Hot-wells, thence across Clifton to Gotham, and so via St.
Michael's Hill to the Commercial Rooms again, where I
spent nearly two hours in rummaging old files of news-
papers for some letters of mine upon an Invention which
another has introduced with eclat.

" It relates to the division of the hull of a vessel into
compartments. I have written upon the subject to the
Bristol Observer in \%2\,t\v& Bristol Mirror in 1825 and
in the Repertory of Patent Inventions, etc., for 1831,
besides having had a correspondence with the Secretary of
the Admiralty (then Croker) about it : yet this Mr, Wil-
liams is now to have the credit for the Invention.

" In the evening I prosecuted my search for Docu-
ments amongst my own papers."

" Still hunting for papers about the Ship-dividing In-
vention. I found all I wanted. The next consideration
is, what to do with them.

" At the Commercial Rooms, Tyson, seeing me, put
into my hand a note from himself containing a slip of
paper cut out from the Morning Herald of yesterday's
date.

" It proved to contain a letter from Sir George (or Mr.
George) Rennie, claiming the Hull-dividing invention as
his, struck out about three years ago.

" I subsequently deposited all the documents which
I had been collecting at the Mirror ofifice, for Tyson's
perusal at leisure."

" Oct. 14th.

" An Article (written by Tyson) headed " Safety
Steamers " appears in the Mirror to-day, justifying my
Claim to the priority of invention over Mr. Williams and
George Rennie.

2o8 Edward Hodges

" After all there is no probability of pecuniary advan-
tage to me at least, although my inventions may be
adopted and my fellow creatures benefitted by them."

It is a matter of gratification, if no more, that at
least my Father's invention of Sections ifi Ships is
recorded.

''Feb. 1 2th, i8js-

" At dinner-time an odd notion struck me of construct-
ing a Sjin-dial which should strike the hour of noon.

" The thing would be easy by the adjustment of a lens,
so as to throw the focus of the sun's rays on a thread
precisely as the sun attained its meridian."

Sun-dials have always had a peculiar charm and
fascination for me. I have often wandered about
the Precincts or the Close of a Cathedral, or the
Quad, of a College, tracing them out.

They are so unique and suggestive, and have
such a voice of Eld ; and they have a way of bring-
ing to mind the idea given to our infantine
perceptions that the " Sun was made to rule the
day." Then their quaint Mottoes in Latin or Greek !
and their cabalistic characters. It was on one of
our perfect English summer afternoons that I was
standing, looking up at the Sun-dial on Ely Cathe-
dral. I could read parts of two Greek words I saw
there, though the letters were imperfect — suggest-
ing " Gnostic " and " Chronos " yet I could not
exactly make out their sense.

My Father's Inventions 209

The Cloister door opened, and that genial and
lovely man, the Archdeacon of Ely came towards me.

He must have noticed that I was puzzled, and
looking up at the Sun-dial he said :

" ' Know the time.' Good words to keep in
one's heart."

Observing his dress — for we were unknown to
each other — I asked, " Have I the honour of speak-
ing to a Bishop ?" and he said with a kindly smile,
" No ; only an Archdeacon ! "

Then he approached the ivy-draped door of the
picturesque old Deanery, opened it, and was gone,
and the door was shut.

I stood awhile and pondered on these great words,

Knowledge and Time,

and the endless avenues of thought they open out.

I copied the Greek motto, and thought of the
Archdeacon's earnest and beaming expression as he
interpreted it, and of the fleeting vision of his
presence.

Then I stood gazing at the stupendous grandeur
of the Cathedral as its Towers and Chapels were
brought into light by the rays of the descending
sun. I thought of the almost incredible work of
the Faithful Monks, whose voices from the very
stones seem to say, " Go thou and do likewise ! "

2IO

Edward Hodges

With a parting glance at the sun-dial, I wan-
dered down the green slope south of the Cathedral,
at the foot of which I could distinguish some
remains of the monastic buildings. Built on to the
end of them I found a 7'eal English cottage. The
garden gate was open. I entered and was
welcomed by a pleasant woman who said she was
accustomed to furnish tea to strangers. She
showed me the old buildings and the garden, and
sat chatting about Ely and the Cathedral, as I
took tea in her cosy parlour. She mentioned
Archdeacon Emery with reverent affection, and I
easily saw that my good Greek interpreter was
universally beloved.

Then after a moderate payment and many kind
words, I wandered out. I saw the river, still flow-
ing on, where the '* Monks of Ely sang," and with
a parting glance at the noble Cathedral crowning the
green hill before me, and a thought for my now van-
ished friend, the sun-dial, I betook me to mine Inn.

My Father had more than once visited Ely ; and
had a great regard for Mr. Skeats, who was Or-
ganist there when he took his Degree at Cambridge.
Indeed the love and appreciation with which my
Father was remembered there, was the source of
most of the pleasure I had in visiting this quaint
Cathedral town in the Fenlands.

i

CHAPTER XVII.

THE LAST SOUNDS FROM THE HARP OF MANY STRINGS.

'"T'^HOSE who loved my Father would like to
Jl know his last acts in music, and the last
chords his fingers rested upon. These little facts
have a mournful interest ; but I will give them
faithfully.

One of the last of his grand services at which I
was present, was the Atlantic Cable Celebration at
Trinity Church in, I think, 1858.

This was a service of national or international
rejoicing, and necessarily differed from a church
festival. The city was en fete. The British flag,
always a delight to my Father's heart, was seen
everywere, united with the " Stars and Stripes."
Trinity Church had an arch of flowers erected at the
chancel steps, under which stood the noble form of
the Bishop of New Jersey, the Rt. Rev. George
Washington Doane, and thence he delivered a noble
oration. My Father played Handel's " Zadok the
Priest," and Handel's " God save the King," and

212 Edward Hodges

never did Trinity organ, made alive by its master
at the keys, give forth more noble sound.

It was said, and may be mournfully true, that the
excitement my dear Father was under on this occa-
sion, together with the tremendous pressure the
organ keys demanded, produced the illness which
soon after followed, and from which he never fully
recovered. I remember one day he asked me, or
rather insisted on my trying, to play, and the resist-
ance of the keys was tremendous. It was simply
surprising that his hand of sensitive muscles and
nerves, not made of iron, had ever mastered it.

There follows a blank to me. It seems as though
a shadow had fallen.

I was not in Trinity until some time after, and I
know it was not Sunday, for I was below in a pew,
and there were not many in the church. My Father
was at the organ, and he played his own Kyrie, in
E minor. I never heard anything so touching in
my life. I cannot describe it. The organ seemed
like a human thing in tears. The artistic finish of
the perfect musician was so apparent ; and the sub-
dued prayerful plea for mercy was never more
present than in the sad soul that organ seemed to
possess. I could do nothing but hide down in the
pew, and give way to the sadness of that moment.

The Last Sounds 213

A Common Metre hymn was given out. The tune
my Father played was the one in American books
called "Christmas." It is from Handel : " He was
eyes unto the blind." It came forth as the Kyrie
did, as it were in tears. His own exquisite harmo-
nies to this tune (which in his " Trinity Collection "
he called " Vision ") he did not play ; so I think
that his own music — the old grand music of Trin-
ity,— having been shut up, was removed by my
brother Sebastian and myself, when we found it
was not to be continued. Handel's melody was
left ; and this came out full of sweetness. But it
was all different, all changed, as if the golden bowl
was indeed broken, and the silver cord loosed.
Handel's melody was finished, Trinity organ knew
my Father no more.

His illness necessitating a temporary withdrawal
from his position at Trinity Church, he and Mrs.
Hodges went to England in 1859 i hut in i860 we
read in a New York paper :

" In a letter to C. Jerome Hopkins, of this city,
bearing date November 16, Dr. Edward Hodges,
the venerable organist of Trinity Church, who is
now in England, says :

" ' It is possible that I may return to New York
in the spring ; many circumstances seem to point
that way. With the powerful aid promised me by

214 Edward Hodges

an eminent organist, who now promises to go with
me and reh'eve from the more laborious part of my
duties in connection with Trinity Church, and if it
please God that my health should continue to
mend, I may perhaps resume my old post.

" ' If such should be the case, I am happy to be-
lieve that there are not a few warm-hearted friends
who would be glad to welcome me once more.' "

My Father returned to New York with Mrs.
Hodges, and remained in retirement at Woodlawn,
in the Highlands on the Hudson, the residence of
her brother, William Moore, Esq., until her death
in 1861.

There is another heart-breaking little incident
which should not be left amongst the unrecorded,
soon forgotten things of life.

I must first premise that when residing in the
Highlands he played at St. Philip's Church on a
little melodeon, which he called a " short-winded
affair," at the Sunday services.

The tone and religious voice he brought from
this insignificant little machine were a cause of
wonderment to many. At Woodlawn, however,
he had a fine-toned Alexandre organ. This he
managed to perfection ; it was exceedingly difficult
to do justice to its delicacy and power, and sensi-
tive swell. It became under his hand a most

The Last Sounds 215

beautiful instrument, unmanageable to all but an
artist.

Here at her brother's, my second mother lay
" sick, even unto death." Devoted to my Father's
sacred music, she asked him to play to her " Rock
of Ages." He played the fine old Moravian tune
in C Minor, to which he always adapted the hymn.
It was a supreme moment. Her spirit, borne per-
haps on the wings of that music, soon after rose
"to worlds unknown."

My Father had closed the organ ; he never
opened it again. He presented it to St. Philip's
Church in the Highlands.

At the Rectory of Grace Church, Newark, the
residence of his son, the Rev. J. Sebastian B.
Hodges, D.D., my Father spent the last two years
of his sojourn in the United States. He finally
sailed for England with his son Jubal, June 3, 1863.

It is towards evening. The setting sun-rays
light on the steeples and towers of the many
churches of Bristol. The weary pilgrim reaches
the hills and sees spread before him the old city of
his birth and childhood and of the triumphs of his
early manhood.

Leaning on the arm of his son Jubal, he reaches
the house of his beloved and only sister, Mary.

2i6 Edward Hodges

The family gather in the hall to welcome their
revered relative ; and as he enters, and ere he
receives one word of greeting, his gentle and clear
tones are heard in the words of the Christian dis-
ciples of old,

" Peace be to this house."

His favourite Fugues — when did he leave them
off? I know not exactly, but perhaps when re-
siding at his son's in 1862 or 1863 ; the effort I
witnessed may have been the last. His old Broad-
wood was there ; and I remember how he opened
Bach, and essayed to play. His fingers did not
obey to his satisfaction, and after trying one
Fugue, — and I regret I cannot remember the key,
— he said a few words, closed the book, and re-
turned to his seat.

He was a constant reader of good novels at this
time, and thus his mind rested ; and it was at this
time also he said to me that he admired (or liked)
" a woman's style for its care in detail and power
in drawing character."

When residing at Clifton, it was a great pleasure
to him to be drawn in his Bath-chair over to Kings-
down to visit his sister Mary, Mrs. R. H. Webb.
We were all gathered in the drawing-room one
day and being near the piano, my Father was

The Last Sounds 217

moved to sit down at it. Instead of improvising
much, he began his own tune " Haight." This he
managed well for a verse or two, and at last the
old fire kindled ; the inspiring occasions when he
made his superb, exultant chorus ring through the
Church at Christmas, "Shout the glad tidings,
Messiah is King," may have flashed across his spirit
and he essayed to run up to the E with the free-
dom of action that used to carry us all along with
him, but alas ! the poor hand failed — the eagle's
wing was cut — and it could soar no more !

As I stood beside him, hardly keeping back the
tears, he looked up in my face, and smiling, with
an exceeding sad and plaintive voice he said :
" I used to make a good run there ! "
So ** Haight" was the last tune he played. I
think he finished it on this occasion ; but I never
heard him touch a piano again.

One more scene :

It is September the first, 1866, in his little
parlour, where near the window stood a small, good-
toned harmonium. It was placed so that its back
rested against the dining-table, and the player sat
with back to the window.

My Father again was suddenly moved to play,
which I do not remember his having done during
the fourteen months I had been with him.

2i8 Edward Hodges

He then arose from his chair and gently helping
himself by the table, he walked round it and took
his seat at his little harmonium.

He began with his soft, sweet, suggestive
modulations, and played a little while in the key
of D minor.

Soinething crossed that sensitive spirit ; some
whisper reached his ear perhaps : " Not here ! not
here!" or a voice may have said, "Come up
higher ! " I know not, but this time he seemed
to realize all. He gradually finished in his chosen
key, and with his left hand slowly followed down
the notes of the common chord :

He then arose, and shut down the organ ; and as
he closed it, said the single word " Gone ! "

It was that very day the next year, September
the first, 1867, that his spirit fied, and I then could
bitterly, yet thankfully, realize the meaning of his
one word, " Gone ! "

He was " translated " as he said.

My Father had a peculiar love for the number

The Last Sounds 219

three, and he wound it into many a daily associa-
tion. His three knocks, three times saying or
doing a thing, and (I beheve not original with him-
self) his three coats, " Heightem, tightem, and
scrub."

Remarkable it was, that ere he had been also
" translated into the world of spirits" twice twelve
hours, I happened to glance at the heavens, and
there his favourite sign was written : for I instantly
saw the three stars, the chief ones, of the Constel-
lation A g tula.

Never has my eye lit upon those three stars
since, but the memory of that calm September
night, with its threefold tone of grandeur, solemnity,
and grief, has come back to me afresh: so near me
in that bitter realization of the wonderful unbroken
repose ; so far from me — the dawning of his im-
mortality !

How Mendelssohn's lovely solo comes floating
back to the memory when time, so Divinely or-
dered, has dulled the edge of grief, "Then shall
the righteous shine — shine — as the stars in their
heavenly Father's realm."

At early morning, Sunday morning, he left us.
" Let me go ! for the day breaketh ! "

220

Edward Hodges

His last words, written with his own hand in his
Diary, at CHfton, in July, 1865, were :

" Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
for ever."

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CHURCHYARD AT STANTON DREW.

' Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which GOD hath prepared for them that love
Him."

" 'T^HE retired village of Stanton Drew in this
J- neighbourhood was, on Friday last, the
scene of a solemnity of somewhat more than usual
impressiveness, on the occasion of the funeral of the
late Dr. Hodges, several of whose ancestors lie in
the burial-ground of its Church. There is always
something peculiarly touching when one, long
separated from early connections, who has achieved
reputation in the course of a life, is brought, per-
chance, from distant regions, to join them in the
ancestral grave. But in this case the feeling was
heightened by the additional circumstance that, as
a tribute of respect to the memory of the deceased
and to the high rank he held in the musical pro-
fession, all the lay-vicars or clerks of the Cathedral
who could attend, acting on the kind suggestion of
Mr. Corfe, handsomely volunteered to sing to the

22 2 Edward Hodges

Composer's own music those portions of the solemn
ritual of the dead appointed to be thus rendered.
The other parts of the service were most impres-
sively read by the Rev. Robert Taylor, of Norton-
Malreward, and the Rev. Dr. E. A. Hoffman, of
New York : the first an old friend, at St. James's
Church, Bristol, at the time its organ was in charge
of Dr. Hodges ; the other, his intimate acquaintance
on the other side of the Atlantic, one who knows
better than any one living how highly he was
esteemed in the United States.

" Nothing could have been more appropriate or
opportune, as Dr. Hoffman only arrived by accident
in this country just at the time of Dr. Hodges' de-
cease, and was thus enabled, by taking part in the
ceremony, to represent that large body of Trans-
Atlantic friends, whom it has been his good fortune
to attach to himself during his residence among
them.

" The 90th Psalm was admirably chanted by six
of the gentlemen of the Cathedral and six boys, at
the opening of the service, while the corpse rested
within the sacred edifice ; followed at the grave
in the part assigned to it, by ' I heard a voice
from Heaven,' set to music by the deceased,
a composition of the most exquisite pathos, and
which must have sent a thrill through the breasts

The Churchyard at Stanton Drew 223

of all present, given as it was with the greatest
precision and delicacy by such an able band of
singers. At the close, and following the Benedic-
tion, Bach's Chorale from his ' Passion Music,'
No. 97, ' O Sacred Head now wounded ' ; and the
friends of the deceased moved away deeply im-
pressed and affected by a solemnity, such as was
perhaps never witnessed before in this secluded
village district.

" There, in the Druid's Stone Town, by the side
of those remarkable remnants of primitive, religious
or judicious Institutions, under the shadow of hills
on whose summits lie entombed, in their peculiar
fashion, the Pagan aborigines who here met in
conclave — where curiosity or love of antiquarian
research still attracts our modern wandering saores
— lies, deposited with Christian rites, one whose
connection with this hill-embosomed spot will add
to it a further interest, different in kind from theirs.

" The Christian Church and Pagan Temple, still
wearing their own characteristic forms, the expres-
sion of two eras in human progress, one of which
is separated from the present moment by the whole
range of history, while the same sun and unchang-
ing hills and groves still illumine or cast their
shadows around the place in its perfect isolation,
here occupy the same site.

224 Edward Hodges

" Nothing but the speechless stones of the one
remain ; but the other will still tell to unborn ages
its message of mercy ; and the voice of him whose
mortal remains have just been committed to its
keeping, will continue to speak in many a joyous
and devout cadence of sacred song, though no
longer in the body.

" It would be impossible in such a place and on
such an occasion that the mind should not be
forcibly arrested by thoughts such as these, in part
suggested by the picturesqueness and hoar antiquity
of the surrounding accompaniments ; and we ofifer
this apology for something more than the trivial
notice of a good man's obsequies."

(From the pen of my Father's learned, esteemed,
and affectionate friend, Alfred Day, Esq., LL.D.,
in the Bristol Times and Mirror, September 6,
1867.)

It is the 6th of September, 1867.

A very quiet and unpretending funeral proces-
sion of a hearse and two or three black coaches
was seen passing along the shaded, villa-lined roads
of Clifton. It went by the Cathedral, and through
the somewhat narrow and tortuous streets of old
Bristol ; the very scenes of his childhood and early

The Churchyard at Stanton Drew 225

manhood. It passed out of the city, and followed
the road that crossed the Dundry range of hills
lying southward of it. It wound its way for seven or
eight miles along the smooth turnpike road, and
through quiet villages as they came ; when turning
to the right it entered a narrower, tree-shaded lane
with its high, thick hedges, and here and there, a
lonely, rural, and very English thatched cottage.
It crossed the little winding river Chew by its
gothic, stone-arched bridge, and soon reached the
Church of St. Mary, whose ancient tower had ap-
peared above the trees ; while from it there came,
at intervals, the slow sound of its tolling bell.

There were farm-yards, and hay-ricks ; and the
cottagers, as they heard the horses ' feet, came to
their doors to see.

It was here, to this quiet village churchyard,
that my dear Father wished to be carried. And
in the fact of its being his wish — his patriar-
chal wish we may say, — to be carried back and
"buried with his fathers," the vein of sentiment
and poetry running through his nature is very
apparent, and is most touchingly alluded to in the
heartfelt words of his friend Dr. Alfred Day, in
his appended obituary notice. It seems that here
and here only was the fitting place for his final rest.

If he stood near the very place at the burial of

2 26 Edward Hodges

his aunt, Elizabeth Hodges, in September, 1834, as
I feel almost sure in my own mind he did, — though
I have but memory to refer to, — the thought of
that quiet ancestral spot as his own resting place,
may have received further fixedness in his mind.

It is very quiet there ! The birds sing, the rain
falls gently on the many grass-grown graves and
crumbling tombstones. The sun comes up be-
hind the eastern aisles and gables of the church
close by ; and there are few trees to interrupt the
broad sheen of light that falls around until the
evening shadows come.

The pensiveness of the poet Gray's spirit might
well have been his, as his eye fell either on the rich
spread of country around, or on the crumbling
stones at his feet, with their letters all erased or
moss-grown, and realized that here his own " fore-
fathers slept." It was his habit to moralize, as he
did some years before when, wandering in Egham
Churchyard, he saw " divers wooden tombstones.
At first " (he says) " I smiled at the folly of the
parties concerned in this Timber immortality ; but
reflection repressed my laughter. All our monu-
ments in turn have crumbled, do crumble, and will
crumble to dust, be they of what material they may.
Why then laugh at the wooden tombstone ? Mine
be of paper, or still more frail material."

The Churchyard at Stanton Drew 227

But to return. A low wall runs around the
churchyard ; ivies and evergreens were there in
plenty ; but it was not adorned with flower beds,
nor had it well-kept graves with floral tokens on
them. All these, with many other signs of life
and care, have come in the present good Vicar's
time. It had an air of age and neglect ; still it
was very peaceful and sequestered. Up the lane
come the wagons close to the gate and the hay-
makers' voices are heard from the farm-yard close
by, and the merry tones of children at their play.
But the busy world, with its toil and struggle
and unrest, is not there. The bell from the old
tower at intervals breaks the silence, and the vil-
lage folk come up to church to prayers.

It is as he would have it, and it is fitting and
right that we should have laid him there.

Requiescat in Pace !

An American gentleman gives this account of
a visit to the grave of Dr. Hodges, November 6,
1869.

" I have been on a visit to some friends in the
neighbourhood of Bristol. Among other objects
of interest I visited, were the Druidical remains at
Stanton Drew. After inspecting these gigantic

228 Edward Hodges

monuments which time has not been able to de-
stroy, although countless centuries have passed
over them, I paid a visit to the village church-
yard, where my attention was arrested by a hand-
some white marble cross, which was the more
conspicuous from its being surrounded by old-fash-
ioned grave-stones, over-grown with lichens, moss,
and other creeping plants.

"Judge of my surprise when on reading the In-
scription, I found that it was a memorial of the
distinguished father of an able pastor of your city,
whose church I generally attend when a resident
in Newark. I refer to the Rev. Dr. J. Sebastian
B. Hodges, the deservedly respected Rector of
Grace Church.

" The monument, as I have said before, consists
of a simple Latin cross, which rests on three
blocks of marble. The grave is enclosed in a
handsome stone setting, within which were groups
of scarlet geraniums in full flower, which were evi-
dently cared for by a loving hand. On the arm of
the cross is engraved this passage from Holy
Scripture : ' For the trumpet shall sound and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible.' On the three
blocks below the following :

i

The Churchyard at Stanton Drew 229

' Sacred to the Memory of
Edward Hodges.
Doctor in Music, of Sydney Sussex College, Cam-
bridge,
who died at Clifton, aged 71 years.
Sometime Organist of St. James' and St. Nicholas'
Churches, Bristol, and for a quarter of a cen-
tury. Director of the Music of Trinity
Church, New York. U. S.
Departed this life on Sunday morning September
I, 1867.

This Monument to an honoured Father is erected

by his four surviving children : Faustina,

Jubal, Sebastian, and Asaph.' "

Three seasons have passed since the death of
Dr. Hodges. It is now December 23, 1870, and
the grave is opened afresh, and the remains of the
beloved Jubal being brought down from London,
are laid there also.

A flat stone, round which flowers are planted,
bears the following inscription :

230 Edward Hodges

" In Loving Memory

Of the Rev. Jubal Hodges, Presbyter in the

Diocese of Pennsylvania, U. S.

Born in Bristol, Aug. 29, 1828, Died in London,

Dec. 15, 1870.

He was a sound Theologian,

A Teacher of the Truth,

A rare Musician,

A man of a gentle and loving spirit,

And a friend of the poor.

' Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First

Resurrection.'

This stone is placed here to his beloved memory
by his sister Faustina."

The Church of St. Mary, Stanton Drew, Somer-
set, has been carefully and beautifully restored and
chastely decorated under the supervision of the
learned and estimable Vicar, the Rev. H. T. Perfect,
the Vicar of this Parish and St. John's, Pensford.

Two brass tablets placed in this Church state

The Churchyard at Stanton Drew 231

this fact and also another, viz., that the east or
chancel window of this Church of their ancestors
has been placed here by Faustina Hasse Hodges,
in loving memory of her father and brother sleep-
ing here.

" Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."

CHAPTER XIX.

DISCONNECTED RECOLLECTIONS EXTENDING OVER
MANY YEARS. SOLDIER AND SERVANT.

MANY are the manifestations throughout my
Father's hfe of his being the " faithful
servant " of God. He loved to speak of the Deity
as his " Master," thereby owning His personal care
and guidance ; he loved to speak of "His service "
being " perfect freedom " ; but I find one little
entry in particular that gives to this faithful ** ser-
vice " a grand masculine dignity. The ring of the
Conqueror's voice is heard above the strife. The
tone of the trumpet rises above the battle-smoke ;
there may be death, but the last sound will be Vic-
tory in this " warfare that knows no discharge."
There are very few words — there is no boast about
them, but they evince what is better, viz., calm
resolution.

Simply recognizing the fact, he says : " No won-
der then the Devil tempts me, but by the grace of
God he shall not succeed." " I have fought him

Disconnected Recollections 233

for many years on this very point ; and it would be
a shame to yield to him now."

There were three characteristics of my Father
which made it always a pleasure to others to get
him to speak his mind, viz. : his kindness, his
knowledge, and his perfect honesty. One always
got what one wanted from him.

There is a little incident connected with the late
Rev. Dr. J. H. Hopkins which proves the above
true. Dr. Hopkins, it is well known, composed
many tunes and carols for Church use, and early in
my Father's life in New York came to him with a
bundle of MSS. He was not sure of himself ; and
wanting to know the truth he placed the music in
my Father's hands and said :

" Doctor, will you please look over these, and tell
me if I know anything. If I do 7iot, please to say,
No."

He waited patiently while the kind face bent over
his work ; and looking at Mr. Hopkins with his in-
telligent, fatherly smile, my Father said distinctly,
" Nor

" Thank you. Doctor : now I will begin to
study."

Of course my Father understood that Mr. Hop-
kins needed to get a thorough knowledge of Har-
mony before he ivrote more.

234 Edward Hodges

My Father was grandly helpful in his conversation,
on Music. How many lessons he gave unknow-
ingly ! How generous he was to all young people
who desired to learn ! Truly he gave of his talent
in a princely way.

My Father always attended the Philharmonic
Concerts in New York. He was an honorary mem-
ber of the Society, and was held in high esteem by
all the New York musicians. His entrance was
always marked, as he went early, and no doubt en-
joyed a chat with some of them. As they gath-
ered, each with his " Fiddle " or Flute or Horn or
Bass, etc., one looked at my Father and said,
" Doctor, where \s, youi' instrument ?"

Fancy the New York Philharmonic in one of
Beethoven's grand Andantes, with Trinity Organ
at its back, and Dr. Hodges at the keys !

My Father enjoyed the Symphonies of Beetho-
ven, as rendered by the Philharmonic, intensely,
and he always spoke with grief and intense feeling
of the sorrows that fell around the latter years of
the great Master.

For Haydn he had a great admiration : he said,
" His music is not yet duly appreciated."

And with a kindling enthusiasm he always men-
tioned the grand old Musician's last act : when, as
the French Army was approaching in 1809, he arose

Disconnected Recollections 235

from his bed to play his national Hymn, " God save
the Emperor."

That loyal patriotism awoke a responsive chord
in my Father's heart.

For Mozart as a Fugue writer, he had a high
estimation ; and it will be noticed that he used often
to play the music of " Don Giovanni " in his Bris-
tol home. When in St. John's Church, New York,
he frequently used his own " Service in F," which
was a favourite. Not knowing whose it was. Presi-
dent N. F. Moore said to him that the harmony of
the verse " When Thou hadst overcome the sharp-
ness of death " was singularly like that in the
"Statue Scene" in "Don Juan."

It is certainly a powerful passage, and though
different in treatment and result from " Don
Giovanni," bears some similarity to it. I notice a
chord in it which, to my mind, exemplifies my
Father's theory of " two Fundamental Basses."
This, however, must remain but a supposition.
He smiled at the idea of any of his Music for
the Church resembHng Opera Music.

He early inculcated in us a great respect for
books. " Never sit upon a book ; never trig up a
piece of furniture with a book, nor make any use
of it but that for which it is intended. Do not turn
down leaves to mark your place, nor scribble in

236 Edward Hodges

them ; nor, when you read, hold them in the middle
and leave thumb marks. Always note the Author,
and read the Preface."

He had a custom of very finely marking pas-
sages, and then noting the page in the covers, add-
ing a few terse remarks.

Thus, one of his books gave double instruction.
It was like following the steps of a leader in a diffi-
cult footway. His mind had a splendid grasp of a
subject. His knowledge seemed to extend above,
below, and back of it. If we wanted information
on any point he could place it plainly before us,
the limits of his own mind never erecting a boun-
dary to a subject. Thus he taught us to thmk.
Such an example and such an encouragement to
reading was an education in itself, and makes the
best school-routine (except for its discipline) fall
into insignificance.

He constantly referred us to the " Encyclopaedia
Metropolitana," and if we were at a loss for the
meaning of a word, would say " Turn it out !" and
down came the dictionary.

I must relate his wonderfully wise and gentle
mode of punishing me as a child for disobedience.

The Bishop's Garden was used by the Subsacrist
of the Cathedral ; and one day I saw a saddled
horse grazing there. My brother George F.

Disconnected Recollections 237

Hodges, with other boys, was going into the gar-
den ; and though I was told by my father not to
go there, (he was out, so that I could not get per-
mission at this time,) I was so tempted by the horse
and the assistance of my brother, that into the gar-
den I went. Years afterwards proved me a fearless
horsewoman, and this was my first attempt.

I was soon mounted (on a man's saddle) and
was enjoying my ride immensely, when not being
able to guide the horse well, he took me under a
large hawthorn tree, and my neck and arms got
terribly scratched by the sharp thorns.

When my Father returned, he summoned me
(or I went) to his study. " What 's this ? What
are all these scratches ?" he said, looking at my
disfigured neck and arms, and perhaps face — for I
do not remember.

" I went into the Bishop's Garden, sir, and got
on the horse, and he dragged me under the haw-
thorn tree."

" Did I not tell you not to go into the Bishop's
Garden ? "

" Yes, sir."

" Then you must leave my presence, and not see
me again till those scratches are healed ! "

I felt, oh ! worse than Gehazi indeed ! with the
leprosy of sin.

238 Edward Hodg-es

fe

He was order himself in every way — in every
detail. It was one of his most striking character-
istics. How often he quoted to us,

" Order is Heave7is first lazu."

Once he detected holes in my gloves. I made
him laugh by saying : " A token of genius, sir ! "

He said, " I would rather see genius manifest
itself in some more tidy way."

He used, at his Hudson Street home, often at
evening to take down from the shelves some work,
and we would gather around him to watch, or sing.
Sometimes it was a volume of Haydn's or Mozart's
Masses, (in which case he would say *' Give me the
good old Latin pronunciation,") or Crotch's " Pal-
estine," or Romberg's " Lay of the Bell," Neu-
komm's " David," etc., etc. One evening when
playing from Romberg, he had come, before he was
aware, to the part where the bell is tolling for a
funeral — the funeral of a wife and mother.

He suddenly closed the book and put it back on
the shelf.

Forty years have passed since that little scene
took place, yet the very key (F minor) and the
chords of that music are impressed on my mind. I
understood my Father.

I remember his morning reading ; his step from

Disconnected Recollections 239

his room to his study (he never, except on Sundays,
joined his family at the breakfast table) ; the sound
of the little bolt as he drew it, for his private devo-
tions. His Bible was thus his first reading.

After withdrawing the bolt, as regularly followed
his daily Fugue, according to the day of the month.
This practice he observed in New York, as well as
in his old Cloister home, to which my mind so
faithfully reverts. I learned much from standing
at his left hand ; and as soon as I was able, he liked
me to put in the lower part, as Pedal Bass.

Before playing a piece myself, he told me always
to play a Prelude ; to improvise a little, so as to get
quite used to the touch of the instrument. And
always to take heed at the end, and bring in the
final chords well.

" A blunder in the middle is not so important ;
while a blunder at the end spoils the whole piece."

One piece of advice which he gave me has lasted
me through life : " Never show the people what
you cannot do."

Of my organ playing he said, that I could " pre-
pare people's minds for Divine Service."

What I inherited from my Father was of more
value than all the acquirement I could gain, indeed
it was all.

He said " No woman could play the organ."

240 Edward Hodges

And in this, as in all else, he was perfectly true
and right

He spoke from his own unapproachable summit.

On my shewing him one of my earliest composi-
tions he helped and strengthened me much by these
words :

" What is original is not good, and what is good
is not original."

Of course he alluded to its being " original "
with me ; as he afterwards told me that the same
thought might be " original " with many people.

Of nmrks in music, he said : " They were not of
much consequence. Musicians did not need them ;
and those who were not musicians, would not heed
them."

In improvising I think my Father thought it best
to " say a good deal in one key," rather than change
too much.

The graceful melodies which my Father threw
into the Tenor and Alto parts of the tunes he ar-
ranged, as well as into his own compositions, are
very widely observed. Once I remarked on the
Tenor part being very low : he said, " I did not
wish the Tenor to bawl there." (It was in a prayer-
ful passage.)

Our Father always checked at once any unkind
remark of an absent person ; and any quotation of

Disconnected Recollections 241

Scripture for any but a serious purpose. He would
not allow those riddles to be repeated which were
grounded on Scripture names.

When his two sons were taking Orders he re-
quested there should never be any controversies,
arguments, or even conversations upon agitated
points (at that time acute), nor the names " High "
and " Low " (Church) mentioned.

A daughter of one of the Professors at the Gen-
eral Theological Seminary said to me, " Generally,
we hear the Psalter sung ; when Dr. Hodges plays,
we hear the Psalms of David.''

His " rattling off " a Fugue or two of John Se-
bastian Bach meant so much ! It meant mastery,
and it meant that it lived again under his fingefs.

It was a grand thing to hear him have a " good
rummage " on a piano. The poor thing did its
best, but it seemed to shake under his touch as it
talked !

And at the organ, a " free improvisation " was
indeed a grand thing to hear.

One old-fashioned good "jig " my Father played
when, at rare times, he felt full of musical fun. It
was in B"* ; the harmony excellent, the character
decisive ; and as he " rattled it off," his eyes would
gleam and flash, and his face beam with playful
light. O for the sound of it again ! How his

242 Edward Hodges

left hand rolled out the octave passages ! It was
capital !

Here are some helpful words of wisdom from
my Father, written at the age of twenty-eight.

" Let a man accustom himself to a constant walk with
God ; let him have a continual sense of His Presence
Who filleth all things, and the best prayer will be that
which ascends spontaneously from his heart, as he walks,
as he works, as he reads, as he amuses himself, as he talks,
and indeed in every transaction in which he may be en-
gaged. I sometimes have this habit ; would to GOD that
I had it more generally ! There is no greater preservative
from sin.''

From his Diary.

" July 1 8, i8s3.

" Many serious reflections upon the vanity of the world
and the brevity of human life pervaded my mind to-day.
These were particularly superinduced by some awful sen-
sations occasionally, in my drain, (Can a man of my spare
habit die of apoplexy ?) and by an examination of my
Daguerrotypes, showing as they do most unequivocally
decided marks of age. The good Lord give me grace to
be ready when my appointed time shall come."

" July 20, 18^3.

" Fifty-seven years old this day ! Alas ! alas ! what
have I done in all that time ? What that can be remem-
bered fifty-seven years hence ? Can everj/ man of the
millions which co-exist upon the earth, attain to celebrity
or extensive usefulness ? That can scarcely be. The bulk
of mankind must ever be of the class of the ignoti, if not
ignobiles ; and I must be content to be one of them. And

Disconnected Recollections 243

what odds ? What difference (to use a form of speech
very common on the other side of the Atlantic), what
difference will it make a hundred years hence, whether a
man has attained to a distinguished position in this world
or not ? So all be right for the great account, the trum-
pery affairs of earth are of little consequence. But we
must bear with them whilst here, and make the best of
them."

My Father's words on another life :

" Were I asked what is the greatest pleasure man is
capable of, I should answer ' Anticipation.'

" Every pleasure is greater in expectation than in the
enjoyment. How great then the enjoyment of Heaven,
where our actual bliss will exceed our present highest ex-
pectations, and where new expectations of still higher
happiness will be continually generated and realized.

" Is it to be imagined that Heaven is a place of idleness
or listlessness? From the contemplation of the struc-
ture of my own mind I should imagine not ; for I could
not be happy in such a state. If we shall be at all like
unto our glorious Creator, we shall be wonderful in work-
ing, though not endued with the attribute of Omnipo-
tence.

" Then the certainty of an everlasting duration will give
such a zest to our undertakings as no sublunary being
ever yet experienced. Fatigue, sorrow, sin, pain, will
cease, and GOD will be glorified in all His creatures. My
prayer is to be made useful ; not to be a dead letter, even
in this nether world."

CHAPTER XX.

REMINISCENCES BY DR. MORGAN DIX.

' ' Trinity Rectory, A'ezv York,

" N^ovetnbcr 6, 1882.

" My dear Miss Hodges :

" Your request, that I should write out and send
you such reminiscences of your honored Father
as my memory enables me to give you, is one with
which I am most happy to comply ; only I fear that
the sum of them may amount to but little, and
prove of small value.

" Althougrh I was numbered amongr his enthusi-
astic admirers, and had the privilege of a most
agreeable personal acquaintance with him, yet I
was not on terms of such close intimacy as to have
opportunities of observing and treasuring up in
recollection the multitudinous little traits and indi-
vidualities which furnish the material for accurate
portraiture, still, you shall have what I recall of
the days when I knew him ; days when he was in
full strength and vigor, and at the summit of his
professional reputation and success.
244

Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix 245

" My recollections go back to the time when I
was a student in Columbia College, and when
Trinity Parish was my ecclesiastical home. Your
Father was connected with that Parish from the year
1839 until his resignation of his ofifice, in June, 1863.

" As a youth I listened with delight and wonder
to his music as I heard it in the Parish Church and
elsewhere ; and later, when I entered the General
Theological Seminary, I had the pleasure of becom-
ing acquainted with the great Master, and of receiv-
ing some instruction from him to which I shall
presently refer. I will write down, as simply as
possible, what occurs to me in relation to him pro-
fessionally and personally.

" I should not have the effrontery to undertake
the part of musical critic in this connection ; I am
neither a practised musician nor yet a critic of mu-
sicians or music. But, merely as a person of
sufficient culture to know what is good, and of
sufficient appreciation to feel the power of the divine
art, I have a right to bear my non-professional
witness. The highest veneration for his great
ability, the warmest admiration of their results:
these sum up what I would say.

" As years go by, we look more fondly to the
past, and what is there often charms us more than
the things immediately about us. Without draw-

246 Edward Hodges

ing any comparisons, however, I will say that my
education in Church music, such as it was, began
under him, and that the tastes fostered under the
inspiration of his genius have never been essentially
changed.

"It was at the Parish Church that we used to
hear your Father in his full power. If the organ
in that edifice be, as is said to be, one of the
noblest in the country, — in some respects indeed,
superior to any others, — it is suf^cient to say of
him, in order to describe him in one word, that in
him that magnificent instrument, or aggregation
of instruments, found and recognized its master.
No hand ever touched those keys, before or since,
with greater vigor, with greater delicacy ; none
knew more thoroughly what it was, or what it could
be made to do. It was wonderful to listen, while
he played ; the vast fabric seemed to roll forth
broad rivers of sound, deep and full as the sea ; it
was, sometimes, as if the flood-gates had been lifted
up beneath which unfathomable waters were falling
through the space between us and their source.
Again, the listener was fain to hold his breath to
catch the faintest echoes from the far away.

" As for the harmonies in his compositions and
in his numerous original arrangements of the old
Church Tunes, they were delicious ; they fed and

Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix 24;

filled the artistic and religious sense within us ;
something within vibrated to their strange and
massive combinations.

" Times have greatly changed since the days to
which I now refer. Trinity Church was far away ;
not easily accessible ; slimly attended ; one would
hardly know it now for the same place. But no
man ever had more appreciative listeners than your
Father ; and the lovers of art felt amply rewarded
in surmounting the difficulties of attending at the
services in that distant region, by the delight expe-
rienced in the dignity, the gravity, the solemnity of
the choral parts of the ofifice.

" I had a dear brother, younger than myself, a
charming musician and a man of most cultivated
taste. He was one of those who were passionately
fond of your Father's playing, and never wearied
of listening to it ; he would come home, after a
great service at the Church, enthusiastic at what
he had heard, and sitting down at the piano-forte,
would draw upon his memory and try to give me an
idea of the management of certain themes, or the
effect of certain passages.

" You need no words of mine to tell you how
Dr. Hodges was esteemed in Trinity Parish. Briefly,
it might be said, that the Parish Church and its
organist appeared to accord entirely ; what Trinity

248 Edward Hodges

Church, the creation of Richard Upjohn, was to
architecture in the United States, the music at
Trinity was to other Parishes throughout the coun-
try. It will be generally admitted, I think, that,
notwithstanding the fact that it was the first great
Church erected in our communion in this country,
and although others of much larger capacity and of
higher pretensions have been built since it was con-
secrated, none surpasses it to-day, if any equals it,
in dignity, stateliness, and grandeur of effect. It is
a monument of the ability of the remarkable man
who planned and built it, and in no subsequent
work did he excel what he did then. Even so, in
my judgment, the fame of the old organist has
never been exceeded since he left us ; nor has the
traditional power of his name and example lost its
force. The sense of decorum, the depth and rich-
ness of the great schools of musical art, the man-
liness and strengrth of the Ano^Hcan thought, the
grave religiousness, which wise men venerate, still
notably mark the order of our services ; nor are
our annals disgraced by meretricious shallowness,
or namby-pamby nonsense, or the loose and wanton
proceedings which charm the vulgar ear. What-
ever changes the days may have brought, a Spirit
dwells within that fane, to drive off whosoever
would violate the sanctity of the place.

MALMESUURV ABBEY.

Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix 249

" I should like, however, to say one thing here, in
the hope that I shall find you in sympathy with me,
though others decline to view the matter in the
same light. I think, then, that we have lost some-
thing in changing the pitch of the organ. The
original pitch was lower than the present ; the
effects produced were, to my ear, immeasurably
superior, more tender, more sombre, more thought-
ful, though, certainly, less brilliant. The alteration
was made in an underhand way, without the knowl-
edee or consent of the authorities of the Parish ;
the story is a strange one, which I could not relate
without becoming unfairly personal. But in order
to secure the co-operation of an orchestra of string
and wind instruments, the pitch was surrepti-
tiously changed, and raised to that adopted by the
Philharmonic Society, while the Rector and Ves-
try-Committee imagined that nothing beyond a
much-needed cleaning and some slight repairs
were in progress. Of course you understand that
this was done after your Father's connection with
the Church had been terminated, by his attack of
paralysis ; he was not responsible for it. I am
sorry it was done, and yet in this sentiment I
find little sympathy, and am generally regarded,
by those to whom I utter complaint, with a mild
and pitying wonder. But I presume that it is be-

250 Edward Hodges

cause I am not myself in harmony with the noise,
shrillness, and self-assertion which, in this genera-
tion, appear to be among the main conditions to
popularity and success.

" My personal acquaintance with your Father be-
gan when I was a student in the Seminary. On
the 17th of December, 1851, the Church Choral
Society was formed. It had for its object the study
of the Cathedral Music of the Church of England,
and for its ambition the public performance of a
Choral Service, in this city, if, by any fortunate
change of affairs, and abatement in prejudices, per-
mission could be obtained to exhibit so fearful and
startling an innovation on all uses then known
among us. We met for practice in the school build-
ing in the rear of St. John's Chapel ; Dr. Hodges
was our drill-master, CJio7'agus and CoiyphcEUs. I
cannot tell you how much I enjoyed our evenings,
nor how proud I was of taking part in the first
public service. It was held on Tuesday in Easter
week, April 13, 1852, in Trinity Church, at three
o'clock in the afternoon. The Rev. Messrs. Shackel-
ford, Webbe, Elmendorf, and Hopkins ofificiated,
and the responses and choral parts were given by
our Society.

" The church was filled to overflowing, and the
impression produced was profound. After that it

Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix 251

was only a question of time how long it would be
till the fulness of our triumph over the fears and
dislikes of the crude and untaught people. To
your Father belongs a large share in the honors of
that memorable occasion.

" I have some most agreeable recollections of
evenings spent at his house, where we were always
delightfully entertained by his conversation, and
made heartily welcome. The talk generally turned
on musical themes, or subjects interesting to the
theologian, the ecclesiastic, and the artist. Your
Father's face, as I remember it, was animated and
earnest ; his manners were polished, his eye bright
and clear, his air that of a genial and courteous
gentleman. His costume gave him the look of a
dignitary of the church ; he wore, if I mistake not,
a coat of semi-clerical cut and a white cravat ; his
hat was of peculiar shape, and ample enough in brim
to have passed for that of an Archdeacon at the
very least. As to his shoes, I shall never forget
them, modelled, apparently on the pattern of a
bricklayer's trowel, they ran out to sharp points in
front ; and I never could imagine what was the
secret of that strange construction, which indeed
was unlike anything except the specimens given by
Balduinus in his work Dc Calceo Ajitiquo, or Julius
Nigronius de Caliga. But on enquiry it appeared

252 Edward Hodo;"es

&

that he had his shoes in that shape for the more
convenient manip — no, I should say /^(/ipidation
of the instrument ; since, in fact, the pedals were
arranged like the sticks of an open fan which radiate
from a centre ; and the sharp-toed shoes went in
and out, and up and down among them in a way
which must have been seen to be appreciated.

" His manners had a certain crispness which con-
stituted especial charm for his friends and was not
without effect on foes, if he had any ; and his speech
was, as it were, full of punctuation marks and notes
of emphasis, as became a man who had strong con-
victions and scrupled not to express them if neces-
sary. Yet there was often in his face an expression
which bespoke the profoundly religious spirit. That
fine profile portrait of him which you remember
and which now hangs in the Vestry Room at the
Church is an ideal head ; the face is that of one who,
in " beating out his music," meditates of holy
themes and seems to hear the voices of another
world.

" I remember among other lessons taught me by
your Father, one which sank deep into my soul and
brought forth fruits of penitence then. On the oc-
casion to which I now refer, I was the victim of the
arts of a friend, who, if his eye should ever fall on
these words, would no doubt recall his conduct

Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix 253

with compunction, and bless my forbearance in not
naming him.

" He was an organist, and a most successful
choir-master, and among the most intense and en-
thusiastic admirers and disciples of Dr. Hodges.
Whenever he had the good luck to get to New
York, his first move was to repair to Trinity
and bathe himself all over in the grand music.
This man and I being on most intimate terms, and
he being desirous of obtaining a copy of your
Father's arrangement of ' Luton,' yet not daring
to ask for it, conceived the idea of using me as a
cat's paw to pull out the coveted chestnut. So he
wheedled me into writing a letter to Dr. Hodges,
and asking for a copy ; which I did in the innocency
of my heart, and the simplicity of my hands. But
in due time I got a letter, and such a rating as my
temerity deserved ; probably the Doctor suspected
the concealed hand, and plied the lash across the
shoulders of the real culprit ; informing me that a
Musician's compositions were his property and his
fortune, that they had a market value, and that it
was no joke to be giving away, right and left, what
stood for so much capital ; with more to that effect.
To comfort me after the discipline, I found enclosed
the copy of ' Luton ' beautifully written out by
your Father, and so exquisitely done as if in copper

254 Edward Hodges

plate, with some cordial words, the offset to the
paternal remonstrances in the epistle. To say that
my astute friend seized on it with avidity, chuckling
over his success, is but to add the inevitable conclu-
sion to the story of the way in which he played upon
my inexperience. But we both enjoyed the har-
monies, as if nothing adverse had been encountered
in the manner of their acquisition.

" I came to Trinity Church in the year 1855.
Among the clergy was the Rev. J. F. Young, then
a Junior Assistant Minister, and now Bishop of
Florida, who, not content with thoroughly appreci-
ating your Father's powers and greatly admiring
his art, was ready to unite with me in an attempt
to induce him to publish some of those compositions
which were chief favorites among our people. One
difficulty in the way was this, that Dr. Hodges in-
sisted on using the old Tenor and Alto clefs, and
would not demean his work by printing it in the
ordinary manner. Nothing would induce him to
recede from his position, so we swallowed the clefs,
and got several of his services into print. The first
thus published, a. d. 1859, was the ' Communion
Service in F ' which has a preface that tells the story
in his own words, as follows :

" ' This Service was written in the year 1843. ^^
has been for some time in ordinary use at Trinity

Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix 255

Church New York, and is now published at the
particular request of two of the clergymen con-
nected with that Parish, the Rev. Morgan Dix,
M.A., and the Rev. J. F. Young, M.A.

'"Such a request, backed as it was by the vol-
untary undertaking of those gentlemen to purchase
a considerable number of copies, could not well be
refused ; so the score was taken from the conceal-
ment in which it had lain for fifteen years, and after
having been fairly copied by my good friend and
disciple, Mr. W. H. Walter, Organist of Trinity
Chapel, at a time when severe illness compelled me
to cease from all professional labours, was com-
mitted to the printer.

" ' Still sequestered from active duty, and uncer-
tain whether my recovery will ever be such as to
qualify me to resume it, it will be a source of high
and holy gratification to learn that my humble
strains contribute in any degree to aid the devotions
of the Christian Church.'

" The ' Evening Service in C,' composed in 1824,
was published in 1863, under the supervision of
Dr. Walter; and the wonderfully beautiful Anthem,
written for the Consecration of Trinity Chapel in
1855, must have appeared some years later. I think
that those three works are enough, by themselves,
to establish the position of your Father, as that of

256 Edward Hodges

one of the ablest, purest, and most delightful of our
Church composers, and to set him on high among
the masters of the Anglican School.

" Mention ought also to be made of his skill and
success as a writer of English prose. His style
was finished, and his acquaintance with the re-
sources of our native tongue sufficient to make his
compositions most agreeable and acceptable to per-
sons of cultivated taste. He was especially clever
in humorous and good-naturedly satirical work,
treating his themes with skill and showing a keen
relish of fun and a refined wit. During the great
uproar and assault on Trinity Church in the year
1857, he made a notable contribution to the defence
in the shape of a most effective and amusing pam-
phlet, entitled, ' Mrs. Trin and her Troubles : A
Parable.'

" Thus, dear Miss Hodges, have I complied with
your request, writing in too great a hurry to revise
what I must now send to you just as it is.

"Your statement in your letter of the 12th
ulto. — ' do not think that I want a learned article
for a paper,' emboldens me to offer you, without
apology for its crudeness, the imperfect but sincere
tribute to the memory of one of the most accom-
plished musicians and most worthy and agreeable
men I have ever had the good fortune to meet. I

Reminiscences by Dr. Morgan Dix 257

can only say that I wish I had known him better.
There are those who can paint his picture with the
breadth and strength which the subject demands ;
I am satisfied if you tell me that I have succeeded
in contributing a few touches, before its completion
by the proper hand.
" I remain,

" With sincere regard and esteem,
" Very faithfully yours,

"Morgan Dix."

" Miss Faustina H. Hodges."

CHAPTER XXI.

REMINISCENCES BY VARIOUS FRIENDS.

From the Rev. Dr. J. H. Hopkins.

" Williatnsport, Fa., July j, i88j.

" My dear Miss Hodges :

" My first personal acquaintance with your hon-
ored Father was in the autumn or early winter of
1846. I had heard him on the Organ at St. John's
Chapel as far back as 1840, for a few months ; but
at that time had not ventured to speak to him.

" In 1846 I had finished the arrangement of my
Father's Church Music — covering a complete body
of music for Chants, Psalms, Hymns, and some An-
thems. This had been a favorite work with him for
more than twenty years, his natural gift for music,
and especially for melody, being very great. But
he had never studied harmony, and always said he
would wait for me to do that part for him. I had
accordingly arranged the whole, filling up a few
gaps myself ; and then, when the bulky volumes of
258

Reminiscences by Various Friends 259

MS. were ready for the printer, taking them with
me to New York in search of a pubHsher, I thought
it only prudent — though I knew it was rather im-
pertinent— to introduce myself to your Father, then
the acknowledged head and indisputable chief of
Church Music in this country, to ask his judgment
on the book first. At his request I left the volumes
with him for a few days, and on calling again, found
that he was too gentle and tender-hearted to say
anything that would wound my feelings ; but after
a great deal of instructive talk from him, showing
the variety, and breadth, and depth of the true
Church style, I ms\!\nQX\v^y absorbed \h.^ impression
that I should not be likely to find a publisher who
would take the risk ; and also, that an entire collec-
tion produced in such a way would not be of so
much service to the Church as I had supposed. No
one, even of the greatest Masters of Church Music
had ever produced more than a few Hymn Tunes ;
and this rule was not likely to be reversed in the
case of persons who, during their whole lives, had
been beyond the reach of the best music in any
school. But this conclusion was impressed so
gently, so indirectly, so learnedly, that I admired
and loved him for it ever after.

" When I became a Candidate for Orders in the
Diocese of New York in 1847 ^ attached myself to

26o Edward Hodges

Trinity Church, and every Sunday walked the three
miles down town, getting lunch at some restaurant
at one o'clock, and walking back after Evening Ser-
vice. The greatest inducement for me to attend
there was the music, and your Father's wonderful
organ playing. Of the sermons I heard there I do
not remember much. But the music was another
thing ! The subdued and reverential tone of the
opening voluntary, was a fit preface for the Gen-
eral Confession and the Lord's Prayer. The ' giv-
ing out' of the Hymn Tunes was an exquisite
treat ; — the melody being played on a rich and
peculiar combination of stops on the Swell Or-
gan, while the accompaniment was on another
manual. The feeling that was thus embodied is
indescribable in words. The striking character of
the accompaniment to the voices, the interludes
— especially, for instance, in Luther's Judgment
Hymn (commonly so called) — testified to the re-
ligious and real character of the whole. His Church
playing was always an act of worship. How many
of those grand Hymns ring in my memory yet !
'What are these in bright array,' 'Rise crowned
with light,' * Although the vine its fruit deny ' ; Bris-
tol, Peace, Manchester, St. Ann's, the Old Hun-
dredth, and so many others. I shall never hear
them done in that glorious style again ! The

Reminiscences by Various Friends 261

Cathedral Services, which were commonly given
for the Canticles, in both Morning and Evening
Prayer, together with the Anthems, which came
more rarely, were of the highest range in purity of
taste and distinctness of character. But to me the
crown of them all was his own ' Consecration Ser-
vice,' which was a special joy whenever I could hear
it. The closing movement of the ' Te Deum "
in that Service, taken up again and further ex-
panded at the close of the Benedlctus, is the grand-
est thing I know in the whole circle of Cathedral
Services. The great waves of sound follow one
another like the ocean swells in regular movement
round the curved shore, until they die away
in the distance. They always gave me a peculiar
thrill of delight. And at the close, after the
Benediction, the grand voluntary was always an
invitation to make me stop, until the last note
was silent. I would sooner have gone out in
the midst of the sermon than of that voluntary.
The religious grandeur of the style, — the way
In which by constant * substitution ' the fingering
was so managed, that the notes glided and rolled
and swelled into one another without mechanical
breaks, giving the organ a voice as If it were a
conscious living creature and not a piece of mech-
anism— this was the peculiar charm of his playing,

262 Edward Hodges

which I have never heard in like measure from any
other.

" During all the period of your Father's subse-
quent sojourn in New York, our friendship con-
tinued unbroken, unabated, and unshaded by the
slightest cloud. He was the life and soul of our
' Church Choral Society,' which, under his patient
and thorough training, got up the first full Choral
Service ever sung in this country. And when did
he ever refuse or fail to instruct or help those who
came to him for information or guidance in his
noble Art ?

"In the course of those years, in walking up town
to my lodgings, I generally took my way through
Hudson Street. And at nine o'clock in the evening,
or a little later, passing his modest house below
Canal Street, I would enter for a chat with him.
With unvarying regularity, at that time, I would
find him at the centre table in his parlor with his
big Diary before him (it was about the size of a
merchant's ledger) writing up the entries for the
day.

" The inkstand out of which he wrote was a
quaint and grotesque piece of drollery which seemed
to give him special pleasure. When the big book
was closed, some English ale, with ' crackers ' ^ and

' Biscuit.

Reminiscences by Various Friends 263

cheese were brought in, and an hour — sometimes
two hours or more — passed away in the most de-
Hghtful manner.

" One thing remarkable about Dr. Hodges was
his thorough theological appreciation of the true
meaning of the words and phrases which he set to
music. He was a well-read theologian outside of
his own professional range, and his communica-
tions in the Church papers often showed that he
was more than a match for some of the clergy !
Still water runs deep ! One who saw only the
placid, gentle, equable tenor of his daily life and
conversation, would not dream that he was capa-
ble of the deepest feeling, the most intense suffer-
ing, the most enduring affection, the most corroding
remembrances. Yet all this was so, though no
word of it escaped so as to be observed by or-
dinary acquaintances.

" The deep undertone of intense reality pervaded
his whole being, and alas ! in some respects, the
shades grew only deeper and darker towards the
latter part of his abode among us. But / saw only
the sunshine ; and that sweet sunshine has left the
memory of its brightness undimmed in the heart of
"Yr. ob. servant in the Church,

"J. H. Hopkins.

" Miss Faustina H. Hodges."

264 Edward Hodges

From the Very Rev. Dean Hoffman.

" General Theological Seminary,

' ' N'eiv York, January j-, i8gs.

" My dear Miss Hodges :

" My earliest recollection of your Father dates
back to the time when he first came to this coun-
try, and, through the Rev. Dr. Wainwright's influ-
ence, was appointed organist of St. John's Chapel,
where I was then attending church. Up to that
date Anglican Church music was almost unknown
on this side of the Atlantic. The singing of the
psalms in metre and one of the small collection of
hymns printed with the Prayer Book was, as a
rule, the only musical part of the Church service.
His handling of the organ with such singular
power, and his devotional rendering of the canticles
and occasional anthems attracted large numbers
to the Chapel, and its influence immediately began
to be felt in other churches, lifting the musical
portion of the services to a higher and more sacred
plane.

" When Trinity Church was rebuilt, at a later
day, he was naturally promoted to it. This gave
him a wider field and greater influence. The
organ there, which was built under his immediate
supervision, was at that time the largest and best

Reminiscences by Various Friends 265

in this country. Under his manipulation it seemed
to speak, and to give a deeper and fuller meaning
to the sacred words. I have heard members of
that congregation say that the words of the hymns
or of the anthem, with his musical interpretation of
them, left often a deeper impression on their minds
than the most eloquent sermon. His voluntaries at
the close of the service, improvisations of his own,
were so popular that it was not unusual for a large
portion of the congregation to remain in their pews
until he had finished. Though I have heard not a
few of the noted organists of England, I have never
heard one who surpassed him in devotional render-
ing of the organ accompaniments. Under his hand
the organ seemed to adapt itself to the various
expressions of penitence or praise in the psalms or
anthems.

" It was my privilege, as you know, to commit
his remains, ' earth to earth,' in the quiet church-
yard of Stanton Drew, and I esteem it a duty to
express my obligation to one to whom, in common
with so many others, I owe my intelligent apprecia-
tion of true Church music.

" Very sincerely yours,

" E. A. Hoffman.

" Miss Faustina Hasse Hodges."

266 Edward Hodges

From the Rev. J. H. H. De Mille.

" The writer looks back to the days of his ac-
quaintance with Dr. Hodges and remembers a
genial, elderly man, dignified but full of humour,
always seeming to carry with him the impression
that his high art was a gift received from Heaven,
and therefore to be consecrated to the Glory of God.

" To his work he not only brought a cultivated
mind and true musical taste, but deep religious
feeling ; and it is not therefore surprising that his
compositions are pervaded by a highly devotional
spirit. His playing of the organ was remarkable
for the same devotional spirit. The writer has
again and again seen him as he presided at the
Organ of Trinity Church, endeavouring to develop
musical thoughts suggested by the sermons to which
he gave thoughtful and critical attention. On one
occasion the sermon was particularly impressive ;
and as the sun, nearing the west, threw a rich light
through the stained glass window of old Trinity, he
wove the thoughts of the sermon and the rich scene
into his concluding voluntary, basing it on the
theme of Tallis's Evening Hymn.

" Though twenty years have passed since then,
the strains of that music still linger in our memory.
"J. H. H. De Mille."

Reminiscences by Various Friends 267

Sir Frederick Gore Ouseley, Bart, wrote me that
he had hurried to Bristol purposely to see my
Father and to hear him at his organ with the
magnificent swell ; and was much disappointed to
find that Dr. Hodges had just left for New York.

In another letter to the writer dated October 18,
1887, Sir Frederick says,

" I possess a complete set of the old Musical
Quarterly Review, and know well your Father's
Essays and Letters therein. They were in ad-
vance of their period, and display much clever in-
sight into matters of which contemporary musicians
were mostly in utter ignorance.

" I wish I had had the good fortune of knowing
him personally."

An article in the Bristol Mirror, 1867, speak-
ing of his residence in New York after his sojourn
there was over, says :

"And in that far Western land he was honoured
and respected as the good old English Doctor.

" He never lost his nationality : but having
finished his work, he returned under his own flag to
the land he loved with the passionate loyalty of an
Englishman.

" Homeward bound at last ! Many now in
Clifton remember him, as he was drawn about in
his Bath-chair, for illness and over brain work had

268 Edward Hodges

prostrated his powers. They will remember his
genial and benevolent countenance, illuminated
as it always was with his bright intelligence and
sparkling humour. He was truly a Christian
Philosopher ; and one who gazed upon his thought-
ful face with the marks, — light ones in truth —
of seventy years upon it, would carry away the
impression of one who had done his work well ;
who had borne his share of life's sorrows bravely ;
who had consecrated his talents to a noble use,
and had come to the end of his journey with the
light of a brighter world shining on his pathway."

CHAPTER XXII.

IN MEMORIAM. TESTIMONY TO HIS WORTH FROM VARI-
OUS JOURNALS.

From the Church Jourjial, New York.

" Dr. Edward Hodges, whose death was announced
in a recent issue, will long be remembered in this country,
not only as a most accomplished musician, but as one to
whom we are indebted for the best school of our Church
music. Born and brought up in Bristol, England, the
Cathedral of which has long been noted for its choral
services, and deeply imbued with the spirit of the old
masters, he came to this country at a period when good
ecclesiastical music was but little known in our churches.
His position as organist of old Trinity, afforded him an ex-
cellent opportunity for the exercise of his unusual ability,
and his influence was soon felt throughout the Church.
Strangers visiting the city would often make it a point to
remain over Sunday that they might hear the Doctor play.
And who that once heard him can ever forget the power
which he possessed at the organ ? The listener felt at
once that he was in the presence of a master of that
noblest instrument, and a master who realized that its
office in the sanctuary was for God's praise and not for
man's display. The simple voluntary with which he

26q

270 Edward Hodges

would introduce the service, was always a fitting prelude
to prayer, hushing worldly thoughts, lifting the soul from
earth, and giving it the foretaste of celestial melody.
And as the service proceeded and the organ gave out its
utmost grandeur in response to his masterly touch, now
uttering a plea for mercy, now subdued as by the very
presence of The Eternal, and now rolling out the
majesty of praise, there was something which made the
worshipper forget the instrument and the place, and lifted
him, as it were, to the harmonies of the Temple which is
above. No music was common in his hands. The organ,
with its delicate mechanism, rich combinations and won-
derful resources, was all at his command. It seemed to
breathe his inmost spirit. A plain psalm tune would with
him often roll out like a grand Chorale, and when the
service was closed, how often have we heard him take a
simple subject, perhaps suggested by some thought in the
sermon, and after a solemn introduction, give it out and
make upon it a most wonderful improvisation of a Fugue.

" But above all rose his beautiful Christian character.
He lived as though he realized that he was ever in God's
presence. God's word was his daily study ; the life that
was in Jesus his constant pattern. How promptly he
would hush a word of complaint against anyone ; how
gently and delicately he dealt with his choir ; how largely
he gave of his limited means to every charity ; how care-
fully he would follow all the responses in the service ; how
regularly he knelt at the Altar-rail in the days of his
power amongst us, after having lifted our souls above
these scenes by his glorious rendering of his own setting
of the * Ter Sanctus,' is well known to all that had the
privilege of his friendship, or perhaps the even greater
privilege of hearing him constantly at the organ.

" When compelled by illness to relinquish his post at
Trinity, he returned to his native city to spend the bal-

In Memoriam 271

ance of his days, and there most peaceful and beautiful
was his dechne. It was like the evening glow of a bright,
well spent day. Undisturbed by a single murmur, as one
power after another gave way, with Christian resignation
he fell asleep in perfect peace.

" By his own directions, his remains were laid beside
those of his ancestors in the quiet Churchyard of Stanton
Drew : and nothing could have been more touchingly
beautiful than the funeral service in that little antiquated
village Sanctuary, which stands near the great stones of
an old Druidical Circle or Temple. There was no organ
heard ; but selections of his own compositions, consisting
of his solemn chant in C sharp minor, (written many years
previously for that occasion,) and his own funeral verse
' I heard a Voice,' were perfectly rendered by members
of the Cathedral Choir, surpliced, as is their custom.

" And as the strains of the Anthem, a composition of
exquisite pathos, rose around the grave immediately after
the committal, it seemed like the voice of the departed
coming forth from the tomb to comfort the mourners.
The service was closed with Bach's beautitul Chorale, ' O
sacred Head now wounded,' and as the muffled bells gave
forth their solemn peal, the friends left the spot more
deeply impressed than ever with the great truth,

" * Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.' "

Dr. Alfred Day, whose eloquent and feeling ac-
count of the funeral at Stanton Drev^ we have
already seen, gave at the same time a description of
my Father's personality and characteristics, which
seems to make us almost acquainted with him ; and
which is valuable as the last we can receive from
the hand of any who knew and loved him in Bristol.
I shall quote from it so as to avoid repetition.

2 72 Edward Hodges

From the Bristol Times and Mirror, Sept., 1867.
" The Late Dr. Edward Hodges.

*' This Eminent Composer and Musician died at Clifton
on Sunday morning last. Dr. Hodges was well known as a
public character in this his native city, a quarter of a cen-
tury ago ; and was admired for his conversational powers,
his varied acquirements, and more particularly for his
profound knowledge of the theory and practice of Music.
Though destined by his father for business, he had no
sooner attained to freedom of action, than his peculiar
bent and genius developed itself in the direction in which
he was afterwards famous.

" Fertile in mechanical expedients, he applied himself
with great zeal and energy to the study of the construc-
tion of the organ, with marked success ; and before many
years had become the chief authority on that instrument
in Bristol, being consulted on every occasion where an
organ was to be repaired or built. He was equally dis-
tinguished as a skillful performer on this his favourite
instrument, and was also a devoted student of the works
of Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart, and our old Church
writers.

" Having entered himself at Cambridge, during the
Professorate of Dr. Clark-Whitfeld, he obtained the de-
gree of Mus. Doc. at a time when this distinction was
rare, after an Exercise which was pronounced to be of
unusual merit. He afterwards enjoyed the intimacy of
many celebrated musical writers, and among others of the
late Samuel Wesley, who has left it on record that Dr.
Hodges was one of the first, if not the first, of English
organists. Possibly, personal friendship and a sense of
personal obligation may have had a share in dictating so
comprehensive a statement, but there is no doubt what-
ever that the Doctor's powers as an extemporary Fugue

UNIVERSITY CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE.

In Memoriam 273

player, and his command and knowledge of the resources
of his instrument were of a remarkable kind. No man
ever better understood how to adapt himself readily to
the frame of feeling in which a congregation of worship-
ping people might happen to be, or to the exigencies of
metre, or the requirements imposed by the tone and sen-
timent of the words to be sung at particular times and
seasons. The writer has known him during service com-
pose original chants or tunes to meet some unlooked-for
emergency ; and on one occasion of a public nature, when
suddenly deserted by his choir, improvise a voluntary
which bridged over the gap caused thereby, without the
congregation becoming aware of what had taken place.
During the period of his presidency at the organ of
St. James (which was for many years the best in Bris-
tol, and re-constructed with his specification and over-
sight) he composed several services, some of which have
obtained a permanent place in Cathedral Choirs ; and
many printed collections of tunes and chants contain
well-known specimens of his writing or adaptation.

" For many years Dr. Hodges contributed papers to
various journals on Mechanical Science. Among others
of his suggestions were the damming of the Avon at Sea
Mills, and a scheme for floating the Great Britain when
on shore in Dundrum Bay. He had also constructed and
described a model of a feathering steam paddle-wheel,
identical in principal with that afterwards patented as
' Morgan's Paddle-wheel.' Many improvements in the
mode of constructing the Swell box and Pedal board of
the organ, and other mechanical appliances have been
adopted from him.

" Later in life Dr. Hodges was induced to settle in New
York, U. S., where his eminent abilities were soon appre-
ciated, and where he may be said to have created a taste
for Church music. Under his direction a magnificent

2 74 Edward Hodores

is

organ was constructed for the noble Trinity Church in
that city, the musical services of which he continued to
conduct for many years with great reputation. We ex-
tract the following notice of the proposed publication of
the Te Deum composed by him on the occasion of the
consecration of that Church from a New York paper :

" ' Hodges in E. — We are glad to announce what we
have desired for years, and that is that the chef d' ccuvre
of Dr. Hodges, written for the consecration service of
Trinity Church in 1846 and annually used thereafter on
Ascension Day as long as its author was able to preside
at the organ, is about to be published. It consists of an
opening sentence, the Te Deum and Bene dictiis. All these
will be given, not only for the voices, but with separate
obligate organ part, just as it used to be played by Dr.
Hodges himself. And who that has ever heard, can ever
forget the chaste yet sublime richness of the drapery,
which, in that admirable service, clothes the body of vocal
harmony as with the ornament of royal robes ? That
service, in our opinion, stands at the head of all Cathedral
services, as combining a full and overpowering poetic
colouring and sentiment, without in any respect depart-
ing from the sobriety and dignity of a pure ecclesiastical
style ; and of all that Dr. Hodges has done for the noble
cause of Church music among us, that will live the longest
and be the most dearly cherished ; especially the magnifi-
cent close of the Te Deum and the Benedicius, in which
one seems to hear the roUing of the musical waves upon
the everlasting shore.'

" This service has since been published with an admira-
ble likeness of the author attached. Dr. Hodges was the
first cousin of the eminent sculptor, Edward Hodges
Baily, so lately removed by death, and both cherished a
high and mutual esteem for each other. Bristol may well
be proud of a family which has evinced remarkable talent

In Memoriam 275

in many of its members, and has been equally distin-
guished for its high moral tone. The upper portion of
Dr. Hodges' head and eyes reminded one strongly of
Mendelssohn. His wit and pleasantry and social qualities
were of a high order, and in the old time of Corporation
dinners, he regularly found his place at the civic feasts,
though himself the most abstemious of eaters. Being of
a delicate constitution and very susceptible nervous organi-
zation, his health was always precarious, and this will
account for his almost premature decay at an age when
many continue vigorous, though he had reached the
allotted term of human life. During his residence in
New York he married the sister of Dr. N. F. Moore,
formerly President and Greek Professor of Columbia
College, himself a considerable traveller and author, and
a most cultivated man. After her death, he returned to
take up his residence permanently at Clifton, but was no
longer able to indulge his favourite studies from increasing
infirmity, or rather mere bodily weakness.

" His last moments were soothed by the unremitting
attentions of his daughter, who tended him with the most
affectionate assiduity. We have had occasion lately to
notice favourably several of her musical productions, and
are assured that they display considerable talent, both in
the art of composition and in respect of melody, by those
more competent to judge than we are. Dr. Hodges' fail-
ing strength since his return to England has prevented his
being as well known to contemporaries as he was twenty-
five years ago to his fellow-citizens of that date. His
decay was gradual and peaceful, though at the last some-
what sudden. He was a devout and consistent Church-
man, zealous for the extension of Church Music, and
worked with one all-absorbing aim in his vocation. He
could scarcely be regarded as one who followed music as
a profession, certainly not if the idea of pecuniary gain is

276 Edward Hodges

involved in the distinction. He rather regarded his art as
something to be dedicated to the service of the Sanctuary,
and himself not as the organist of this or that parish, but
as a liturgical minister of the Church universal on earth.
To render more expressively, devoutly, and grandly its
daily service of prayer and thanksgiving he would have
made any personal sacrifice consistent with Christian duty.
The few surviving friends of his early life will always
cherish his memory with profound regard, and the an-
nouncement of his decease will be received with deep
regret by a host of admirers on the other side of the At-
lantic, who will associate his name and that of Church
Music indissolubly. Already the MS. tunes and portions
of services left by Dr. Hodges in the Choir books of
Trinity, have found their way into print, and many of
these will be spread far and wide in the future progress
of Church extension in America. At home the use
of Mercer, and Hymns Ancient and Modern, with the
crowd of rival productions that find favour in different
congregations, stands in the way of any wide adoption of
a foreign selection, but we should be glad to see an entire
selection of all that Dr. Hodges has written thoughtfully
and earnestly in the day of his power, for he has left be-
hind him a valuable legacy in the shape of occasional
Anthems, Morning and Evening Services, and indited
Compositions, which might be brought together, and
would vindicate his reputation as a composer, which is
less known than it deserves to be out of the circle of
his admiring personal friends."

I make rather amusing extracts from an article in
the New York Keynote, signed G. F. D., a writer
to me unknown.

" Many New Yorkers of musical proclivities who are
nr,\v fairly advanced in middle age, remember Dr. Edward

In Memoriam 277

Hodges, who was for many years organist of Trinity
Church in this city.

" The Doctor was an oddity in many ways. One of the
greatest Contrapuntists of his day, he was yet very fond
of taking simple melodies and passing them through the
alembic of his own musical fire, bringing them out so that
there was a remote sensation of having heard what you
listened to somewhere, but the original theme was so
artistically treated that one was at a loss to recognize it,
and it gave the general effect of a musical dream, with a
suggestion of solid harmony to strengthen it. One of
these curious playthings of his brain is in the tune
* Habakkuk ' which on close scrutiny, will be seen to be
an old French air, which Dr. Hodges adapted to the
words, ' Although the vine its fruit deny.' But the Doctor
treated this old convivial song with all his contrapuntal
skill, preserving its melody, passing it through no less
than four distinct modulations, and still without making
it difificult to sing.

" The younger organists — those of our day — who know
of Dr. Hodges only by hearsay, and think that while he
wrote some excellent Church music, he belonged to an
antiquated school which had.no ' Execution,' know very
little about it. Many a young student who scuffles about
among the pedals, stumbling around like a blind horse in
a grave-yard, should have heard the Doctor's pedal-play-
ing. There was no obscurity about it. Every note was
well defined, heel and toe working in good partnership.
There was no confusion, no bungling, no uncomfortable
correction of false notes. The Doctor, too, was great in
musical feats of transposition. He would play a Fugue,
the greater Bach in G. minor, or the ' Giant Fugue,' or
any others of the old Master, one, two or three tones or
semitones higher, and never swerve, or miss a note in
manual or pedal.

" But, brought up in the old English school, of which

278 Edward Hodges

Arne, Blow, Purcell, Boyce, Walminsley and Gibbons
are exponents, Dr. Hodges did not like Mendelssohn.
The * Elijah ' with its instrumental richness and wonder-
ful dramatic power, did not accord with his musical taste.
He relented somewhat toward the Overture to St. Paul,
because of its dignified treatment of a simple theme, and
fancied the earlier part of the following Fugue ; but had
no sympathy with the rush and orchestral hurry which
bring it to a close. He would rather play ' We worship
God and God alone' from 'Judas Maccabaeus ' with its
wonderfully-treated double subjects, than trifle with the
' Lobgesang.' The Doctor's methods and tastes do not
prevail at present at Trinity, where, while honour is done
to Handel, Mendelssohn and his compeers find happy
representation.

" Inclined to harmon}' more than melody, his interpreta-
tion of the Church Service was admirable. His pupil,
the late Dr. John Wilcox, used to say, that it was a good
musical education just to hear Dr. Hodges ' give out ' a
hymn on the organ ; while his accompaniment to the
voice was singularly excellent. To give an idea of one of
his ' odd ways ' of which we have spoken, we may say
that one day, a lady coming out of Church said, ' They
sang that beautiful old tune "Dundee," and the organ
was fine ; but I heard all underneath it a sort of small
rolling scale of soft notes, like a gentle sea. It was away
down under the bass, and seemed like waves breaking
into rock caverns.' This was one of his peculiar delights.
He had accompanied the voices on the manuals, and,
with the Swell coupled to the Pedals, had produced the
underground murmurs.

" Dr. Hodges had some curious ideas of his own about
the pedals of an organ.

" Nowadays, they are so constructed that unless an
organist is careless there is little need of striking two notes

In Memoriam 279

at once. But the Doctor had the pedals of all organs
over which he had control built in the closest possible way,
and in addition, had a sort of rail, about the size of a lead
pencil, running along the top of each pedal, with a de-
pression in it, so that he could reach over and easily play
a Third with the toe. Having charge over all the Trinity
Parish organs during his earlier connection with the parish
he had them all ' fixed ' the same way, which was a very
sore discomfiture for the organists of St. Paul's and St.
John's, inasmuch as, if they wanted to look at the pedals,
they might as well have looked at the rails of a picket
fence, they were all apparently alike. He had a peculiar
love for Octave Couplers, and for dividing his mixtures
into separate ranks, each controlled by its own stop.

"Of Dr. Hodges's compositions it is unnecessary to
speak. They are part and parcel of our present sacred
musical literature. Himself perfectly acquainted with
the structure and capabilities of the organ, an admirable
executant, and thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of
Church music, he well knew what the organ could do and
what it could not do ; how far it could be used as an or-
chestra, and how far it was meant for Church use. Know-
ing this, and writing in accordance with this knowledge,
and with the true Churchman's spirit as well as that of the
true Musician, his works are universally recognized as
models. Whether in Hymn-tune, Chant or Full Service,
they are found everywhere in use, and everywhere
standard.

" Dr. Hodges was a musical landmark in his day, the
recognized exponent in this city of the highest school of
Sacred Music, and an authority among lesser lights.

" His memory is still affectionately cherished by many
New Yorkers, and we may only say in concluding this
sketch, that doubtless his own words, though jocularly
tittered, were true. He was talking with one of his Chor-

28o Edward Hodges

isters, just after service, when the latter in parting said :
' Well, good-bye, Doctor, I '11 meet you this afternoon —
at any rate in Heaven.'

" ' Very true,' said Dr. Hodges. ' The Psalm says " As
well the singers, as the players of Instruments shall be
there." '

"G. F. D."

I think G. F. D. must be mistaken about " Hab-
akkuk." Whatever likeness he detects, it is not in
the least probable that my Father ever heard the
French " Convivial Song."

Also concerning my Father's opinion of Mendels-
sohn, it is but partially given and probably exag-
gerated. His words of this, then new, composer,
were strictly comparative, not condemnatory. Some
years later he enjoyed perusing Mendelssohn s
Letters immensely, and said to me, " I have a far
higher estimation of the man " ; as if he detected
in the writer so early taken hence, the refined,
thoughtful, and deeply religious musician. I am
sure he would have delighted in his Chorales, and
in his great dramatic power. Prejudice and nar-
rowness could not exist in my Father's mind,
though his convictions were so strong, and his love
for the two grand Masters, Handel and Bach, par-
took of a passionate intensity.

And regarding his pedal playing, my Father
would be the last to say he never slipped, but it was

In Memoriam 281

such a rare occurrence that it amounted to some-
thing very remarkable. In St. John's Chapel his
feet could be closely watched as his seat was
elevated in the centre of the gallery, and I re-
member a quaint old Englishman, who officiated
as clerk and bass singer, who used to make my
Father smile by saying softly, if there was the least
indication of a slip, " Aliquando ! " intimating
the Latin phrase, " Aliquando bonus dormitat
Homerus."

Extract, from an unpublished paper on American
church music, during the nineteenth century.

" Some forty years ago, when our church choirs and
organists were groping about in musical darkness, and no
higher standard of Church Music prevailed than those
found in the Tune Books of the day ; when ' Jackson in
F ' was supposed to be the only setting of the Te Deum,
as well as the ne phis ultra of pure Church Music, and the
mere playing it through correctly, a fair test of an organ-
ist's skill ; when its use was reserved for the great festivals
of the Church, and the expected performance eagerly
talked about (weeks in advance) by organists and choirs ;
when our prominent musicians were conscious of the de-
based condition of Church music, yet seemed powerless
to make it better ; there arrived in the city of New York,
a gentleman bearing a distinguished name, — Edward
Hodges, Mus. Doc. of Bristol, England, and holding
high rank among the chief musicians of his own country.
For a period of more than twenty years, Dr. Hodges not

282 Edward Hodges

only enjoyed the full confidence and respect of the musi-
cal profession, but he also gained many true friends
among the clergy and laity of the Church, all of whom
appreciated his great talent and high Christian character.
During this time, and amid many obstacles. Dr. Hodges
worked faithfully and fearlessly, seeking only the improve-
ment and advancement of Church music, and bring-
ing into practice his own sound convictions in regard to
the reforms so greatly needed. For over twenty years
Dr. Hodges had the direction of the music in Trinity
Parish, New York. His first appointment was to St.
John's Chapel, in the year 1839, where he remained till
the completion of the new Trinity Church in 1846, when
he was elected its Organist and Choirmaster. His famous
Service (known as * Hodges in E ' ) was sung for the first
time in that Church at the ' Consecration Service,' on
'Ascension Day,' May 21, 1846, and was again performed
at the ' Consecration ' of Trinity Chapel (the new Chapel
of ease to Trinity Church) some eight years later, when
Dr. Hodges was appointed Organist and Director of the
Choir. England lost what New York gained, in possess-
ing this distinguished musician, and there can be no ques-
tion that his coming to America was a most fortunate
event for our Church Music. He was indeed a Missionary
teacher of a purer Musical Gospel than had ever before
been preached to our benighted organists and choirs.
The good work Dr. Hodges did, more than forty years
ago, still lives and bears fruit, as many of his old pupils
and disciples can testify ; and the sound musical doctrines
which he taught are yet to bloom afresh, when the igno-
rance and errors that now prevail, shall have passed away.
Many will recognize in this sketch an old and valued
friend. Others may be told that it refers to the late Ed-
ward Hodges, Mus. Doc. of Sydney, Sussex College.
Cambridge. He died at Clifton near Bristol, September

In Memoriam 283

I, 1867. 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord;
even so, saith the Spirit ; for they rest from their labours,
and their works do follow them.' (Rev. xiv., 13.)

- S. P. T."

The Rev. C. H. Davis, of Littleton Drew, Wilts,
writes to the Editor of the Bristol Mz7'roj% about
1885:

" I was interested in your notice of Dr. Hodges,
' A Bristol Worthy.' Some fifty years ago as a
boy I was taken to St. James's one Sunday even-
ing, and heard the last Hymn, and I was shown
the stately Doctor as he came out, like a D.D. !

" I was told that St. James's Organ was tuned
then once a week. The late Canon Havergal used
to be Curate at St. James's. In his ' Old Church
Psalmody' he gave a C. M. tune adapted by Dr.
Hodges from Farrant's Anthem ' Lord for Thy
tender mercies' sake,' under the name of ' Farrant,'
by Mercer miscalled Gloucester ; and he spoke
highly of Dr. Hodges, to whom he was indebted
for help in his musical development.

"On the death of Mr. Mutlow in 1832, Dr.
Hodges tried for the organist's place in Glouces-
ter Cathedral ; and the late Rev. T. Evans, Master
of the College School and Precentor, said that he
never heard the accompaniment to the Solos so
well done as by Dr. Hodges ; that it was so soft as

284 Edward Hodges

scarcely to be heard until the last verse, when
he put on the Swell before the loud Gloria. He
said that the Chapter wished to keep up the old
coiinection, and so elected Mr. Arnott, who had been
Mutlow's pupil.

" Yours truly,

"C. H. D."

A musician, well known in the Church, writes :

" In point of majesty and volume of tone, the
large organ in Trinity Church has no equal in this
country.

" For a period of more than twelve years its
varied powers were developed by the hand of a
Master, and its ample and varied resources not
only displayed (as they have never since been)
but brought under judicious control and manage-
ment. Indeed your good Father controlled with
a Master's hand every possible effect to be obtained
from Trinity Organ.

"In the days of Old Trinity's musical prosperity
(never to be forgotten) there was a large and effi-
cient choir who sano^ the orand old Anthems and
Services of Gibbons, Boyce, Purcell, Croft, and
Hodsres ; and for the first time in America we
heard the music which has been listened to with
wonder and delight in the daily Cathedral Ser-

In Memoriam

285

vices of the Church of England. But all this has
passed away ; and Dr. Hodges has left us to return
no more. Yes ; and Trinity Church owed this emi-
nent musician a debt of gratitude for the great and
good work he had accomplished in the Parish dur-
ing the term of his long and faithful service."

CHAPTER XXIII.

REMINISCENCES BY DR. S. PARKMAN TUCKERMAN.

THE following interesting extracts are from
letters written to me while I was residing in
England by my Father's valued and appreciative —
and my own much lamented — friend, Dr. S. Park-
man Tuckerman.

He lived several years in Switzerland, and loved
quaintly to style himself " The Sage of Champery."

' ' P^evay, ib May, iSSj.

" Your Father had an awkward and difficult task before
him at his trial day at Windsor, and I wonder if you ever
thought about it. He came from his CC manual and
CCC pedal at St. James's Bristol, to play on an FF man-
ual and pedal, the latter down to FFF. Young Elvey
had been brought up on G organs, and of course felt at
home with the Chapel organ. However excellent your
Father's performances may have been on the trial day, I
am sure they would have been still better had the organ
been of a compass to which he was accustomed. Dr.
Elvey told me years afterwards that he should not dare
to play upon a CC manual and pedal at a public perform-
ance. There is a class of English musicians who believe
that progress means standing still, and holding fast to
long-since exploded ideas. Not so your good Father,

Reminiscences 287

who was the first in England to adopt the German organ
compass; and though opposed by the prominent organ-
ists (even Samuel Wesley) as well as organ builders, he
won the battle, and lived to see the rapid extinction of
the F and G manuals, and the universal adoption of the
only proper and legitimate compass for the organ. This
was a great triumph for your Father which any musician
might have been proud of."

" Vevey, Jan. i, 1886.

** I read the other day an interesting sketch of the life
of Samuel Wesley. He was born in Bristol, as well as
your good Father, though there must have been some
thirty years difference in their ages. As a musician he
was a man of great ability ; and no grander piece of pure
Church music was ever written than his ' In Exitu Israel.'
He belongs to the departed great ones; though many at
the present day choose to ignore and forget him as well
as others we wot of, who have lived and passed away to a
higher and better life.

" I was much amused at your comparing ... to a
bare 7th, omitting the 3d and 5th, and you might have
added, without * preparation ' or ' resolution.' Speaking
of 7ths reminds me of an incident that occurred in York
before your Father's decease, and about which I wrote to
him. Dr. Monk saw on my piano a printed copy of
* Hodges in E '; and at my suggestion he took it home to
read at his leisure. A week or so afterward it was re-
turned with a note expressive of pleasure ; and he also
said it was the work of a sound Church musician. He
did make exception however, to the consecutive sevenths
which occur at the phrase ' We acknowledge Thee.' I
however took the ground that Dr. Hodges knew what he
was about, and intended to write the passage exactly as
it stands. After this I wrote a little article on the sub-

288 Edward Hodges

ject, expressing great admiration for the beautiful effect
produced, notwithstanding that a rule had been set aside
to gain it. It was afterwards printed in one of the Lon-
don Musical Journals.

" Dr. Stainer some years after, published an Evening
Service with an instance of consecutive sharp sevenths
in the Magnificat ; and the reviewers, one and all, pitched
into him for breaking a recognized musical law. And he
still lives, and the objectional sevenths stand out in his
score as sharply as ever. Sir Walter Scott compared critics
to * bungling tinkers, who often make more holes than
they mend.' May not this wise saying be aptly applied
to the genus musicale?"

(There are two examples of consecutive sevenths
in the beautiful Fugue No. i8 of the "48." — F. H.

H.)

I received the following letter from Dr. Parker-
man in answer to one in which I gave my impres-
sions on hearing the " Mass in B minor," by John
Sebastian Bach, at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
I had remarked that at some most impressive and
powerful passages, in the Creed especially, I had
missed the organ pedals ; and my thought reverted
to my Father, whose use of the organ with an or-
chestra was so remarkably effective.

" In regard to the absence of the pedals 16 and 32 in
certain places in the Mass where the ear not only expected
but yearned for them, the omission of them I think, was
a mere whim of the conductor, and probably Dr. Stainer
had to yield to it. Costa used to do the same thing in a
rough way and would give no reason. In the Chorus

Reminiscences 289

' He sent a thick darkness,' where the pedals are so
grandly effective, Costa would say ' I will not allow dat
organ to buz so ! It is not in de score ! ' I can readily
understand that old memories of your dear Father and
his remarkable abilities were suggested by the performance
of Bach's great masterpiece. No musician of his day, or
even since, had a deeper knowledge or a truer appreciation
of the great Cantor than he.

" Bach's ' Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues ' (his musi-
cal Bible) were his daily study and delight ; the well-
known volume holding its accustomed place on his grand
piano-forte so long as I can remember his study in the
house he occupied in Hudson Street.

" That famous book was indeed in my early days a book
of mysteries to me and utterly incomprehensible ; but to
your Father it was his daily musical sustenance ; and,
coupled with his knowledge of and reverence for Handel,
the secret of his great Musicianship.

" The first time I heard, saw, and spoke to Dr. Hodges,
was in St. John's Chapel in New York; the year 1840 or
1841. My old teacher Zeuner was with me and we sat in
a front pew at the end of the South gallery. After ser-
vice, Zeuner (who rarely spoke well of any one) said * Ze
Doctare plays finely ; we shall go and speak to him '; and
we did. How kind and gentle his manner ! And how
pleased he seemed when I stammered out my thanks, and
admiration of his playing, which was a perfect revelation
to me and made me cry ! Of course my opinion in his
eyes could have had but little value, yet it was a sincere
appreciation of his talent on my part, so far as I had the
musical knowledge to understand him."

" June 27, 1886.

" Many years ago, when in the (to me) sacred precincts
of your Father's study in Hudson Street, New York, I
asked the good man to tell me why he wrote the first

290 Edward Hodges

' Holy ' in ' Hodges in C ' without a third. I cannot re-
call his reply at this distant day, yet we both know he
did nothing without a reason. My copy of the original
score is at home and I cannot refer to it. Can you sug-
gest a reason why Bass and Tenor are thus placed ? "

In reply I wrote :
" Dear Doctor : —

" Why ' suggest a reason ' ? My Father wrote it.
It is bold. It is very beautiful in its effect ; why
say anything further ? The very laws of harmony
are sufficient to interpret it. It was laid hold of by
Clarke-Whitfeld in 1825. He wrote my Father '/
would not have done it.' Probably not. But the
young man of twenty-eight whose Doctorate he
had done his best to oppose, did it, and saw the
force and beauty of it. It is by such boldness that
Musicians teach us. While some minds are cavil-
ling, and others timidly jogging along the beaten
track, a musician leaps the barriers. It seemed
most natural for my Father to do it. To have put
the 3d in the second 'Holy' would have made it
a common passage at once. I can never forget the
effect produced on my mind by that very passage
when I heard my Father render it in Trinity

Reminiscences 291

Church. There is a silence — and then in the dis-
tant, indefinable softness of the organ, the tonic,
fifth and third — the mysterious triad, fall on the
expectant ear. When the second ' Ter Sanctus '
comes in (^fortissimo), with full burst, there is a per-
fect completeness and satisfaction, while the effect
is overpowering. Only lately I heard Berthold
Tours play it, — and appear to enjoy it, — unques-
tioningly. In August last I heard the ' Te Deum '
well rendered at Wells Cathedral ; where it is in
constant use and well understood."
My friend continues :

" It seems that I am not the only one who has sought a
reason for the incomplete Triad in your Father's ' Service
in C ! ' That you have given, is, however, satisfactory, if
it expresses the Composer's views. At any rate we may
conclude it was done designedly, and for a purpose.
What Dr. Clarke said in reference to it is, and was, of no
consequence. He wrote heaps of commonplace musical
phrases, both in his Services and Anthems ; the probable
cause of his popularity some sixty years ago. I remem-
ber asking your Father once, why 'Clarke in F ' had never
been sung in Trinity Church ? His reply was, ' Look at
the fifth verse ' ; where I found the word ' Holy ' used
but twice! or else it may have been four times; I forget
which. At any rate / corrected the grave error without
tampering with the music, and restored the proper read-
ing."

" Champe'ry, Valais, yuly 22, 1886.

" The only information I can give about the Organ in
St. James's Church, Bristol, is from memory. I saw it

292 Edward Hodges

first in 1849, ^"d I remember writing to your Father
about its condition about that time. At home I have its
full history in type, written I conclude about the time the
new old Organ was first used, some sixty years ago.

" There was a triple Swell Box, and three sets of thin
Venetian Blinds, so called. They were adjusted ingeni-
ously. The first pressure upon the Swell pedal opened the
inner blind. The second the middle one, and the third
pressure gradually opened the entire Swell. Very grand
effects were possible from the Swell manual, if judiciously
managed ; and very annoying results followed where a
pumping style was adopted. There was a perceptible
hitch in the Swell pedal as the three sets of blinds were suc-
cessively opened, and probably this was designed as a

guide to the player. The
pedal keys were of iron,
invented by your Father,
and first introduced in
this organ. There was a 16 ft. pipe, speaking a 32 ft.
tone, but decidedly j'f/i'4;/ throughout. The construction
was planned and carried out entirely by your Father's
direction, and the specification wholly his. It was the
first CC Manual and CCC Pedal made in England ; and
this 'innovation' (as the fools called it) originated with
your Father, as far as his own country was concerned.

" The same plans with improvements were adopted in
Trinity Church, New York and its Chapel of Ease; also
in St. John's Chapel; but not in St. Paul's.

" My authority for all I have told you is personal ex-
amination of the St. James's organ, and it entirely agrees
with the printed account I have at home. Hopkins's His-
tory has but a meagre account. The dust and dirt that
I accumulated in my two visits to that exalted organ
gallery should be sufiicient proof that my examination
was thorough and my reports correct.

Reminiscences 293

" I suppose you know that ' Hodges in D ' used to be
known as the ' New York Service.' And I was told by
some one, whom I remember not, that ' Jackson in E flat '
being very popular in Trinity Parish, your Father was
induced to write a service which should be pleasing and
at the same time of a far higher type than Jackson's
music, which Jebb calls rowdy and vulgar."

''Aug. ist, 1886.

" Everything and everybody whether musical or other-
wise must move in the accustomed grooves or channels
in accordance with precedents long established. This
you will admit. Therefore can you reasonably expect
that the Church Music your good Father left behind him
is to come into immediate use, or be received as standard
works in the Cathedral and Parish Churches of England ?
You have done nobly in the good work ; and with time
and patience your reward is sure to come, though you
may not live to see it.

"Could your Father have been persuaded in 1846 to
send to England all his Services and Anthems adapted to
the English Prayer Book, I believe his music now would
be in use, and his name and talents fully recognized and
appreciated by the present generation. These appear to
be the true reasons why your Father's music is as yet
coldly received in England, and you must remember that
during the last twenty or thirty years, Goss and musicians
of his stamp have been pushed aside for younger writers
who now possess the popular ear, to the exclusion of the
old Cathedral musicians and their successors."

"Your idea of writing your Father's life is a capital
one, but I cannot but wonder why you have deferred it
so long. You must read my tribute to his memory, for I
feel that I knew and appreciated him in the United
States better than any one outside his own family.

294 Edward Hodges

" When last in Boston, Clarence Dorr, a stock-broker,
as well as an enthusiastic lover of Church music met me
on State Street, and said to me ' Come into my office,
and I will show you something I greatly prize.' He then
opened his safe and unlocked a bank trunk, from the
bottom of which he brought to light two of your Father's
letters dated somewhere in the Forties. I was not asked
to read them, but was pleased to find that after so many
years had passed, this musical stock-broker continued to
cherish his admiration for your Father.

" Dorr used to say we never had but one great organist
and thorough Church musician — that was Dr. Hodges."

" Vevey, Apr. ig, 1886.

" In reply to your question what were the great leading
points in your Father's organ playing, I should answer
first, that what he played, how he played and when he
played, gave me the impression of a power in reserve,
subject to his use when required. He had a clearly de-
fined purpose in what he played, and every phrase, chord,
or sequence of chords had a meaning. Dr. Hodges's vol-
untaries both before and after service might be described
as short but complete musical sketches or finished pic-
tures, which only a Master's hand and mind could have
produced. Yet how few there were amongst the listeners
who could appreciate his performance ! I remember
standing by your Father's side one Sunday morning when
he was playing the introductory voluntary. Your brother
J. S. B. H. accosted him thus — * Sir, Dr. Berrian seems
impatient to begin the service,' and the reply was, ' He
must wait until I have finished this phrase.'

" To sum up. Dr. Hodges's organ playing was not only
masterly from a musician's standpoint, but it was refined,
and in a marked sense that of a Christian gentleman. No

Reminiscences 295

one ever heard anything from his hands that could be
called common-place or inappropriate for organ use ; and
when I look back to the New York of forty years ago,
Dr. Hodges stood alone, as a bright and shining light
amid the musical darkness and ignorance of that period."

Regarding the appointment of organists in ca-
thedrals my friend remarks :

" Fifty years ago (and so it is at the present day) Deans
and Chapters required candidates for an organist's po-
sition to be Cathedral-bred. Their testimonials as to musi-
cal ability and good character were (alone) not sufficient.
The question was, From which cathedral did you gradu-
ate, and, as a chorister, did you serve out your full time?
I have not the slightest doubt that your Father would
have attained high rank and a cathedral position in Eng-
land, as he richly deserved, had the days of his boyhood
been passed in the choir of Bristol Cathedral.

" Samuel Wesley, with all his remarkable abilities and
musical scholarship, was kept out of the cathedrals be-
cause not cathedral-bred. Dr. Monk would have been
rejected at York for the same reason, had not Sir Fred-
erick Ouseley's great influence and friendship carried him
in above all other competitors.

" Why is Sir George McFarren's Church music seldom
heard in Cathedral Choirs, or even Parish Churches where
good organists and effective choirs exist? Because he
received his musical education at the Royal Academy
instead of a cathedral, therefore the orthodox character
of his music is called in question and for that reason only.
One more example and I stop.

" Best told me that years ago he gave up all expecta-
tion of obtaining any desirable Church preferment, such
as a man of his eminence as an executant and composer

296 Edward Hodges

entitled him to. The reason he gave, ' I was not bred in
a cathedral ; a sine qua non for any desirable position.' "

" My correspondence with your good Father taught me
how to construct a good letter, which I never learned at
school. His letters upon any and all subjects were per-
fect models, and ready to put into type the moment they
left his pen."

" The gifted Samuel Wesley and his clever and erratic
son Sebastian recognized your Father's great abilities ;
the latter told me as much on my visit to him in Win-
chester in 1 861. But what can that avail us now? They
have passed within the veil. There is not one of your
Father's contemporaries living but Sir George Elvey, the
successful candidate for St. George's Chapel, when your
Father was his chief rival at the trial.

" Dr. Hodges was indeed a bright and shining light in
his day and generation ; a good husband and father, a
warm and sincere friend, a learned and accomplished
musician, and above all, a devout and sincere Christian,
and this is by no means all that might be said of him.
Surely, is not the world better for such a life as he lived ?

" In giving to the world a Memorial of your dear Father
it should be well considered there is danger of overdoing ;
for a woman's style is always more diffuse than a man's.
Forgive me for making these suggestions, and doubt not
they come only from the heart, with the desire that your
loving task should be successful.

" I am charmed and delighted that our gifted and clever
friend, the Rev. J. H. Hopkins has furnished a tribute to
your good Father's memory. Such a testimonial as his
pen would furnish would in my eyes be of great value.
Dr. Hopkins will remember your Father in the days of
his fame and glory; and moreover he was even in those
far distant days, musician enough to appreciate your

Reminiscences

297

Father's true missionary work in the Church, and at a
period when * Jackson in F ' and what I might call musi-
cal twaddle were generally accepted as true Church music.
Plain Song is good in its way ; but plain speaking is better
when you want to enunciate the truth."

CHAPTER XXIV.

CONCLUSION.

IN reading and copying words written with a deep
love for my Father, by Dr. Tuckerman, I laid
down my pen and fell into a reverie. As I called
up the past and heard again the voices, and even
the foot-falls of so many — so many who were with
me living presences and inspiring minds, as well as
warm personalities, I seemed to lose myself in one
of those surging floods of many memories which at
times sweep over one's soul. Those gone are yet
so near ; their faces seem yet to be only unseen be-
cause my eyes are holden. They glide past me and
I realize myself as one standing solitary on an
ocean shore. One by one they have entered the
waiting boat, and pushed away over the chilly waters
in the shimmering gleam towards the distant sunset-
light. " Abii ad plures ! " Yes ; the majority are
there ! Of my Father's friends, those who loved
him, some fell in their golden youth, ere the promise
of life was full ; some in manhood ; and some had
298

Conclusion 299

reached and gone over the allotted time. All turn
on me a radiant countenance as they pass in memory
before me and seem to say, " But a little while "
(one of the " little whiles of Christ " which I heard
so beautifully brought out by Canon Cross of Chi-
chester) ; " and it is for you to collect the words we
said to you of one who to us was so much, and whose
influence may even now be adding to our happinessin
this, to you at present, unknown life." Who knows ?

I add with pleasure these words, which were writ-
ten to me on perusal of my manuscript, by a valued
friend, the Rev. J. H. McCracken.

" Snug //ardor, Waterbtiry, Conn.,
'' 20tk September, iSg4.

" My dear Miss Hodges:

" The last page has been read, not with the care and
time that I should hke to have given, but with the sense
of its being a great privilege that I have enjoyed.

" It reminds me of what the present Bishop Nichols, of
California, once said — that he found a good Biography
the most helpful, devotional reading, contrasting it with
other books written to be devotional.

" It is a tonic to come in contact with a strong, buoyant,
devout nature like your Father's ; and his mastery over his
instrument and manly way of acquiring and holding it goes
with one as a beneficent stimulus and guide in one's own life.

" Such, too, may I add, is your own influence, with the
charm added that only personal converse can convey.
" Yours faithfully,

"J. H. McCracken."

;oo Edward Hodges

And now my book must close, but the subject
lies grandly open.

If I were asked where my nearest tie to my
Father lies, I should be true in saying. In God's
Holy Word, and in the association of it with his
own Sacred Music.

Here, he is ever fresh, ever present. It is not
that ''he said'' this or that, but "he is saying it
now!'

And is he nearer in this than in the dear remem-
brance of his face and form ? Yes : I think so. It
may prove much that was said by our Blessed Lord
to His disciples as to His bodily absence, and the
power of the Spirit He would send. Of Himself
— the earthly part — He had said to one loving soul,
"Touch me not." He had gone beyond human
love, its imperfections could not reach Him, any
more than the clouds which obscure the sun's broad
light are near its source.

Thus, the words of Holy Writ, and the parts of
our Church Service which my Father chose to
weave into the grand harmony of his own spirit,
speak with a three-fold power : and bring me
nearer to him than any other thought, or scene, or
memory, or vision of the night.

Does it seem as if this would be the same with
every father ?

Conclusion 301

No. I do not think it can be. Music, in the
way it occupied his whole mind, was a blending of
his intellect, his imagination, his highest powers of
thought, with words of Divine Inspiration which
have no meaning at all unless they mean Every-
thing: everything of real moment which unites the
life here with the '* Life to come."

And Music, such as he aspired to, such as he im-
agined, such as he constantly says he desires to
join in, is the language of that Life.

From morning's dawn to setting sun,
The Httle span is swiftly run ;
Its glories, efforts, storms, soon past —
The evening falls, and Peace at last.

He has passed into the Aiarsffffapov, the realm of
perfect accord,

" Deus noster refugium,"
being the grand Aiarcadov of his life.

From the Living Church of March 2, 1895, the
editor makes the following extract, as a fitting close
to Miss Hodges's devoted filial tribute to her Father.

'* No musician of the present time will be more
deeply lamented than Miss Faustina Hasse Hodges,
who departed this life in the city of Philadelphia.

302 Edward Hodges

on Feb. 4th. Up to the very eve of her illness,
she had devoted her life to the study and practice
of her musical art with unabated vigor and enthu-
siasm. She composed freely and with a grace of
feeling which none who ever heard her compositions
could forget. Who ever heard her beautiful ' Rose
Bush,' or 'Dreams,' or her 'Suffer little children,
each one so full of sentiment and feeling, without
the thought that its author was wellnigh inspired ?
Her interpretations of Bach's Fugues and other
recondite forms of classic art, were a daily delight
to her choice circle of friends and musical admirers.
The past few years of her life had been largely de-
voted in preparing for publication a volume of
memorial studies from the life of her distinguished
father, Dr. Edward Hodges, the founder and illus-
trious representative of the Anglican cathedral
school of music in the American Church. The
memory of his twenty-five years' faithful service in
Trinity parish, New York, survives in vivid remem-
brance as the earliest and, as yet, most splendid
period in the annals of our musical liturgies. No
greater example of true and faithful filial devo-
tion ever lived than this daughter. She has gone
to her rest."

THE END.

ic/^l"'^

./