Autobiographical Sketches eBook

Here also it was, or in similar musical circles gathered about himself by the first Lord Mornington, that the Duke of Wellington had formed and cultivated his unaffected love for music of the highest class, i.e., for the impassioned music of the serious opera.  And it occurs to me as highly probable, that Mrs. Lee’s connection with the Wesleys, through which it was that she became acquainted with my mother, must have rested upon the common interest which she and the Wesleys had in the organ and in the class of music suited to that instrument.  Mrs. Lee herself was an improvisatrice of the first class upon the organ; and the two brothers of Miss Wesley, Samuel and Charles, ranked for very many years as the first organists in Europe.

[2] “The golden jubilee.”—­This, in Germany, is used popularly as a technical expression:  a married couple, when celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage day, are said to keep their golden jubilee; but on the twenty-fifth anniversary they have credit only for a silver jubilee.

CHAPTER V.

I AM INTRODUCED TO THE WARFARE OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL.

Four years after my father’s death, it began to be perceived that there was no purpose to be answered in any longer keeping up the costly establishment of Greenhay.  A head gardener, besides laborers equal to at least two more, were required for the grounds and gardens.  And no motive existed any longer for being near to a great trading town, so long after the commercial connection with it had ceased.  Bath seemed, on all accounts, the natural station for a person in my mother’s situation; and thither, accordingly, she went.  I, who had been placed under the tuition of one of my guardians, remained some time longer under his care.  I was then transferred to Bath.  During this interval the sale of the house and grounds took place.  It may illustrate the subject of guardianship, and the ordinary execution of its duties, to mention the result.  The year was in itself a year of great depression, and every way unfavorable to such a transaction; and the particular night for which the sale had been fixed turned out remarkably wet; yet no attempt was made to postpone it, and it proceeded.  Originally the house and grounds had cost about L6000.  I have heard that only one offer was made, viz., of L2500.  Be that as it may, for the sum of L2500 it was sold; and I have been often assured that, by waiting a few years, four to six times that sum might have been obtained with ease.  This is not improbable, as the house was then out in the country; but since then the town of Manchester has gathered round it and enveloped it.  Meantime, my guardians were all men of honor and integrity; but their hands were filled with their own affairs.  One (my tutor) was a clergyman, rector of a church, and having his parish, his large family, and three pupils to attend.  He was, besides, a very sedentary and indolent man—­loving books, hating business.  Another was a merchant.  A third was a country magistrate, overladen with official business:  him we rarely saw.  Finally, the fourth was a banker in a distant county, having more knowledge of the world, more energy, and more practical wisdom than all the rest united, but too remote for interfering effectually.