Little is said about the trombone. We are told, in reference to the party at Dr. Strong's (_D.C._), that the good Doctor knew as much about playing cards as he did about 'playing the trombone.' In 'Our School' (_R.P._) we are told a good deal about the usher who 'made out the bills, mended the pens, and did all sorts of things.' He was rather musical, and on some remote quarter-day had bought an old trombone; but a bit of it was lost, and it made the most extraordinary sounds when he sometimes tried to play it of an evening. In a similarly dismembered state was the flute which Dickens once saw in a broker's shop. It was 'complete with the exception of the middle joint.' This naturally calls to mind the story of the choir librarian who was putting away the vocal parts of a certain funeral anthem. After searching in vain for two missing numbers he was obliged to label the parcel 'His body is buried in peace.' Two parts missing. _Organ_ The references to the organ are both numerous and interesting, and it is pretty evident that this instrument had a great attraction for Dickens. The gentle Tom Pinch (_M.C._), whom Gissing calls 'a gentleman who derives his patent of gentility direct from God Almighty,' first claims our attention. He used to play the organ at the village church 'for nothing.' It was a simple instrument, 'the sweetest little organ you ever heard,' provided with wind by the action of the musician's feet, and thus Tom was independent of a blower, though he was so beloved that there was not a man or boy in all the village and away to the turnpike (tollman included) but would have blown away for him till he was black in the face. What a delight it must have been to him to avail himself of the opportunity to play the organ in the cathedral when he went to meet Martin! As the grand tones resounded through the church they seemed, to Tom, to find an echo in the depth of every ancient tomb, no less than in the deep mystery of his own heart. And he would have gone on playing till midnight 'but for a very earthy verger,' who insisted on locking up the cathedral and turning him out. On one occasion, while he was practising at the church, the miserable Pecksniff entered the building and, hiding behind a pew, heard the conversation between Tom and Mary that led to the former being dismissed from the architect's office, so he had to leave his beloved organ, and mightily did the poor fellow miss it when he went to London! Being an early riser, he had been accustomed to practise every morning, and now he was reduced to taking long walks about London, a poor substitute indeed! Nor was the organ the only instrument that he could play, for we read how he would spend half his nights poring over the 'jingling anatomy of that inscrutable old harpsichord in the back parlour,' and amongst the household treasures that he took to London were his music and an old fiddle.