Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel — John Shaqi
Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline HerschelHerschel, John, Mrs.
History
Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel
Herschel, John, Mrs.
Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, 1750-1848
of so large a size, but a person offered to make one at a price much
above what my brother thought proper to give.... About this time he
bought of a Quaker resident at Bath, who had formerly made attempts at
polishing mirrors, all his rubbish of patterns, tools, hones, polishers,
unfinished mirrors, &c., but all for small Gregorians, and none above
two or three inches diameter.
“But nothing serious could be attempted, for want of time, till the
beginning of June, when some of my brother’s scholars were leaving Bath;
and then to my sorrow I saw almost every room turned into a workshop. A
cabinet-maker making a tube and stands of all descriptions in a
handsomely furnished drawing-room; Alex putting up a huge turning
machine (which he had brought in the autumn from Bristol, where he used
to spend the summer) in a bedroom, for turning patterns, grinding
glasses, and turning eye-pieces, &c. At the same time music durst not
lie entirely dormant during the summer, and my brother had frequent
rehearsals at home, where Miss Farinelli, an Italian singer, was met by
several of the principal performers he had engaged for the winter
concerts.... He composed glees, catches, &c., for such voices as he
could secure, as it was not easy to find a singer to take the place of
Miss Linley.... Sometimes, in the absence of Fisher, he gave a concerto
on the oboe, or a sonata on the harpsichord; and the solos on the
violoncello of my brother Alexander were divine!... He also took great
delight in a choir of singers who performed the cathedral service at the
Octagon Chapel, for whom he composed many excellent anthems, chants, and
psalm tunes.[5] As soon as I could pronounce English well enough I was
obliged to attend the rehearsals, and on Sundays at morning and evening
service, which, though I did not much like at first, I soon found to be
both pleasant and useful.
[Sidenote: 1775-1782. _Life in Bath._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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