Also Haydn received from England touching marks of veneration. Some instances of homage offered by enthusiastic amateurs, must have caused him amusement on account of their singularity, if for no better reason. The worsted-spinner W. Gardiner, of Leicester, forwarded to him a present of six pairs of cotton stockings in which he had worked the notation of some popular melodies by Haydn,--such as the air "My mother bids me bind my hair;" the theme of the Andante in the Surprise Symphony; the tune of the Hymn "God preserve the Emperor," etc. W. Gardiner was himself a musical composer, his mode of composing being that of the Bavarian prince Joseph Clemens, who set about it "like the bees which extract honey from the most beautiful flowers, and mix it together."[40] Thus W. Gardiner "composed" a whole oratorio, which he made up of choruses and airs borrowed from various masters, and more or less distorted to suit them to their new place. Only the overture was wanting. He wrote to Beethoven to induce him to compose one for this oratorio, and offered to pay 100 guineas for it. Beethoven never answered the letter.[41] Had he been really as greedy of gain as in his correspondence with Birchall he appears to be, he would probably have accepted the offer, which was rather liberal. Nevertheless, had he accepted it, the result would very likely have proved the manufacturer a more practical man than the composer. Be this as it may, it is quite comprehensible that to Beethoven an attempt to associate him with musical jobbery must have been especially repulsive.