We may assume that musical culture made noticeable progress in New England in the second half of the eighteenth century. Among the mass of the people it remained somewhat primitive, but among the cultivated classes in Boston and the larger cities the best contemporary music was heard frequently and with appreciation. As we shall see in a later chapter, public concerts were held in Boston at least as early as 1731, and they seem to have compared favorably with similar functions in European cities. But of musical life in the intimate sense there was still comparatively little. Brissot de Warville writes from Boston in 1788: 'You no longer meet here that Presbyterian austerity which interdicted all pleasure, even that of walking, which forbade travelling on Sunday, which persecuted men whose opinions were different from their own. The Bostonians unite simplicity of morals with that French politeness and delicacy of manners which render virtue more amiable. They are hospitable to strangers and obliging to friends; they are tender husbands, fond and almost idolatrous parents, and kind masters. Music, which their teachers formerly proscribed as a diabolical art, begins to make part of their education. In some houses you hear the forte-piano. This art, it is true, is still in its infancy; but the young novices who exercise it are so gentle, so complaisant and so modest, that the proud perfection of art gives no pleasure equal to what they afford.' There were at that time very few pianos in New England and we find from the newspaper advertisements that the teacher usually lent his own piano to his pupils for practice. We have it on the authority of Mr. Elson that the efforts of the pupils were customarily confined to Gyrowetz, or to 'Washington's March,' 'The Battle of Prague,' or the _Sonata pour le Clavecin ou Forte-piano, qui représente la bataille de Rossbach. Composée par M. Bach_--not the majestic Johann Sebastian, of course. Ritter has copied the following titles from a manuscript book of the late eighteenth century: _Ça Ira_, 'White Cockade,' 'Irish Howl,' 'French March,' 'Hessian Camp,' 'Duchess of Brunswick,' 'Duetto' by Mancinelli, 'Water Rice,' 'Nancy of the Mill,' 'O Bessy Bell,' 'German Spaw,' 'Ossian's Ghost,' 'Duke of York's March,' 'Duetto,' by Dr. Arne, 'Every Inch a Soldier,' 'Quick March of the Twenty-sixth Regiment,' 'March,' 'Poor Soldier,' 'Sound Alarm,' 'When Nichola first to court began,' 'Sweet Village of the Valley,' 'Minuetto,' 'Dead March in Saul,' 'Bright Phœbus,' 'Ode to Harmony,' 'Swedish Air,' 'Quick March,' 'King of Sweden's March,' _Marche des Marseillais_, 'Hessian Air,' 'Baron Steuben's March,' 'Prince Frederick's March,' 'Sonata from Minuetto in Samson,' 'March in Joseph,' 'Trio' by Humphrey.