Such an attitude was most unfavorable to the growth of a native art. During the eighteenth century there were few native American musicians by profession. In the South the professional musicians were chiefly French, in the North chiefly English. As a consequence there were few American composers. Of course, many Americans manufactured music. Every civilized man at some period of his life has composed a tune or a poem or a play. It is as inevitable as the measles. The American colonists did not escape the infection. Many American compositions lie unidentified in the early collections of hymns and anthems; many more undoubtedly were denied even such an anonymous burial. We have already alluded to William Tuckey, whose anthem was included in the collection of James Lyon. Tuckey was organist of Trinity Church, New York. He has sometimes been called the first American composer, and he would be did he not happen to be born in Somersetshire, England. Many of Tuckey's contemporaries, such as Flagg, and undoubtedly others whose names have been forgotten, composed church music in the style of the period--the weak, insipid, undistinguished style of Tansur and Williams. We can easily afford to forget their efforts. There are, however, a few American composers of this period whom we cannot afford to forget It is really impossible to say who was the first American composer, but the right to the title seems to be divided between Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon, natives of Philadelphia and Newark, N. J., respectively. Certainly they were the first of any importance. Hopkinson, a lawyer, poet, musician, inventor, painter, and signer of the Declaration of Independence, was one of the most remarkable men of his time. He was born in 1737, was graduated at the College of Philadelphia, received the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Laws from that institution and the degree of Master of Arts, _gratiæ causa_, from the College of New Jersey. After his admission to the bar he held a number of public offices, became a delegate to the first Continental Congress and was appointed by that body to 'execute the business of the Navy under their direction.' He presided over the Admiralty Court of Pennsylvania from 1779 until its jurisdiction became vested in the United States and took an important part in the debates of the convention which framed the Constitution. We know little of his musical education, but the most important part of it seems to have been guided by James Bremner, while his taste was undoubtedly polished by subsequent visits to Europe. He was an able harpsichordist, we learn, and often deputized for Brenner as organist of Christ Church. In spite of his official duties he found time to promote musical education, to give concerts and to participate in frequent musicales at the home of Governor John Penn. His inventive turn found expression in an improved method of quilling a harpsichord, the application of a keyboard to the