He was now articled to a solicitor, for his father’s ambition was to see him a lawyer, but he managed to smuggle a spinet into his bedroom, and, having muffled the strings with a handkerchief, he practised when the family was asleep. He also contrived to get violin lessons from a man called Festing, and in the evenings he used to borrow a livery and, thus disguised, visit the opera, where the servants of the aristocracy were allowed free access to the gallery. His progress in violin-playing was so rapid that he was soon able to lead a small orchestra, and we can imagine what the surprise of the upholsterer must have been when one evening, having been invited to a musical party, he found that his own son had been engaged to provide the entertainment. Thomas had an uncomfortable walk home that night with his angry parent, but the good man was too sensible not to recognise that it was better that his son should be a fair musician than a bad lawyer. Finally, harmony was restored to the family circle, and the young performer was allowed to follow the bent of his genius. Before long he found that his sister Susan had a beautiful voice, which he trained so carefully, that in 1732, when she was eighteen, she was able to appear in an opera by Lampe, called _Amelia_. Encouraged by her success, he now set to work to compose music for Addison’s play, _Rosamund_, in which she sang when it was produced at Lincoln’s Inn Theatre in 1733. A year later, Susan Arne married Theophilus Cibber, the son of the poet laureate, Colley Cibber. She was not happy in her married life, but it would have been impossible for any girl to be happy with such a husband. The music historian, Dr. Burney, has said of Susan that she captivated every ear by the sweetness and expression of her voice in singing; but her principal charm seems to have consisted in her exquisite simplicity. With Händel she was a great favourite. He wrote for her the contralto songs in the _Messiah_, and the part of Micah in _Samson_, and she was the first Galatea in his _Acis and Galatea_. She died in 1766, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. In 1736 young Arne—now twenty-six years of age—married Cecilia Young, a daughter of the organist of All Hallows, Barking. She was a pupil of Geminiani, and was called “the nightingale of the stage,” her voice being considered matchless “for melody, fulness and flexibility.” In 1738, Milton’s _Comus_ was produced at Drury Lane, and Arne was engaged to write the music for it. The description of this work given by Busby in his _History of Music_ is so charming that I am tempted to quote it.