This worthy musician died in 1708, aged 60, and is buried in Westminster Abbey, near the old entrance to the organ-loft and in close proximity to Purcell. A fine monument is erected near the spot, and a specimen of his composition, in the form of a _Gloria_ from one of his services is engraved thereupon. This _Gloria_ is said to have been sung at St Peter's at Rome. I remember an interesting matter in connection with this monument. In my early days at the Abbey (during {117} Dean Stanley's time) the Emperor of Brazil paid a visit and was shown round the Abbey by the Dean. The only thing he specially asked to be shown was "Dr. Blow's monument"! The Dean told me His Majesty inspected it very closely and seemed to be reading the music. He probably knew more about Blow's music than Burney's _History_! [1] There is an account preserved in the Bodleian Library of Blow being paid £40 a year for "keeping and teaching two boys" but this was in 1685. It shows that it was usual for boys whose voices were gone, to be kept on for tuition. {118} XII. HENRY PURCELL 1658--1695 In Henry Purcell I reach the last and the greatest of my Twelve Good Musicians. And to attempt to consider and discuss completely his life and work in the short space of a University Lecture, would be an absurd effort. But, as I have before pointed out, my object has been to endeavour to interest the musical student--amateur and professional--in certain prominent masters of music, and in the remarkable progress made in our own country by their aid in the seventeenth century. I can do little more than arouse interest, and I cannot pretend to write a complete history, but I trust the Lectures will have helped to fill up the "blank" which Sir Hubert Parry declared existed in many minds as regards the music of this period. [Illustration: Henry Purcell] In the consideration of the various musicians of whom I have already treated I have avoided biographical detail. As a rule information in these matters may be gleaned from the well-known books of reference. But in the case of {119} Purcell I am obliged to enlarge a little on his life, in the hope that I may be able to contribute a few interesting facts with regard to his family that are not generally known. Let me begin, then, with Purcell's father. It is an extraordinary thing that we know nothing whatever of him until we find his name among distinguished musicians, such as Captain Cooke, Locke, and Lawes, as one of the performers in the _Siege of Rhodes_, in 1656. In the Preface to this publication it is claimed that "The Musick was composed and both the Vocal and Instrumental is exercised by the most transcendent of England in that Art."