Read Ebook: The Girl's Own Paper Vol. VIII No. 357 October 30 1886 by Various

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A thorough knowledge of our circumstances is better than partial blindness, and to see things all round and weigh them justly is better than sitting with hands folded while men see and judge for us.

The subjects of the Bank of England and the National Debt are well worth a study, and will not fail to afford us both varied and interesting information.

Among other things they will tell us how the Bank of England came into existence; what the nation did previous to its existence; how our country came to have a debt which it has never been able to pay off, and how it would prove a calamity if it were possible to pay it off suddenly.

Again, we shall learn the meaning of "selling out" and "buying in" money, and what is understood by "consols," "reduced threes," "stocks going up and down," "a run upon the Bank," "panic," and many other such terms.

There is no reason why girls should not be able to give answers to all of these, and every reason why they should, seeing that an intimate knowledge of these subjects is as much a part of our nation's history as is the history of our kings and queens, our wars, and our institutions.

And even beyond this, it is a matter of importance that girls having property, little or much, should understand the character of those to whom they entrust it.

There are many and valuable books published upon these subjects, but they are expensive to buy and take a long time to wade through; in addition to this, they are so learned that we women-folk fail often to get the simple information we require, even when we have read them.

The Bank of England, either by name or by sight, is known, I suppose, to all of us; but its origin, its working, its influence, is not so familiar to us, and it does not seem to me that we should be going at all out of our province if we were to ask the "Old Lady of Threadneedle-street" to tell us something of her history, her household, and her daily life, seeing that most of us contribute to her housekeeping, some more, some less.

We trust her so completely that "safe as the Bank of England" has passed into a proverb; yet, for all that, we should like the old lady's own account of how she came into existence, and how she became such a power in the land, and what she does with all the money we lend her, and out of what purse she pays us for the loan.

She certainly ought to be able to tell an interesting tale--for her palace, her servants, her house-keeping, her treasures, her cellars, her expenditure, her receipts and clearing, the frights she has every now and again both given and received, must each and all be more amusing and full of interest than any fairy tale told by Grimm or Andersen.

THE STORY OF THE OLD LADY OF THREADNEEDLE STREET.

And so you want me to tell you the story of my life! Telling tales is not quite in my line, but I will do the best I can; and should I become garrulous and tedious, as old ladies are wont sometimes to be, you must recall me by a gentle reminder that you live in the present century, whose characteristics are short, decisive, and by all means amusing.

My career has been a strange and eventful one, as you yourselves will see if I can interest you sufficiently to listen to the end.

It has been necessary for me to make this little explanation, otherwise you might have thought I had never been young. And now to proceed.

It was in the reign of William and Mary that I first saw the light, being born in Mercers' Hall on the 27th of July, 1694.

From this place, after a few months, I was removed to Grocers' Hall, Poultry; not the stately structure with which you are acquainted, but one much more simple, which was razed to make room for the present building.

I may say, without vanity, that my birth created a sensation throughout the length and breadth of the land.

The House of Commons even was not exempt from this excitement, but set aside its serious work to discuss whether or not I should be strangled and put out of the way, or nurtured into strength by its support and countenance.

Those members who were in favour of the last resolution declared that I should rescue the nation out of the hands of extortioners, lower interests, raise the value of land, revive public credit, improve commerce, and connect the people more closely with the Government, while those of the contrary opinion assured the House that I should engross the whole money of the kingdom, that I should weaken commerce by tempting people to withdraw their money from trade, that I should encourage fraud and gaming, and corrupt the morals of the nation.

Little recked I of all the stir and commotion my birth was causing, as, nursed and cared for by my father, William Paterson, a Scotch merchant, and his friend, Mr. Michael Godfrey, I gradually grew into strength. It was not till long afterwards that I heard and understood the circumstances of my birth, and how around me were centred the interests of the kingdom.

When I was only twelve months old, those who were bound together to take care of my interests separated my father from me, giving as an excuse that he was of too speculative and adventurous a spirit to be entrusted with my welfare.

Poor father! It has always seemed to me very sad that he who had worked so long and so persistently for my success should have been condemned to spend the last years of his life in solitude and neglect in Scotland, while I, his child, was gradually becoming everything that his highest ambition could have pictured; but so it was.

I have often wished that he had employed those last weary years of his in writing a history of his life. I am sure it would have interested all classes of readers, but I suppose he was too sad and out of heart. He was forty-one years of age at the time of my birth, having been born in Dumfries in 1658. He was one of those who may be said to live before their time. He possessed great ability, knowledge, and experience, and was a great traveller, yet, with all this, his life was a series of disappointments and failures. ?l?lt?ztetik, napf?ny tengeresedik a szobafest? f?l?tt ?s ambici?val dalol:

- Hallgatn?m a lombok suttog?s?t...

olyan a tenorja, mint az any?k gy?nge pal?nt?ja, nekik ?r?moszt?, j?, vigasztal? ?s sz?lldog?l az ?nek a gondt?rl? ?br?ndokkal:

- Hallgatn?m a patakok z?g?s?t,

?s a mad?rnak ?nek?t...

?gyekv?, kicsend?l? a tenor s megrezd?l benne a gy?ny?r:

- S n?zn?m a felh?k v?ndorsereg?t... cs?k, s?haj, ?lelkez?s a danolgat?s:

- N?zn?m a nap j?tt?t ?s lement?t...

csapzott homlok?val, sugaras ?br?zat?val a plafond el?tt, ?nekel a szobafest?:

- M?g v?gre magam is lemenn?k...

mez?k alkonyata, kerti f?k szagoss?ga sistereg, f?t a feje f?l? r?gy?jtott b?rt?nben ?s ?rtik azt? ha a feje megr?zk?dik, zil?lt haja belev?g?dik az ?st?k?be: a t?tog?, v?gyas, ?nekl? sz?ja megugatja a g?tat, ami m?g?tt az ?g, leveg?oce?n, az ?let van?...

?VO?!

Volt egy pillanat, amint az ?gre n?ztem ?s szem?nek z?ldes k?kj?t l?ttam m?ly?lni a magoss?gban. Szem?nek g?mbje al?l, mintha a lejt?kbe leszor?tott k?ks?g fel?rv?nylett volna, a kibontott s?ks?gokkal mintha sz?tter?lt volna, elbocs?jtott sz?nei embert, gondolatot mintha ?thaladtak volna ?s a z?ldel? ?gnek, z?ldel? tekintetnek horizontja, mintha testv?rkedtek volna.

Feh?r, duzzke; it savours of sordidness.

From my very birth I was educated to be reliable, steady, secure, and faithful, and to be true and just in all my dealings.

It was made clear to me that it was the lack of these qualities in the money affairs of the kingdom which had led to the necessity of my existence, and I was made distinctly to understand that it was only upon my developing largely these peculiar traits of character that I should continue the existence thus begun.

My education was quite different from that of other girls. I had to learn arithmetic almost before I could speak, and the state and condition of kings and governments were instilled into my mind as regularly as food into my body.

There were no novels, no light literature for me, except what I could extract for myself out of the dry material placed before me. Still, my mind was not warped with this peculiar bringing up, and now that I am an old woman, I think I can see that I owe this to the character of those who governed and directed me.

Of course, this peculiar education and training kept me far ahead of other girls, and while they were scarcely out of the nursery, and still enjoying battledore and shuttlecock, I was seeking information, either by reading or conversation, concerning my forefathers, position, duties, and property.

Young as I was, I began to feel creeping over me a sense of responsibility, and a longing to know how best to fulfil all that was required of me. I knew that I was rich, but how did I become so? I knew that my riches were expected to make others rich, but how? I was always asking questions, and sometimes succeeded in getting an answer, which served as a clue, and sent me to search old parchments or to make comparisons.

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF MUSICAL FORMS.

BY MYLES B. FOSTER, Organist of the Foundling Hospital.

In a former number, in prefacing reviews of new music, we said sufficient upon the subject of listening to music to call the attention of our many readers to the performances going on so frequently in all parts of the world, and now we persuade ourselves that there may be some to whom a short account of the various and varied forms, to which our attention as audience is most frequently invited, would be of interest, even though they have some knowledge of the subject already; and that there may be others to whom these very incomplete sketches may appear as information, and as an incentive to further investigation.

For our first sketch we have chosen the oratorio, for it is undoubtedly the highest form of musical dramatic art, and is founded upon and contains the greatest and deepest truths of the Christian life. As regards the actual music forms employed, we find, indeed, similar ones in the operas, such as the various forms of recitative, the aria, the duet, and the chorus, and even the scena; but in the sacred works, who are the heroes and heroines? Are they not the instruments of the Divine power, the messengers of the good tidings? And what are the subjects? Are they not the struggles, the trials, the victories of noble souls? With such sacred characters, with such lofty thoughts, the composers of the oratorio, dealing, not with the semblance of truth that the opera contains, but with the truth itself, are bound to express their feelings and emotions in the grandest and most perfect thoughts.

Purely sentimental ideas, and the whole list of passions and struggles in human existence, rather form the basis of opera than the proper subjects for oratorio, and the modern attempts to transform the sacred ideal into the region of operatic and dramatic realism seem to fall singularly short of expectation. To our minds, the strongest period in the history of oratorio was the time of Handel and Bach, and writers of to-day have yet to graft on to their work the more careful study, and the strengthening influence of these noble masterpieces in stronger cuttings, to make the struggling young plant a healthy and beautiful tree. Let us progress, by all means, but true progression is but the joining of all that is good in the preceding age with all the fresh beauty God bestows upon us in this our day.

We seem to be comparing or contrasting the secular form opera and the sacred oratorio, and it is interesting to know that the origin of both may be traced back to the same source--viz., early miracle plays and moralities. For some time after the introduction of Christianity into Eastern Europe, the new converts seem to have retained their fondness for the heathen practice used in religious, as in secular, celebrations of theatrical representations, which were chiefly upon mythological subjects, and all of which angered and distressed the priests of the new religion. However, the latter soon found out that it was necessary to reach the minds of these people through their more acutely trained senses and the medium of their old traditions, and thus in these early ages the dramatic element worked its way into the church worship. Spiritual plays were arranged by the priests in all parts of Christianised Europe, who chose scenes and stories from both Old and New Testaments, and from the lives of the saints and holy men. The plays were acted upon a stage, usually erected under the choir of the church. As women were not permitted to appear, priests took all the characters, male and female. We learn, from many reliable sources, that these sacred representations had a great effect upon the pious worshippers.

In the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and chiefly in the west of Europe, profane elements crept in amongst the holy legends, and these religious entertainments also developed so greatly, that hundreds of actors would be engaged in representations lasting over several days, whilst the eager audiences were so large that the churches could not contain them, and the stage had to be erected in the market-places, and out of doors.

The direction passed more and more into the hands of the laity, who employed jongleurs, histrions, and strolling vagabonds, whose acting included gross buffoonery, and whose profanity completely choked the religious growth first implanted by these miracle plays. The stages, it should be explained, were of curious construction, being divided into three stories, the upper one containing the heavenly characters, the middle one being for the people upon earth, and the lowest for the denizens of hell.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the whole Catholic world was influenced by those reforms so necessary to the Christian Church of that time, and so bravely contended for and gained by Luther. The demoralisation which weakened all the church's fabric was deeply deplored by the Catholic clergy, and we find at the close of this century St. Philip Neri founding a congregation of priests in Rome and drawing youths to church by dramatising in simple form such stories as the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, etc., which were set to music in four parts with alternate solos, first by Animuccia , and later on by the great Palestrina. These "sacred actions" or plays were not performed in the church itself, but in an adjoining chamber, called in Italian "oratorio," an oratory, and the title has since then adhered to this species of sacred work.

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