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cribable color and impossible shape; he comes necessary for working them; there were three, at a particular hour, on a particular day of every somewhat under a yard in length each, studded Mechanism worked week, and plays the same tunes in the same in a very conplex manner order; he alternates from the Hundreth Psalm to the bellows and rotated the barrels, and the Gettin' up Stairs; and then goes to one of Balfe's barrels drew out the stops and opened the pipes. Ballads, followed by a Waltz of Koenig's, the There were forty-five stops and nineteen hundred Marseillaise Hymn, a Polka, and so back to the pipes; one pipe was twenty-four feet in length by Hundredth Psalm. We know another organ, in two feet in diameter. So long and elaborate were which the Swiss Boy plays at bo-peep with the the pieces of music which this instrument played Lass o' Gowrie, a number of other companions. automatically, that the barrels could only accomIn all such cases we shall see the grinding organ-modate (so to speak) two at one time; but at ist, at the termination of each tune, busy himself intervals of a few years new barrels with new with a little bit of mechanism at the side or end tunes were introduced until the collection comof the instrument; he is touching a stud or lever, prised Mozart's overtures to Figaro, to the which brings about a slight movement of the Zauberflaute, and to La Clemenza di Tito. Cherbarrel, shifting it to such a distance that a differ- rubini's overture to Anacreon, Weber's overture ent set of pins and staples may act upon the to Der Freischutz, Handel's introduction to the Dettingen Te Deum, and Haydn's military movepipes. ments from his Twelfth Symphony. Not a note of the scores was omitted; and all the fortes and pianos, the crescendos and diminuendos, were given with precision and delicacy.

The Apollonicon is still in existence; but has arrived at the position of a superannuated veteran, no longer fitted for the deeds which won for it its former glory. The maladies of age have come It suffers from rheumatism in its keys upon it. and levers, and from asthma in its pipes and bellows; it is shaky and nervous; it is not its former self; and its guardians wisely deem it better that its voice shall not be heard at all, than that its decadence from former splendor should be made manifest. Requiescat in pace!

Music by the barrel, then, has been sold or given in many different forms, by many different persons, in many different places, and under many different circumstances. But who sells music by the yard?

Make room here for a cavalcade! Onward comes a little horse; behind the horse is a little carriage; upon the carriage is a big organ; and in immediate command over these are three Italians. The horse stops; a man mounts upon a stage, and turns a winch, not much smaller than that of a mangle; and there comes forth a volume of sound that can be heard half-a-mile off. Another man holds out a little saucer for a little money; and the third man looks about with his hands in his pockets. How they all live-the three men and the horse-out of the pence which they pick up, is a perfect marvel. The instrument has been brought from Pavia or Milan or Mantua, and has cost fully a hundred guineas. It is quite orchestral in its effects, imitating with tolerable success the tones of many musical instruments. The truth is, there are pipes of many different shapes, analogous to the various stops of a church organ: each shape (independent of size) giving the tones peculiar to some particular instrument. The barrel arrangements, for bringing into action so many pipes, are very intricate, and require careful workmanship to guark against frequent mishaps. These are the instruments which an honorable member of a certain august body has visited with crushing severity. Yet we cannot conceal a kindness for them. We have pleasant reminiscences of Nume Benefico, La Mia Delizia,ly produced with the aid of this perforated cardthe last movement in the Overture to William (we beg pardon-Guillaume) Tell, and the March in Le Prophète-as played in some of these ponderous organs. The harmonies are bold and rich; although in mere mechanical music there is, of course, no scope for feeling or passion.

In the Great Exhibition the reader may perchance remember a dusky-looking instrument, something in shape between a cabinet-pianoforte and a small church-organ. The exhibitor was wont to take a sheet of perforated card-board, insert one end of it between two rollers, and then turn a handle; a tune resulted, somewhat lugubrious, it is true, but still a tune, and evident

board. The instrument is called the Autophennot yet, that we are aware of, brought much into use, but certainly displaying considerable ingenuity, and founded on a principle which admits of very extensive application. The card-board is perforated by some kind of punch or punching If ever music by the barrel were really graced, machine; the holes (a quarter of an inch or so in it was in the days when the Apollonicon rolled diameter) appear irregular, but they are systeforth its vast body of sound. This enormous matic in respect to the purpose for which they instrumeut employed Messrs. Flight and Robson are intended. Each sheet is the symbolic reprefive years in its construction; and cost ten thou-sentative of one tune, usually a psalm tune; and sand pounds. It was an organ with a whole all the holes are cut with especial reference to orchestra in its inside; played either by keys or that tune; they are in rank and file-ranks for by a revolving barrel. But there was provision the notes heard together in harmony, and files for for a grander display than this; there were five the notes heard consecutively in the progress of When one end of such a sheet of distinct key-boards, at which five performers the tune. could be seated, each having command over card-board is placed between two rollers, and a certain particular stops or powers in the instru- handle turned, the card-board is drawn into the ment. It is, however, on the ground of its instrument; the perforations, as they arrive at automatic or self-acting power, that the Apolloni-particular spots, allow wind to pass into pipes in con takes up a position as the big brother of the street organ. So vast was the number of pipes, that one barrel could not contain all the pins

the instrument; whereas the unperforated part acts as a barrier across which the wind cannot penetrate—or at least the intermedate mechanism

is such, that this difference results from the
manner in which the perforations are arranged.
This is a principle entirely different from that
of the barrel-organ. In the latter, you can only
play such tunes as are set or pinned upon the
barrel; and either to substitute a new barrel, or
to re-arrange the pins upon the old one, is a
costly affair. But in the Autophon the power of
change is illimitable. A few pence will pay for a
sheet of the perforated cardboard; and indifferent
good music is to be got at sixpence or eightpence
yard. We do not say that if you were to apply
for a couple of feet of Adeste Fideles, or a yard
and a quarter of the Sicilian Mariners' Hymn, that
they would be sold to you precisely in those
lengths; but it is quite true that an oblong strip
of card-board, say about a yard in length, contains
the perforations necessary for one tune; and there
is not the slightest reason, mechanically, why ten
thousand tunes should not be played on this
identical grinding-organ; the only question being,
whether the demand would be sufficient to pay
the manufacturer for setting up the type, as it
were, for each tune: this being once done, the
charge for each single copy need not exceed a
few pence.
The musician will of course regard
this as a very poor affair, and so it is when tested
by the standard which he could employ; but it
enables many to enjoy a humble kind of music at
ties and under circumstances when the services
of a skilful player are unattainable. No skill is
here required. The player has only to place the
right sheet of card-board in its right place, and
then grind away. In small chapels, a constant
supply of tunes might be thus obtained, without
necessitating the employment of a skilled organist.
We are offering no opinion on the quality of the
tones thus produced; we only speak of the me-
chanisin which does really seem to be capable of
supplying unlimited music at a very low figure.
It bears some such relation to real music that
photography bears to portrait-painting: not high
art, but a cheap and convenient substitute.

order according to the tune to be played, pressing
one, two, or more of the metallic points at once.
and eliciting an equal number of tones at once,
The player becomes a commander of Rossini or
any other musical luminary at once.
He puts
Una voce poco fa into a box, and grinds it out
again, bran new and uncurtailed. So nearly does
this approach to our designation of music by the
yard, that we find eight inches of the studded
board is about equal to the contents of one ordi-
nary page of music. Where the piece of music
is of very great length, the grinder puts one
board after another on the top of the instrument,
and pieces them together as girls and boys do
the slivers of wool in a worsted mill. If he do
not place them exactly end to end there will be a
hole in the ballad.

The inventor of this ingenious mechanism, reminds us, in his advertisement, that "Although music at the present day forms a portion of regular education, it is certain that the absorption of time in more serious pursuits, and the want of disposi tion for study is such, that in a hundred families we can scarcely find ten individuals who can play music. Among this number, some play only the pianoforte or the organ, but without being able to master the finer compositions." For such families, then, M. Debain tells us his pianomécanique is intended; and he tells us also how much per yard, he will supply us with music when we have been supplied with the instrument itself. Thus, a plank of polka costs about four shillings; consequently, the overture to Semiramide or to La Gazza Ladra would cost very much more; but the grand overture would be just as easy for the grinder to play as the simple polka. There have not been many of these instruments brought to England; but one of them has gratified many thousand hearers. It has plenty of "power;" a pianoforte player can not increase his fingers and thumbs beyond the recognised number of ten; but this mechanism could play many more than ten notes at a time, and so far beats Thalberg or Moscheles.

We must observe, also, that it is not merely the pianoforte which is thus treated. The apparatus itself is called the Autiphonel, or at least one variety of it, so designated, is capable of being attached to organs, and thus becomes available for sacred music. And we must not forget that the mechanism may be so attached that, by a slight adjustment, it can be freed altogether from the pianoforte strings, and allow the instrument to be played by means of finger-keys in the ordinary way. The mechanism is sold alone; it is sold with the pianoforte which is to be played only by its means; it is sold with a pianoforte which has the double or alternative action; it is sold, in the autiphonel form, for attachment to organs; and lastly, the music boards alone are sold at nine shillings a yard.

The pianoforte can also produce music by the yard. The piano-mécanique by M. Debain of Paris, is a sort of cottage-piano, richly toned. It can be played on with keys, and no one need know that there is any peculiar mécaniqne about it at all. But the player may bring forward certain odd-looking yards of music, and transform himself at once from an intellectual player to a mere music-grinder. These yards of music arenot pieces of card-board, as in the case of the Autophon-but thin planks or boards, studded on the under surface with pins. Such board may be as little as six inches or as much as two feet long, according to the length of the piece of music to be played; or there must be several of them, if the music be an overture or any other elaborate composition. The player (we trust he will not deem us disrespectful if we designate him the grinder) places one of the studded boards on the top of the instrument, and proceeds to turn a handle. The board is drawn slowly onward; and the pins, projecting downwards from its under surface, press, as they pass, upon the tops of certain metallic points; these points are the extremities of small levers, aud these levers act upon hammers which strike the strings. The A man who has no bills against him belongs to pins in the studded board are arranged in definite the order of no-bil-i-ty in more than one sense.

When, therefore, the next compiler of a table of weights and measures sets about his labors, let him remember that among the commodities which are sold by the barrel or by the yard, he must include music.-Household Words.

The harebell is missing your step on the mountain, The sweetbrier droops for the hand that it loved,

And the hazel's pale tassels hang over the fountain

That springs in the copse where so often you roved.

The hawthorn's pearls fall as though they were weeping

Upon the low grave where your cold form
doth lie,

And the soft dews of evening there longest lie
sleeping-
Mavourneen! mavourneen! oh, why did you

die ?

I

dream in my madness that you're at my side,

With your long golden curls on your white shoul ders streaming,

And the smile that came warm from your loving heart's tide;

hear your sweet voice fitful melodies singing; I wake but to hear the low wind's whispered

sigh,

And your vanishing tones through my silent home ringing,

As I cry in my anguish-oh! why did you die?

Achora, machree, you are ever before me

I scarce see the heaven to which you are gone,

So dark are the clouds of despair which lie o'er

me.

Oh, pray for me! pray at the mighty One's
Throne!

Oh, plead that the chain of my bondage may sever,
That to thee and our Father my freed soul
may fly,

Or the cry of my spirit for ever

Shall be "Oh, mavourneen! why, why did you die ?"

THE HONEYCOMB & BITTER GOURD. IN one of our border vales stood a little old tower, which peace had reduced from the war to the agricultural establishment, at the expense of its external looks, and to the increase before, a wild heath behind; a wood grew on of its internal comfort. There was a garden white over with sheep; and in the tower itthe left hand, on the right rose three hills, self lived a pleasant old man, who enjoyed the world after his own fashion, and never murmured, except at snows, frosts, rains, storms, sore droughts, the fall in the price of lambs, and the decrease in the value of wool, Now, he was a poor man, and he was a rich man: poor, if wealth consists in hoards of gold and in bonds and bags, for of these he seemed to have little; and rich, if by a more sist in a well replenished house, corn in the natural interpretation, wealth may also constackyard, meal at the mill, flocks on the mountains, and hares in the vales. I shall call him, therefore, a rich man; but I have not yet described all his wealth,

He lost his wife when he was young, and her looks were preserved in his heart and in the faces of two fair daughters, who were arrived at womanhood, and had become the

subject of admiration to the young men, and sidered coldness, her sound advice was called the object of some little envy to the young forwardness, her absence from her father's women, whenever they went abroad. Now, side, even when busied for his interest, was they went abroad seldom; once a week to imputed to carelessness; and when fits of perthe parish church, once a month to some versity and impatience came on him, he called merry-making among their neighbors, and her the Bitter Gourd. once a quarter to the hiring, and other fairs of the county town. They were very mild, and gentle, and thrifty. They could sing ballads without end, and songs without number; spin fine wool, churn rich butter, make sweet-milk cheese, bleach linen as white as the daisies on which it was watered, and make linsey-woolsey rivalling silk in its lustre and beauty. They had, besides, learned manners at a town boarding-school, and had polished their natural good sense as much as natural good sense needs to be polished. Thus they grew up together like twin cherries on a stalk, and had the same feelings, the same pursuits-I had nearly said the same loves. They were as like as two larks, externally; yet, in the nobler parts of human nature, in all that elevates the heart and soul, they were as different as the raven and the blackbird.

The younger, whose name was Ellen, was all condescension and respect to her father; she anticipated his wants, fondled him, sang to him, exercised her skill in making him pleasant dinners, and, under pretence of cordials, agreeable drinks. Wherever he went she was with him; listened to all he said, laughed when he laughed, quoted his remarks (and he made many shrewd ones), and wrought herself around him like the honeysuckle round the withering tree. The old man was charmed with her kindness, her prudent approbation, and her skilful flattery; and called her, in the affectionate language of a pastoral land, The Honeycomb.

It soon became manifest to all, that old Hugh of the Tower, as he was called, had not bestowed these epithets lightly. Ellen became the favorite of her father; on her he lavished all his affection, and some of his wealth. She added a fine hat and feather to the exuberance of her hair, laid aside her wool hose and replaced them with silk, her gown of linseywoolsey was exchanged for one of satin; over the whole she threw a lace veil, as white as snow; and many said she looked fair and lady-like, as she rode to kirk and market on her fine pony with a silver-mounted saddle. Her sister made no change in her dress; but her face was so beautiful, and her look was so modest, that all she wore became her, and went to increase her good looks. She seemed to take no notice of the splendid dresses of her sister; her father's partiality had no influence on her conduct; she was ever the same; always neat, attentive, and kind. The flighty and mercurial youth of the parish admired Ellen most; but far more loved Ann, and thought her more beautiful, in her plain dress, with her kind word and affectionate look to all, than her sister in her silks and feathers, tossing her head, and looking with her scornful eyes over the whole population.

Now, it happened that the charms of the two sisters inspired two suitors with affection which reached as far as wedlock, and that about the same time. It really looked like a preconcerted plan of hostility against the spinster state; for, on the same morn, and at the same hour, two young men came and separately requested an interview with old Hugh of the Tower. Now the old man had no small idea of his own importance; he seated himself firmly in his oaken chair; looked superbly knowing and shrewd, thinking the strangers were travellers employed in the purchase of wool; but their holiday dresses, close shaven chins, and well gartered legs, soon showed them to be wooers, rather than wool buyers.

Her sister, Ann, had a better heart, and less skill, or rather, she had no skill whatever, but did her duty to her father and her God, daily and duly; she put no restraint on her affections, and allowed nature to follow its own free will. She was remarkable for her plain sound sense, for the little quarter which she gave to levity, and for the sarcastic tact with which she dissected characters, and weighed motives. She was, indeed, no flatterer; perhaps too little so; and though beau- "And which of the maidens come ye for, tiful, and conscious of her beauty, scarcely friend?" said the father to the foremost lover dressed up to her good looks, but gave nature -a spruce, well put on, knowing sort of a chance there too; and nature did its duty. youth, something between the fop and the When difficulties pressed and wisdom was farmer, with a silver-headed whip in his hand, wanted, her father sought refuge in her know- and top boots, splashed with hard riding. ledge; but she scorned to soothe his vanity," Which of them?" said the wooer; "why, or court, by petty stratagems, his good opi- the Honeycomb, to be sure; my friend behind nion. She had no wish but for his happiness; here seems to have a hankering for the Bitter and no views on his pocket or his estate. It Gourd." "Frankly and freely spoken, lad," is no credit to man's nature, that it is gratified and captivated more by little attentions and flatteries than by acts of rational love and kindness. The old man loved his daughters; but the quiet serene affection of Ann was con

said the father; "I like ye nothing the worse for that, however; and who may ye be, and what's your name, and what kind of downsitting have ye for the Honeycomb, as ye call her?" "Why, I am a man that's my own

man," was the answer; "and I care not a pin for any man. I have flocks and herds, much money at interest, and a large floating capital; and am proprietor, beside, of Birkbog, a fair inheritance." "I know the place well," cried old Hugh, rubbing his hands; “a fair inheritance, truly! I knew your father before you; close handed carle, with a soul as sharp as a scythe-stone, and a grip like a blacksmith's vice; you have some small matter of money, friend?" "A trifle, a trifle," said the lover, carelessly; "the gold the old one left me was of five kings' reigns, and puzzling to count, so I took the quart stoup to it, and measured it -only a trifle. So ye knew my father? Ah! poor old man, he had some small skill in holding the gear together; but he had no enlarged views-would have thought of a flying cow as soon as a floating capital. The old school! the old school!"

pennyless Lawsons of Cuddierigg?" “And what an it be so?" replied the youth, coloring. Never mind me, man; never mind me," said he of the Tower. "I shall call the lasses in, and hear what they say. Ellen! come hither. Ann! Bitter Gouard! what do they call thee? Here are lads for ye both-Honeycomb! Ellen!" They entered accordingly, Ellen tossing her head, and assuming a look of peculiar loftiness; and Ann, with ease, modesty and frankness. The appearance of the lovers seemed not to surprise them.

"I see how it is, I see how it is," exclaimed the old worthy; "it's a made up plot, a planned contrivance, the whole is settled: oh! that I had ever lived to witness this! I am old, and my head is gray. I have two daughters, fair and beautiful to behold. Fit marrows for lords and princes. Might be queens in a scarcity. Yet the one will wed the son and heir of old Haud-the-grip, of Birkbog, a sworn miser, and a thought dishonest, whose narrow won gold will get a wide spending, there's a proverb for that; and the other will marry a Lawson, one of the Lawsons, of Cuddierigg, a pennyless race, a pennyless race. O my two sweet fair daughters, beautiful daughters, beautiful to behold, and matches for dukes and princes, was ever the like heard of!"

Satisfied with the opulence and parentage of one wooer, and charmed with the talismanic words, floating capital, old Hugh now turned to the other, a mild and modest looking young man, plainly and neatly dressed, who stood quiet and unembarrassed, with something like a smile now and then dawning on his lip as he listened to the conversation I have described. "And who may ye be," inquire the old man; "and what want ye with me? Ye have a tongue, I'll warrant, and a tongue's Ellen threw her arms about her father's for speaking with-so make use on't." This neck, knelt before him, bowed her head till was said in a tone hovering between jest and her long tresses touched the floor, and with a earnest; the lover answered mildly, "My voice as sweet as music, said, “O father, think friend here, with the floating capital, who better of me, and better of this young gentle measures his gold with a quart stoup, has told | man. He is rich, for I have seen his gold; you that I am come for the Bitter Gourd." he has fine flocks of sheep, I have seen them "Take her, man, take her," exclaimed her also; a fair estate, I have walked over it, foot father, "take her, and sorrow go with her. and furrow; a well furnished house; I have She's no the lass I long took her for, but a examined it well, and seen how I looked in it; slut with an advice giving face, a head that he has floating capital, too, thousand knows everything, and a tongue that never thousands; and is well-made, well-looked, well says pleasant things to her old father. But connected, and well respected, and what more have ye a floating or a flying capital, and what couldwoman have to be happy? Come forward, do you measure your gold with, and where Birkbog, and let us receive our father's lies your land? I cannot give away my daugh-blessing."-Blessing!" said the old man, “and ter Ann, bitter gourd though she be, to a are ye married? O, my child, my fair haired landless loon--answer that, answer that." "I Ellen !"-" Indeed, my dear papa," said Ellen, have neither floating nor flying capital," said in her sweetest tones, "I knew you would the candidate for the Bitter Gourd, “nor have like my choice, and so I even resolved to I gold to measure, nor land to describe; but surprise ye with a new pleasure. We have I have a firm and a true heart, and two stout brought a bridal present, too,-a horse saddled and skilful hands, and with God's blessing and and bridled, for you to ride to kirk and market, the love of Ann, I cannot be beat." "But ye and round about your daughter's lairdship.' can be beat, man," exclaimed her father, And she clasped him close and kissed him, "and shall be beat, man; and I could beat ye and the old man's wrath melted into loving myself, man, for presuming to speak of my kindness. So he bleesed them both, seated daughter, even the Bitter Gourd, and you, them beside him, and looked very happy. without foot or furrow of ground, or a pound in your pocket. Was ever the like heard tell of? What's your name?-a queer one, I'll warrant, if it be like the wearer." "It's a name little heard of," said the young man, looking down, "it is Lawson." "Lawson!" exclaimed the farmer, "what, aught to the

Ann now knelt in her turn, and said, "Father, I have known this young man some years; he is a dutiful son, skilful in husbandry, wise in the care of sheep, sober and sedate, He has of money what will plenish a house and stock a piece of ground; I have saved as much out of your gifts as will help us; and