Playing on the Piano
The above communication having been read, a speculative listener suggested as a subject for one of the learned professors, the sympathetic connection which evidently exists between Music and Fire. He cited, as an old example of this, the fiddling of Nero during the burning of Rome; and related, as a recent proof of the secret affinity, the following story: “It is known,” he said, “that during the fire at the Tower the soldiers in the fortress, as well as others, were occupied in removing the furniture of many of the inhabitants;” and free access was of course afforded them for that purpose. In one instance, a lady who had rushed up to the top of the house to secure some valuables, was, on descending after a short absence to the drawing-room, astonished to see two enormous ‘British Grenadiers’ attempting to play the Piano; upon being discovered, they struck up the ‘Grenadiers’ March’ to ‘double-quick time,’ carrying off the ‘upright grand’ in a very orderly and soldier-like manner.
By the way, as we have here recurred to the subject with which we opened this Number, the fire at the Tower, we may mention that a relic of the wheel of the Victory is yet in existence; for a friend of ours assures us that while the fire was raging in the upper floors of the Armoury he saw a person saw off one of the handles of the said wheel; and if he have not yet given it into the hands of the proper parties, we would recommend him to do so at once, or it may be made a handle against him.
It was upon another occasion that a lady and gentleman, who had just seen their opposite neighbour’s house burnt down, were discussing the spectacle with great seriousness. “How I grieved,” said the lady, “to see poor Mrs. Tims’s beautiful damask curtains on fire.” “Ah,” returned her husband, who had a musical taste, “I didn’t so much mind the curtains; but what grieved me most was to see the fireman playing upon that capital grand piano of theirs.”
The subject next started was equally seasonable—though not seductive. The poet is evidently in the situation of one of her Majesty’s subjects that we know of—who is the parent of more of her Majesty’s subjects than we do know of—who, in fact, declares that his house is so “full of children” he cannot shut the street-door for them.