. The New England magazine. THE CHOIR. shining with burnished gold, crownedwith a weathercock, which filled thetraveller coming down the hill intothe city with amazement. Up thereit stands aloft, says Wulfstan, overthe heads of the men of Winchester, and up in midair seems nobly to rulethe western world. And then therewas the wonderful organ, or pair oforgans, with twelve bellows below andfourteen above, with seventy strongmen as blowers, working with much 3$ WINCHESTER toil and noise of shouting as they cheered one another and filled the wind chest. At two keyboards sat two perfor
. The New England magazine. THE CHOIR. shining with burnished gold, crownedwith a weathercock, which filled thetraveller coming down the hill intothe city with amazement. Up thereit stands aloft, says Wulfstan, overthe heads of the men of Winchester, and up in midair seems nobly to rulethe western world. And then therewas the wonderful organ, or pair oforgans, with twelve bellows below andfourteen above, with seventy strongmen as blowers, working with much 3$ WINCHESTER toil and noise of shouting as they cheered one another and filled the wind chest. At two keyboards sat two performers, in unity of spirit, ruling each his own alphabet, for on every key was cut, or perhaps painted, a letter indicating the note; and when the players hammered the keys with clinched fists there came forth seven jubilant notes. Like thunder, says the poet, their iron voice assaults the ears and drives out every other sound; nay, so swells the sound that as you hear you must clap your hands to your ears, unable as you draw near to abide the brazen bellowing. All tli rough the city the melody can be heard (for there was no glass in any window); and the fame and the echo of it spread through all the land. It must have been, in- deed, a strange noise compared withthe modern organ. A patron saint was needed; but forthis the church had but to translatethe remains of Bishop Swithin, whichlay near by in the churchyard; and in971 the cathedral was consecrated andthe sacred relics
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1887
