James whether he thought that she played better than his own Queen, Mary of Scotland. "My sovereign plays reasonably well, for a queen," said polite Sir James, "but I must confess that your majesty plays even better." We do not know what Queen Elizabeth was playing when Sir James heard her. Probably it would not have sounded so beautiful to us today as it did to the Scotch nobleman hundreds of years ago. But, although the music has been lost, the Queen's virginal is still preserved in England and may be seen there today. THE FAREWELL It was a' for our rightfu' King My dear We e'er saw Irish land. Now a' is done that men can do, My love and native land, farewell, For I maun cross the main, My dear For I maun cross the main. -Robert Burns. This picture represents a duet between two young ladies, one playing on the bassvioland the other seated at a spinet. We cannot see much of the girl who has her back toward us, and yet she is very charming, with her dark, braid THE CONCERT Ter Borch ed hair and her beautiful neck. She wears a broad fur collar, a salmon-colored satin jacket and a white satin skirt. The light in the room is soft and clear, and the colors are harmonious. The picture is delightful because of its calmness and simplicity. We seem to be peeping into a quiet household, watching two girls who have no idea that we are looking at them. It is like seeing a bit of real life. GERARD TER BORCH (1617-1681) Ter Borch's father, a well-to-do Dutch official, was a great lover of the fine arts. In his youth he traveled through Germany, Italy, and France to study foreign languages and art, and in later years he devoted his spare time to painting. It was a great pleasure to him, therefore, when he discovered that his children had talent. Gerard was particularly gifted. His father carefully preserved the boy's earliest sketches and wrote proud little notes on the margins of them. Gerard delighted in exactly as he saw them. When he was still a child, he made accurate drawings of the walls and towers of the old town where he lived, and he also drew sheds and haystacks and thatched cottages, and horses and cows. When he grew older, his father sent him away to study, and he traveled in many countries, including England. He became a painter of portraits and was invited to Spain, where he painted the King's portrait many times. and received rich gifts and honors. copying the objects about him, After long wanderings, Ter Borch came back to his native country. At the age of thirty-seven he married and settled down to a quiet life of constant toil. He painted a portrait of himself, which shows him as a very calm and dignified gentleman,-just the sort of man who would paint the tranquil, lovely pictures which bear his name. XIII THE STORY OF THE PIANOFORTE (2. The Harpsichord and the Piano) As time went on, more elaborate music was written. People needed a larger, finer instrument than the clavichord or the virginal or the spinet. And so the harpsichord was invented. The best kind of harpsichord looked some- • what like a grand piano of today. One difference, however, was that it had two rows of keys, an upper row and a lower row. At the time of the American Revolution people still used harpsichords. We get a glimpse of the musical life of those days in a story about Martha Washington's little granddaughter, Nelly Custis. Nelly's father was dead, and so she and her brother lived with the Washington family. George Washington loved Nelly as if she were his own daughter. He gave her a fine harpsichord which had been brought from Europe. Her grandmother made her practice upon it four or five hours a day. I think that very few little girls would enjoy such a long practice period. We are not surprised that Nelly's brother said: "She would cry and play, and play and cry for hours." Poor Nelly was probably not very grateful for her handsome present. But when she grew older, she enjoyed |