Chapter Four - 1808 – 1810

Summary

On the first day of this year [Friday] I played the Comunion Service at the Cathedral for Mr. Bennett (Miss Wills having played the chants for the psalms, Te Deum &c. & 1^st. voluntary) & afterwards fetched Mrs. M. from Lavant in the chaise…

On the next day [5 January] my brother Henry arrived in the evening from London, & on the Thursday after, my son Henry from Battle, who came to stay with us ‘till tow’ds the end of the month. On this latter day came also Mr. Kinleside with his son & daugh’r to dine with us & go to the 3^d. public concert, to meet whom we had Capt. & Mrs. Brown. As Henry had rode from Brighton & did not arrive ‘till about 6. in the evening, & was rather fatigued he did not play at the concert, on w’ch Mr Kinleside was so good as to play the princ’l bass with Cudmore. At this concert we did the Gloria of Pergolesi again, & the duett & chorus “Sound the mellow Horn”…

On […] the Friday after […] we had a concert at home to w’ch came the Webbers Pilkingtons, Warings, Mrs Sanden, Miss Heron, R. Steele […]. At this my sons & I & Cudmore played an obligato Quartetto of Pleyel’s, in which Henry took the bass, & another in which he played the flute, having brought a very fine one with him, & the whole (including the new glee of Cooke's “A Knight there came”) went off remarkably well.

The French having now enter’d Portugal & driven the royal family to the Brazils, putting an end to our trade in port wine, I about 6 weeks before (in expectation of this happening) bespoke of Murray & Co. a quarter cask of port at £25. (or 100. the pipe) which having now tasted & fixed on with my brother Henry (who was allowed to buy another for himself at the same price) I on the 16^th.