The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-17 00:00:00

Distracting Sounds.

I(From the Spectator.)
Alas! when Bass is triumphant and the bill is
passed, what will the lover of peace and quietness
have gained ? There are people who like mecha-
nical music. There are people who raffle for
musical sneaboxes. Only the other day a clergy-
man living at the East-end of town came to a
police-magistrate with tears in his eyes and com-
plained that he could not write his sermons in
consequence of the un-Caristian conduct of his next
door neighbour. If an organ-grinder were requested
to move on, be called the offender into his front
garden, and listened in common with his children
and servants for hours together with every sign of
rapturous delight. The magistrate stigmatised this
conduct as uneeighbourly, but the infatuated man
declared that if he had no garden he would call
the artist he loved into his balcony. Suppose
an Italian gentleman with a magnificent chest and
a powerful bass voice takes the next house and prac-
tises singing from ten in the morning till nine at
night. We happen to know from practical expe-
rience that even when the singing is very good the
flesh of the involuntary listener wearies about the
evening of the second day. Mr. Babbage, on the
other hand—and that gentleman has thought much
on these subjects—ia of opinion that " the effect of a
uniform and continuous sound in distracting the at-
tention or in disturbing intellectual pursuits is
almost insensible. it is the change from quietness
to noise, or from one kind of noise to another which
instantly distracts the attention." This suggests to
one that if he had only thought of keeping a private
hurdy-gurdy to play constantly day and night before
his house, he would have
bad his tormentors, and
perhaps ere this have completed the analytical ma-
&nine. For ourselves, we entirely agree with the
principle he lays down, and regard the street-organ
with comparative complacency. It is only a low
monotonous sound. Still, though sharing to its full
extent that philosophic capacity to bear the calami-
ties of others which is seldom wanting to the human
race, we abandon the Savoyard to Mr. Bass. But
what in return will the foes of street music do for
the haters of shrill and sudden sounds ? Are the
street cries to go unchecked ? A person bitting in
hot weather with his drawing-room window open is
probably not more than 20 feet from the passenger
on the foot pavement. A fiend in human shape,
I creep under your
wwiinthdoawbaswikthetthone
ahteisalhtheyadf,ewroiciity
of a red Indian,
and suddenly yell " Straea-awberry I" with an ear-
piercing shrillness which defies language, and in a
moment the happy impromptu you were arranging
for your next dinner-parry is for ever lost. To the
lady Who perambulates
snyornamensfuyar-
e
ma
eaenrwt,,hino
Whaesehteeranrdenabcnerrhtaeitn Ay"
famous ut de poitrine
or are these cries
ifier
ae ent uovrsdcn
ordinary
y Signor
achievement.
' am b cr' i k'B
merely shrill, they are so hideously uncouth that
they suggest the idea that the peripatetic green-
grocers, and crockery-men, and collectors of rabbit
skins, and knife ,grinders have adopted a system of
competitive examinations, and that London is
divided into districts which are the monopoly of the
most unearthly and unintelligible performers. All
many
ecostermonger class
thanthes treenueiestanmcenseaier:
atnodvyereyt people far worse
can set us all at defiance, for they yell as they walk.
We do not the least grudge Mr. Bass's clients any
relief he may be able to give them, but it will be
of no more good to the haters of noise than is to a
hungry man mustard without beef. Nor is it very
certain that even within its own narrow limits the
measure will be very effective. You will have to
find a policeman before you can do anything, and
that is one of the hardest things to find in this
metropolis. And when the policeman has reached
your house the culprit will be gone. The impatient
householder, instead of fuming at the presence of
the organ-grinder, will fume at the absence of the
constable, and Mr. Bass will give the wandering
minstrel at least this characteristic of the true
musician, that he suggests the unattainable. We
shall cry to him what Richter said to music—
" Away I Away ! Thou speakest to me of that
which in all my endless life I have not found, and
shall not find."

The fact of the matter is that different people
have very different notions as to what is beautiful
in sound as in everything else. Almost all rude
people love a monotonous sort of recitative. The
music of savages is never anything more, and it
may very well be doubted whether that of the
ancient Greeks is entitled to a much higher place
in the estimate of connoisseurs. Wordsworth was
a poet, but he could detect no melody in the Ranz
dez Vaches. The Bongs of the people, " sung to
the wheel and sung unto the pail," are always of
this class; but that which is music in the ears of
the cook as she cleans her dishes drives her mistress
in the parlour to desperation. Even Mr. Babbage
admits that all servants and children love
hand. organs. The publicans would not encourage
them if their cuestomers did not. Of course this
does not entitle people to worry others to death by
the gratification of their private tastes, and good
sense and good feeling alike require that if we
amuse ourselves by making a noise we should take
care that it is at times and places which are not
unreasonable. Speaking generally, neighbours
understand each other pretty well, and a quiet re
monstrance is seldom unheeded. But if a man's
neighbour is cantankerous, the law can never pre
vent his doing as he likes on his own premises.
Street noises stand, no doubt, on a different footing,
for those who like street music have no right to the
public thoroughfare
as a stage for the musician.
Therefore any objector has a clear right to prevail
over a whole streetful of willing listeners. It is
not without a pang that
we make the admission, but
justice requires that at the demand of a house-
holder even Punch and Judy should move on. Nor
can we object that contumacy should be summarily
punished, we cannot help thinking that it
would beonly
better instead of imprisoning the musi-
cian to impound his instrument, which might be
returned after a certain short interval on payment
of a fine. As to the subject of street noises in gene-
ral, or rather such of them as do not arise from the
lawful se of the highway, and are not stationary,
we do not blame Mr. Bass
for not meddling with
pnbua libertythem. is more valuable even than
nee
quiet, and it would be hard to suppress unnecessary
noises without giving an
amount of discretionary
power to the
police with which they are scarcely
fit to be entrusted. But if ever a legislator arises
who is capable of solving the difficulty and dis-
tinguishing between noises that are fair and noises
that are unfair, what perpetuity of fame may he
n
I Science and art will combine to weave
hisot ar expect
and his name be celebrated in undying
song. Tillleacntd hes
arises
we must cultivate patience and
good-temper,
and be content with an incomplete
ge
triumph over German bands, e eiand organs, and
hurdy-gurdies.

Co-respondent? One
other is a gentleman
SIR JAMES WILDE'S LAST,What is th© differ-
wiesnhacaetgbedenottewlseemwe narnoanwgCorrespondentprice,
ea,n dt
hae

THE DEATH OF MEYERBEER. has made a great
gap which there is no man to fil.
Happily for us,
athnadttmu to
all
music
should appearance
be novel foropleasure, or we might
look forward to the day when Italian °Psra would become
nl to posteritygiv 1also) there is no need
e
extinct. There are few composers now and their works
as compared with Meyerbeer s are as a child's story-book
to "David Copperfield " or "The Caxtons."—Once a
'
Week.
CITY OF BRISTOL LIFEBOAT.--An interesting
ceremony took place on Wednesday in Bristol, on
the occasion of the presentation, by that ancient city, of a
I
splendid lifeboat fully equipped, to the National Lifeboatnstitution. The boat, which is a self.righting oue, is 32
feet long, and was built in London, under the superinten-
dence of the institution. The presentation took place on
the grounds of the West of England Agricultural Show,
and there was present at the time about 20,000 persons.
The Mayor of Bristol, who was accompanied by the Earl
having presented the lifeboat to the institution, Mr Lewis,
its secretary, accepted, in an appropriate speech, the gift
Fortescue, Captain R. Tryon, R.N.
on behalf of the committee of mana ' and other gentlemen,
gement. He alluded to
the indefatigable exertions of Captain Tryon, R.N., in col-
lceting nearly £6OO to pay the expenses of the lifeboat, &c.,
the success of which undertaking was mainly owing to that
gentleman's valuable services. The lifeboat is to be sta-
tioned at Padetow, on the shores of the Bristol Channel,
and to replace a smaller boat that was previously there.
The Bristol people have named the boat the Albert Edward,
in compliment to his Royal Highness the Prince c.f Wales,

AQUATICS,

ROYAL THAMES YACHT CLUB.
VIE scitoo:<-Eit RAM

For the first time since the establishment of the Royal
Thames Yacht Club its yesterday's schooner race was
honoured with the presence of Royalty, his Royal High-
ness the Prince of Wales accompanying the regatta through-
out. His Royal Highness and suite were conveyed from
Fenchurch-street to Tilbury per rail, where he embarked
on board the noble Commodore Lord Alfred Paget's beau-
tiful yawl Water Lily, where his lordship was waiting
to receive him, a message having been promptly despatched
by Lard de Roe, the vice-commodore, to bring the Eagle,
the large steamer chartered by the club, direct to Tilbury.
to take the Water Lily in tow. The illustrious party en
board the yacht consisted of the Prince of Wales, Prince
Alfred, Prince Louis of Hesse, Lord Sydney, Col. Koppel,
Mr Haig, Lady Alfred Paget, and Lady Bowmont.
As soon as the Royal ensign was observed the liveliest de-
monstrations of loyalty and gratification were exhibited, and
were duly and gracefully acknowledged by his Royal High-
ness and party, There were above 500 ladies and gentlemen
on board the steamer, and amongst them Lord Londes-
borough, Lord Stanhope, Lord Alex. Paget, Sir P. Shelly,
Gen.. Christie, Col. Evelyn, Col. Campbell, Sir J. Burgoyne,
Captains Smugford, Campbell. Ames. Hawkins, Dymoke,
Carr, Smithett, Barwell, and Col, Leach.
The following were the entries for the races, with a quar-
ter of a minute per ton time allowance:—