Hence his rhapsodies, whether choral or instrumental, are satisfying,
knit together by some inner force of cohesion.

* * * * *

During these ten years several children were born to Purcell. He had six
children altogether. Four died while still babies; two, Edward and
Frances, survived him. Edward lived till 1740, leaving a son; Frances
married one Welsted, or Welstead, and died in 1724. Her daughter died
two years later. Before the end of the eighteenth century the line of
Purcell's descendants seems to have terminated. In 1682 Purcell became
an organist of the Chapel Royal, whilst remaining organist of
Westminster Abbey. As has already been said, the musicians of this age
were pluralists--they had to be in order to earn a decent living, for
the salaries were anything but large, and punctuality in payment was not
a feature. In 1684 there was a competition at the Temple Church, not
between organists, but between organ-builders. The authorities got two
builders to set up each an organ, and decided which was the better by
the simple plan of hearing them played by different organists and
deciding which sounded the better. To any but a legal mind the affair
would seem to have resolved itself mainly into a competition between
organ-players; but we know how absolutely lost to all sense of justice,
fairness, reason and common sense the legal mind is. So Purcell played
for Father Smith, and inevitably the organ built by Father Smith was
thought the finer. This easy way of solving a difficult problem, though
it has so much to recommend it to the legal mind, has fallen into
desuetude, and is abandoned nowadays, even in that home of absurdities,
the Temple. For the coronation of James II., Purcell superintended the
setting-up of an extra or special organ in the Abbey; and for this he
was granted £34 12s. out of the secret-service money. In 1689, at the