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Charles Dickens and Music by James T. Lightwood
page 31 of 210 (14%)
well, considering. The unfortunate individual, however,
who had undertaken to play the flute accompaniment
'at sight' found, from fatal experience, the perfect
truth of the old adage, 'Out of sight, out of mind';
for being very near-sighted, and being placed at
a considerable distance from his music-book, all he
had an opportunity of doing was to play a bar now and
then in the wrong place, and put the other performers
out. It is, however, but justice to Mr. Brown to
say that he did this to admiration. The overture,
in fact, was not unlike a race between the different
instruments; the piano came in first by several bars,
and the violoncello next, quite distancing the poor
flute; for the deaf gentleman _too-too'd_ away, quite
unconscious that he was at all wrong, until apprised,
by the applause of the audience, that the overture
was concluded.

It was probably after this that the pianoforte player fainted
away, owing to the heat, and left the music of _Masaniello_ to
the other two. There were differences between these remaining
musicians and Mr. Harleigh, who played the title rĂ´le, the
orchestra complaining that 'Mr. Harleigh put them out, while the
hero declared that the orchestra prevented his singing a note.'

It was to the strains of a wandering harp and fiddle that Marion
and Grace Jeddler danced 'a trifle in the Spanish style,'
much to their father's astonishment as he came bustling out
to see who 'played music on his property before breakfast.'

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