DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6887#0110
78
HISTORY OF
" To the memory of the Right Honourable James Stuart Mackenzie, Lord
tt privy Seal of Scotland; a man whose virtues did honour to humanity. He
" cultivated and encouraged sciences; and, during a long life, was generous
it, and many of the most eminent professors, waving all claims to precedence in the band, offered to
perform in any subordinate station in which their talents could be most useful. It was also determined,
in order to render the band as complete as possible, to employ every species of instrument that was
capable of producing grand effects in a great orchestra and spacious building.
When the orchestra and galleries were filled, they constituted one of the grandest and most magni-
ficent spectacles which imagination can paint. The preparations for receiving their Majesties and the
first personages in the kingdom at the east end, upwards of five hundred musicians, and in the last
year of continuing the celebrity double that number at the west, and the public in general, to the
number of three and four thousand persons, in the area and galleries, so judiciously and tastefully
corresponding with the architecture of this venerable and beautiful structure, that there was nothing
visible, either for use or ornament, which did not harmonize with the principal tone of the building,
and may not metaphorically be said to have been in perfect tune with it. But, besides the
wonderful manner in which this construction exhibited the band to the spectators, the orchestra was
so judiciously contrived, that almost every performer, both vocal and instrumental, was in full view of
the conductor and leader : and this accounfs, in some measure, for the uncommon ease with which
the performers confessed they executed their parts.
The whole preparations for these grand performances were comprised within the western part of
the structure or broad aisle; and some excellent judges declared, that, exclusive of their beauty, they
never had seen so wonderful a piece of carpentry as the orchestra and galleries, after Mr. Wyatt's
model. Indeed, the goodness and security of the workmanship were fully proved by the several days
of the commemoration in the abbey being exempted from every species of accident, notwithstanding
the great crowds and conflicts for places which each performance produced.
At the east end of the aisle, just before the back of the choir organ, a throne was erected in a beau-
tiful Gothic style, corresponding with that of the abbey; and a center box, richly decorated and
furnished with crimson satin, fringed with gold, for the reception of their Majesties and the royal
family; on the right hand of which was a box for the bishops, and on the left, one for the dean and
chapter of Westminster. Immediately below these two boxes were two others, one on the right for
the families and friends of the directors, and the other for those of the prebendaries of Westminster.
HISTORY OF
" To the memory of the Right Honourable James Stuart Mackenzie, Lord
tt privy Seal of Scotland; a man whose virtues did honour to humanity. He
" cultivated and encouraged sciences; and, during a long life, was generous
it, and many of the most eminent professors, waving all claims to precedence in the band, offered to
perform in any subordinate station in which their talents could be most useful. It was also determined,
in order to render the band as complete as possible, to employ every species of instrument that was
capable of producing grand effects in a great orchestra and spacious building.
When the orchestra and galleries were filled, they constituted one of the grandest and most magni-
ficent spectacles which imagination can paint. The preparations for receiving their Majesties and the
first personages in the kingdom at the east end, upwards of five hundred musicians, and in the last
year of continuing the celebrity double that number at the west, and the public in general, to the
number of three and four thousand persons, in the area and galleries, so judiciously and tastefully
corresponding with the architecture of this venerable and beautiful structure, that there was nothing
visible, either for use or ornament, which did not harmonize with the principal tone of the building,
and may not metaphorically be said to have been in perfect tune with it. But, besides the
wonderful manner in which this construction exhibited the band to the spectators, the orchestra was
so judiciously contrived, that almost every performer, both vocal and instrumental, was in full view of
the conductor and leader : and this accounfs, in some measure, for the uncommon ease with which
the performers confessed they executed their parts.
The whole preparations for these grand performances were comprised within the western part of
the structure or broad aisle; and some excellent judges declared, that, exclusive of their beauty, they
never had seen so wonderful a piece of carpentry as the orchestra and galleries, after Mr. Wyatt's
model. Indeed, the goodness and security of the workmanship were fully proved by the several days
of the commemoration in the abbey being exempted from every species of accident, notwithstanding
the great crowds and conflicts for places which each performance produced.
At the east end of the aisle, just before the back of the choir organ, a throne was erected in a beau-
tiful Gothic style, corresponding with that of the abbey; and a center box, richly decorated and
furnished with crimson satin, fringed with gold, for the reception of their Majesties and the royal
family; on the right hand of which was a box for the bishops, and on the left, one for the dean and
chapter of Westminster. Immediately below these two boxes were two others, one on the right for
the families and friends of the directors, and the other for those of the prebendaries of Westminster.