But while religious music was undergoing violent changes, secular music was having a more peaceful time, and instrument-builders were becoming more numerous and successful. In 1774, in the "New York Gazette" is this advertisement.
"John Shybli, Organ-builder at Mr. Samuel Princes' Cabinet- makers in Horse-and-Cart St. New York. Makes, repairs and tunes all sorts of organs, harpsichords and Fortepianos, on the most reasonable terms. N. B. He has now ready for sale one neat chamber organ, one hammer spinet, one common spinet.
Mr. Samuel Blyth of Salem, Mass., made "spinnetts" (they spelled them with two n's in those days) and then gave instruction upon them. He did not require cash payment either, as witness the following bill, now in the possession of Mr. Henry Brooks, author of "Olden-Time Music."
Mrs. Margaret Barton to Sam Blyth Dr. To making a spinnett for her daughter Supra Cr. £18 0 0
By 34 oz 1¾ dwt of Old silver a. 6. pr. oz. £10 4 11
By cash to Ballance £7 15 1 -------- £18 0 0.
Salem 7th Feb'y 1786 Rec'd payment Sam^l Blyth
At Mount Vernon is still to be seen the harpsichord bought for Nellie Custis by General Washington. In 1798, writing to a young friend at Philadelphia, she says:
"I am not very industrious, but I work a little, read a little, play on the harpsichord, and find my time fully taken up with daily employments."
There is an old song given in "Historic Landmarks of Maryland and Virginia" as being one which Nellie Custis used to sing, accompanying herself on the harpsichord. We wonder who selected for her.
"A traveler stop't at a widow's Gate, She kept an Inn and he wanted to bait; She kept an Inn and he wanted to bait; But the widow she slighted her guest, But the widow she slighted her guest, For when nature was forming an ugly race, She certainly moulded the traveler's face As a sample for all the rest, as a sample for all the rest. The chambermaid's sides they were ready to crack When she saw his queer nose and the hump on his back; A hump isn't handsome, no doubt; And though t'is confessed the prejudice goes Very strongly in favor of wearing a nose, A nose shouldn't look like a snout. A bag full of gold on the table he laid, 'T had a wondrous effect on the widow and maid, And they quickly grew marvelous civil; The money immediately altered the case, They were charmed with his hump and his snout and his face, Though he still might have frightened the devil. He paid like a prince, gave the widow a smack, And flop'd on his horse at the door like a sack, While the landlady, touching his chin, Said, 'Sir, should you travel this country again, I heartily hope that the sweetest of men Will stop at the widow's to drink.'"