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 L34 12s. out of the secret-service money. In 1689, at the
coronation of the lucky gentleman who superseded James, no such
allowance appears to have been made; and Purcell admitted the curious to
the organ-loft, making a charge and putting it in his pocket. This was
too much for the clergy. They regarded the money as theirs, and as Mr.
Gladstone, that stout Churchman, said, the Church will give up rather
its faith than its money. The Abbey authorities never thought of giving
up either, but they threatened Purcell with terrible penalties unless he
gave up the money. Almost with a pistol at his head they asked him to
give up his money or his post. How the squabble ended no man knows; the
conjecture that he 'refunded' the money--_i.
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