The annexed illustration shows a cross section of an ordinary barrel organ, a is the barrel, 'set' round its circumference with 'pins,' at the various intervals, and of the various lengths, necessary for the music, and turned by the worm b on the shaft c; d d are the bellows worked by the cranks e e on the shaft and the connecting rods f f, and delivering the wind into an air chamber g, which runs to the further end of the case, and is kept at a uniform pressure by the spiral springs h h. The air vessel again delivers the wind into the wind-chest m, which communicates with the pipes n n. Each pipe has its valve o, which is kept closed by a spring until the corresponding pin on the barrel raises the trigger p, and forcing down the connecting wire r, opens the valve and admits wind to the pipe. s s is the case. Space being very valuable in these instruments the pipes are packed together very closely, and are often bent in shape to fit the demands of the case. In the diagram one is shown lying beneath the floor of the bellows.
The barrel is made of staves, about 2½ inches wide, of the best pine wood without knots or sap, and seasoned for many years before being used. At each end of the barrel, and sometimes also in the middle, is a circular piece of hard mahogany called a barrel-head, to which the staves are glued and pegged. The barrel is then handed to the turner, who makes it perfectly cylindrical, and it is then covered with cartridge paper and sometimes painted. At one end of the barrel the 'head' is furnished with a circle of teeth for the worm connected with the handle to work in when slowly rotating the barrel. Projecting from this 'head' is the notch-pin. The number of notches in the pin corresponds to the number of tunes played by the barrel. A knife lowered into the notch prevents the barrel from shifting its position. The simplest arrangement is for the barrel to play a tune completely through in the course of a single revolution.
The keys are usually 7-8ths of an inch apart, and the intervening space upon the barrel may be filled either with pins for producing fresh tunes to the number of nine or ten, or with a continuation of the original piece lasting for the same number of revolutions of the barrel. In the latter case the 'notches' are arranged in a spiral so as to allow the barrel to shift horizontally to left or right at the end of each revolution without the intervention of the hand.
It is not within the scope of this article to speak of the players of the street organs, but it may be mentioned that there are some four 'masters' in London, employing from 30 to 50 men each, to whom the organs are let out on hire. The number of organs sold for use in London alone by the house already named is about 30 a year, but the export trade to the West Indies, Brazil, etc., is also considerable.
Barrel organs have been made with three and four barrels in a circular revolving iron frame. The first of the kind, containing four barrels, was made by Mr. Bishop, sen., the father of the present organ-builder of that name, for Northallerton church, Yorkshire, about the year 1820. Many years later Messrs. Gray and Davison made grinder organs with three barrels in one frame.
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BARRET, Apollon Marie-Rose, a remarkable oboe player, born in the south of France in 1804, pupil of Vogt at the Conservatoire, solo player at the Odéon and Opéra Comique, and at last permanently attached to the Italian Opera in London till 1874. Barret is the author of the 'Complete Method for the Oboe, comprising all the new fingerings, new tables of shakes, scales, exercises,' etc. He died Mar. 8, 1879.
BARRETT, John, a pupil of Dr. Blow, was music master at Christ's Hospital and organist of the church of St. Mary-at-Hill about 1710. Many songs by him are in the collections of the period, particularly in D'Urfey's 'Wit and Mirth, or, Pills to purge Melancholy,' in which is 'Ianthe the lovely,' which furnished Gay with the tune for his song 'When he holds up his hand' in 'The Beggar's Opera.' Barrett composed overtures and act tunes for 'Love's last shift, or, The Fool in Fashion,' 1696, 'Tunbridge Walks,' 1703, and 'Mary, Queen of Scots,' 1703.
BARRINGTON, Daines, the Hon., born in London 1727, died there 1800, Recorder of Bristol and puisne judge in Wales, is mentioned here as the author of an account of Mozart during his visit to London in 1764, at eight years of age, in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1780 (vol. xi.). Barrington also published 'Miscellanies' (London, 1781), in which the foregoing account is repeated, and a similar account is given of the early powers of four other children, William Crotch, Charles and Samuel Wesley, and Lord Mornington.
