Page:The Early English Organ Builders and their work.djvu/21

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Organ Builders.
9

Let us examine it. It consists of a vertical row of pipes, the length unknown, as the lower portion is wanting; they are inserted into a small air-chest, which appears inflated in the middle part. The right hand is operating upon it with a kind of cushion or compress, by which the performer forces the air into the pipes, and which he seems to apply to different parts of the instrument at will. There appears to have been a prolongation of the central part of the instrument across the left arm: the loss of this is much to be lamented, as that would have shown us more of its construction, and also how the left hand was employed in playing it. This curious relic may be looked upon as the earliest attempt to combine the pneumatic chest with the Pandean organ, which still retains its place on the breast of the player, though he no longer operates upon it with his mouth.

I need hardly say that this monument

    part of the instrument much larger than is usually represented.