[[1]] There is an account preserved in the Bodleian Library of Blow being paid £40 a year for "keeping and teaching two boys" but this was in 1685. It shows that it was usual for boys whose voices were gone, to be kept on for tuition.
XII. HENRY PURCELL
1658—1695
In Henry Purcell I reach the last and the greatest of my Twelve Good Musicians. And to attempt to consider and discuss completely his life and work in the short space of a University Lecture, would be an absurd effort. But, as I have before pointed out, my object has been to endeavour to interest the musical student—amateur and professional—in certain prominent masters of music, and in the remarkable progress made in our own country by their aid in the seventeenth century. I can do little more than arouse interest, and I cannot pretend to write a complete history, but I trust the Lectures will have helped to fill up the "blank" which Sir Hubert Parry declared existed in many minds as regards the music of this period.
Henry Purcell
In the consideration of the various musicians of whom I have already treated I have avoided biographical detail. As a rule information in these matters may be gleaned from the well-known books of reference. But in the case of Purcell I am obliged to enlarge a little on his life, in the hope that I may be able to contribute a few interesting facts with regard to his family that are not generally known.