Professor Taylor has eloquently said—
"It would seem as if the view which Purcell had obtained of the powers and resources of his art, and his conviction of what it might hereafter accomplish, had led him to regard all that he had produced but as the efforts of a learner (and we are justified in this conclusion from his own words), fitted to give a brief and transient impulse to his art, and having accomplished this purpose, to be forgotten. It may be that he was right: it may be that we stand, as he stood, but at the threshold of music: it may be that in his 'clear dream and solemn vision' he saw further than his successors: nor will it be denied, that some of its recesses have been further explored by geniuses and talent like his own; but all the great attributes which belong to the true artist, all the requirements which make the true musician, we may yet learn of Purcell."
PURCELL'S FAMILY.
In the foregoing pages I have spoken of Purcell's father and uncle, but made no mention of his ancestry. Nothing absolutely certain is known of them. Various surmises have been made from time to time, and as the name of Purcel had been common in Ireland for some centuries,[57] people have endeavoured to trace the composer's family in that country, but no reason or evidence has as yet been found for supposing that Purcell inherited Celtic blood.
The national archives preserved at Somerset House furnish material for speculation in this matter; the following wills may very probably have been made by some of the great composer's ancestors:—
"Will proved 1547-8 (fo: 3 Populwell).
Davjd Fyssher of Salopp Sherman—
to my Kynsman Nicholas pursell