Prout

“ Mr. Prout and the schoolmaster whispered aside, Mr. Norseman and Mr. Taverner shook their heads.
"Let him—let the old blid do it," said John Prout under his breath. "Might be a gracious act. He couldn't mar it, if he said nought."
Mr. Spry also whispered into the chairman's ear.
"Does he bear himself straight enough in the back? That's my fear. And the stone tables—he'd droop to the ground under them."
Mr. Huggins pleaded again.
"I'd wear the holy horns on my brow and everything; and many a married man would rather not. But 'tis nought to me." ”

“ The woman in Tabitha fluttered to her lips and head. She went over and shook Brendon's hand, and her eyes became a little moist.
"Bravo! Bravo!" said Mr. Prout. "Very glad, I'm sure, though 'tis a shattering thing for a Ruddyford man to want a wife."
"Now he's set the example, these here chaps will be after the maidens, like terriers after rats; you mark me," foretold Joe Tapson.
"Tab," said John Prout, "draw off a quart or so of beer—not cider. 'Tis early, but the thing warrants it. Us'll drink good luck to 'em, an' long life an' a happy fortune." ”

“ You can't turn peat into coal, or hurry up nature. She won't be hurried, and there's an end of it."
"He've got a fine darter, seemingly."
Mr. Prout laughed.
"Ah! you met her—eh? Yes, she's a proper maiden—a regular wonder in her way—so open, and clear-minded as a bird. Never yet heard a girl speak so frank—'tis like a child more than what you'd expect from a grown-up woman. But ban't she lovely in her Sunday frill-de-dills! I was up over last spring, and drinked a dish of tea with 'em. Lucky the chap as gets her—bachelor though I am, I say it." ”

“ That Proutt had some battle with himself cannot be denied. No man sets out to destroy a soul without first overcoming the scruples which bind him; and there were scruples in Proutt. There must have been. He loved dogs, loved fine dogs, and Reck was fine. Yet the destruction of Reck’s honor and reputation and life—these were the ends which Proutt set himself to bring about—at what pain to his own heart no man may fully guess. ”

“ Three men already sat at the table, and John Prout took the head of it. The newcomer was listened to with courtesy, and his extraordinary size won him open admiration.
"A good big un's the best that woman breeds," said the widower, Tapson. He was himself a man somewhat undersized. He had but one eye, a wrinkled brown skin, and a little goat-beard; but the rest of his face was shaved clean once a week—on Sunday morning.
"No tender spot?" he asked. "So often you gert whackers have a soft place somewhere that brings you down to the level of common men when it comes to work. ”

“ In 1895 Prout received further promotion to the headship of the medical department of Sierra Leone and became an official member of the Legislative Council. He was also a member of the City Council and medical officer of health of Freetown. He served in Sierra Leone until his retirement on pension in 1906. After leaving the Colonial Service Prout settled at first in Liverpool, where he engaged in private practice and was also honorary lecturer at the School of Tropical Medicine of Liverpool University. In 1912 he was appointed medical adviser to the Colonial Office for Liverpool. ”

“ Maitrank was the only man who was silent over his losses. He had been a fool, but the money was gone, and there was no reason why he should betray his folly aloud to the world.
"I think I'll go down to Holloway and see René Lalage," Prout said thoughtfully. "I dare say I shall be able to advise him to tell me something as to the past of the Countess. If only he were not secure, that woman would have to look to herself. He believes that the woman betrayed and murdered his brother, and he is a Corsican. Give him a few hours' start, and the law would be rid of Leona Lalage." ”

“ John Prout lived alone in a cottage thirty yards from the main building of Ruddyford. It contained four rooms, of which he only occupied two. Now and again Tabitha insisted upon tidying up for him, but he dreaded her visitations, and avoided them as much as possible.
Brendon stopped at his door, and John spoke again before he alighted.
"Not but what Friend isn't a very good sort of man. The peat's a bee in his bonnet, yet never an honester or straighter chap walked among us. He looks to Amicombe Hill to make everybody's fortune presently."
"He calls it the Promised Land," said Daniel. ”

“ At the turn of winter John Prout went down to Dawlish, and did not come back. He sent a gloomy letter to Brendon, and explained that their master desired him to remain.
"He's come down to a shadow of himself," wrote John, "and the doctor told me yesterday, when I asked him how things were going with Mr. Hilary, that he'd taken a bad turn of late, and might not weather another year. He coughs something cruel; but he's wonderful cheerful since he comed to believe the old things. ”

“ Daniel nodded.
"All the same, we mustn't judge people by their looks," he said. "I was thinking much as you do only an hour agone—and saying it too. But I got a pretty sharp rap over the knuckles from Prout for my pains. Ban't our business, after all. He's a very good master—never heard of a better."
"And a very good payer. I've nothing to grumble at. Only a man's wife must be his first thought. ”

“ The Final Reliques of Father Prout, chiefly extracted from the Daily News and the Globe, were edited by Blanchard Jerrold in 1876, and an edition of his works, edited by Charles Kent, was published in 1881. ”

“ His appearance has much improved. His head, I think, has broadened and grown more impressive. When I saw him in London in 1855 I thought he looked like a Birmingham bagman; at present he has a solid and capable look like a successful banker, for he still looks one of the bourgeoisie not of the nobles.
The famous Father Prout was in Paris as correspondent of the Globe, and I hoped to have a pleasant talk with him upon the Ireland of our day, but he was unhappily laid up with an attack which ended fatally. He wrote me from what proved to be his dying bed:—
"8th May. ”

“ From 1876 to 1890 Prout was conductor of the Borough of Hackney Choral Association, performing many important works new and old. At the establishment of the National Training School for Music in 1876 he became professor of harmony, migrating in 1879 to the Royal Academy of Music, where he taught till his death; he was also professor at the Guildhall School of Music in 1884. ”

“ They were supplied with all the drawings they wanted at six guineas each—to the end. A very peaceful method of dealing, and under the true ancient laws ordained by Athena of the Agora, and St. James of the Rialto.
“And learn from your poor wandering painter this lesson—for some of the best he had to give you (it is the Alpha of the laws of true human life) —that no city is prosperous in the sight of Heaven unless the peasant sells in its market; that no city is ever righteous in the sight of Heaven unless the noble walks in its street.”
Prout’s work is divided into two clearly defined periods. ”

“ Nought on earth makes me so dog-tired as laziness."
Daniel was gone in a moment, yet, as he strode whence the girl had disappeared, he found time to ask himself what this must mean. He had never looked round after a woman in his life. Women about a place made him uneasy, and acted as a restraint on comfort. He knew nothing whatever concerning them, and was quite content to believe the opinions of John Prout: that, upon the whole, a man might be better single. ”

“ PROUT, EBENEZER (1835–1909) , musical composer, organist, and theorist, the son of a dissenting minister, was born at Oundle, Northamptonshire, on 1 March 1835, He studied at London University, graduating B.A. in 1854, and showing a gift for languages; but music was his passion from an early period. After acting as school-master for some years he devoted himself to the musical profession, in spite of strong opposition from his father. Though he had some pianoforte lessons from Charles Kensington Salaman, he was almost entirely self-taught. ”

“ Early in life he showed musical and other artistic talents, and while still a boy composed a song. After acting as tuner in London and Nottingham, he became an art student at South Kensington. Though he had no musical training, he won a scholarship at the National Training School for Music, where he studied under Prout, Stainer, and Bridge ”

“ There are many ways by which the Devil may come at a man. One of them is through hatred, and another way is to put a helpless thing in that man’s hands. If the good in him outweighs the bad, well enough; but if the evil has ascendancy, then that man is utterly lost and damned.
Proutt hated Westley; Proutt had in his hands Reck, a dog by Westley well-beloved. And Reck was pliant in Proutt’s hands, both because Proutt knew dogs and because Reck was by nature tractable, eager to please, anxious to do that which he was asked to do. ”

“ No man ever bore suffering more meekly. Essentially religious, he submitted with patience and resignation to the Divine will. All the home affections were warm and strong in him. He was of a tender, loving, and truly upright nature."
He spent some time at Hastings for his health, and when there his parish church was S. Mary's. He attended this church regularly, and the vicar, the Rev. Mr. Vines, used to say: "I always wait for Prout to come and light up my church." ”

“ In 1862 he won the first prize in a competition for a new string quartet, instituted by the Society of British Musicians, and in 1865 their prize for a pianoforte quartet; this work was occasionally played for several decades. A pianoforte quintet was still more successful. From 1861 to 1885 Prout was professor of the pianoforte at the Crystal Palace School of Art. ”

“ Westley called after him: “Wait!”
Proutt stopped his horse; and Westley asked: “What are you going to do?”
“You’re game warden,” Proutt told him sullenly. “Nobody around here can make you do anything, less’n you’re a mind to. But I’ve told you what’s going on.”
Westley was sweating in the cold, and said pitifully: “Proutt, are you sure?”
“Yes,” said Proutt; and Westley cried: “What did you see?”
“I had a deer marked,” said Proutt slowly. “He’d been feeding under an old apple tree{133} down there. I was there before day this morning, figuring to get a shot at him. Crep’ in quiet. ”

“ It is possible to give very definite rules as to the correct answering of a fugue subject, the treatment of the exposition and episodes, and the construction of stretto. But in dealing with those parts of a fugue which we are now approaching, we are met by far greater difficulties than any we have as yet encountered. These arise from the fact that as soon as in composing a fugue we get beyond the exposition (or counter-exposition, if there be one) , we are left to a very great extent free to do what we please ”

“ On the whole it may be said that, when there is no countersubject, we mostly find the more scientific devices of fugue writing applied to the subject itself. This, however, must not be taken for more than an attempt at generalization. There is no form of composition in which there is so much liberty of treatment and variety of detail as that of fugue. ”

“ It is by no means necessary that every fugue should have a regular countersubject. Of the forty-eight fugues in the 'Wohltemperirtes Clavier' there are seventeen which have none; and the question naturally arises, When it is desirable to write a countersubject to a fugue, and when can it be suitably dispensed with? It is impossible to lay down a hard and fast rule on the matter; but a careful examination of those fugues which have no countersubject shows that, in a large majority of cases, it is unnecessary, if the subject is intended to be elaborately combined with itself. ”

“ But mere analysis will not of itself suffice: the student must practise for himself, writing each separate part of a fugue (exposition, episode, stretto, &c.) till he has acquired fluency. Nothing but natural aptitude, aided by a great deal of study and hard work, will ever make a good fugue writer.
↑ The subject of Form as a whole will be dealt with in a later volume of this series ”

“ It is hoped that these examples will sufficiently show the nature of the fugato. It is, of course, far easier to write than a strict fugue, or even a fughetta, and is not of sufficient importance to require a lengthy notice ”

“ Flames of genius flashed forth here and there; but it is not yet the quiet fire on the altar which rises to heaven in clouds of incense—a perfume sweet to the gods. If Mozart is not a plant forced in a hot-house, he must become one of the greatest musical composers that has ever lived. ”

“ Just as a man may have a thorough knowledge of the grammar of a language, and yet not have an idea of poetry in his head, a musician may have perfectly mastered Harmony and Counterpoint, and yet be no composer. ”

“ In surveying Mozart's art work as a whole, one of the first things to strike the student is the comprehensiveness of his genius. There is hardly another of the great composers who has produced so many masterpieces in so many different styles. ”

“ I stayed, however, no longer than the end of the 'Kyrie.' Such music I never before heard in my life, for not only is the harmony often wrong, but he goes into keys as if he would pull them in by the hair of the head, not artistically, but plump, and without preparation. Of the treatment of the ideas I will not try to speak; I will only say that it is quite impossible that any Mass by Vogler can satisfy a composer worthy of the name. For though one should discover an idea that is not bad, that idea does not long remain in a negative condition, but soon becomes—beautiful? ”