<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
<p>William <i>did</i> go to one of those seats of learning, and
would have starved there, but for the affectionate remittances of
Henry, who shortly became so great a proficient in the art of
music, as to have it in his power not only to live in a very
reputable manner himself, but to send such supplies to his
brother, as enabled him to pursue his studies.</p>
<p>With some, the progress of fortune is rapid. Such is the
case when, either on merit or demerit, great patronage is
bestowed. Henry’s violin had often charmed, to a
welcome forgetfulness of his insignificance, an effeminate lord;
or warmed with ideas of honour the head of a duke, whose heart
could never be taught to feel its manly glow. Princes had
flown to the arms of their favourite fair ones with more
rapturous delight, softened by the masterly touches of his art:
and these elevated personages, ever grateful to those from whom
they receive benefits, were competitors in the desire of heaping
favours upon him. But he, in all his advantages, never once
lost for a moment the hope of some advantage for his brother
William: and when at any time he was pressed by a patron to
demand a “token of his regard,” he would constantly
reply—“I have a brother, a very learned man, if your
lordship (your grace, or your royal highness) would confer some
small favour on him!”</p>
<p>His lordship would reply, “He was so teased and harassed
in his youth by learned men, that he had ever since detested the
whole fraternity.”</p>
<p>His grace would inquire, “if the learned man could play
upon any instrument.”</p>
<p>And his highness would ask “if he could sing.”</p>
<p>Rebuffs such as these poor Henry met with in all his
applications for William, till one fortunate evening, at the
conclusion of a concert, a great man shook him by the hand, and
promised a living of five hundred a year (the incumbent of which
was upon his death-bed) to his brother, in return for the
entertainment that Henry had just afforded him.</p>
<p>Henry wrote in haste to William, and began his letter thus:
“My dear brother, I am not sorry you did not learn to play
upon the fiddle.”</p>
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