One of my earliest musical acquaintance was John Brooke, Esq., a gentleman of good fortune and refined manners, possessing considerable skill and taste in the fine arts. His house was a complete museum, containing the most valuable books, pictures, engravngs, and choice musical instruments. The first subscription concerts held in Leicester, in the year 1785, were projected by him, the orchestra chiefly composed of the following gentlemen: the Rev. Robert Burnaby, vicar of St. Margaret’s; his son, the Rev. Thomas Burnaby; William Tilley, John Brooke, William Hodges, and Robert Coleman, Esqrs.; Mr. Carrick, my father, and myself. Added to these were the five professors of music, the Misses Ann and Fanny, with Messrs John and Henry Valentine, and Robert Valentine, jun. As the professors received only half-a-crown a-night, and the other expenses were small, the managers were able to give a concert every fortnight throughout the year for a subscription of fifteen shillings, little more than seven pence a night. The instrumental pieces consisted of the concertos of Corelli, Handel, Geminiani, Stanley, and Avison; the symphonies of Martini, Stamitz, Abell, Maldere, Vanhall, and Ditters. A sinfonia of Haydn, [From a subject in Haydn's 11th Concerto] was the first note of that author heard in Leicester. Miss Valentine used to play one of Handel’s organ concertos, or one of his harpsichord lessons, about every other night on the harpsichord, for the wretched little piano-fortes of that day had no pretension to be introduced into a concert-room. The vocal department depended entirely upon Miss Fanny Valentine, who sang the grave songs of Handel’s oratorios, and now and then a Vauxhall ballad.Mr. Brooke had the chief management; and, to take the Leicester people a little by surprise, introduced a pair of kettle-drums, which, with his tall figure and beau-like appearance, gave a complete finish to the band. He not being a first-rate timist, that office devolved upon me. << less