ntion. He tells us, "In the year 1812 I think
I wrote a mock drama of some kind.... And at one time I wrote a
dramatic piece in which Augustus comes on. Again, I wrote a burlesque
opera in 1815, composing tunes for the songs."[36]

[Footnote 35: _Ibid._ i. 19.]

[Footnote 36: Mozley, _Corr._ i. 19.]

As to composing, he writes to his mother in March, 1821: "I am glad to
be able to inform you that Signor Giovanni Enrico Neandrini has
finished his first composition. The melody is light and airy, and is
well supported by the harmony."[37] We may add that Mr. Newman, Mr.
Walker (afterwards Canon of Westminster), and Mr. Bowles, played
together at Littlemore instrumental trios written by the Cardinal
himself, and which Father Bowles once told us were "most pleasing."
What has become of them?[38] On our showing the Father in 1869 an
original song to his words "The Haven,"[39] he pointed to the second
chord, exclaiming, "Ah, a diminished seventh!" We had no notion at
that time what perpetrated iniquity that might be, but two years later
he wrote: "Every beginner deals in diminished sevenths. At least, I
did as a boy. I first learnt the chord from the overture to
_Zauberfloete_; and henceforth it figured with powerful effect in my
compositions. You must try to make a melody. Without it you cannot
compose. Perhaps, however, it is that which makes a musical genius."
If you have no ideas, in fact, go in _con amore_, for the chord of the
diminished seventh.

[Footnote 37: _Ibid._ p. 61.]

[Footnote 38: Mrs. J. Mozley to J.H.N., December 1, 1842: "I suppose
you are able to make use of your violin now you are at Littlemore. I
have been practising hard lately, and wish you could come, that I
might turn my practice to good account." (Mozley, _Corr._ ii. 405.)
Father Lockhart, too, refers to Newman's playing at Littlemore
"exquisite sonatas of Beethoven." (_Paternoster Review_, Sept. 1890.)
Father Coffin, afterwards Bishop of Southwark, assisted at the musical
performances.]

[Footnote 39: _Verses on Various Occasions_, p. 86, Edit. 1888.]

On receiving a march, written by a pupil in 1873, he gently indicated
faults while giving encouragement, and wrote in July, "It shows you
are marching in your accomplishments. It is a very promising
beginning.... On reading it, I thought I had found some grammatical
faults, but perhaps more is discovered in the province of discords,
concords, and coincidences of notes than when I was a boy."