Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/218

i62 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. luxury, and his son, who succeeded to the office, also held it for a like period. It may be worth noting that his daughter now holds the far more onerous post of sub-post- mistress, and that a son, William, is the present parish clerk. Mr. William Trace had real music in him. He could play the violin and the tenor or bass viol with equal facility, and as he played the air he would sing the bass part of the Psalm or Anthem with accuracy and power. The range and flexibility of his voice (he was able to produce the lower C with fullness and ease) was no less remarkable than the crispness and purity of his touch upon the strings. For fifty years or more Trace was the mainstay of the church band and choir, and for the long period of something like forty years was the leader. In those days a Mr. Winnacott, who was, so report has it, a native of South Zeal, on the north-eastern fringe of Dartmoor, and who died, we believe, at Chawleigh, was a remarkably able teacher and a con- siderable musical power in North Devon. For many years he was responsible for the training of twenty-one choirs in the district, and of these Petrockstowe held first place in his affections. Every Christmas Day and every Whit Sunday, as these festivals came round, he spent in the parish, were it by any means possible ; and on these days John Luxton? the then parish clerk, would roll forth with especial gusto the time-honoured formula, " Let us zing to the praaze an' glowry o' God," which prefaced the announcement of the piece of sacred music about to be performed. The congre- gation would then turn and face westwards, but before the harmony burst forth there was a solemn pause. Amid the silence the parish clerk would descend from his seat below the pulpit and make a stately progress to the gallery, bearing with him his insignia of office — to wit, a Book of Common Prayer of considerable bulk and weight. Unkind people used to whisper that the anthem would have sounded no worse had John Luxton remained in the clerk's seat and kept his mouth closed. But such whispers, if he ever heard them, John probably put down merely to " jellisness." Under Winnacott's tuition William Trace made rapid pro- gress ; and more than once was the offer made him of a place in the choir of the Cathedral Church of St. Peter at Exeter. But Trace was a home bird, and steadfastly resisted