FLUTE, ORGAN, GUITAR (AND SOME HUMMERS)


_Flute_

We find several references to the flute, and Dickens contrives
to get much innocent fun out of it. First comes Mr. Mell,
who used to carry his instrument about with him and who, in
response to his mother's invitation to 'have a blow at it'
while David Copperfield was having his breakfast, made, said
David, 'the most dismal sounds I have ever heard produced
by any means, natural or artificial.' After he had finished
he unscrewed his flute into three pieces, and deposited them
underneath the skirts of his coat.

Dickens' schoolmasters seem to have been partial to the
flute. Mr. Squeers, it is true, was not a flautist, but
Mr. Feeder, B.A., was, or rather he was going to be. When
little Paul Dombey visited his tutor's room he saw 'a flute
which Mr. Feeder couldn't play yet, but was going to make a
point of learning, he said, hanging up over the fireplace.'

He also had a beautiful little curly second-hand 'key bugle,'
which was also on the list of things to be accomplished on
some future occasion, in fact he has unlimited confidence in
the power and influence of music. Here is his advice to the
love-stricken Mr. Toots, whom he recommends to

learn the guitar, or at least the flute; for women
like music when you are paying your addresses to 'em,