William Staughton was an Englishman by birth, and removed from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C., in 1820, to become the first president of Columbia College, now known as George Washington University.

In the preface of his secod edition of Anthems, Mr. Dyer says that he "proposes to publish a supplement of from twenty-five to fifty pages, to appear upon the first of October of each year, consisting of gleanings from the latest European works and the productions of living authors in the United States." One other publication, copyrighted in 1830, comprising "Choruses, solos, etc.," is often found bound in with the 1834 edition of his Anthem book.

BIOGRAPHICAL

Samuel Dyer was married in 1807 at Bedford, England, to Sarah Owen, and had four children. Their second child was Samuel Owen Dyer, who was born at Norfolk, Virginia, August 4, 1819, and died in Brooklyn, New York, April 2, 1894. During the years from 1829 to 1834 he was in England studying music. After returning to the United States he lived for a while in New Orleans. In 1839 he went to New York, where he was married the next year to Emma Price, and where he entered into employment with Firth, Pond and Company. Here he learned the trade of piano-tuner, and it was this company that issued the edition of his father's Anthems that he edited. After this he devoted all of his time to music-teaching, tuning instruments, and playing church organs. For many years he

served churches in Brooklyn in that capacity. Samuel Dyer was a member of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and in 1829 was the conductor of the New York Sacred Music Society. The name "Samuel Dyer" appears in the New York directories from 1824 to 1828 as residing at 44 Lumber Street, and his New York Selection of Sacred Music, the fourth edition of 1821, shows upon its title page that it will be sold by him at that address. The next directory, 1829-30, shows him as a music teacher in Brooklyn. As his name then disappears from the New York directories, it may be that he moved across the river into New Jersey, for he died at Hoboken, New Jersey, July 20, 1835.

"MENDON"

The tune "Mendon" usually attributed to Lowell Mason, first appeared in the "Supplement of Samuel Dyer's Third Edition of Sacred Music"; but there it had an extra note in each line. In his fourth edition he omitted this additional note, saying, "It is believed that the present arrangement is the original form." He called it a "German Air." Later when it was introduced into other hymn books, the melody of the last line was altered, and it became the tune as it is now known in most of the presentday collections. It is supposed that this change was made by Lowell Mason, and that he gave it the name of "Mendon." Most of the recent hymnals give the credit for its introduction into this country where it properly belongs, to Samuel Dyer.

LOWELL MASON

1792-18721

LOWELL MASON was eight years younger than Thomas Hastings, and both died within a few months of each other in 1872. The first named was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, January 8, 1792, and was the son of Johnson Mason and Catherine Hartshorn. His aptitude for music showed itself at an early age and he became the leader of the choir in his native town. The weaving of straw and its manufacture into hats had been introduced about 1800, and young Mason started in on this work with his father; but when he had reached his majority he set out with two other young men for Savannah, Georgia, traveling by post chaise, and the expense of this trip has been recorded as ninety-seven dollars. For the next fourteen years Savannah was his home, his business that of a clerk in a bank, while incidentally he was leading church choirs and making a collection of music. For seven years he was organist in the Independent Presbyterian Church, and just before he left the city he was one of the four who asked dismission for the purpose of forming the First Presbyterian Church of Savannah.

HANDEL AND HAYDN COLLECTION OF SACRED MUSIC

It is interesting to note the extreme modesty with which his first collection of music was placed before the public. While in Savannah he had compiled from various sources a large manuscript, and return

1 From The Choir Herald.