[ 162 ] VERA BRODSKY LAWRENCE Society in 1825 and 1826. John McKay is less easily identified. He might have been one of several John McKays listed in the city directories, whose professions ranged from painter and glazier to printer, shipwright, and grocer. Or might he, perhaps, have been the seafaring John McKay who was Jonas Chickering's partner in his Boston piano manufacturing business in the 1830s?43 Or his son? Whoever he was, he would assuredly have been a member of the Euterpean Society. With thirty-one of its thirty-seven pieces of music untitled, the contents of Amusement are hardly more easily identified than its flutist. Most of the compositions are merely headed by tempo indications, obviously copied from published sources. The collection comprises a few ambitious arrangements: Haydn's Symphony in B flat, La Reine, and the overtures to two popular operas, Henry the Fourth, by Jean- Paul Egide Martini, and Lodoiska, by Rodolphe Kreutzer. As with A Collection of Song-tunes, Aires—&c—, it is impossible to determine which, if any, of the unidentified tunes might have been composed by Hawldns. Of particular interest is number 31, merely headed "Andante!' but with a marginal note explaining that the piece was derived "From the Song, sung by Mr. Kean, 26th March 1821!' and a footnote elaborating that "Mr. Kean arrived in ship Martha, Capt. Shetchley, from Liverpool, at New York 1820, and Left New York (same ship) 6th June 1821!' "Mr. Kean" was, of course, the celebrated actor Edmund Kean, who was currently appearing at the Anthony-Street Theatre, temporarily in use to replace the burned-out old Park Theatre. For his benefit, on March 26,1821, Kean had announced the first performance in America of The Jew of Malta, written by "Mr. Marlowe" but altered by "Mr. Peuley" according to the newspaper advertisements.44 As an unusual added attraction, Kean would sing, for the first time in New York, and his vehicle would be "Scarce had the Purple Gleam of Day" a song dedicated to him by the contemporary English composer Isaac Nathan. A vocalizing Kean would necessarily have created a sensation among New York theatergoers, and a demand for the sheet music of 43 Louis C. Elson, The History of American Music (New York, 1904, reprinted 1971), 45- 44 Advertised in the Evening Post, March 24, 1821; New-York American, March 26, 1821.