Anne Ford it was considered controversial for a woman to play the "masculine" viola da gamba, referred to at the time as the "viol di gambo". Ford gave a performance at Spring Gardens in 1761, "English airs". accompanying herself on the musical glasses. She also wrote a published work, "Instructions for Playing on the Musical Glasses". The instrument was comparable to the glass harp of Richard Pockrich consisting of individual glass goblets tuned with water, and preceded the 1761 mechanized armonica (Glass harmonica) invention of Benjamin Franklin and played by Marianne Davies. Ford's accomplishments risked being complicated by an infatuated lover, the
Paris in the 18th century polluted since the Middle Ages by the discharge of human and animal waste, the dumping of chemicals by the tanneries, and by the decomposition of bodies in the many cemeteries not far from the river. In the 18th century the Lieutenant General of Police banned taking drinking water from between the present Quai des Celestins and the modern quai de Louvre. Average Parisians depended upon the fountains around city, which were not numerous, did not run at night, were crowded, and required a payment for each bucket taken. Parisians either collected water themselves, sent a servant, or depended upon water