By this account of his day’s tranſactions, the reader will ſee how very impoſſible it was for him to find leiſure for ſtudy, in the midſt of ſo many important avocations; yet notwithſtanding this great variety of buſineſs, he made a ſhift ſometimes to play half a tune on the German-flute in a morning, and once in a quarter of a year, took the pains to tranſcribble a ſermon out of various authors.
Source: wiktionary