BIOGRAPHY OF MUSICIANS.-T...
The Times, 1824-10-08T00:00:00

BtoGRarPY or MusIcIAXtS.-Though the English are not a imusical peoplc in the samne seinse as the Germans and I talianis are, yet fashion, or rather the progress @f civiliza- tioni, has long made a certain degree of knowledge of so elegaiit ani art as muaisic an essential distinctiomi of genteel and edlucated societv; and perhaps, from the vast numn- bers whom the great wvealth of England has raise(! into that rank wshich, being above the hecessity of toil, has the leisurc for oultivation and accomdplishmcnt, there is no country where music is better understoodl than among us, thouglh perhaps it is nlot very (leeply felt. At all events, there is so large a proportioin of society who arc curious about the science of music and its professors, that we are sure that the work just published, called A Binerravlhicut1 Dictionardi n' Alusicians, cainot fail to succeed. It is written with great care and impartiality; and, without any affectation of enthusiasm.,appreciates very completely the me- rits of coinposers and singers. WVe have no room for extracts; but we recommend to the notice of the English reader the lives of Purcell,Arne, and 8hield-a triumvirate, of wlich, we thinik, any country miglht be proud. Extract of a letter, dated Paris, Oct. 4:-" Yesterday (Sunday) the levee of his Majesty was very brilliantly, as well as numerously attendled. A great masny Members of the Opposition of beth Chamnbers were present. The King addressed himself in the most affable *nanner to II. Rover Collard, and continued talking witl- him fhr somie minutcs. Wlhen he was gone, the King asked Al. de Tallevrand who the Deputy was that he had been conversing with ? I Sire,' said Al. de Talleyrand, it was i.. 3toyer Collard.' * WVhy did you not tell mne sooner,' rejoined his Majesty, ' that I might have given him a better receptien ?' (Jc luioareiisfizit Un Iden mvtneur acmceet.) I I thought,' replied Al. dle Ta'leyrand, ' that your Majesty had recollected him; * but will your Mlajesty permit me to miake knewn by letter the obliging wvords you lhave spoken to me respecting himi?' I Yes, certainly,' said the King ; ' write to him what I have said, and express the sentiments of esteemn and affcction I feel towards hin.' " GENOA, Sept. 25.-" We learis that the masters of three Sardhiian vessels, who arrived here yesterday from Cagliari in six days, have renorted that the Neapolitan Consul had landed there from a Sardinian vessel coming from Algiers ; and that it was rumoured there that the Dey asked for the payment of300,0tlO dollars from the Neapolitan, and had pretensions ora similar nature against this state." Extract of a letter from Captain WVilsonl, of the ,Janset, arrived off SIargate from St. Vincent's :-" On the 2d of September, lat 35. 38., an long. 54. o1., we fell in with a pirate, asd were plundered of all our new cordage, canvass, and a num-ber of other stores ; also the mnen's clothes. Sie fired a shot at us, and mnade us heave to, and ordered our boat on hoard, whiclh I seast wiih the Mate, carpenter, and two other hands, who were kept, and niy boat niw:nedi withi about20 me, wlho all camiie arnied with long knives. Slie mounted 20 guns, and a :32-Ixuntder on a swivel." MARGAiCr, Oct. 5.-A circumstance occurre(I here yes- terday, whicib has excited no little curiosity eanl conversation in the femlale circles. A small vessel, apparently a pleasure y3acht, ap- iteared about a utile distant from the pier, anti was observed to niake repeated signals. A fishing vessel soon afterwards left the shore with only ayoung laMy and the fisherman on board, directing its course to the yacht, which war lying-to. The boat soon returned without thie iair passenger ; and thie pleasure vestel 'mmediately sail. t(l under a press ot canvass, shaping its course towards ,alais. 'l'he young lady had entered Alargate in a post-chaise. unattendetd, a few niimutes before. lVhilc the Congress of Mexico were engagaeil in providintg an honourable eximtence for tie widlow and orphans of the untbr.u- nate Iturbide, on the result of whose enterortse their fate entirely depended, the Goa? t/c of iMladrid, of the 14th of Septemiber, pub- lished an order, by which divers privileges and favours were grant- oil to the town of Torne de Pedro-Gil, andt to those wMho contributed to thie arrest of the gallant Riego, announced a Trant of 1,000 reals] for the annual celebration of a fete on the ann'versary of the day I that hero and his companions were betrayed-when the monk Vi- cente-Guerrero; who firt seized Riego, is to carry a holy banner, ;nd in case of prevention, his ucarest relation is to havethat honour; aL.nd further, the hertmitage of this fanatic is to ise enlaWed and em- bellished, an(i the brothers, Pedro and iliateo Lopes-Sara, arc to Isc richly rewarded for hliving assisted in the arrest of the patriot Riego. We ask every onc who examines these facts, oti which sbide cdo they find moderation, humanity, and justice ?-Courier Frummcais. On one of the Manchester coaches stopping at the Angei Itn, Northwich, on the 13th ult., it wits reported by the itiside ps- senigers, that a respectably-dressed young woman in the coach was it a. dying sta;te, and that the odoitr arising roam her breath and tier- son (wbhici might be only imagination) was so ofRtinsive that they w'ould not procecd any further it) her company. On this report conitng to the ears of M1r. Samuel Lockett, ot Northwich. wuho is in a very delicate state of health himnself, with titat generous feeling which hasevert3istinguished htin, heresolvetito see tihe youngsuftirer | personally, lhen he administered sotite wanrm brandy and w ater, in I the hope of givilg speedily relief; but death, that leveller ot all earthly distinctions, was pressing ton hleavily dn her heart to suffer life to be restoredl by his kindness. On the co-ach being again resdly to proceed, Mr. ILockett found that the passengers were still unwvil- ling to take their places in the inside, and, teeling for ttie deplorable situation tf the friendlss female, regardless of all danger from in. fection, plaled himeelf by her side, determined to aceoimpatiy lier as far on her way as Chiester ; btut de2Xh, whtch had long been lioverr ing over her as his prey, cut short' his journey, for, soon after his rakitig lhis seat by lier, she pillowed her head on his shtiulder, and before the coach hat! proceeded a tinle, the unfortunate unknown was ito more. Mfr. Lockett, find}ttg the vital 3paik hadl R,ed stopped the coach, and saw that every reguisite attention was paid toliher corpse. She was sery decently buried at Wittoti Church, Northiwich, on the 15th silt., Al r. Lnckett tctending ia the capacity of chief mourner, and several otlhers of his frietids follewing the hearse. It is still un- known who shie was, only that lier ntame was Davies, and that she was on her way fron Alanchester to XVrexhani.-IMocle.Ifleld paper. SUTCIDE.-Extract of a private letter, dated Naples, Sept. 16 :-" Sir Frederick Falconer, an Irish getitlemwati, who has been a re.sident here several years, put a period to his existence in a melancholy manner on Tuesday last, the 14th inst. Ever since his arrival here, in 1819, lie haltl been labouring under great pecucoiary emubarrassments; he had been repeatedly arrested Wr debts,and as fre- quetitly, almost immediately, liberated by the kindness' and gene- rosity of ihe English residents with whom he was acquainted. A rapid succession of :hese circumstances, and his ewn unpardonable imprudettce, at letigtli tired evenl the warmest-hearted and the best intentioned of liis friends, who, one by one, hald refuised to lend him any further assistance. Last week lie was-orl the point of being carried to prison for the trifling sum of 56 ducats, and was relieved by a Ncapolitan noblemtan, to whotm he was already deeply indebted. On Tuesdlay morning, the Huissiefs and the Juge do P;ix surpris. ed hima in bed, at Ills lodgings at the Riviera di Cbiaja, and presented bimn a fresh writ for a debtof 60D ducats. He reques:ted them to wait while he dressed; thevretired into another room accordingly; and after waiting more that a quarter of an hour, they re-entered his Cliamber, anct founid him in bed, with the sheet stained with blood, dranwn over his head ; they remove it, and fouind him dead ! His throa was I dreadfully mangled; he had' repeated the stroke titree times; rtie razor with which he had committed the deed lay beside him. The judicial authorities, at the inrtance,of ,Mr. Hamilton, mur miniister, were put under arrest, on accoun: of some irregularities, inconsistent with our treaty with this country, wlhici they lied committed i. the arrest; they were, however, admitted to bail after a day's confine- ment. The wifb of the unfortunate luan, Lady Falconer, who is conneoted with some of the fist famlUies of Ireland, has had the miost humane attentions paid to lier. The body was deposited yesterday evening in a garden, aear the Orto Botanico, tite only spot in Naples allotted to the burial of Protestants. This melanchloly catastrophe has excited a deep interest in the societies of this city, arnong which Sir Fredericic and his Lady had long mixed in an intimate maminer. 'The following text in Deuteronomv has been quoted in recommendation of parapets to houses :_" Whein thou buildest a netv' hotse, then shalt thon make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blootd upton thy house, if any man tall from thence." Of the intelligence and general informatiou of the Icelatid peas^ntrv," says Mr. Henderson, " I was one day fiurnish- ed with a surprising proof. Finding that a peasant of Urdir took a very livelv itnterest mn the succes oF tile British adtl Foreign Bible Sociey, gave him a brief view of the eYtent of its opeerations; and among other documents which I read to him, was the very intercst- ing letter addressed by the Kingof Persia to Sir Gore Ouseley,rela- tive to the ew version oF the Persian New Testr.ment. Having re- marked that it was dated in the year 1229, a little boy who was standing besidle us observed, that I it muss be a very old letter.' I'No, iyy lad,' replied the peasant, turning to hiun, : you must rc- colleet that letter is not dated according to our computation ; it is dated Vgsetably to the Hegira."'