further, hinted that he could not play so well, if he did not constantly look at his fingers. The little fellow, fired at the insinuation, requested the keys might be concealed from his sight, and exerted himself with increased effect. In short, his execution and music appeared so wonderful, that his Imperial Majesty was beyond measure delighted, and bestowed on him an appellation of the little sorcerer. In 1763 he visited Paris, where he performed before the court, and was thought greater on the organ than on the harpsichord. London, the centre of liberal patronage, heard his amazing powers, where he and his sister, performed to the most fashionable audiences. His present majety is said to have been his auditor, when a bass was given him as a ground, upon which he immediately raised the most exquisite melody. From London he passed into Holland and France, and from thence to his native place. After a year spent in study, and in the examination of the compositions of Emanuel Bach, Handel, and the old Italian masters, he paid a second visit to Vienna in 1768; when he composed at the express desire of Joseph II. his first comic opera, La Pinta Semplice, which gained the unqualified applause of the best judges---about this time also he composed the music for the consecration of the church of Orphans, which he himself condutted. In 1769, Mozart returned to Salzburgh, where he was appointed Maitre de Concert. Some time after he set off for Italy, the school of taste and enthusiam. Bologna admired and applauded

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genius so unrivalled---and Florence extolled him to the skies. At Rome he wished to have taken a copy of the celebrated Miserere from the Pope's chapel, but this being refused, he examined it with a quick eye, and afterwards in his chamber wrote out the whole of the numerous parts from memory only! The Pope bestowed on him the order of the Gilt Spur, and Bologna complimented him with the title of Member and Master of the Phil-Harmonic Academy. The probationary exercise for which honour, a fugue for four voices, he wrote in half an hour. He afterwards visited Naples. He generally wore a fine diamond ring when he performed in public. Some of the Neapolitan ladies observed to him, that his music must be the effect of magic, and that it lay in his ring. Taking that in the literal sense, which was meant only as a compliment, he immediately took off his ring, and soon convinced that the magic lay only in his own unrivalled genius. In passing, on his return through Rome, the Pope presented him with a very valuable crucifix. At Milan he composed his opera of Mithridates, which was much admired, and again went back to Salzburgh. In 1771, he made a second excursion to Paris, where, however, his stay 'was short. In 1773, he composed Lucio Sulla, by request, for the carnival. In 1781, being now twenty-five years of age, he composed at the desire of the elector of Bavaria, the celebrated opera of Idomeneo, for the carnival of that year also, which has merit enough in itself to have

rendered

rendered the author illustrious. He was now invited to Vienna, where his merit soon outshone the most brilliant of his rivals, The rapidity of his exquisite taste and feeling, were beyond all praise. His compositions were circulated far and wide, and every where astonished by their originality, expression, and energy. His next work was L'Enlevement du Serail. During the composition of this opera, he married Mademoiselle Weber, a lady of great musical talents and genius: and to this circumstance has been attributed that peculiar tone of tender passion, for which this piece is so remarkable. The story of the Marriage of Figaro, which filled at this time most of the theatres, was converted into an pera, and composed by Mozart, at the instance of the emperor; the songs of which were vociferated in the streets, the gardens, and the taverns, and it was performed at Prague during the greatest part of the winter. Here the manager of the theatre agreed with him for the composition of Don Giovanni, one of the most astonishing efforts of science and imagination, fire and feeling. The overture to which, after having been from home till midnight, he com posed in his chamber in a few hours, the very night before the first performance of that opera. The health of Mozart began rapidly to decline. However he was not idle; for in the few last months of his life he composed those three great works, The Enchanted Flute, The Clemency of Titus, and The Requiem. Some have called these his chef d'œuvres. Nothing ever had a greater run than

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than the first of these. It was performed at Vienna one hundred nights in less than twelve months, and on the hundredth night the theatre overflowed as much as on the first. The second was composed at the desire of the Bohemian states, for the coronation of Leopold, It was begun in his carriage on the road to Prague, and finished in eighteen days-The history of the last is singular-A stranger called on him, and requested he would compose as speedily as possible, a requiem for a catholic prince, in order to sooth his mind, and to prepare it for his approaching dissolution. Mozart demanded 200 ducats, and the stranger, in order to promote dispatch, deposited 400. The composer began the work, in the progress of which he felt his mind unusally raised and agitated. He employed not only the day, but much of the night in the composition of it, with which he seemed to be infatuated. He told his wife he was composing it for himself, and she prevailed upon him to give her the score, and endeavour to cheer his spirits. Upon his appearing more tranquil, she returned it, but he soon relapsed into despondency; and having finished it on the day of his death, he again reminded her that he had previously informed her it would be composed for himself. In the year 1791, and in the 35th year of his age, just after he had received the appointment of Maestro di Capella, in the church of St. Peter, he departed this life; leaving the world to admire the brilliancy of his powers, and to lament the shortness of the period allotted to their display.

NASH, (RICHARD) commonly called Beau Nash, a singularly eccentric character, was born at Swansea, in South Wales, in 1674. He was educated at Caermarthen school, from whence he was sent to Jesus' College, Oxford, but was obliged to quit that seminary on account of an intrigue. He then went into the army as an ensign, but soon becoming disgusted with that profession, he entered himself a student at the Temple, where he had the honour of conducting a pageant for King William. His heart seemed an assemblage of the virtues which display an honest, benevolent mind, with the vices which spring from an excess of good nature. He was happy in relieving the distressed, but wanted prudence in the application of his benefits. He had generosity for the wretched in the highest degree, at a time when his creditors accused him of want of justice. He forgot the well-known golden maxim, "Be just before you are generous." About 1703, Bath became much frequented by persons of distinction; several learned physicians having passed high encomiums on the salubrity of its waters. In 1704, Nash repaired to that city, which he contrived to make a still more fashionable place of resort, by instituting public amusements. He was chosen Master of the Ceremonies, a situation for which he was admirably qualified, and which he discharged with so much propriety that he was pronounced the father of the city. By his means, a noble hospital was erected there; and in the