shill. He is a tenacious friend to freedom of opinion on all subjects, both literary and scientific; and never thinks so humbly of men as when their sentiments are biassed by a name, or founded on any other authority than that of reason.

These qualities of mind, recommended by his professional knowledge, general information, and sociable disposition, have long since procured him a large and most respectable circle of friends, amidst whom, in his leisure hours, he indulges "the feast of reason and the flow of soul."

MRS. BILLINGTON.

TO a people by whom the polite arts are cherished and encouraged with a zeal as honourable to the public taste and liberality as advantageous and encouraging to the candidates for professional fame, the life of so distinguished a vocal performer as Mrs. Billington cannot be unacceptable.

Mrs. Billington is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Weichsell, at one time so well known to the musical world. She was born in London, in the year 1769: her father was of a noble family in Germany; but not enjoying a lineal inheritance adequate to the support of his title and dignity, he resorted to the study of music as a profession, and soon became a very respectable performer on several instruments. His brother, we understand, is still living, and fills the office of a judge at Erbach in Germany. Mrs.

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Weichsell

Weichsell, who has been dead some years, was a vocal performer of considerable merit, and for a number of years stood high in the esteem of the first amateurs in this country. She studied under the celebrated John Christian Bach, and was his most favourite pupil. We well recollect the delight with which we have listened to her in various concerts at which that excellent master presided; and also at Vauxhall, where for several years she held the rank of first singer, and gave with great taste and expression many beautiful songs which he composed expressly for her, and among which was the muchadmired rondo, In this shady blest retreat." Her style was elegant and florid, and her voice extensive and melodious; though she sometimes affected a reedy tone, which at that time was too much in fashion.

Miss Weichsell began to display uncommon indications of musical genius even at that infantine age when Nature generally conceals her mental treasures. Her father no sooner discovered these early symptoms than he commenced the cultivation of her growing talent; and afforded her every possible encouragement, both by his own instruction and that of the greatest masters. Her first efforts were directed to the piano-forte; which, indeed, may be considered as the plaything of her infancy. On this Instrument she made such a rapid and extraordinary progress, that when she was only seven years old, the writer of these memoirs heard her perform a concerto at the little theatre in the Haymarket; and when she

had

had scarcely reached her eleventh year, she appeared in the double character of composer and performer, by playing to a delighted audience a production of her own.

Among her several masters on the piano-forte, was the justly celebrated Schroeter, whose taste, delicacy of touch, and elegant volatility of finger, placed him in the first rank of instrumental performers. Fully sensible of the natural talents of his pupil, he spared no pains in their cultivation, and was amply rewarded by the pleasure of witnessing her wonderful progress, Some few years afterwards she had for her master Mr. James Billington, a respectable musician, who belonged to the band of Drury-lane theatre. She had not been long under the tuition of this gentleman, when a mutual affection took place, which led to a clandestine marriage; an event which greatly disappointed the hopes of Mr. and Mrs. Weichsell, who had in view for their accomplished daughter a more elevated settlement in life. Her voice, which did not at first greatly strike by the excellence of its tone, was in a constant state of improvement, and she soon acquired powers which distinguished her from most other performers. At the time of her marriage her merits as a singer had procured her such general admiration, that she was considered as an invaluable acquisition to any manager.

The new-married couple went immediately after their union to Ireland, where the proprietors of the Dublin theatre were happy to engage her; and at that theatre she first gave to the public those proofs

of

.

of vocal pre-eminence which in private concerts had already delighted all the first amateurs. Her fame extended with her efforts, and the English public were so desirous to hear her, that the managers of Covent-garden theatre were induced to invite her back to London: she accordingly returned; and in the winter of 1786 made her debut at that house. The piece in which she was first introduced to a London audience as a dramatic singer, was the opera of Love in a Village, which was purposely command, ed by their Majesties. The house was crowded, and her reception stamped her reputation as a first-rate vocal performer. Her voice, though by no means so rich and mellifluous as at present, possessed considerable sweetness, and her taste was already so far matured as to charm every refined ear.

The great Italian composer Sacchini, then in the zenith of his fame, was at that time settled in Paris: the wish to avail herself of his instructions induced Mrs. Billington in the following year to visit that capital. A mind so endowed as that of Mrs. Billington could not fail to greatly profit by the hints of such a tutor: she quickly caught from him much of that pointed expression, neatness of execution, and nameless grace by which her performance is at present so happily distinguished. Of this excellent composer she was the last and most shining pupil. He died shortly after she had received his instructions, but left in Mrs. Billington a living evidence of his genius and exquisitely cultivated taste. She soon afterwards returned to her native country, and per

formed

formed for several succeeding seasons at Covent garden theatre. She now felt a strong desire to visit Italy, where she hoped for an opportunity of still further improvement, and in the year 1794 again quitted England. Her principal object she quickly attained; and adding the excellencies of the first singers of that country to those which she had already acquired, became the first vocal performer in Europe, and displayed her unrivalled powers with such success as to receive the homage of taste and sensibility wherever she was heard. Milan, Naples, Venice, Leghorn, Padua, Genoa, Florence, and Trieste, heard and confessed the wonders of her voice and taste.

At Naples, Mr. Billington, who accompanied her on her travels, died suddenly. Walking up stairs, in good spirits, after eating a hearty dinner, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, and immediately expired.

In this city Mrs. B. received the most flattering attention from every one, particularly from Sir William Hamilton and his lady, who, proud of a singer of their own country who was allowed to eclipse all competitors, even in the very realms of the god of harmony, introduced her at court, and procured her the warmest patronage of the King and Queen of Naples, from whom she received magnificent proofs of their taste and generosity. The royal example was followed by Lady Palmerston, Lady Templeton, Lady Gertrude Villars, Lady Grandison, and several others of the British Nobility, who were at that time in Naples.