Born: Dr. William
Cullen, illustrious professor of medicine, 1712,
Hamilton; Paul Joseph Berthed, physiologist, 1734,
Montpellier; Charles Wesley, musician, 1757, Bristol.
Died: Michael VIII
Palaeologus, Greek emperor, 1282; Louis, Prince of
Conde (the Great Conde), 1686, Fontainebleau; Sir
Roger l'Estrauge, translator of classic authors, 1704;
Charles XII of Sweden, killed at Frederickshall,
1718; Theodore Neuhoff, ex-king of Corsica, 1756,
London.
Feast Day: Saints
Fuscian, Victorious, and Gentian, martyrs, about 287.
St. Damasus, pope and confessor, 384. St. Daniel the
Stylite, confessor, about 494.
PRECOCIOUS MUSICIANS
There are several
unquestionable examples of on almost instinctive
musical genius manifesting itself in early infancy.
Probably the most remarkable of these, is the instance
of the two brothers Wesley, occurring as it did in one
family. Charles Wesley, son of a well-known clergyman
of the same name, and nephew of the better known
founder of Methodism (John
Wesley), was born at Bristol on the 11th
of December 1757. Nearly from his birth, his mother
used to quiet and amuse the infant with her
harpsichord. Even before he could speak, his musical
ear was so nice, that he would not permit his mother
to play with one hand only, but would take the other
and place it on the keys. Soon attempting to play
himself, his mother used to tie him in a chair at the
harpsichord, where he would amuse himself for hours
together. When only two years and nine months old, he
astonished his parents by playing a tune in correct
time. Soon afterwards, he could play any air he
chanced to hear, with a true bass added, as if
spontaneously, without study or hesitation. He then
seemed to have little respect or reverence for any one
not a musician. When asked to play to a stranger, he
would inquire, in his childish prattle, 'Is he a musicker?' and, if the answer
were in the affirmative,
would run to the instrument with ready eagerness.
Samuel Wesley was born in
1766, and evinced a talent for music almost as early
as his elder brother Charles. He could play a tune
when but two years and eleven months old, and could
put a correct bass to airs long before he had
acquired a knowledge of musical notation. He
constantly attended his brother, playing, or rather
making believe to play, on a chair or table, while
Charles played the harpsichord. With the advantage of
such an example, he soon outstripped his brother. He
learned to read from the words of songs in
music-books, and could compose music long before he
could write. At the age of eight years, he surprised
the musical world by an oratorio, entirely his own
composition, which he entitled Ruth.
As not unfrequently happens in
cases of premature development, the flattering
promises of youth were not fulfilled, as far as
regards Charles Wesley, at least, in riper years. He
soon became an excellent player on the organ and
harpsichord, at a time, it must be remembered, when
the art of playing on keyed instruments, far behind
what it is at the present day, was only advancing
towards the perfection which, comparatively speaking,
it may be said to have now attained. In early life,
Charles was brought under the notice of George III,
and often had the honour of entertaining the royal
leisure by performances of Handel's music. Of great
moral worth, amiable qualities, and simplicity of
manners, Charles Wesley made many friends in his day,
though as a musician, were it not for his precocious
exhibition of talent, he would be now quite forgotten.
After attaining a certain degree of excellence as a
performer, he remained stationary; none of his
compositions ever soared above mediocrity, and the
height of his eminence was the appointment of organist
to the fashionable church of St. George's, Hanover
Square.
Samuel Wesley attained much
greater eminence, both in point of musical and general
acquirement. He was possessed by an absorbing passion
for music, but this did not prevent him from becoming,
in addition, a good Greek, Latin, and Italian scholar.
Sheridan said of him:
'I am no judge of Mr. Wesley's
musical abilities, but I will venture to assert that
his intellectual powers and education would enable him
to distinguish himself in any walk of life.'
These
brilliant prospects were clouded by an unhappy
misfortune. Mr. Wesley, one night, accidentally fell
into an excavation for building purposes, that had
shamefully been left unguarded, in one of the London
streets. The effects of this fall depressed his mental
energies; for seven years he remained in a low
despondent state of mind, refusing the solace even of
his beloved art. He subsequently experienced several
recoveries and relapses, before being finally relieved
by death. His musical compositions were generally of
too elevated a character to please the public at
large. He composed a grand mass for Pope Pius VI., for
which the pontiff returned thanks in a flattering
Latin letter; and, as if to make the amende honorable
to Protestantism, Wesley composed thereafter a
complete cathedral service for the Church of England,
on which his fame as a musician now principally rests.
Mozart, already noticed in
a
previous article, was another striking instance of
precocious musical genius. An exception also must be
admitted in his case to the general comparison between
juvenile prodigies, and those trees, that, blossoming
out of season, seldom produce good fruit. Mozart's
father was an eminent musician, and his sister an
accomplished player on the harpsichord, so it may
almost be said, that he and Samuel Wesley were nursed
on music; their early attentions stimulated, and their
ears soothed with harmony. There is an instance,
however, of another precocious musician, who never
possessed any such advantages.
William Crotch was born at
Norwich, in July 1775. His father, by trade a
carpenter, though he had no knowledge of music, was
fond of the art, and with great ingenuity succeeded in
building an organ, on which he learned to play God
save the King, and a few other common tunes. About
Christmas 1776, when the infant Crotch was not more
than a year and a half old, he discovered a great
inclination for music, by leaving even his food to
attend to it, when the organ was playing; and six
months afterwards, he would touch the key-note of his favourite tunes, to induce
his father to play them.
Soon after this, as he was still unable to name the
tunes, he would play the two or three first notes of
them, when he thought the key-note did not
sufficiently express the one he wished to be played.
It seems to have been owing to his having heard the
superior performance of a Mrs. Lulman, a lady of
musical attainments, who tried his father's organ, and
who played and sang to her own accompaniment, that
young Crotch first attempted to play a tune himself.
The same evening, when being carried through the room
where the organ was, on his way to bed, the infant
screamed and struggled violently to go to the
instrument; and, on his wish being complied with, he
eagerly beat down the keys with his little fist. The
next day, being left with his brother, a youth of
fourteen, in the same room, he persuaded the latter to
blow the bellows, whilst he himself struck the keys of
the organ.
At first, he played at random, but
presently he produced, with one hand, so much of God
save the King as to awaken the curiosity of his
father, then in his workshop, who came into the room
to know who it was that played the instrument. When he
found that it was his infant son, he could scarcely
credit his ears and eyes. At this time young Crotch,
as proved by his baptismal register, was no more than
two years and three weeks old. Next day, he made
himself master of the treble of the second part, and
the day after he attempted the bass, which he
performed correctly in every particular, excepting the
note immediately before the close; this being an
octave below the preceding sound, was beyond the reach
of his little hand. After the lapse of a few more
months, he mastered both the treble and bass of 'Hope,
thou nurse of young desire,' the well-known song from
Love in a Village, and ere long, from this period, he
could extemporise the bass to any melody, whether
performed by himself or others.
The infantine attainments of
Crotch could scarcely be described without entering
into technical details. Suffice it to say, he never
rose higher as a musician than a church-organist, and
the degree of Mus. Doc. Premature musical powers, like
other precocious displays, seldom realise the
anticipations they gave rise to. Nature may sometimes
be exhausted or enfeebled by too early efforts, or
when that is not the case, the energy of her
operations may be impeded by early self-complacence,
or injured by an injudicious course of study. Genius,
particularly in music, is liable to restriction by
ill-chosen models, injudicious praise, want of good
counsel, and difficulty of access to the most
excellent compositions, the study of which is so
necessary to the formation of a correct style and
taste.
SIR ROGER L'ESTRANGE
Roger L'Estrange, born in
1611, was the youngest son of a Norfolk baronet and
stanch Royalist. He was educated at Cambridge, and
went with Charles I to the North in 1639. Faithful to
his family principles, he obtained from the king a
commission for taking the town of Lynn; and falling
into the hands of the Parliamentary army, he was
arrested, tried, and condemned to be hanged as a spy.
Petitioning the Lords, he was reprieved for fourteen
days, and the respite being afterwards prolonged, he
spent a dreary four years in the prison of Newgate, in
the daily expectation of being executed. He then
contrived to escape to the continent, where he
remained to the dissolution of the Long Parliament,
when he adopted the bold expedient of returning to
England, and appealing to Cromwell in person. The
appeal was successful; he received an indemnity, and
was discharged on giving security. His enemies
afterwards alleged that he had served Cromwell as a
musician, giving him the nickname of 'Oliver's
fiddler.' L'Estrange's explanation of this affair
affords us a curious peep at the manners of the times.
He says, that while the question of indemnity was
pending, he one day walked in St. James's Park.
Hearing an organ touched in a low tone, in the house
of a Mr. Hickson, he went in, and found a company of
five or six persons, about to practise music. They
immediately re-quested him to take a viol and bear a
part, which he did; and, soon after, Cromwell walked
in, stayed, and listened a while to the music, and
then departed, without saying a word to any one.
At the
Restoration,
L'Estrange
finding himself, with many other royalists, forgotten,
published his Memento, which was the means of
obtaining for him the appointment of licenser of the
press. He subsequently started and conducted more than
one newspaper, - and published a great number of
political tracts. From James II he received the honour of knighthood,
'in consideration of his eminent
services and unshaken loyalty to the crown;' and,
about the same time, he obtained a seat in parliament.
At the
Revolution, he was deprived of the commission
of the peace, and after seeing so many changes of
government, wisely retired into private life. Queen
Mary condescended to perpetrate a stupid anagram on
his name; but a distich, really shewing smartness, was
written by one Lee, who by years was so altered as
scarcely to be recognised by his old friend Sir Roger:
'Faces may alter, but names
cannot change,
I am strange Lee altered, you
are still Lee strange.'
Besides his numerous political
tracts, Sir Roger published many translations from the
Greek, Latin, and Spanish. His translations, written
in a semi-slang style, are full of curious old-English
colloquialisms. It has been alleged that he thus
aided in corrupting the English language, but a
contemporary writer says:
'those who consider the
number and greatness of his books will admire he
should ever write so many; and those who have read
them, considering the style and method they are writ
in, will more admire he should write so many.'
Dr.
Johnson was greatly indebted to L'Estrange, as is
evidenced from the numerous quotations given in his
dictionary. Sir Roger lived to the good old age of
eighty-seven, dying on the 11th of December 1704, and
his epitaph is still to be seen on one of the pillars
in his parish church of St. Giles in the Fields.
THEODORE, KING OF
CORSICA
Monarchs. have occasionally
been deposed, put to death, and subjected to various
indignities, but we question much whether any
individual, who had once exercised sovereign sway,
ever presented so pitiable a spectacle as Theodore von
Neuhoff, ex-king of Corsica. His memory is chiefly
preserved by the sympathy which his misfortunes
excited in England in the last century, and the
exertions of Horace Walpole
and other eminent
personages on his behalf.
This temporary holder of regal
power was the son of a Westphalian gentleman of good
family, who had held a commission in the French army.
His son, who was born in Metz about 1696, entered the
same service, but appears afterwards to have quitted
it, and rambled, as an adventurer, over the greater
part of Europe. At last he was thrown into prison for
debt at Leghorn, and on emerging from this
confinement, he made the acquaintance of several
leaders among the Corsican insurgents, then
endeavouring to effect the independence of their
country by shaking off the yoke of Genoa. Neuhoff
accepted their proffer of the sovereignty of the
country in return for assistance to be furnished by
himself, and he accordingly, in March 1736, made his
appearance on the Corsican coast with a supply of
ammunition and money which he had succeeded in
obtaining from the Bey of Tunis, by holding out to the
latter the promise of an exclusive trade with Corsica,
and permission to have a station there for his pirate
ships. Eagerly welcomed at first by the Corsicans,
Neuhoff was, in the following month of April, elected
king by their general assembly, and, at the same time,
swore to, observe the tenor of a constitution which
was then proclaimed.
For some months he exercised all
the acts of an independent sovereign, coining money,
distributing patents of nobility, and instituting an
order of knighthood. He is stated also, with the view
of shewing an example of firmness, to have put to
death three persons belonging to distinguished
families. Among other military enterprises, he
undertook successfully the capture of Porto Vecchio
from the Genoese, but was foiled in an attempt on
Bastia. His popularity ere long diminished, and
finding his position both an arduous and insecure one,
he made arrangements for conducting the government in
his absence, and quitted the island with the
intention, as he asserted, of obtaining fresh succour.
But his sovereignty of Corsica was never to be
resumed. After visiting successively Italy, France,
and Holland, he was at last arrested for debt at
Amsterdam. Some Jews and foreign merchants, settled in
that city, procured his release, and also furnished
him with means to equip an armament for the recovery
of his dominions. With this he appeared off Corsica in
1738, but was unable to land in consequence of the
depression of the insurgents' cause through the
assistance furnished to the Genoese by the French. A
similar unsuccessful attempt was made by him in 1742.
Neuhoff now proceeded to
London, where he met with great kindness and sympathy
as an exiled monarch. Additional mishaps, however,
befell him here, and he was obliged, in consequence of
money which he had borrowed, to endure an imprisonment
of some years' duration in the King's Bench Prison.
Here, it is said, he used to affect a miserable
display of regal state, sitting under a tattered
canopy, and receiving visitors with great ceremony.
Smollett has introduced a description of him in prison
in his novel of Ferdinand Count Fathom. At last the
exertions of Walpole and others succeeded in raising a
sum of money, which enabled Neuhoff to obtain his
release from confinement, after making over to his
creditors, as an asset, his kingdom of Corsica. The
advertisement in the papers of the day announcing the
opening of the subscription for the ex-sovereign, was
prefixed by the words in which, as is alleged, the
great general of Justinian used, in his old age, to
solicit alms�' Date obolum Belisario.'
Nenhoff did not long survive
his liberation, and died in London on 11th December
1756. He was buried in the churchyard of St. Ann's,
Westminster, where the following epitaph, composed by
Horace Walpole, was inscribed on a tablet, with a
diadem carved at the summit:
'NEAR THIS PLACE IS INTERRED
THEODORE, KING OF CORSICA,
WHO DIED IN THIS PARISH,
DECEMBER 11, 1756,
IMMEDIATELY AFTER LEAVING
THE KING'S BENCH PRISON,
BY THE BENEFIT OF THE ACT OF INSOLVENCY;
IN CONSEQUENCE OF WHICH
HE REGISTERED THE KINGDOM OF CORSICA
FOR THE USE OF HIS CREDITORS.
The grave, great teacher, to a
level brings Heroes and beggars, galley-slaves and
kings. But Theodore this moral learned ere dead: Fate
poured its lessons on his living head, Bestowed a
kingdom, and denied him bread.'
