MR. ABELL.
Mr. John Abell was one of the Chapel Royal, in the reign of King Charles II. He was celebrated for a fine counter-tenor voice, and for his skill in playing on the lute. The king admired his singing, and was desirous of sending him, with the subdean of his chapel, Mr. Gostling, to the Carnival of Venice, to show the Italians what good voices were produced in England: but the latter expressing an unwillingness to go, the king desisted from his purpose. Mr. Abell continued in the chapel till the time of the Revolution, when he was discharged in consequence of being a Roman Catholic. He then went abroad, travelled through Holland, and acquired considerable sums of money, by singing in public, at Hamburgh and other places. During this period, he lived in great profusion, and affected the expense of a man of quality, frequently travelling in his own equipage, though, at times, he was so reduced, as to walk through whole provinces with his lute slung at his back. Rambling through Poland, he arrived at Warsaw; of which the king having notice, sent for him to court. This honour Abell at first declined, on some frivolous excuse; but, dreading the royal displeasure, he made an apology, and attended the king on the following day. Upon his arrival, he was seated in a chair in the middle of a great hall, and immediately drawn up to a considerable height; soon after, the king appeared in an opposite gallery, when a number of wild bears were turned in, and poor Abell was left to his choice, either to sing, or be let down among them. Of these alternatives, it may seem unnecessary to say, that Abell preferred the former; and he afterwards constantly declared that he never sung so well in all his life.
About the latter end of Queen Anne’s reign, Abell was at Cambridge, with his lute, where he met with but little encouragement. It is uncertain how long he lived after this period, but he appears to have required assistance from his friends for support, though he preserved the tone of his voice to an extreme old age.
Harrison’s Musical Magazine.