Richard Leveridge had a fine and powerful bass voice, and stuck to the stage till he was more than eighty years old, singing in the pantomime at Covent Garden. He was not only an actor and singer, but a composer, having taken part in the composition of an English opera, called the 'Island Princess,' in 1699, and he also wrote and composed many Bacchanalian songs. Died 1758, aged 88.
Of Lawrence little is known, except that when the opera of 'Hydaspes' was brought out on May 23, 1710, he was able to take a part in it, although an inferior one, and sing it in Italian. He had a tenor voice, and continued in Italian opera till 1717, when trace is lost of him.
Ramondon seems to have come upon the stage in 1705, and to have had a bass voice, as he took Leveridge's part in 'Arsinoë.' He seems to have left the stage with the opera of 'Pyrrhus and Demetrius,' but he published some songs in 1716, and set the song tunes in 'Camilla' for the harpsichord or spinet.
Mrs. Tofts was our English prima donna, and she too possessed the then rare accomplishment of being able to sing in Italian. She was the daughter of a person in the family of Bishop Burnet, and when she appeared on the stage, she won all hearts by her voice, figure, and performance. Her voice was more soprano than contralto.
We have seen her disclaimer when her servant insulted Madame de l'Epine; and doubtless it was sincere, as she was an equal, if not a greater, favourite with the public. She retired from the stage, with a competence amassed by her exertions, in 1709. If we may believe the Tatler (No. 20), she had sad cause for leaving the stage, having lost her reason. 'The great revolutions of this nature bring to my mind the distresses of the unfortunate Camilla, who has had the ill luck to break before her voice, and to disappear at a time when her beauty was in the height of its bloom. This lady entered so thoroughly into the great characters she acted, that when she had finished her part she could not think of retrenching her equipage, but would appear in her own lodgings with the same magnificence that she did upon the stage. This greatness of soul had reduced that unhappy princess to an involuntary retirement, where she now passes her time among the Woods and Forests, thinking on the Crowns and sceptres she has lost, and often humming over in her solitude,
I was born of royal race,
Yet must wander in disgrace.[476]
etc. But for fear of being over heard, and her quality known, she usually sings it in Italian,
Nacqui al regno, nacqui al trono
E per sono
I ventura pastorella.'[477]
A sad, very sad picture, if a true one.
At all events she must have got better, for she married a rich gentleman named Joseph Smith, a virtuoso, and patron of art; and when he went to Venice, as English consul, she accompanied him.