‘That Mrs. Billington possessed a kind disposition, I, who knew her early and long, can confidently affirm. Her great talents rendered her an object of envious rivalry, and interested scribblers defamed her character. The man who, by his influence over her mother, obtained all the property of the latter by a real or pretended will in his favour, took possession of that property, and had the revolting indecency to remove it from her lodgings on the very day of her death; and, notwithstanding his affected friendship for the mother, almost immediately after her death published a scurrilous life of the daughter, recording actions and events which existed only in the invention of disappointed malice and venality.’
‘On her death, her [second] husband [M. Fellisson] returned to this country, and demanded her property from her trustee, Mr. Savory [of Bond street], her firm and zealous friend; and as there was no opposing claim, I understood from Mr. Savory, that he paid him to the amount of 40,000l.’
I can add to the above, that more than one of her friends, on taking leave of her previously to this journey, felt, all circumstances considered, that they should never see her again, either in England or elsewhere. She fell a sacrifice to a very much mistaken sense of duty; but the immediate cause of her death has never yet been stated.
He tells us that Mr. James Hook, (the most voluminous composer of songs that ever existed) had for his first wife a lady of very respectable talents as an artist. She had also literary talents, and wrote two or three dramatic pieces, which were well received by the public, and to which her husband’s music was adapted. She wrote the words of several of his songs. She died some years before her husband, and a considerable time elapsed before Mr. Hook married again.... ‘His two sons, James and Theodore, both displayed extraordinary abilities at a very early age, and their parents gave them every advantage of education. James was placed very early at Westminster school, where he soon distinguished himself by his classical attainments and literary powers. He also, at a very early period, displayed considerable skill and taste as an artist. He wrote an opera, Jack of Newbury, to which his father contributed the music, which was successfully performed at Drury-Lane Theatre. Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Hook enjoyed several valuable preferments, and finally became Dean of Worcester. He inherited the musical taste of his father. Theodore, his younger brother, also distinguished his talents at Westminster school. He is the author of several dramatic pieces, which have been represented with great success;—(ii. 392.)
Mr. Taylor thus mentions the late Mr. Shield:—‘Perhaps there never was an individual more respected, esteemed, and admired than this late eminent composer. With a shrewd, intelligent, and reflecting mind, and a manly spirit, there was a simplicity in his manners that obviously indicated the benevolence of his disposition. Of his musical merits it is unnecessary to speak, as his compositions were universally admired for their science, as well as for their fancy, taste, and sensibility.’—(ii. 220.)
Of Jackson, the composer, or ‘Jackson of Exeter,’ as he is commonly called, Mr. T. speaks thus:—‘Mr. Jackson possessed an excellent understanding, and literary talents of no ordinary description. His “Thirty Letters on various Subjects” is a work highly creditable to his talents and knowledge of human nature. He was a tall, good-looking man, with an expressive face, and a reserved, grave demeanour. He appeared to me to be well acquainted with history, and with the opinions of the ancient philosophers. According to the report of Mr. Opie and Dr. Wolcot, he was an admirable judge of painting.... He was one of the very few men whom Dr. Wolcot, a shrewd judge of mankind, regarded with particular respect for his intellectual powers.’—(ii. 347.)
16th. A discovery, it is said, has been made, which, were it to turn out as represented, would create an extraordinary sensation in the musical world. In examining a great quantity of manuscripts of all kinds, left by the late Mr. Harris, chief proprietor and long manager of Covent-Garden Theatre, and which had been accumulating during the last forty or fifty years, an opera in score, by Mozart, in his own hand-writing, with his signature in every page, has been found, and which, it is stated, has never been performed. This is all that has been heard on the subject; though some persons of a sanguine turn, and a lively imagination, have already persuaded themselves that it was actually composed for Mr. Harris, but at first neglected, and afterwards forgotten by him. The improbability, if not the impossibility, of this will at once be obvious, when it is considered that Mozart kept a most accurate list of all his compositions, from the commencement of the year 1784, before which time he had produced only one of his great works;—that in that Catalogue Thématique[17] he carefully recorded when, where, and for what purpose his various works were produced; and that therein no notice is taken of any opera written for Mr. Harris, or of any other whatever that has not since been performed. The chances are, then, that if this is not an authenticated copy of some of the well-known operas, it is a transcript of one of those composed by him in his boyhood, whereof there are several extant, all of which have been examined repeatedly, by different persons, and found wholly unworthy of being brought forward in any shape. This is supposed to be the grand secret divulged some weeks ago to a committee of performers at Covent-garden Theatre. At first the story had a suspicious aspect,—it seemed to be a clumsy imitation of the Shakspeare forgeries; but upon inquiry it appears pretty certain, that if there is any deception in the business, the gentlemen in whose hands the Manuscript is placed are not answerable for it. There is not, however the slightest ground for believing that the expectations excited by this circumstance will be, in any manner or degree, realized.
18th. The Royal Society of Musicians have presented Mr. John Parry, the well-known secretary of the Association for the encouragement of Welsh Poetry and Music, with an elegant piece of plate, as an acknowledgment of his zealous and disinterested services, which, it was stated by the chairman of a dinner given on the occasion, had been the means of adding, for the last twelve years, upwards of 60l. per annum to the funds of that benevolent and useful society. Such instances of active liberality are worthy of being recorded.