Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



546 



a measure which, of course, offended the 

 partizans of the ancient dynasty. M. Ma- 

 nuel, however, settled at Paris, and, in 

 1816, he made application to be inscribed 

 upon the list of Parisian barristers, that he 

 might be entitled to plead in the courts. 

 In the hope of finding something against 

 him, the Council of Discipline consulted 

 the members of the bar, at Aix, respecting 

 his character; but, although the answer 

 was favourable, the Council refused to com- 

 ply with his request. M. Manuel, there- 

 fore, practised only as a Chamber Council. 

 In 1818, he was elected a member of the 

 Chamber of Deputies by three departments ; 

 but was expelled in 1823, on the triumph of 

 the court party. 



M. Manuel spoke extemporaneously with 

 great facility ; a talent possessed by few of 

 the French orators ; and, on that account, 

 he was generally put forward in debate by 

 his party, when any thing occurred requir- 

 ing immediate notice or answer. 



M. Manuel's death occurred on the 20th 

 of August, in the house of his friend M. 

 Lafitte, at Maisons. His funeral proces- 

 sion, on its way to the cemetery of Pre la 

 Chaise, experienced, as in the case of M. de 

 Rochefoucauld, a serious interruption from 

 the police. The fear of popular commotion 

 was the pretext assigned for this interfe- 

 rence. More than 100,000 persons are said 

 to have attended the funeral ; and it was 

 with considerable difficulty that M. Lafitte 

 prevailed on the people not to resist the 

 military. Orations were delivered over the 

 grave by M. Lafitte, General Lafayette, and 

 M. de Schonen, counsellor of the court of 

 Paris ; and a public subscription has been 

 commenced to erect a monument to his 

 memory. 



Cr G. KIESEWETTER. 



Christoph Gottfried Kiesewetter, the cele- 

 brated violinist, born at Anspach, in the 

 year 1777, was the son of Johann Frederick 

 Kiesewetter, first violin at the Royal Chapel 

 of Anspach, and one of the best performers 

 of the school of Beuda. 



C. G. Kiesewetter had, since the winter of 

 1821, spent much of his time in England, 

 where he acquired much popularity by his 

 concerto and solo playing. A competent 

 judge of the science has observed, that 

 " Kiesewetter was on the violin, what Mun- 

 den was in Comedy ; like him, he could 

 cither raise a smile by his comic skips and 

 eccentric roulement> or move the heart by 

 his touches of exquisite feeling." His first 

 performance in London was at the Philhar- 

 monic Concert, where his success was com- 

 plete. He was the first who introduced the 

 compositions of the celebrated Mayseder 

 into this country. In the season of 1824, 

 he performed at the Spiritual and other 

 concerts in London. Kiesewetter was en- 

 gaci'd at the late Leicester Music Meeting, 

 where he played once. He was also en- 

 gaged at Norwich, but the committee would 



[Nov. 



not suffer him to perform, in consequence 

 of the indisposition under which he was 

 labouring. Mr. Oury, leader of the ballets 

 at the Opera House, was fortunately with 

 him. From that gentleman he received 

 every attention. Mr. Oury brought him to 

 London, on the night of Sunday the 23d of 

 September, and never left him till he 

 breathed his last, at his apartments in 

 Great Portland Street, on the morning of 

 the following Friday. It is feared that 

 Kiesewetter's circumstances were not the 

 most flourishing. He has left an affection- 

 ately-attached widow, and eight or nine 

 children, in Germany. 



JOSIAH SPODE. 



Josiah Spode, born at Stoke-upon-Trent, 

 Staffordshire, in the year 1754, was the son 

 of a respectable manufacturer of earthen- 

 ware in that town. In the early part of his 

 father's time, the manufactories for this 

 now valuable article of commerce, were few 

 and small. The old gentleman produced, 

 in perfection, and with great success, the 

 blue printed table and tea services, which 

 had then been recently introduced ; and the 

 vitrified basaltes, or black Egyptian ware, 

 received from his efforts a valuable im- 

 provement. His success in business was 

 considerable, and he lived to see the manu- 

 facture of earthenware become a staple 

 source of national industry and revenue. 



Young Spode was, from his earliest years, 

 remarked for intelligence and attention. 

 When taken from school, his father em- 

 ployed him occasionally to superintend every 

 branch of the manufacture, in which his 

 services could be available. At the early 

 age of nineteen, he mai-ried Miss Barker, 

 a daughter of a brother manufacturer. This 

 union, in which neither interest nor am- 

 bition had part, constituted the mutual hap- 

 piness of the parties, until the year 1797, 

 when the lady died in childbirth. 



After his marriage, Mr. Spode's father 

 and father-in-law, found it eligible that he 

 should settle in the metropolis, where, by 

 the sale chiefly, of the blue printed table 

 and tea services, and also of every descrip- 

 tion of earthenware, he might greatly ex- 

 tend the connexions and interest of the 

 establishment. In this he so abundantly 

 succeeded, that, in one year, previously to the 

 death of his father, which occurred sudden- 

 ly in 1797, his net profits exceeded the sum 

 of ,13,000. His liberality kept pace with 

 his success. Upon one occasion, he pre- 

 sented a diligent and confidential servant 

 with a donation of .1,000. 



On his father's death, he committed the 

 management of the London warehouse to 

 the conduct of his eldest son and of the con- 

 fidential servant alluded to, and settled his 

 family at Fenton Hall, in the neighbourhood 

 of his manufactory, at Stoke. The esta- 

 blishment was now greatly extended ; and, 

 to the manufacture of earthenware, that of 

 porcelain, hitherto obtained from Derby, 



