556 



Biographical Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 



[MAY, 



in easy circumstances. He was the com- 

 poser of several pleasing ballads; and he 

 published, by subscription, a collection of 

 popular vocal music. He died at his resi- 

 dence in Gloucester-street, on the 29th of 

 March, at the age of sixty-two. The imme- 

 diate cause of his death was an inflammation 

 of the lungs, produced by severe cold. 



EARL OF SHREWSBURY. 

 Charles Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, in 

 England, Earl of Wexford and Waterford, iu 

 Ireland, F.S.A., <fcc., was born on the 8th 

 of March 1753. He succeeded his uncle, 

 George, the fifteenth earl, on the 27th July 

 1787 ; and he married, on the 12th of Sep- 

 tember 1792, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of 

 James Hoey, Esq., of Dublin. He met with 

 the lady at Bourdeaux, whither she had gone 

 to take the veil. 



His Lordship was educated at Christ Church 

 College ; he was the premier earl of the 

 English peerage ; but being a Roman Catho- 

 lic, he could not act in public life. Until the 

 accession to the title of the present Duke of 

 Norfolk, he was for many years considered as 

 at the head of the Roman Catholics in Eng- 

 land. His Lordship always conducted him- 

 self with great moderation. 



The Earl of Shreswsbury, who traced an 

 uninterrupted male descent from the time of 

 William the Conqueror, with whom his an- 

 cestor, Richard Talbot, came into England, 

 died, after a long illness, on the 6th of April ; 

 and, leaving no issue, he is succeeded iu his 

 title and estates, by his nephew John, the 

 present earl. His lordship died possessed of 

 nearly half a million of money, independent 

 of landed and other property. He bequeathed 

 all his estates, plate, furniture, &c. to his 

 successor, who is also residuary legatee to 

 upwards of 400,000. The legacies a mount 

 to about 30,000 ; the annuities to 5,400 

 per annum ; and the charitable bequests to 

 3,000. The funeral obsequies of his lord- 

 ship were celebrated on the 18th of April, 

 in the chapel of the Bavarian ambassador, 

 in Warwick-street, in a style of extraordi- 

 nary pomp and splendour. The body was 

 removed thence lor interment to the family 

 vault. 



BEETHOVEN. 



The musical world has sustained a heavy, 

 perhaps an irreparable loss by the death of 

 Von Beethoven, the celebrated German com- 

 poser. Luderig Von Beethoven, was born 

 at Baun. in the year 1770 ; his father being, 

 at that time, the tenor singer in the chapel 

 of the Elector. His earliest instructions in 

 music, were received from Neefe, the court 

 organist ; and so rapid was bis progress that, 

 at the early age of eleven, he was able to 

 play the far famed preludes and fugues of 

 the great Sebastian Bach. He was early in- 

 structed in composition ; as, at the same age, 

 we find published at Manheim and Speyer, 

 under his name, variations to a march, 

 sonatas, and songs, all for the piano- forte. 

 The Elector of Cologne, attracted by his 

 youthful genius, became liis patron ; and, in 

 1 792, he sent him to Viennn, as court orga- 



nist, under the celebrated J. Haydn. Two 

 years afterwards, Haydn, on leaving Vienna 

 for London, placed young Beethoven under 

 the care of Albretchtsberger, one of the 

 most learned of modern conira-puntists. At 

 this period, however, Beethoven was more 

 distinguished for his performance thnn for his 

 composition : the critics of the Allgemeine 

 Musikalishe Zeitung of Leipsic, the first mu- 

 sical Review in Europe, while they were 

 loud in their praises of him as a player, were 

 proportionately severe in their remarks on 

 his attempts at composition, not allowing to 

 him even the merit of framing variations. 

 With some deficiency in precision, and dis- 

 tinctness of touch, his execution was singu- 

 larly spirited and brilliant; and, in an ex- 

 temporaneous performance, and in the art of 

 instantaneously varying any given theme, he 

 was second only to Mozart. 



In the year 1801, the death of the Elector, 

 and the precarious situation of the court of 

 Cologne, during the war, induced Beethoven 

 to make choice of Vienna as his future and 

 permanent residence. Original and indepen- 

 dent in his modes of thinking, as well as in the 

 style of his musical composition, Beethoven's 

 manners appear to have been rather repulsive 

 than conciliating : his friends were few, and 

 he was in open enmity with many. The 

 court taste at Vienna ran in favour of Italian 

 music. Salieri, the Italian, was, at this time, 

 in possession of all the honours and all the 

 emoluments of principal Maestro di Capella 

 to their Imperial Majesties ; and Beethoven, 

 without patronage or support, was left en- 

 tirely to his own resources. Under circum- 

 . stances thus unfavourable, he was induced, 

 in 1809, to accept an offer from the new 

 Westphalian court of Jerome Buonaparte, of 

 the situation of Maestro di Capella ; fortu- 

 nately, however, for the honour of Vienna 

 and of Austria, the Archduke Rodolpb, and 

 the princes Lobkowitz and Kiusky, induced 

 him to rescind his determination. In the 

 handsomest and most delicate manner those 

 princes had an instrument drawn up, by 

 which they settled upon Beethoven an an- 

 nuity of 4,000 florins, with no other condi- 

 tion, than that so long as he should enjoy it 

 he mu4 reside at Vienna, or in some other 

 part of the Austrian dominions, not being 

 allowed to visit foreign countries, unless by 

 the express consent of his patrons. With such 

 an income, equal to nearly 400 a year, we 

 are at a loss to know how it was that the 

 latter period of Beethoven's life was passed 

 in penury, and, as it is said, almost in a state 

 of destitution. Beethoven could not have 

 forfeited his annuity ; for, although he had 

 always a great wish to see foreign countries, 

 particularly England, he never even made 

 application for leave of absence ; yet, oo the 

 sixth of March last, we find him thus ear- 

 nestly addressing a professional friend of his 

 in this country. 



" Dear Sir, I do not doubt but that you 

 have already received, through Mr, Moscheies, 

 rny letter of the 22d of February. Having, 

 however, by chance, found your address 

 amongst my paper*, 1 do not delay writing: to 



