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on demand, he was a busy man. He became widely acknow- 
ledged a master in his profession, equally well versed in the 
theory as in the practice of music,* and especially proficient 
on the harpsichord. So prosperous were his affairs and so 
altered was his social status that he moved residentially to the 
Crescent. This move has never been credited, but by good 
fortune the diary of John Wilkes, Alderman Wilkes, settles the 
point. Being at Bath, Wilkes enters under 3rd January, 1772 
—Breakfasted with Mr., the two Miss Linleys, Rollestone, and 
Miles Andrews, at Mr. Linley’s house in the Crescent. So, for 
the first time this doubt is cleared. Wilkes was much struck 
with Elizabeth, who he thought the most modest, pleasing, and 
delicate flower he had f seen for a long time, superior to all the 
handsome things he had heard of her. But, alas, as the damsel 
developed into womanhood all this prosperity was spoiled by the 
bobbing around of that often nuisance, the amorous male, and 
eventually Elizabeth eloped with young Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 
This sad act broke up the prosperous Bath home, and largely 
tended through disappointment and a constant lasting regret to 
break up the life if not the heart of the father, who was thus, for 
a second time, deprived of his dearest solace just “in the pride of 
genius and the meridian of celebrity.” A few months after this 
event, in 1772, Linley left Bath for London. Some connection 
with Bath, however, was necessarily kept up for a time as the 
concerts and other work required attention and his house in the 
Crescent would be on hand. In London he and his family 
were soon engaged in the oratorios at Drury Lane, and in 
1774 he took over their management. In 1776 he bought a 
share in the Drury Lane patent and so in the business of 
the theatre and musical composition he spent his life. To 
his family grief and regrets he here added financial troubles, 
caused chiefly by the carelessness and erratic conduct of his 
* “Rees Encyclopedia.” + Almon. ‘‘ Memoir of Wilkes.” 
Jaa § Se 
