430 



Biographical Me-nioirs of Eminent Persons. 



[ApRir-, 



always agreeable to the ear ; but, in com- 

 pass, it was equal to any piece of music ; 

 the falsetto part was extensive and sweet 

 beyond conception ; and the bass was better 

 than could be reasonably expected in one 

 gifted so liberally in other respects. In the 

 song of " ^V.y hnnm;, bonny Bet, sweet bl>s- 

 som," he particularly charmed with his 

 falsetto ; and he was frctjuently obliged to 

 sing that air three times — never less than 

 twice — in the course of an evening. After 

 a few years, however, he practised more in 

 the tenor or middle part of his voice, and 

 used the falsetto less than in the earlier 

 part of his career. 



Mr. Incledon made his debut as Dermot, 

 in Tlie Poor Soldier, at Covent Garden 

 Theatre, in October 1790. He had for 

 some time to labour iigainst the prejudice 

 of having been a Vauxhall singer; and, as 

 liis histrionic talents were of a very humble 

 stamp, it was long before he could obtain 

 possession of any first-rate characters. His 

 occasional performance, however, of Cap- 

 tain Macheath, Young Meadows, &;c. was 

 so masterly, as proved him to be fully com, 

 petent to take the lead in all operas. Ulti- 

 mately, his powers were duly aj)preciated 

 by the managers and by the public. 



For many seasons Mr. Incledon sang 

 with great eclat at tlie Oratorios in Lent ; 

 frequently he visited Ireland, where no 

 singer, not even Mrs. 15illington, was ever 

 more caressed. Of late years — somewhat 

 neglected, perhaps, for newer favourites in 

 the metropolis — his engagements were 

 chiefly of a provincial nature. Styling liim- 

 self " The Wandering Melodist," he was 

 accustomed to give a vocal entertainment 

 of his own, whicli was generally received 

 with great favour. He was, we believe, 

 in the arrangement of one of these plans at 

 Worcester, when, about the commence- 

 ment of the present year, he was suddenly 

 seized with a paralytic affection, -which, in 

 the course of a few weeks, led on the ter- 

 mination of his existence. He had been 

 married three times ; and he has a son en- 

 gaged in agricultui-al pursuits, now, or re- 

 cently, living in the neighbourhood of Bury 

 St. Edmund's, Suffolk. 



We should have mentioned that, subse- 

 quently to the termination of his regular 

 engagements at the London tlicatres, Mr. 

 Incledon crossed the Atlantic, and made a 

 vocal tour through great ])art of the United 

 States ; but, we are appreliensive, without 

 any solid pecuniaiy advantage. 



DR. N0EHDE^. 



March 14. — This gentleman, well known 

 as the assistant-keeper of antiquities at the 

 British Museum, died at his residence 

 imder that establishment. He was much 

 attached to the study of botany and natural 

 liistory. In conjunction with Dr. Stod- 

 dart, he, many years ago, translated " Don 

 Carlos," a tragedy, from the German of 

 Schiller ; and during the last quarter of a 

 century, he has published numerous works 



on the German language — grammars, dic- 

 tionaries, &c. and several on horticulture, 

 the improvement of fruit trees, &c. 



VISCOUNT NETTERVILLE. 



March 15.— .Tohn Netterville, Viscount 

 Netterville, of Douth, in the county of 

 Meath, was born in the year ITii, and he 

 succeeded his father, the late viscount, in 

 17o0. His lordship was the descendant of 

 Sir Formal de Netterville, an Anglo-Nor- 

 man knight, who settled in Ireland in the 

 reign of Henry II. Sir Formal married 

 Philadelphia, daughter of William de Vesey, 

 by Isabel, daughter of William, Earl of Sa- 

 lisbury, son of Henry II. by Kosamond, 

 daughter of Walter, Lord Clifford, and was 

 ancestor of Nicholas, created Viscount Net- 

 terville, in 1662. By his lordship's death (at 

 his seat near Dubhn), the title is extinct. 



I.OUD DOWXES. 



March. — Wm. Do^vnes, Baron Downes 

 of Aghenville, in the King's County, Ire- 

 land, descended from a family seated at 

 Debenham, in Suffolk, as early as the 1 4111 

 century. His grandfather, the Right Rev. 

 Dive Downes, was Archdeacon of Dublin 

 in 1690, and Bishop of Cork and Ross, in 

 1699. His Lordship was the younger son 

 of Robert Downes, of Donnybrook, Esq., 

 M.P. for the county of Kildare. He was 

 born about the year 17ol : brought up to 

 the study of the law ; called to the Bar iu 

 June 1776; raised to the Bench, in March 

 1792; and in 1803, on the death of Lord 

 Kilwarden, appointed Lord Chief Justice 

 of the Court of King's Bench, and sworn 

 in one of his Majesty's Most Honourable 

 Pri\')' Council of Ireland. In 180G, on the 

 resignation of I^ord Redesdale, he was, 

 by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cum- 

 berland, Chancellor of the University of 

 Dublin, nominated \ice-chancellor of that 

 University. On the 21 st of February 1822, 

 his Lordship resigned the office of Chief 

 Justice ; and in compensation of his ser- 

 vices, he was, by patent, dated December 

 10th, in that year, created Baron Downes, 

 with remainder, on failure of issue male, to 

 Sir Ulysses Burgh, K.C.B., K. T. S. &c. 

 Captain and Lieutenant- General in the 

 Grenadier Guardsj and his heirs male. 

 From the time of his elevation to the peer- 

 age his Lordship enjoyed a pension of 

 .£4,000 a year. He died at his seat at 

 Merville, in Ireland. 



MR. JOHN FAREY. 



Jan. 6. — This gentleman. Who was for 

 many years a most valuable contributor to 

 this magazine, was bom at Wobnrn, in 

 Bedfordshire, in 1766, and received a 

 common school education there. He 

 gave early indications of a studious dispo- 

 sition, and at the age of sixteen he waa 

 sent to school at Halifax, in Yorkshire. 

 The master being a studious man and a 

 good mathematician, was so pleased with 

 his scholar that he gave him gratuitous in- 



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