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Tery select circle of dew friends formed liis only social 

 enjoyment.' 



By slow degree*. irmliidie*. arising probably from a long- 

 continued mate of mental irritation, attacked a frame which 

 nature had made healthy and robust, and rendered re- 

 course to medical aid absolutely necessary. Throo of the 

 chief Vienna ph\ -ic-mis attended him, and nonlivti-d nothing 

 that could alleviate the sufferings of their patient. But 

 the hope of any cure soon vanished : symptoms of dropsy 

 appeared, and became more and more decisive in character. 

 He underwent the operation of tapping, which mitigated 

 the pain he endured. During the process he very charac- 

 teristically exclaimed. 'Better water from my body than 

 from my pen.' Six days before his death he said to Iris 

 friends Si. Schindler, an Aulic counsellor, and M Brenning, 

 * Plaudit?, amid, comcettia finita */.' From about that 

 time to the moment of his decease he was in a state of 

 constant delirium ; and in tho evening of the 26th of 

 March, 18-27, he breathed his last. M. Schindler, in a 

 letter to Mr. Moscheles, says, ' The funeral ceremonies 

 were such as are due to the remains of a great man. It is 

 calculated that nearly 30,000 people were collected on the 

 glacis and in the street through which the procession was 

 to pass. The scene is not to be described in words; but if 

 you remember the immense concourse of people in the 

 Crater during the Congress of Vienna in 1814, you may 



f>rm some idea of it Eight Hf<i>trfi-de-Chapelle 



were pall -bearers; and in the whole there were thirty-six 

 torch-bearers, among whom were the poets Grillpartzer and 

 Castelli. as also all the first artists in Vienna.' At the end 

 of this letter, the writer mentions an extraordinary proof ol 

 the avidity with which the German phrenologists seize every 

 opportunity of pursuing their investigations. ' Yesterday ,' 

 - ivs, ' the grave-digger came to announce to us that an 

 offer of a thousand llorins, convention-money (about 100/ 

 English), had been made to him by letter, if he would de- 

 posit the head of Beethoven in a place fixed on.' 



' In taking an inventory of M. Beethoven's property,' the 

 before-named gentleman adds, ' there were found, in a 

 half-mouldered chest, seven Austrian bank bills, value 

 about 1000/. in British money, and about 100 llorins in 

 paper money. The hundred pounds which the Philhar- 

 monic Society of London had seat him were found mi 

 touched.' This society, hearing that one to whom UHIMI 

 owed such deep obligations was suffering from sickness aw 

 straitened circumstances, with a most laudable feeling, im 

 mediately transmitted that sum for his immediate use, am' 

 were prepared to show a further proof of their gratitude, hut 

 it been necessary. 



Beethoven died unmarried ; and he was never known to 

 form any attachment of a tender kind. His portraits are 

 faithful representations. He was of the middle size, stout 

 and his form altogether indicated strength. Notwithstand 

 ing tho strange kind of life he led, his only illness was 

 that uf which he died. 



In reference to his projected travels, it has been observe' 

 by an anonymous writer in the Harmnnicnn (vol. i. 166) 

 that it may be doubted whether his presence would havi 

 added, either here or elsewhere, to his celebrity. His ex 

 treme reserve towards strangers prevented his displaying 

 those excellent qualities which, under a forbidding exterior 

 he was known to possess : and such were the contrasts in 

 his character, that occasionally his bluntness of remark 

 and his total want of reserve in offering his opinion of others 

 made him appear to be quite forgetful of the prescribe! 

 rules of society. But, continues the writer in the worl 

 mentioned, notwithstanding these foibles, which too often 

 accompany genius, his character for integrity ranked de 

 servedly high : his strong feeling of truth and justice pro- 

 duced a rectitude in his moral conduct which ensured him 

 the esteem of every honourable man. Though his early 

 education was rather neglected, yet he made up for tlv 

 deficiency by subsequent application ; and those who knot 

 him well state, that his knowledge of German literature was 

 very respectable, and that he was a tolerable proficient in 

 Italian, though of French ho knew very little ; indeed, he 

 had strong prejudices against that nation. Whenever he 

 could be induced to throw off the reserve arising, mos 

 likely, from his infirmity, his conversation became ' ex 

 tromely animated, full of interesting anecdote, and rcpluti 

 with original remarks on men and ni;uu. 



But after his decease it was found that he was consciou: 

 of his own weaknesses, and in hit will had apolo,.' 



hem. This curious document, so interesting to the ..d 

 mirers of Beethoven, to the lovers of art, and to 

 ihilosophcr, as developing the tilings of an illust; 

 composer, and throwing a light on Ins p,-i- >n:i! <! ir > UT, is 

 lated Heiligcnstadt, Oct. 6, 1802, and addressed t< 

 >rothcr Carl, and his nephew Ludwig Beeth 



Beethoven's published works reach opera l.n. nt least; 

 .hey embrace every class and are in all shies. His vocal 

 nnsic is full of beautiful new melody, and equally distin- 

 guished by strong feeling and a just expression of the words. 

 His oratorio, The Mount nf Olirrt, his opera, Pidtlio, and 

 two masses, bear testimony to this : though, in our opi- 

 nion, his numerous songs, very little known in England 

 tlis two cantatas, ' Adelaida,' and ' Ah ! perfido, spcritiur.i,' 

 with which all real lovers of music are acquainted. display 

 taste of a more refined kind than any of his other \ 

 works can boast. Most of his pianof rtc music is ad- 

 mirable, and possesses every quality that vaM genius c 

 endow it with ; while some is crude, wantonly difficult, and 

 betrays a wayward fancy. His quintets and quarti-'- 

 wliat may be termed his chamber music, are elaborately 

 written, and so original, they speak a language so uncom- 

 mon, that, on a first, and even second hearing, many 

 and impartial critics have confessed themselves Una 1 

 form a decisive opinion of their merits. On fiirthei 

 quaintanc-c, beauties of the rarest kind art! unfolded, and 

 the appetite for them increases in proportion a tln-> 

 better known. We are, it roust be understood, alludii 

 the best of the class ; the composer was not successful in 

 every production of the sort, thounh his failures were 

 paratively few. But the grandeur of Beethoven's co: 

 tions, and his marvellous skill in dcvr: i>:m nt. an- 

 manifest in his orchestral works, in his overtures, and 

 especially in hi.s symphonies. This is the field in which all 

 his faculties are called into action ; in which the wmid. 

 his imagination are displayed, and every resource of his art 

 is made contributory. And the power which he hero ex- 

 hibits is the more remarkable, as the ground seemed to be 

 so entirely occupied by Haxdn and Mozart, that no room 

 appeared to be left for a third. 



Five years after the death of Beethoven, his friend the 

 Chevalier Ignaz von Sey fried published, in German, his 

 posthumous didactic work, under tho title of />' 

 Studies in Thnrnush-litut, Counterjmnt, and /.' 

 ';/' ( ''imposition, collected from his autograph .l/.s> 

 This work, though deficient in method and desultory, con- 

 tains matter of much interest and importance, to the musician, 

 anl, as the record of his own experiences, is not only valu- 

 able but curious. Its utility, however, will be felt chiclly by 

 processors, especially composers, who, if they make a right 

 use of it, may profit largely by the practical remarks, illus- 

 trated by examples, embodied with the text, in which it 

 abounds. M. Seyfried has added to the work a biographical 

 sketch of the author, and that extraordinary will to which 

 we have above alluded. 



BEETLE. This term has frequently K 

 name common to the species of the family &;n;il>,, 

 but it is more commonly and properly used to 

 those insects which are covered by a strong horny substance, 

 the abdominal part of the body being pruteclcd by two 

 sheaths under which the wings arc folded. Honco the. 

 term is synonymous with COLKOI'TKUA. 



BE'FORT, BELFORT, or as it is written by Expilly, 

 BEDFORT, a town in France, formerly cap 

 district of Sundtgau, now capital tit an arrondissemenl ui 

 the department of Haul Rhin or U|>|>er Rhine. It i 

 tuatcd amid the Yosges, and on the bank of a little streai 

 Savoureuse, which runs into the Douhs. It is in -i; 

 N. lat., and 6 50' E. long., 248 miles E.S.E. of Paris. 



An old fortress of the leudul ages, which from its strong 

 position had the name of Bui-fort, gave to this town both its 

 origin and its designation. It was at an curly jx-riod under 

 countsof iU own, and afterwards pu*scd under the dominion 

 of the house of Austria. By the treaty of Westphalia in 

 1648, it was ceded by Austria to France : and its important 

 situation, in a pass from Alsace to Francho C'omti , mdu<vd 

 Louis XIY. to strengthen it with new military works. The 

 task was committed to tho skill and science of Vauhan, 

 who was led by the nature of the ground to use a new 

 system of fortification. The ground euclosed by the new 

 fortifications was laid out in regular .streets, and occupi -d 

 by well-built houses, forming a ne.w toirn far superior in 

 appearance and symmetry to the old tuu-rt. The new town 



