PAISIELLO PAISLEY. 



391 



rotti, De Piles, Watelet, Du Bos, Richardson, Rey- 

 nolds, Dan. Webb, Lessing (in his Laocoon), Winck- 

 elmann, Fuseli, Fiorillo, Goethe. For the well known 

 works ot Vasari and Lanzi, see these articles. Ru- 

 mohr's Italian Researches (Berlin, 1827, 2 vols.), and 

 Memes's History of Sculpture, Painting and Archi- 

 tecture, in Constable's Edinburgh Miscellany are also 

 valuable. 



PAINTING ON GLASS. See Glass. 



PAISIELLO, GIOVANNI ; a celebrated singer and 

 musician, was the son of a veterinary surgeon of Ta- 

 rento, in Italy, where he was born in 1741. From 

 the age of five to that of thirteen, he was placed by 

 his father at the Jesuits' college in his native city, 

 where his musical talents first exhibited themselves in 

 the matin services performed in the chapel ; and the 

 chevalier Carducci, who superintended the choir, pre- 

 vailed upon his friends to send him to Naples for 

 further instruction in the science. Accordingly, in 

 1754, he was put under the care of the celebrated 

 Durante, at the conservatory of St Onofrio, where 

 his progress was very rapid ; and, in 1763, his first 

 opera (La Papilla) was performed, with great ap- 

 plause, at the Marsigli theatre, in Bologna. From 

 this period commenced a long career of success, 

 which attended him at Modena, Parma, Venice,Rome, 

 Milan, Naples, aud Florence, till, in 1796, he was in- 

 duced to enter the service of Catharine II. of Russia, 

 who settled on him a pension of 4000 rubles, with 

 a country house and other advantages, in his capacity 

 of musical tutor to the grand duchess. In Russia he 

 remained nine years, when he returned to Naples, 

 visiting Vienna in his way, and continued in the 

 service of Ferdinand IV. till the court retired into 

 Sicily. On the French revolution extending to Na- 

 ples, Paisiello, who remained behind, received from 

 the republican government, now established, the ap- 

 pointment of composer to the nation. On the resto- 

 ration of the Bourbon family he fell into disgrace, 

 but, at the expiration of two years, was restored to 

 his situation. Napoleon afterwards sent him an invi- 

 tation to come to Paris, which he accepted, but decli- 

 ned the directorship of the imperial academy, which 

 was offered to his acceptance, contenting himself with 

 that of the chapel. After remaining in the French 

 capital nearly three years, his own health and that of 

 his wife compelled him to return to Italy, where, on the 

 expulsion of the Bourbons, he was made chamber musi- 

 cian to Joseph Bonaparte, receiving at the same time 

 from Napoleon the cordon of the legion of honour 

 and a pension of 1000 francs. In this situation he 

 continued under Murat, and became a member of 

 many learned and scientific as well as musical socie- 

 ties, especially of the Napoleon academy of Lucca, 

 the Italian academy of Leghorn, and the French in- 

 stitute. There are few composers who have given 

 greater proofs of industry than Paisiello, or whose 

 works have met with greater success all over Europe. 

 His operas, serious and comic, exceed seventy, be- 

 sides a great variety of ballets, cantatas, and some 

 sacred music of great merit. He died in 1816, at 

 Naples, and was honoured with a public funeral. 

 Simplicity, elegance, and correctness are the charac- 

 teristics of his style, while his grace and freshness of 

 melody, in which he has far surpassed most other 

 composers, have made him a model to numerous imi- 

 tators. 



PAISLEY ; a large manufacturing town of Scot- 

 land, in Renfrewshire, situated on the banks of the 

 White Cart river, about seven miles south-west from 

 Glasgow. It is a place of considerable antiquity, but 

 its rise to importance, as a manufacturing town, is only 

 of recent date. In 1164, a priory for Cluniac monks 

 was founded here by Walter, lord high steward of 

 Scotland. The institution was dedicated to St James 



and St Mirren, the latter a Scottish confessor. It 

 was afterwards constituted an abbey ; and the lands 

 belonging to it were, by king Robert II., a descen- 

 dant of the founder, erected into a regality, under 

 the jurisdiction of the abbot. . The name of the 

 religious establishment was Passeleth (modified 

 to Paisley), supposed to be derived from the 

 British words Pasgel-loith , which signify " the 

 moist pasture ground." The abbey had under 

 its patronage the following churches : Innerwich 

 in Lothian, Ledgerwood in the Merse, Ruther- 



flen, Carmumioch, Dalziel, Riccarton, Craigie, Duii- 

 onald, Monkton, St Quivox, Prestwick, Corsby, 

 Cumbray in Bute, St Oswald, Turnberry, Roseneath 

 and Kilpatrick in Dumbartonshire,, Kilcolmonel, Kil- 

 kerran, and Kilfillan, in Argyleshire, Cathcart, East- 

 wood, Mearns, Neilston, Paisley, Kilbarchan, Loch- 

 winnoch, Innerkip, Erskine, Houston, and Kilellan, 

 in Renfrewshire. The monks of the abbey wrote a 

 chronicle of Scotland, called the Black Book of 

 Paisley, an authentic copy of which was carried out 

 of Sir Robert Spottiswood's library by general Lam- 

 bert to England, and is now preserved in the Cot- 

 tonian library. After the reformation, the abbacy 

 was secularised, and in 1587 erected by James VI. 

 into a temporal lordship, in favour of lord Claud 

 Hamilton, third son of the duke de Chatelherault, 

 who thus became lord Paisley. The monastic build- 

 ings were much enlarged and improved by the 

 abbot, George Shaw, who, in 1484, encompassed the 

 precincts of the monastery with a wall of hewn 

 stone. There is hardly a vestige of the convent 

 now existing, and modern buildings have been 

 erected on the site of the gardens ; but the nave of 

 the abbey church (now used as a parish church), 

 with its aisles, is still standing ; and from these re- 

 mains, it appears to have been a noble structure, in 

 the decorated Gothic style. It was repaired about 

 fifty years ago, in an elegant and substantial manner. 

 At its south-eastern angle is a vaulted sepulchral 

 chapel, which is the burying-place of the earls of 

 Abercorn, descended from lord Paisley above-men- 

 tioned. It contains the monument of Margery, the 

 daughter of Robert Bruce, who, by her mar- 

 riage with the founder of the abbey, conveyed the 

 hereditary right to the crown of Scotland to the 

 family of Stuart. This chapel is also distinguished 

 by a very fine echo. 



More than a hundred years ago, when Crawford 

 wrote his History of Renfrewshire, Paisley seems to 

 have been an inconsiderable town ; for he describes 

 it as consisting of only one principal street, about 

 half a mile in length, with a few lanes and old build- 

 ings on the west bank of the Cart. Since that time, 

 it has gradually increased in size, and now consists 

 of two portions, the burgh, or Old Town, extending 

 to a great extent along the southern slope of a ridge 

 of hills to the west of Cart ; and the New Town, on 

 the eastern side of the river, communicating with the 

 Old Town by three stone bridges. This latter dis- 

 trict was feued or leased by the earl of Abercorn 

 about 1770, and now comprises a number of hand- 

 some streets. The length of Paisley and suburbs, 

 from east to west, is about two miles ; while its 

 breadth, from north to south, is only about seven 

 furlongs. 



In 1488, Paisley was erected into a burgh of 

 barony by James VI., under the superiority of the 

 abbot, George Shaw; and it is governed by a provost 

 and three bailies, in the commission of the peace, a 

 treasurer, a town-clerk, and seventeen councillors 

 The revenues of the burgh amount to about ,2500 

 a year. The town formed a part of the abbey parish 

 of Paisley previously to 1738, when the magistrates 

 and council purchased the right of patronage from 



