450 
to an opera, was produced in four weeks. 
It is alfo worthy remark that the overture 
to his Doz Giovanni was net begun till 
the night before the piece was to be per- 
formed. At midnight, after having de- 
voted the evening to amuiement, he 
locked himfelf up in his fudy, and com- 
pofed it in a few hours. His memory 
was wonderfully retentive, as we may 
judge from .his copying by recollection, 
the miferere at Rome. But a fact equally 
aftonifhing is that, foon difcovering the 
eagernefs of people to procure his works, 
and fearful that they might be pirated, 
it was his conftant cuftom to tranferibe 
from the /cores of his fonatas only a part 
for one hand, and at the public perfor- 
mance to fupply the ether by memory. 
He very early began to diiplay that true 
dignity of an artift which renders him in- 
different. to the praifes cf thofe who are 
unqualified to judge. The commendations 
of the ignorant great he never contidered 
as fame. His hearers, whether the 
wealthy or the titled, muft have acquired 
fome credit for their judgment, before he 
could be ambitious of their epplaufe. 
Indeed he entertained fo juft a fenfe of 
{cientific elevation and importance, that 
he would infift upon refpecét. And the 
leaft noife or idle babble, while he was 
at the inftrument, excited a difleafure 
which he was too indignant to conceal. 
Once, to the honour of his feelings, he 
fuddenly rofe from his feat, and left his 
inattentive auditory to experience the keen, 
though filent reproach of infulted genius. 
His mind was by no means unlettered: nor 
was it embellifhed with one fcience alone. 
He was mafter of feveral languages, and 
had made confiderable progre{s in the ma- 
thematics. He was honeii, mild, gene- 
rous, full of franknefs; and with his 
friends, had an air at once amiable, 
gay, and free from the leaft tinéture of pe- 
antry. : 
Far from viewing with envy the fuccefs 
ef others, a weaknefs too clofely inter-_ 
woven in the general nature of man, he 
was always juft to the talents of his fellow 
profeifors; and valued and refpe&ted merit 
wherever he found it: a clearer, proof of 
which canno: be adduced than the fol- 
lowing circumftance. Ata concert, where 
a ew piece compoied by the celebrated 
Jofeph Haydn was performed, a certain 
mufician who never difcovered any thing 
worthy of praife, except in his own pro- 
duétions, did not fail to criticife the mu- 
fic; exclaiming to Mozart ‘ ‘There now! 
there again! why that is not what I 
fhould have done,” ‘* No: neither fhould 
I” replied Mozart; ‘but do you know 
. Account of the Abbe Sicyts, 
[Dec., 
why? Becaufe neither you nor I fhould 
have been able to conceive it.” 
Thus have I traced with a faithful 
though faint pencil, the prominent fea- 
tures of this eminént mufician. And 
the picture of a mind fo highly qualified 
fo ornament and delight fociety ; a mind 
rich in talent, cultiyated by ftudy, and 
recommended by a heart, amiable, liberal, 
and juft, cannet fail to imprefs the reader 
with an adequate idea of the exalted me- 
rits of Mozart. Drawing his attention 
with fage indifference trom the emptinefs 
of fuperficial grandeur, and fixing his eye 
on real greatnefs, he will be filled with 
thofe fentiments of refpeét and admiration 
ever due to fuch rare and fhining pro- 
duétions of nature. 
China-terrace, 
Vauxball-road. 
ae 
ACCOUNT OF THE ABBE SIEYES. 
Tranflated {ion the Fragments fur Paris bg- 
Deéior Meyer. 
© Mes momens font ceux dun pareffeux, 
was the anfwer this remarkable man gave 
me, when I was prefented to him at 
the national inftitute, where he pre- 
fides over the fecond clafs, when I told 
him, that from a regard to his valua- 
ble moments, I had not as yet made him 
a vifit. Without believing in the m0- 
mens pareffeux of a Sieyes, I neglected not 
the hint, and the next morning went to 
fee him. = 
Of how many tales, calumnies and fa- 
tires, has the political exiftence of this 
man been the object! and he has furvived 
and annihilated them all_— Was it not he, 
who, a ftrong fupport to the party of the 
people, effected the downfall of the French 
nobility ? and yet he was faid to be an 
agent of Orleans: agent of Orleans~- 
and Rodbefpierre’s predeceflor ! Such abfur- 
THoMAs BUSBY: 
dities and contradictions are perieétly in 
the tafte of that once fo powerful caft, 
whofe overthrow Sieyes occafioned, and 
which, as he himfelt faid, will never be 
forgiven by them, but they will likewile 
' fail in their attempts to make him forget 
himfelf. = 
Sieyes, formerly fo ative, now lives 
retired in philofophic leifure; the circle | 
of his acquaintance is now limited: he 
isa filent obferver, of the preient fituation 
and relations of France. 
I found Sieyes in an indifferently furnifh- 
ed apartment in the third ftory ; walking 
about the rcom in his night cap and morn- 
ing gown. The ‘‘ moments of anidle man” 
came to my recollection,---but they were 
certainly not fuch. F efteem Sieyes 
wandering about his fludy, as much i 
tne y 
