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"We were talking of Dr. Tissot of Lausanne, when he observed

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"Le grand chemin et le soleil sont les meilleurs remedes de Tissot.'*

"On my second visit to the library of Voltaire, I noticed three English tragedies, Dodsley's Cleone, and Mason's Caractacus and Elfrida, bound together, and lettered on the back Tragedies Barbares. Among his books was Baskerville's edition of Virgil. His library consisted of about 5,000 volumes.

"His house was of five apartments broad, and two deep, and three stories high. It was very genteelly, and even elegantly furnished, with velvet and gilding, stucco, china, and paintings.

"On the altar in his church was a wooden figure of Christ, as large as life, covered with gilt ornaments. 'How do you like my Christ?' (said he, in English.) Or do you pronounce it Chreest?'

"On the right wall of the church without, he had erected a monument of plain white stone. Pointing to it, he exclaimed, Il ne manque que l'inscription, mon ami!'+

"I bade him farewell: he accompanied me to my horse, wished me an agreeable journey, in English, and 'Mi raccomando di' non lasciarmi abbruciare a Roma,' in Italian. "

Early in life Mr. Twiss published an account of a Tour in Ireland. With respect to this work, observes a friend who knew him long and intimately, "it is certain that he never intentionally departed from truth, but was, probably, too credulous as to the information he received, and too hasty in recording it. With many harmless and entertaining peculiarities of character, he was kind, friendly, and hospitable; and even those natives of Ireland who most resented what they deemed illiberal and unjust reflections on their country, when he became personally known to them, were convinced that his mistakes arose from negligence, and not from malice.

The highway and the sun are the best remedies of Tissot.

+ Nothing but the inscription is wanting, my friend.

And in Italian recommended me not to get myself burnt in Rome. VOL. VI.

G G

The expedient of the Irish to express their sense of his free comments upon them, was equally ludicrous and original. We cannot describe it in this place; but it is already sufficiently well known.

Mr. Twiss died at Camden Town, March, 1821. He was a skilful performer on the violin, and a general connoisseur, as it respected the fine arts. His knowledge, though not profound, was various and extensive. He was the author of the

following works :—

1. Travels in Portugal and Spain, 2 vols. 8vo. 2. A Tour in Ireland, 8vo. 1775.

1772.

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when Haydn's Creation was first introduced into this country, Mr. Bartleman, who had received the elements of his musical education from Dr. Cooke, appeared with great reputation in the concerts of the metropolis. His voice and manner, (says an intelligent writer on the progress of vocal music, in the London Magazine,) exhibited a striking contrast to all bass singers who had gone before him. His predecessors had been selected from amongst these powerful, but heavy voices, whose compass is limited above, inasmuch as their tone is round and full below, and whose execution is proportionably sluggish and monotonous.

Mr. Bartleman was completely educated in music: he was scientific as a singer, learned in the various erudition of Eng

lish and Italian composers, particularly in the madrigalists, and the writers of sacred music. His bias was decided towards those compositions, which, even when he first came into life had already begun to be considered as the ancient music; but all that lay in his own department, he lightened of its heaviness by the brilliancy of his voice, and animated by his energy of manner. He carried as much dramatic effect into the orchestra, and he restored the knowledge of Purcell's finest compositions, as well as of Handell's finest Opera songs. He was, of his own accord, and under the impulse of his own disposition, rapidly infusing a new grace into bass singing, when the means were afforded him by Hayden's character of Raphael in the Creation, — by Calcott's beautiful songs written on purpose for him, - by Pergolesi's "O Lord, have mercy upon me." Dr. Crotch's Palestine, and several other things from Stevens, Webbe, Calcott, and Horsley, of perdurably offering the stamp of elegance upon this part of the art. The freer admission of ornamental passages, of a cast between those employed by the bass and tenor, naturally followed, while the discontinuance of heavy divisions, and the substitution of speaking, and beautiful melodies, such as we find throughout the Creation, in Calcott's Angel of Life, and in Horsley's Tempest, completed the enlargement of the bass singer from the imposing constraints of the former system. Nor has the pure and genuine eloquence of music, that just and forcible expression which is the result of the happiest adaptation of sound to sentiment, been abandoned or lost in the change. England owes to the present generation of native composers, a combination of grandeur with grace, not to be matched, we think, in the works of any other race of writers for basses, scarcely excepting the author of the Creation himself.

Mr. Bartleman (continues the same able critic) was a member of the Chapel Royal, and other choirs, a scientific and erudite musician, and, as a bass singer, has raised the art of expression to a higher pitch than any of his predecessors. He revived the music of Purcell, and sup

potred the school of Handel, indeed, the ancient schools generally, with a degree of energy, purity, and effect, for which 'the musical world may now long look in vain. With this imaginative and energetic singer, the traditionary manner of such things as Purcell's Let the Dreadful Engines, the Frost Scene in King Arthur, and Saul and the Witch of Endor, will, we apprehend, be entirely lost. His voice had power and richness, yet these were joined with a lightness that is seldom met with in singing. He was, perhaps, the first Englishman who endeavoured to relieve the mechanical effects, before his time considered inalienable, from basses, and to inform this part with spirit, fancy, finish, and a certain portion of elegance; and he was perhaps as successful in the addition of these attributes to the native majesty and volume of tone, that are the foundations of bass-singing as any man ever was, or ever will be. His style was strictly English, both in the formation of his tone, and in his elocution, which was highly animated, and full of effective transitions. The test of his peculiar excellence appears to be, that no one has succeeded in imitating his manner; nor, indeed, has he left behind him any successor sufficiently strong to buckle on his armour.

In private life, Mr. Bartleman was refined and well-informed, lively in conversation, and enthusiastically fond of his art. He moved in a most respectable sphere in society. Mr. B. died April 15., after an illness of several years, at his house in Berners Street, aged 54 years.

458

No. XXII.

REV. JOHN TRUSLER, L.L. D.

THIS singular man was born in London, in the year 1735, and, without either academical education or private fortune, contrived to obtain a degree, and a considerable portion of the good things of this world. He was originally bred an apothecary, but was lucky enough to be ordained, and officiated for some years both in London and its vicinity. Mr. Trusler soon discovered, however, that his income was both small and precarious, and finding in his own person insurmountable objections to original composition, about the year 1771, he formed a project for abbreviating the labours of others. This consisted of an abridgement of the works of the most eminent divines, which are printed in the form of manuscripts, so as not only to save the trouble of composing and transcribing, but also to convey the idea that these discourses were all written with a pen expressly for the purpose. Not content with this, Dr. Trusler, who had now obtained a degree, condescended to establish a printing and book-selling business, from which he is said to have derived considerable profit. Indeed, the sale of his own works, for he was a very voluminous author, must have proved exceedingly productive. His compositions, or rather compilations, have not, indeed, attained great praise, but a few of them, at least, claim the merit of utility. After living some time at his estate on Englefield Green, he repaired to Bathwick, where he died in 1820, at the age of 85. Here follows a list of his works

1. Hogarth Moralized; 8vo. 1766.

2. Chronology, or a Concise View of History; 12mo. 1769. Of this little work there have been numerous editions;

and one in two volumes, 12mo.

3. Principles of Politeness, extracted from Chesterfield's Letters; 12mo. 1775.

4. Account of the Islands lately discovered in the South

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