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down in an inftant, as if firuck by lightning. A death-like patenefs was diaufed over her face and arms; the had no apparent pulfe, her teaples' were funk, and the thewed no signs of fenfation when thaken, or pinched. A phyfician, who was called, and who believed her to be dead, in compliance with the repeated and preffing request of her parents, at tempted, though without any hopes, to recal her to life, and at length, after feveral vain efforts, he made the foals of her feet be fmartly rub bed with a bruih, dipped in ftrong pickle. At the end of three quarters of an hour, fhe was obferved to figh; he was then made to fwallow fome fpirituous liquor, and the was foon after restored to life, much to the joy of her difconfolate parents. A certain man having undertaken a journey, in order to fee his brother, on his arrival at his houfe, found him dead. This news affected him fo much, that it brought on a moft dreadful fyncope, and he himself was fuppofed to be in the like fituation. After the ufual means had been employed to recal him to life, it was agreed that his body should be diffected, to discover the caufe of fo fudden a death; but the supposed dead perfon overhearing this propofal, opened his eyes, ftarted up, and immediately betook himself to his heels. Cardinal Efpinola, prime minifter to Philip II. was not fo fortunate, for we read in the memoirs of Amelot de la Houffai, that he put his hand to the knife with which he was opened, in order to be embalmed. In fhort, almost every one knows that Vefalius, the father of anatomy, having been fent for to open a woman fubject to hysterics, who was fuppofed to be dead, he perceived, on making the first incifion, by her motions, and cries, that the was fill a live; that this circumftance rendered him fo odious, that he was obliged to fly, and that he was fo much af

fected by it, that he died foon after. On this occafion, I cannot forbear to add an event more recent, but no lefs melancholy. The Abbé Prevolt, to well known by his writings, and the lingularities of his life, was feized with a fit of the apoplexy, in the forett of Chantilly, on the 23d of October, 1763. His body was carried to the nearest village, and the officers of juftice were proceeding to open it, when a cry which he fent forth affrightened all the affiftants, and convinced the furgeon that the Abbé was not dead; but it was too late to fave him, as he had already received the mortal wound.

The difficulty of distinguishing a perfon apparently dead, from one who is really fo, has in all countries where bodies have been interred too precipitately, rendered it neceffary for the law to affilt humanity. OF feveral regulations made on this fubject, I fhall quote only a few of the molt recent; fuch as thofe of Arras, in 1772; of Mantua, in 1774; of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1775; of the Senechauffée of Sivrai, in Poitou, in 1777; and of the Parliament of Metz in the fame year. To give an idea of the reit, it will be funcient to relate only that of Tuscany. By this edict, the Grand Duke forbids the precipitate interment of perfons avho die fuddenly. He orders the Magiftrates of Health to be informed, that physicians and furgeons may examine the body, that they may ufe every endeavour to recal it to lite, it pollible, or to difcover the caufe of its death; and that they thali make a report of their proce dure to a certain Tribunal. On this occafion, the Magiftrate of Health orders the dead not to be covered, until the moment they are about to be buried, except fo far as decency requires; obferving always that the body be not clotely coniued, and that nothing may comprefs the jugular veins and the carotid arteries.

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He forbids people to be interred according to the ancient method, and requires that the arms and the hands fhould be left extended, and that they should not be folded, or placed crofs-wife upon the breaft. He forbids above all, to prefs the jaws one against the other; or to fill the mouth and noftrils with cotton, or other tuffing. Lastly, he recommends not to cover the vifage with any kind of cloth, until the body is depofited in its coffin.

After what I have faid in this Memoir, one may easily perceive, that precipitate interments may be attend

ed with the most dreadful confequences, and that it would be of the greatest importance to profcribe thefe remains of Judaifm, or at least, not to permit people to be committed to the earth until a fufficient time had been left to afcertain their real fituation. One can hardly reflect without fhuddering, that this practice, which is adopted by a small number of people, being unknown to fome, and neglected by a great ma ny others, may make a man defcend to the grave before he has uttered his laft figh.

Anecdates of Schroeter.

und r the famous Emanuel Bach, which he afterwards cultivated and improved from studying the works of that great mafter in score.

IN a mufical age like the prefent, the biography of a musician becomes an object of more general curiofity than the life of a philofopher; and the death of an eminent profeffor is la- For fome time after his arrival in mented as a national misfortune. To London, the fplendid talents of young gratify our mufical readers a correfpon- Schroeter were either unknown or ne dent has favoured us with the follow- glected. He occafionally played the ing authentic particulars of the late ce- organ at a German chapel in the city, lebrated Schroeter:a fituation which by no means accordJohn Samuel Schroeter was a na-ed with his genius, as he was not there tive of Saxony. He came to London permitted to indulge his fancy in any about fourteen years ago with his fa- mufical flights beyond the formal ther, a musician of no great emince, rules of the cathedral fchool. It was but who bestowed much pains in giv. at this time that he compofed his firft Sng his fon a compleat mufical educati- fet of leffons for, the Piano Forte, on. The difcipline of Germanyis almoft which he offered to feveral of the muas fevere in mufical as in military movefic-fellers of London on their own ments; and the elder Schroeter was a terms, but in vain. His name was not martinet of very terrific abilities. By then marketable, and few of the venvirtue of hunger and hard blows he ders of mufic know any thing more of compelled his fon to practice for feve the art. He was at laft recommendral years without intermiflion eight ed by the late J. C. Bach to Napier, hours a-day; and to this may be im- mufic-feller in the Strand, who foon puted the remarkable facility with diftinguithed his merit as a compofer, which he executed the most difficult and purchafed the copy-right of his mufic at fight. But while he applied work at a liberal price. thus diligently to the practice, he did not neglect the theory of the fcience, the rudiments of which he acquired

Being now announced to the mufical world as a compofer, Schroeter began to acquire fome celebrity in the profeffion,

fcholars in the fashionable circles. Upon the publication of his firft fet of Concertos his reputation was fuch, that he took the lead as a performer in all the musical entertainments of the nobility at which he affifted.

profeffion, which procured him feveral science, can alone acquire. Though he poffeffed the most compleat dominion of his inftrument, he feldom indulged in thofe capricious difficulties and harlequin tricks, by which many of our modern performers cat ch the applaufe of the vulgar. His mode of fingering was fo peculiarly eafy and elegant, that it was even pleasant to fee him perform. In his cadences he often give rein to the luxuriance of his geDius, and astonished the profeffor as well as the amateur, with the novelty, the beauty, and the endless variety of his modulations. His manner of playing an adagio was unrivalled, except perhaps by the viola di gamba of Abel in his better days, when infpired by a flask of generous burgundy. He fel dom could be prevailed on to touch a a harpsichord, but he was extremely food of playing the violin, on which he was an elegant performer; his tone was thin, but his manner of touching it was malterly, and he delighted in attempting to furmount the difficulties of that inftrument, more than in his moft finished performances on the piano. forte.

Soon after this period he married a lady who was his pupil, by whom he was entitled to a very confiderable for tune; but her friends taking violent offence at the match, and threatening poor Schroeter with the terrors of the Court of Chancery, which he then conceived to be more dreadful than the inquifition, he gave up his claim to her fortune, in confideration of receiving an annuity of 500l. clogged with a very unreafonable condition, "that he was to relinquish his profeffion fo far as never to perform at any public Concert." This, which more ambitious men would have spurned at, Schroeter, who had much indolence of difpofition, as well as carelefinefs of fame, agreed to, and for fome years he retired from town, and refided chiefly in the country.

But talents like his could not be Jong buried in oblivion. The Prince of Wales heard him play at a private Concert, and expreffed the higheft admiration of his performance. His Royal Highnets's houfhold was then about to be established, and without any folicitation Schroeter was appointed one of his band of mufic, with a liberal falary. His laft fet of Sonatas, which have a very elegant accounpanyment for a violin and violincello, were compofed at the defire of the Prince, to whom they were dedicated, and his Royal Highnefs frequently accompanied Schroeter in his favourite work.

The grand piano forte was Schroeter's favourite inftrument. His ftile of playing was diftinguished by that peculiar elegance and delicacy, which a chaite and correct taste, improved by

As a compofer he certainly ranks very high; his melodies are in general exquifitely beautiful, and his harmonies are rich, and often display the originality of genius. He excelled more in the cantabile than in any other species of movement, though fome of his allegros poflefs much spirit and beauty. Had he applied to that department of the science, his ta lents were eminently formed for the compofition of vocal mufic, and fome time before his laft illness he had determined to fet one of Metaftafio's Operas, which it is to be regretted he did not live to accomplish. Aboutthree years ago he was feized with a fevere cold, which affected his lungs, and at laft terminated in his death, an event which the mufical world will long regret.

Anecdotes

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Anecdotes of the Pretender, Lady Mary Touchet, &c.-From Memoirs and

'L

Anecdotes of Philip Thickneffe.

ADY MARY TOUCHET, a beautiful English woman, and filter to my late wife, made her firit public appearance, at a ball at Paris, given by the Pretender just before his expedition into Scotland, in the year 1745. The Prince, not only attracted by her perfonal charms, but being the fifter to an English Catholic Peer, took her out as his partner; and before they parted, he -communicated to her whither he was going, and the importance of his expedition. I cannot tell, but I can cafily conceive to what a pitch of enthufiafm a beautiful young Englifh woman, of the fame religious principles, and fo particularly honoured at that time, might be led to fay upon fo trying an occafion; but, whatever it were, he instantly took his penknife from his pocket, ript the itar from his breath, and gave it to her as a token of his particular regard; and I doubt not that the concluded fuch an external mark of his partiality, had he fucceeded, was given as a prelude to the offer of a more precious jewel, which had lain under the ftar within his bofam. As that beautiful woman died at the age of 20, the star fell into the lap of her fifter, and, as fhe foon after fell into mine, I became poffelfed of that ineftimable badge of distinction, toge ther with a fine portrait of the Prince by Huffey. Being a whig, and a military man, I did not think it right to keep either of them in my poffeffion; and a fimple old Jacobite lady offered me a confiderable fum of money for them; but having three nieces, whofe father had lived in intimacy with the late Sir John Dolben, I prefented both to them, and I believe that valuable relick of the departed Prince Charles is now in the

poffeflion of Mrs Lloyd, my eldeft niece, and wife to the prefent Dean of Norwich.-Lady Mary Touchet was the firit woman who appeared in England in a French drefs, about the year 1748, which was then to particular, that the never went out at Bath, the place of her conttant refidence, without being followed by a crowd: for at that time the general drefs of France was deemed fo outré in this country, that in most eyes it diminished the charms of both her face and perion, which the otherwife had the utmoft claim to. She danced on the Friday night ball, and died the Sunday following. A lady, who affilled in laying her out, told me the could fcarcely believe the was dead, for that he never faw fo much beauty in life, and that the exceeded in fymmetry even Titian's Venus.

-That this unfortunate man was in London about the year 1754, I can pofitively affert. He came hither contrary to the opinion of all his friends abroad; but he was determined, he faid, to fee the capital of that king.. dem over which he thought himself born to reign. After being a few days at a lady's houte in Effex Street in the Strand, he was met by one who knew his perfon in Hyde Park, and who made an attempt to kneel to him. This circumftance fo alarmed the lady at whofe houfe he refided, that a boat was procured the fame night, and he returned inftantly to France. Monfieur Maffac, late fecretary to the Duke de Noailles, told me he was fent to treat with the Prince relative to a subsequent attempt to invade England. Mr Maffac dined with him, and had much converfation upon that fubject; but obferved that he was rather a weak man, bigoted to his religion, and un

able

able to refrain from the bottle, the only benefit he said he had acquired by his expedition among his countrymen into Scotland.

'Mr Segrave, an Irish officer with only one arm, formerly well known at the Caffée de Conti at Paris, affured me that he had been with the Prince in England between the years fortyfive and fifty-fix, and that they had laid a plan of feizing the perfon of the King (George the Second) as he returned from the play, by a body of Irish chairmen, who were to knock the fervants from behind his coach, extinguish the lights, and create confufion; while a party carried the King to the water-fide, and hurried him away to France. It is certain that the late King often returned from the theatre in fo private a manner that fuch an attempt was not impracticable; for what could not a hundred or two defperate villains effect, at eleven o'clock at night, in any of the public streets of London? Ten minutes ftart would do it; and they could not have failed of a much

greater length of time. He alfo told me that they had more than fifteen hundred Irish chairmen, or that class of people, that were to affemble oppofite the Duke of Newcastle's houfe in Lincoln's Inn Fields the inftant they heard any particular news relative to the Pretender. I cannot vouch for the truth of this ftory; but it may be right to relate it, to prevent fach an attempt, fhould any other pretender ftart up, for I have the best authority to fay fuch a thing is practicable, and that a person was taken off in broad day-light, and in the middle of a large city, though under the protection of an English major and feven old French women, and that too by an individual. There are many people now living at Southampton who remember that tranfac tion. It was not a king, its true, who was taken off, nor it was not a man; but before the farprise of the major and his female party were over, the lady was far out of their reach.'

The Generofity of an Indian Conqueror; a Tale.By the Abbé Dupin.

JARRIOT MELVILL was born on the banks of the peaceful Tweed, that river which feparates England from Scotland. Her father was the happy proprietor of an eftate that enabled him to live independent, and free from difcontent or ambition. He enjoyed that enviable, that invaluable mediocrity, which poets have deferised in their pic tures of the golden age. Accordingly, Sir William Melvill, treading in the footsteps of a refpectable line of anceftors, never endeavoured to increafe his eftate, rightly judging, that a little is fuf. ficient in the hands of frugality, and that the adage is confirmed by experience, which declares contentment to be a kingdom to the mind. His wife was of a family equal in rank to his own, and they had both, by a fingular benignity of fortune, the fame turn of mind, the fame lentiments, the fame inclinations. He, VOL. X. No. 57. D d

to a cultivated mind, united all the vir-
tues of the heart, and the inhabitants of
all the neighbouring country looked up
to him as their father.
To him they
fubmitted all their differences, because
they knew no arbiter more distinguished
than he, and it was impoffible that they
could find a worthier man, or a more
upright judge.

Mi Melvill had but one brother, for whom the entertained the fincereft affec tion, which he returned with a love cruly fraternal. The firft years of their life were ipent together in that mutual at tachment which is the pureft of all, as it is leaft influenced byfelf-intereft. Her brother was her friend, her companion, and her guide in all her rural walks; the, in her turn, was the confident of all his little fecrets.his adviferinall his little occupations, and his refuge in all his little diftreffes. One must have a brother like him, or a

fifter

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