MR. WILLIAM LINLEY.
Wrrit sincere regret we record the death of this amiable man and accomplished musician. He had dined at the Catch Club on Tuesday ; and died, suddenly, on Wednesday morning. He was the last of a name which is identified with the pure English style of composition. His father, many years one of the patentees of Drury Lane Theatre, was the author of the music in the Duenna, Selima and Azor, and nu. memos other operas, long held in deserved favour with the public. His musical taste seems to have been inherited by all his children. The personal attractions of Mrs. SHERIDAN were the theme of her husband's muse ; and her character, truly and eloquently pourtrayed by MOORE, is yet more perfectly developed in her own letters. THOMAS LINLEY was the pupil of BOYCE, and the early associate of MOZART: OZIAS, many years one of the Minor Canons of Norwich Cathedral, and afterwards Organist and Fellow of Dulwich College, was a profound mathematician, uniting to a character marked by great eccentricity the most guileless simplicity and benevolence of heart. The elder LINLEY gave to all his children a musical education ; though WILLIAM, his youngest son, was not intended for the profession. In the preface to his last work, the latter thus narrates his early introduction to his favourite art " I cannot presume to appear before the public under any other title than that of an amateur, though the last of a professional name of which it would be unbecoming in me to speak in the language of praise. Though destined to be occupied in pursuits very different from those of music, my late father was not the less anxious that I should receive the best instruction in the science: he taught me himself to sing, and sent me to the celebrated ABEL to be grounded in counterpoint. Under that excellent musician, I am proud to say. I studied with JOHN CRAMER. With these advantages, I employed, duriig a twelve years' residence in India, much of my leisure time in musical practice and composition."
The appointment to which Mr. LINLEY alludes was given him, through his brother SHERIDAN'S interest, by CHARLES Fox; and he returned to England in 1807, at ease in his circumstances, able to re. new his former musical connexions, and to devote his leisure to the cultivation and enjoyment of music and literature. His early education at Harrow, together with a decided love for poetry, gave to most of his compositions a classical and original character. This is powerfully impressed on his collection of the Songs of SHAIZ:-TEARE ; a work to which be devoted himself with the combined ardour of a poet and a musician ; and which, alone, will be sufficient to earn for him a foremost place among those who have illustrated the plays of our immortal bard. His plan was "to dramatize the music intended by Shakspeare to be introduced into his plays : that is—to identify it with the characters, taking care that the songs, duets, or trios, so marked by him, shall be suited, as exactly as possible, to the person or persons by whom the poet designed them to be sung." In compiling this work, Mr. LINLEY availed himself of the labours of Lois, PeaCELL, ARNE, STEVENS, and other celebrated writers, and supplied what they had left unaccomplished, from his own pen.
Mr. LINLEY was ardently attached to the English school of vocal harmony. He was a constant attendant on the Madrigal Society and the Catch Club ; and, though an amateur, one of the earliest members of the Concentores Sodales. His loss will be deeply felt in all these circles ; for, in truth, he has left no one to supply the place which he filled. His
pleasing and cheerful manners, his polished conversation, his social habits, his gentlemanlike demeanour, rendered him the desired associate of the rich and the noble; while his sound musical knowledge, and his enthusiastic attachment to his art, gave him ready and welcome admission, on equal terms, to the most select professional eirclu.s. He was a standing proof that it is possible to combine the accomplishments of a musician with the habits and feelings of a true gentleman.
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