while connexions thus various, literary, classical, noble, and professional, incidentally occurred, combatting the deadening toil of the copyist, and keeping his mind in tune for intellectual pursuits and attainments, new scenes, most unexpectedly, opened to him the world at large, and suddenly brought him to a familiar acquaintance with high life.
fulk greville, a descendant of the friend of sir philip sydney, and afterwards author of characters,
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maxims, and reflections, was then generally looked up to as the finest gentleman about town. his person, tall and well-proportioned, was commanding; his face, features, and complexion, were striking for masculine beauty; and his air and carriage were noble with conscious dignity.
he was then in the towering pride of healthy manhood and athletic strength. he excelled in all the fashionable exercises, riding, fencing, hunting, shooting at a mark, dancing, tennis, &c.; and worked at every one of them with a fury for pre-eminence, not equalled, perhaps, in ardour for superiority in personal accomplishments, since the days of the chivalrous lord herbert of cherbury.
his high birth, and higher expectation—for a coronet at that time, from some uncertain right of heritage, hung almost suspended over his head—with a splendid fortune, wholly unfettered, already in his hands, gave to him a consequence in the circles of modish dissipation that, at the clubs of st. james’s-street, and on the race ground at newmarket, nearly crowned him as chief. for though there were many competitors of more titled importance, and more powerful wealth, neither the blaze of their heraldry,
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nor the weight of their gold, could preponderate, in the buckish scales of the day, over the elegance of equipment, the grandeur, yet attraction of demeanour, the supercilious brow, and the resplendent smile, that marked the lofty yet graceful descendant of sir philip sydney.
this gentleman one morning, while trying a new instrument at the house of kirkman, the first harpsichord maker of the times, expressed a wish to receive musical instruction from some one who had mind and cultivation, as well as finger and ear; lamenting, with strong contempt, that, in the musical tribe, the two latter were generally dislocated from the two former; and gravely asking kirkman whether he knew any young musician who was fit company for a gentleman.
kirkman, with honest zeal to stand up for the credit of the art by which he prospered, and which he held to be insulted by this question, warmly answered that he knew many; but, very particularly, one member of the harmonic corps, who had as much music in his tongue as in his hands, and who was as fit company for a prince as for an orchestra.
mr. greville, with much surprise, made sundry
[pg 27]
and formal inquiries into the existence, situation, and character of what he called so great a phenomenon; protesting there was nothing he so much desired as the extraordinary circumstance of finding any union of sense with sound.
the replies of the good german were so exciting, as well as satisfactory, that mr. greville became eager to see the youth thus extolled; but charged mr. kirkman not to betray a word of what had passed, that the interview might be free from restraint, and seem to be arranged merely for shewing off the several instruments that were ready for sale, to a gentleman who was disposed to purchase one of the most costly.
to this injunction mr. kirkman agreed, and conscientiously adhered.
a day was appointed, and the meeting took place.
young burney, with no other idea than that of serving kirkman, immediately seated himself at an instrument, and played various pieces of geminiani, corelli, and tartini, whose compositions were then most in fashion. but mr. greville, secretly suspicious of some connivance, coldly and proudly walked about the room; took snuff from a finely
[pg 28]
enamelled snuff-box, and looked at some prints, as if wholly without noticing the performance.
he had, however, too much penetration not to perceive his mistake, when he remarked the incautious carelessness with which his inattention was returned; for soon, conceiving himself to be playing to very obtuse ears, young burney left off all attempt at soliciting their favour; and only sought his own amusement by trying favourite passages, or practising difficult ones, with a vivacity which shewed that his passion for his art rewarded him in itself for his exertions. but coming, at length, to keys of which the touch, light and springing, invited his stay, he fired away in a sonata of scarlatti’s, with an alternate excellence of execution and expression, so perfectly in accord with the fanciful flights of that wild but masterly composer, that mr. greville, satisfied no scheme was at work to surprise or to win him; but, on the contrary, that the energy of genius was let loose upon itself, and enjoying, without premeditation, its own lively sports and vagaries; softly drew a chair to the harpsichord, and listened, with unaffected earnestness, to every note.
nor were his ears alone curiously awakened; his eyes were equally occupied to mark the peculiar
[pg 29]
performance of intricate difficulties; for the young musician had invented a mode of adding neatness to brilliancy, by curving the fingers, and rounding the hand, in a manner that gave them a grace upon the keys quite new at that time, and entirely of his own devising.
to be easily pleased, however, or to make acknowledgment of being pleased at all, seems derogatory to strong self-importance; mr. greville, therefore, merely said, “you are fond, sir, it seems, of italian music?”
the reply to this was striking up, with all the varying undulations of the crescendo, the diminuendo, the pealing swell, and the “dying, dying fall,” belonging to the powers of the pedal, that most popular masterpiece of handel’s, the coronation anthem.
this quickness of comprehension, in turning from italian to german, joined to the grandeur of the composition, and the talents of the performer, now irresistibly vanquished mr. greville; who, convinced of kirkman’s truth with regard to the harmonic powers of this son of apollo, desired next to sift it with regard to the wit.
casting off, therefore, his high reserve, with his
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jealous surmises, he ceased to listen to the music, and started some theme that was meant to lead to conversation.
but as this essay, from not knowing to what the youth might be equal, consisted of such inquiries as, “have you been in town long, sir?” or, “does your taste call you back to the country, sir?” &c. &c., his young hearer, by no means preferring this inquisitorial style to the fancy of scarlatti, or the skill and depth of handel, slightly answered, “yes, sir,” or “no, sir;” and, perceiving an instrument not yet tried, darted to it precipitately, and seated himself to play a voluntary.
the charm of genuine simplicity is nowhere more powerful than with the practised and hackneyed man of the world; for it induces what, of all things, he most rarely experiences, a belief in sincerity.
mr. greville, therefore, though thwarted, was not displeased; for in a votary of the art he was pursuing, he saw a character full of talents, yet without guile; and conceived, from that moment, an idea that it was one he might personally attach. he remitted, therefore, to some other opportunity, a further internal investigation.
mr. kirkman now came forward to announce,
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that in the following week he should have a new harpsichord, with double keys, and a deepened bass, ready for examination.
they then parted, without any explanation on the side of mr. greville; or any idea on that of the subject of these memoirs, that he and his acquirements were objects of so peculiar a speculation.
at the second interview, young burney innocently and eagerly flew at once to the harpsichord, and tried it with various recollections from his favourite composers.
mr. greville listened complacently and approvingly; but, at the end of every strain, made a speech that he intended should lead to some discussion.
young burney, however, more alive to the graces of melody than to the subtleties of argument, gave answers that always finished with full-toned chords, which as constantly modulated into another movement; till mr. greville, tired and impatient, suddenly proposed changing places, and trying the instrument himself.
he could not have devised a more infallible expedient to provoke conversation; for he thrummed his own chosen bits by memory with so little skill or taste, yet with a pertinacity so wearisome, that
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young burney, who could neither hearken to such playing, nor turn aside from such a player, caught with alacrity at every opening to discourse, as an acquittal from the fatigue of mock attention.
this eagerness gave a piquancy to what he said, that stole from him the diffidence that might otherwise have hung upon his inexperience; and endued him with a courage for uttering his opinions, that might else have faded away under the trammels of distant respect.
mr. greville, however, was really superior to the mawkish parade of unnecessary etiquette in private circles, where no dignity can be offended, and no grandeur be let down by suffering nature, wit, or accident to take their bent, and run their race, unfettered by punctilio.
yet was he the last of men to have borne any designed infringement upon the long established claims of birth, rank, or situation; which, in fact, is rarely practised but to lead to a succession of changes, that circulate, like the names written in a round robin, to end just where they began;—
“such chaos, where degree is suffocate,
follows the choaking.”[8]
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in the subject of these memoirs, this effervescence of freedom was clearly that of juvenile artlessness and overflowing vivacity; and mr. greville desired too sincerely to gather the youth’s notions and fathom his understanding, for permitting himself to check such amusing spirits, by proudly wrapping himself up, as at less favourable moments he was wont to do, in his own consequence. he grew, therefore, so lively and entertaining, that young burney became as much charmed with his company as he had been wearied by his music; and an interchange of ideas took place, as frankly rapid, equal, and undaunted, as if the descendant of the friend of sir philip sydney had encountered a descendant of sir philip sydney himself.
this meeting concluded the investigation; music, singing her gay triumph, took her stand at the helm; and a similar victory for capacity and information awaited but a few intellectual skirmishes, on poetry, politics, morals, and literature,—in the midst of which mr. greville, suddenly and gracefully holding out his hand, fairly acknowledged his scheme, proclaimed its success, and invited the unconscious victor to accompany him to wilbury house.
the amazement of young burney was boundless;
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but his modesty, or rather his ignorance that not to think highly of his own abilities merited that epithet, was most agreeably surprised by so complicate a flattery to his character, his endowments, and his genius.
but his articles with dr. arne were in full force; and it was not without a sigh that he made known his confined position.
unaccustomed to control his inclinations himself, or to submit to their control from circumstances, expense, or difficulty, mr. greville mocked this puny obstacle; and, instantly visiting dr. arne in person, demanded his own terms for liberating his cheshire pupil.
dr. arne, at first, would listen to no proposition; protesting that a youth of such promise was beyond all equivalent. but no sooner was a round sum mentioned, than the doctor, who, in common with all the dupes of extravagance, was evermore needy, could not disguise from himself that he was dolorously out of cash; and the dazzling glare of three hundred pounds could not but play most temptingly in his sight, for one of those immediate, though imaginary wants, that the man of pleasure is always sure to see waving, with decoying allurement, before his longing eyes.
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the articles, therefore, were cancelled: and young burney was received in the house of mr. greville as a desired inmate, a talented professor, and a youth of genius: to which appellations, from his pleasantry, gaiety, reading, and readiness, was soon superadded the title—not of a humble, but of a chosen and confidential companion.
young burney now moved in a completely new sphere, and led a completely new life. all his leisure nevertheless was still devoted to improvement in his own art, by practice and by composition. but the hours for such sage pursuits were soon curtailed from half the day to its quarter; and again from that to merely the early morning that preceded any communication with his gay host: for so partial grew mr. greville to his new favourite, that, speedily, there was no remission of claim upon his time or his talents, whether for music or discourse.
nor even here ended the requisition for his presence; his company had a charm that gave a zest to whatever went forward: his opinions were so ingenious, his truth was so inviolate, his spirits were so entertaining, that, shortly, to make him a part
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of whatever was said or done, seemed necessary to mr. greville for either speech or action.
