Dr. Arne and Rule, BritanniaCummings, William Hayman
History
Dr. Arne and Rule, Britannia
Cummings, William Hayman
Arne, Thomas Augustine, 1710-1778
consent be disposed of for their mutual Profits or Advantage to either
of the Patent Theatres And in case that the said Cecilia shall depart
this Life before the Death of the said Michael in such case the whole
Personal Estate and Property above mentioned shall devolve or come down
in right to the said Michael as sole Successor by this my last Will and
Testament And lastly I hereby nominate and appoint the said Cecilia and
Michael my joint and sole Executors of this my last will and Testament
hereby impowering them to sue for and recover all debts and Demands
whatever due to me on any account whatever whether in Law or Equity As
Witness my hand and Seal this sixth of December in the seventeenth year
of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord George the third and in the year of
our Lord One thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven.
THO^{S.} AUG^{NE.} ARNE.
Sealed and delivered being first duly stamp'd in the presence of
Stephen Paxton Maria Barthelemon.[28]
On the 6th of March, 1778, the _Morning Chronicle_ had a short
paragraph: "yesterday, died Dr. Arne, at his house in Bow-Street, whose
musical talents were an honour to himself and this country."
Arne was interred in the burial ground on the north side of St. Paul's
Church, Covent Garden, on the 15th of March, and the fact was noted
in the Parish Register, he being described simply as "Thomas Arne."
No memorial of him was erected, but his son suggested a scheme for
placing a monument in Westminster Abbey. This, like most of Michael
Arne's projects, ended in talk; indeed, he only survived his father
eight years, and died in South Lambeth on the 14th of January, 1786,
leaving a widow, his second wife, in destitute circumstances. His
career had been a varied one. His aunt, Mrs. Cibber, taught him as a
child how to act on the stage, and he appeared as the Page in Otway's
tragedy "The Orphan." His father gave him singing lessons, and procured
him engagements at the Marylebone Gardens in 1751. He became a skilled
harpsichord player, and made a good reputation as a composer of songs
and ballads. His music to Garrick's romance, "Cymon," produced at Drury
Lane in 1767, was very popular. He married one of his father's pupils,
Elizabeth Wright, in 1766, who became a successful stage-vocalist;
she died in 1774-5. He inherited much of his father's talent, but,
infatuated with the determination to discover the mystery of the
philosopher's stone, he built a laboratory at Chelsea, and ruined
himself. Removing to Ireland, he resumed his profession of music, and
revived his fortune; but the old mania returned, and he retired to
Clontarf to make experiments which he believed would enable him to
manufacture gold, with the result that he again beggared himself, and
was arrested and confined in a sponging-house in Dublin. From this, by
the exertions of friends, he was released. He returned to London, and
again took up work as a teacher and composer, but with only moderate
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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