It is to be hoped that he will not relinquish this ambitious and creditable resolve; for certainly his gifted children have already clearly shown such rare musical powers, and, incidentally, so much of dramatic talent, and have had so much stage experience, as to fully warrant him and all their friends in firmly believing that these versatile young ladies may, after a short course of training under the best masters of Europe, easily attain to the highest distinction on the operatic stage. XIII. FREDERICK ELLIOT LEWIS, PIANIST, ORGANIST, VIOLINIST, ETC. Like the honey-making bee, Passing from flower to flower, Tasting and gathering the sweets of each. In musical versatility, in capability for playing upon a great variety of musical instruments, there may be possibly, among the large number of talented artists of this country, a few who equal the subject of the following sketch: the writer, however, confesses, that, if there be such, he does not know of them. But, be this as it may, such an instance as I am about to present is one, which, in its showing of great musical talents and diversity of acquirements in instrumental performance, will be readily admitted as, to say the least, most extraordinary. For Frederick E. Lewis performs with ease and with pleasing finish on the piano-forte and the organ, on the violin, viola, violoncello, double-bass, and the guitar, on the clarinet and flute, on the cornet, and on nearly every one of the wind-instruments. Indeed, you can scarcely bring to this remarkable musician an instrument upon which in tasteful and artistic manner he cannot perform. [Illustration: FREDERICK ELLIOT LEWIS.] It is not my purpose, however, to present him here as a musical "prodigy," nor as one of those rather abnormal, supernatural beings who astound their hearers by playing upon an instrument almost at sight, without previous study, or without observable method; playing, as it would seem, from a kind of instinct. I present him rather as he is,--an intelligent, a cultured gentleman; an artist so great in natural gifts as to often excite astonishment certainly; but yet one with intelligent method, and fully able to understand and explain all he so skilfully performs. His extraordinary success in acquiring a good degree of proficiency in playing upon at least fifteen instruments--on two or three of which he excels as a performer, and most of which, too, he teaches--is due not alone to his great natural endowments, but is largely the result of an assiduous cultivation of the same, and of a severe, steady, and long-continued study and practice of each one of these instruments, in which occupation he has ever aimed at the classical, and avoided all that was coarse or commonplace, either in the compositions used, or in his execution of the same.