was there, as a serious, accomplished, and thoroughly educated man, and gave not the slightest sign of inclination to intemperance. But he was in needy circumstances, and although his noble-minded wife had been frightfully disgusted at what she had suffered from him, yet in spite of this he was, from time to time, supplied by her with considerable sums of money.” Mara’s end was a sad one. He went, as Gerber further says, to Holland, where “his unhappy inclination for drink so gained the upper hand, that after having lost all sense of honour, he used to play for dancing, day and night, in sailors’ inns and miserable beer-houses, until at last, in the summer of 1808, at Schiedam, near Rotterdam, death set him free from this wretched life.” The Violoncello compositions of Mara, which consist of two Concertos, twelve Solos with Bass accompaniment, a Duet with Violin, and a Sonata with Bass, remained unpublished. The Bohemian, JOSEPH ZYKA,[139] was about twenty years older than Jos. Baptist Mara. He received his education as Violoncellist at Prague, and belonged, from 1743-1764, to the Electoral band in Dresden. He then went with his son FREIDERICH, who was likewise a good cellist, as chamber musician to Berlin, where, according to Fétis, in 1791, he died; but, according to Fürstenau, at the beginning of our century. He is said to have left behind him, in manuscript, several Concertos. JOHANN HETTISCH is distinguished as a remarkable Violoncellist. Born in 1748, in the Bohemian town Liblin, he was educated at the Piaristi College at Schlan, and then went to Prague in order to train as a musician. There he still was in the year 1772. Later, and indeed in 1788, he was, as Gerber asserts, employed at Lemberg in the Imperial civil service, from which it appears that in the flower of his age he had abandoned the practice of Art as a vocation. His playing seems to have been distinguished especially for its rich tone. According to Fétis, he left several Concertos and Cello Solos in manuscript. The Catholic priest, FRANZ MENSI, born on March 27, 1753, at Bistra, where his father was tutor to Count Hohenems, early occupied himself with music, and when his parents went to Prague he became Joseph Reicha’s pupil for Violoncello playing while Cajetan Vogel instructed him in theory. Mensi also played the Violin. On both instruments he was considered clever, and not less so in composition. Some of his works, which consist of church music, Symphonies, and Quartets, are said to be preserved in the convent at Strahow. In the year 1808, Mensi was still living and working as curé at Pher. He also had some pupils, amongst these were JOH. BRODECZKY, WENZEL CZIŽEK, and Count SPORK.