MONTHLY MIRROR, FOR SEPTEMBER, 1801. Embellished with A PORTRAIT OF MR. INCLEDON, ENGRAVED BY RIDLEY, FROM A FINE PAINTING BY BROWN, HISTORICAL PAINTER TO THE KING. London: PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETORS, By J. Uright, No. 20, Denmark-Court, Strand, And published by VERNOR and HOOD in the Poultry Sold, also, by all the Booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland; CORRESPONDENCE. A Portrait of Mrs. Billington, from a fine original Painting, will be given in our next. We have been favoured with a letter from TATE WILKINSON, Esq. patentee of the Theatres Royal York, Hull, &c. pointing out and correcting several errors in Mr. Murphy's Life of Garrick, lately published. We shall insert a part of it in our next number. We sincerely thank OCTAVIUS for his many interesting communications, and exceedingly regret the circumstance which seems likely to deprive us, for a time, of so valuable a correspondent. The Sonnet on her Brother's Birth-day, by the YOUNG LADY who is the author of the series of exquisite sonnets which have been so much admired in this work, and another, On seeing a young Female Lunatic, have never been received. We have not forgotten the Infernal Tale sent us from Manchester. We shall attend to the hint thrown out by LEANDER, in his first letter from Halifax, when our portraits are characteristic. We have no doubt but that the deserving comedian he mentions will be admitted into our collection at a proper opportunity. The Sonnet, in imitation, by R. M. of Lichfield, shall be inserted. We will do what we can, but we are almost afraid it will not be in our power to comply with the request of H. K. W. (Nottingham) with regard to the Elegy on Cowper. We thank H. K. for the trouble he has taken. NOTEA G. is under consideration. We wish our correspondent, to whom we have been indebted for the article on the subject of HERALDRY, alluded to by P- had enabled us to reply satisfactorily to his enquires. Lines to Mr. COOKE, by BATHOSIUS (Manchester), as soon as possible. The impertinent Query of a Busy Body, is not worthy of an answer. W. TOONE, (Beaumaris), our constant contributors S. K. and Q, Z. ROMA, Evander, (Liverpool) H**** (Carlisle), and several other correspondents, will find their respective favours in the present number. MONTHLY MIRROR, FOR SEPTEMBER, 1801. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MR. INCLEDON, [With a Portrait.] MR. INCLEDON is unquestionably the first male singer on the English stage. We do not believe that there ever has been, and most probably there never will again appear, a vocal performer of equal excellence, In his peculiar province he stands alone, like Mrs. SIDDONS, and seems to defy all competition. The particulars of such a man's history cannot but be an object of public curiosity; and the authenticity of the following facts may be relied upon. Mr. Incledon is a native of Cornwall; where his father, we understand, was a respectable physician. Whether from the inclination of our young hero, or the numerous progeny of his parent, and consequent difficulty of providing for them, master Charles was, when only eight years old, articled to Mr. Jackson, of Exeter, whose musical compositions are so justly celebrated. Young Incledon's voice, at a very early period, excited admiration, and under such an excellent tutor, we need not wonder if the rapid progress he made in the science rendered him a little idol in all the concerts and musical parties about the neighbourhood. But having gone through a tolerable musical education, he, at the end of six or seven years, felt the love of his country rise superior to every other consideration, and scorning Apollo, when Britannia was in danger, entered as a Midshipman on board the Formidable, A. D. 1779. He went to the West Indies, and during the two years he continued in the navy,, was in several engagements. His vocal powers were extremely agreeable to his mess-mates, and their reputation soon recommended him to the particular notice of the most eminent noblemen and gentlemen in the fleet, with whom he became a very great favourite. With a view of putting him into the proper sphere, where his powers would be most serviceable to himself, he was persuaded to return to England, and to attempt the stage. Lord Mulgrave, Admiral Pigot, and others, gave him letters to Mr. Colman, and he made application to our modern Terence, in the summer of 1782; but though his naval patrons had praised him to the skies, the manager did not comply with their request. Determined, however, to attempt a profession, which he had been so often advised to pursue, and in which he had for some time thought himself capable of succeeding, he joined Collins's company at Southampton, where the sound of his voice had sufficient interest to procure him a situation. He made his entrée as Alphonso, in the Castle of Andalusia; and was received with the most flattering approbation. He had been about a year in this corps, and had experienced a large portion of the difficulties usually encountered by itinerant players, when the fame of his abilities having reached Bath, he was engaged by the managers in that city. It was his musical talent alone that obtained him this engagement, for his abilities as an actor were not much valued; and the disappointments he had already met with, discouraged him from displaying with the necessary confidence the acquirements he had made in the science of music, under Jackson. He was regarded as little better than a chorus singer, and obliged to personate the most trifling and disagreeable characters; but fortunately the penetration of the musical amateurs in that city soon discovered his value. Rauzzini, the conductor of the concerts, who as a teacher, a composer, or a man of exquisite taste, has few equals, one evening, in a song between the acts perceived Incledon's great natural powers, and that he possessed a tolerable knowledge in music; he immediately took him under his care, and gave him the best instructions a pupil could receive: he sang at the concerts in Bath and Bristol with great applause, and was engaged at Vauxhall, London, in the summer, where his success was still more flattering, and Rauzzini's patronage in a few months brought him from obscurity into universal estimation. His presence was now courted by every company he was the favourite at the noblemen's Catch-club in Bath, which he assisted in establishing; and Doctor Harrington, the most eminent physician there, a gentleman of great musical genius, became his particular friend. By being under such a master as Rauzzini six or seven years, he received a complete musical education, and became a great favourite on the stage; yet it is extraordinary that during the whole of his stay in Bath, where he was almost worshipped by all ranks for his abilities: he never, even in his last season, was brought so forward in the theatre as might have been expected. Mr. Words worth, who performed some seasons ago at Sadler's Wells, occupied the first walk in Bath and Mr. Incledon was obliged to content himself with the second. He made his debût as Dermot in The Poor Soldier, on CoventGarden stage, in October 1790, and met with a very warm reception. But here it is necessary to remark, that having been often heard at Vauxhall, a place which has become proverbial for vulgar songs and singers, the public opinion was made up upon the extent of his talents in a theatre; and the very circumstance of his being a l'auxhall Singer, was sufficient with the multitude, who have no judgment of their own, to make great success for him in the drama a ridiculous expectation. But the voice which, in common with all others, was never listened to in Vauxhall Gardens, by persons of musical taste, had a very unexpected effect when confined within a theatre; and it was now for the first time discovered by the town, that Incledon united with one of the finest voices ever heard, great science, pathos, taste and execution. But the managers did not at first put him very forward, and for the fame he has acquired he is wholly indebted to the irresistible force of his own merit. Mr. Incledon has added greatly to his reputation, by his very fine and affecting execution of the songs of Handel, and other composers of sacred music, during the oratorios in Lent, for which he has been regularly engaged every year. In ballads he is allowed to stand unrivalled; his Young William (melodized by himself) his Admiral Benbow, Black-eyed Susan, and other songs of that description, will never be forgotten by those who have once heard them. His Storm is a masterly and astonishing performance, and his style is so perfectly expressive of the horrors of a tempest, and the confusion and despair of the sufferers, that, independent of the amazement excited by the vast power and flexibility of voice which he displays in this difficult undertaking, the effect upon the audience is always as strong as any impression produced by the finest piece of acting. Old Towler is another of these efforts which have delighted the public in a degree beyond all precedent and comparison surprising. The extraordinary talents of Mr. Incledon have been acknowledged in every part of Great Britain and Ireland; the certainty of his attraction having induced the proprietors of almost every theatre in the country to make him advantageous proposals: and fame and emolument have accompanied him in all his provincial expeditions. |