Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/116

 Vauxhall Gardens, where she increased her reputation by her admirable singing of her husband's songs and ballads. Soon after this she seems to have given up singing in public, as her place was taken by Dr. Arne's pupils, of whom Miss Brent was the most distinguished. She survived her husband, by whom she was left badly off, and died at the house of Barthelemon at Vauxhall, 6 Oct. 1789. In the judgment of her contemporaries, Cecilia Arne was one of the most pleasing of the English singers of her day. She was often called 'the nightingale of the stage,' and her voice was said to be 'unequalled for melody, fulness, and flexibility.'



ARNE, MICHAEL (1741?–1786), musician, the son of Dr. Arne, was born either in 1740 or 1741. His father wished to make him; a singer, and his aunt, Mrs. Gibber, brought him on the stage when very young, in the part of the page in Otway's tragedy, 'The Orphan,' but giving evidence of more talent as an instrumentalist than a vocalist he henceforth came before the public principally as a performer on the harpsichord, in which capacity he played at a concert when he was only eleven. His performance of Scarlatti's Lessons and his facility in executing double shakes are noted by his contemporaries. His first published composition was a volume of English songs, 'by Master Arne,' and after producing several similar collections, in 1763 he wrote music for 'The Fairy Tale' and 'Hymen' (performed at Drury Lane). In the following year Michael Arne, in collaboration with Jonathan Battishill, set the opera of 'Almena,' which was produced at Drury Lane 6 Nov. 1764, and was played six times. At this time he was living at 14 Crown Court, Russell Street, Covent Garden. On 20 March 1765 he was elected a member of the Madrigal Society, but in the following year his membership ceased. He was re-elected on 16 Dec. 1767 (Records of Madrigal Soc). On 5 Nov. 1766, he married Miss Elizabeth "Wright, who sang in her husband's next work, 'Cymon,' a spectacular drama, written by Garrick, which was successfully produced at Drury Lane 2 Jan. 1767. He was now living 'at Mr. O'Keeffe's, at the Golden Unicorn, near Hanover Street, Long Acre,' but about this time, according to some accounts during a visit to Dublin, he became engrossed in the pursuit of alchemy, and built a laboratory at Chelsea in order to carry on his attempts to discover the philosopher's stone. Ruined and bankrupt, he was before long forced to return to music. In 1770 he was living 'at Mr. Doron's, facing the Vine, near Vauxhall.' He published several volumes of songs, which were sung at Vauxhall Gardens, Where his first wife supported him by singing until her death (which occurred before 1775), and he also supplied music for several dramas. In 1779 he obtained an engagement at Dublin, but in 1784 he was once more in London, and died at South Lambeth, 14 Jan. 1786, leaving his second wife in a state of great destitution. Burney (in 'Rees's Cyclopædia') says of Michael Arne that 'he was always in debt, and often in prison; he sung his first wife to death, and starved the second, leaving her in absolute beggary.'



ARNE, THOMAS AUGUSTINE (1710–1778), musical composer, was the son of Thomas Arne, an upholsterer, who lived in King Street, Covent Garden, where his shop was known as the 'Crown and Cushion,' or, according to some authorities, as the 'Two Crowns and Cushion.' Thomas Arne is said to have been the upholsterer with whom the 'Indian kings' lodged, as chronicled in the 'Spectator,' No. 50, and the 'Tatler,' No. 171, and some biographers have identified him with one Edward Arne, who was the original of the political upholsterer of Nos. 156, 160, and 178 of the 'Tatler,' although it is sufficiently obvious that the latter do not refer to the same individual as is mentioned in the earlier numbers. Thomas Arne was twice married; by his second wife, Anne Wheeler, to whom he was married at the Mercers' Chapel in April 1707, he had Thomas Augustine, who was born 12 March 1710, Susanna Maria (afterwards celebrated as Mrs. Gibber), and other children. Thomas Augustine was educated at Eton, where he does not seem to have distinguished himself otherwise than as a performer on the flute, and on leaving school was placed by his father in a lawyer's office. During this period of his life, the love of music which had characterised his Eton career speedily developed although his passion had to be concealed from his father. He privately took lessons on the violin from Michael Testing, and practised the spinet at night on an instrument he had secretly conveyed to his room, the strings of which he muffled with handkerchiefs.