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 , in Saxony, principal oboist at the King's Theatre. Her mother, an English vocalist of some distinction, was a pupil of John Christian Bach, and sang at Vauxhall with success between 1765 and 1775. Elizabeth Weichsel received her earliest musical instruction, in company with her brother Charles (who afterwards was known as a violinist) from her father, under whom she studied the pianoforte with such assiduity that on 10 March 1774 she played at a concert at the Haymarket for her mother's benefit. In addition to her father's instruction she studied under Schroeter, and before she was twelve years old published two sets of pianoforte sonatas. She now began to turn ner attention to the cultivation of her voice, and at the early age of fourteen appeared at a public concert in Oxford. On 13 Oct. 1783 she was secretly married (under the assumed name of 'Elizabeth Wierman') at Lambeth Church to James Billington, a double-bass player in the Drury Lane orchestra, from whom she had had lessons in singing. Immediately after their marriage the Billingtons went to Dublin, where she made her first appearance on the stage in the part of Eurydice. After singing at Waterford and other towns in Ireland she returned to London in 1786, and was offered an engagement at Covent Garden for three nights only, but she insisted on being engaged for twelve nights, at a salary of 12l. a week. On these terms she was announced to appear on 14 Feb. 1786, but the renown she had already won in Dublin had preceded her, and 'by command of their majesties' she appeared on the 13th as Rosetta in Arne's 'Love in a Village.' Her performance seems to have struck the public by its originality, and her success was enormous. At the end of the twelve nights she was engaged for the rest of the season at a salary' of 1,000l. A contemporary account of her at this period says that her voice was of great sweetness, compass, and power, and that she possessed 'a great deal of genuine beauty and very unaffected and charming manners;' but the secret of her great success was the unremitting zeal with which she studied her art. Her brother-in-law, Thomas Billington [q.v.], says that she had originally 'a very indifferent voice and manner,' which she completely changed by the industry with which, throughout her public career, she pursued her studies. At the end of her first season she went to Paris, and had lessons from the veteran Sacchini, whose last pupil she was, and at different periods of her career she also studied with Morelli, Paer, and Himmel. She returned to London for the season of 1786-7, and continued to sing there, at Covent Garden, the Concerts of Ancient Music, the so-called Oratorios, and the Handel Commemorations, until the end of 1793. Shield wrote his operas of 'Marian' and 'The Prophet' for her, and in 1789 she appeared as Yarico in Dr. Arnold's long-pcpular compilation, 'Inkle and Yarico.' Others of her favourite parts were Mandane (in 'Artaxerxes'), and the heroines in 'Polly,' the 'Duenna,' the 'Castle of Andalusia,' 'Corali,' 'Clara,' the 'Flitch of Bacon,' &c.

Mrs. Billington was not happy in her marriage, and even before she had appeared on the London stage rumour had been busy with her fair fame. In 1792 there appeared an anonymous publication, which professed to contain her private correspondence with her mother. This work was of so disgraceful and scurrilous a description that Mrs. Billington was forced to take legal proceedings against the publishers. An answer to the 'Memoirs' appeared in due course ; but it seems probable that the scandal induced Mrs. Billington to abandon her profession and retire to the Continent. Accompanied by her brother and her husband, she left England early in 1794, and travelled by way of Germany to Italy. At Naples she was induced by Sir William Hamilton, the English ambassador, to sing in private before the royal family. This led to her singing at the San Carlo, where she appeared in a new opera, 'Inez di Castro,' written expressly for her by Bianchi, on 30 May 1794. Her singing created an extraordinary impression, but her triumph was cut short by the sudden death of her husband, which took place the day after her first appearance, as he was preparing to accompany his wife to the theatre, after dining with the Bishop of Winchester. Her enemies did not hesitate to accuse Mrs. Billington of causing her husband's death ; but frail as she undoubtedly was, there was no reason to lay such a crime to her charge. She stayed at Naples sixteen months, and then sang at Florence, Leghorn, Milan, Venice, and Trieste. In 1797, when singing at Venice, she was prostrated with a severe illness for six weeks. On her recovery the opera house was illuminated for three nights. At Milan she was received with much favour by the Empress Josephine, and here she met a young Frenchman, M. Felissent, to whom she was married in 1799. After her second marriage she went to live at St. Artien, an estate she had bougbt between Venice and Treviso ; but her life was rendered so insupportable by the ill-treatment she received from her husband that in 1801 she left him and returned to England. Felissent, who, it was said, had been publicly flogged as an impostor 