Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 12.djvu/278

 we find him imprisoned for debt, and his cabinets held in bond (A Selection of the Correspondence of Linnæus, &c., edited by Sir J. E. Smith, ii. 482–3). Upon his release in the following year he set about preparing for the press his long-promised ‘Natural History of Fossils,’ the proposals for which had been issued in 1751. Of this work vol. i., part i., appeared in 1757, but no more was published, the author not finding or deserving encouragement. Through the benevolent efforts of Dr. Stukeley, Peter Collinson, and other scientific friends, Da Costa was elected to the clerkship of the Royal Society on 3 Feb. 1763, in place of Francis Hauksbee, deceased. He had held the appointment barely five years, when, being detected in various acts of dishonesty, he was summarily dismissed in December 1767, and shortly afterwards arrested at the suit of the society and committed to the king's bench prison. His library and collections were seized and sold by auction in the following May. He continued a prisoner until the end of 1772, supporting himself by his pen and lecturing, but was frequently in want. We next hear of him in 1774, when he petitioned to be allowed to read a course of lectures on fossilology to the university of Oxford in the ensuing Act term; but his reputation had preceded him, and permission was peremptorily refused. Towards the close of his life he resumed authorship with some success. He published ‘Elements of Conchology; or an introduction to the Knowledge of Shells,’ 8vo, London, 1776, and ‘Historia naturalis Testaceorum Britanniæ, or the British Conchology, containing the … Natural History of the Shells of Great Britain and Ireland … in English and French,’ 4to, London, 1778. He also revised and contributed additional notes to Engeström's translation of Cronstedt's ‘Essay towards a System of Mineralogy,’ 8vo, London, 1770 (second edition, enlarged by J. H. de Magellan, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1788). In these undertakings he was greatly assisted by his steady friends Dr. John Fothergill and Dr. Richard Pulteney. Da Costa died at his lodgings in the Strand in May 1791, and was buried in the Portuguese Jews' cemetery at Mile End (Will. reg. in P.C.C., June 1791;, Environs, iii. 478). He was twice married: first, in March 1750, to his cousin Leah, third daughter of Samuel del Prado, who died in 1763, leaving no issue; secondly, about 1766, to Elizabeth Skillman, or Stillman, by whom he had an only daughter. Many of his manuscripts are preserved in the British Museum; the more important are: his letters to and from scientific friends, which cover a period of fifty years (1737–1787), in Addit. MSS. 28534–44 (a few are printed in, Literary Illustrations, vol. iv.); ‘Commonplace Book,’ in Addit. MS. 29867 (portions of which appeared in Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxii. pt. i. pp. 205–7, 513–17); ‘Collections relating to the Jews,’ in Addit. MS. 29868 (portions in Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxii. pt. ii. pp. 329–31); ‘Minutes of the Royal Society and Society of Antiquaries, 1757–1762,’ in Egerton MS. 2381. Da Costa also mentions his ‘Athenæ Regiæ Societatis Londinensis,’ in three folio volumes, which he presented to the society's library in 1766; but of this all traces have disappeared. 

COSTA, MICHAEL (1810–1884), conductor and musical composer, son of Cavaliere Pasquale Costa, was born in Naples on 4 Feb. 1810. He learnt the rudiments of music from his maternal grandfather, Giacomo Tritto, and was subsequently placed at the Royal Academy of his native town. Three compositions by him were composed for the theatre of the college, a cantata, ‘L' Immagine’ (1825), and two operas, ‘Il Delitto punito’ (1826) and ‘Il Sospetto funesto’ (1827). An oratorio, ‘La Passione,’ a mass, a ‘Dixit Dominus,’ and three symphonies were composed at this time, no doubt under the supervision of Zingarelli, then director of the college. In 1828 he wrote an opera, ‘Il Carcere d' Ildegonda,’ for the Teatro Nuovo, and was appointed accompanist at San Carlo. In 1829 he wrote ‘Malvina’ for San Carlo, and ‘Seldlachek,’ in which Tosi, Rubini, and Bendetti appeared. In the autumn of this year he was sent to England by Zingarelli, who had composed a sacred cantata, based on Isaiah xii., for the Birmingham festival, and wished that his pupil should conduct it. The directors of the festival, distrusting his ability on account of his youth, refused not only to allow him to conduct the work, but to pay him any fee whatever unless he would undertake to sing at the festival. This he accordingly did, but, as may be imagined, with very moderate success. He was first heard on 6 Oct. in the duet ‘O mattutini albori’ from Rossini's ‘Donna del Lago,’ which he sang with Miss F. Ayton ‘in character.’ On the subsequent days of the festival he sang two solos, besides taking part in a few ensemble numbers. The criticisms on his performance were uniformly unfavourable, nor did his master's work obtain a much greater success. Zingarelli, according to the ‘Harmonicon,’