I will build the bridge you mention; not else." She was puzzled, and the negotiation dropped; however, when they met, shortly after this free and easy beginning, they became excellent friends.

I was detained in prison for three days, and was only liberated through great interest. I returned to my master, who received me with his usual kindness, and applauded my spirit for not receiving a blow without returning it. The termination of his engagement approached, when he proposed returning to Naples. He called me to him one morning, and after hearing me sing half a dozen songs, in which he had taken great pains in my instruction, said," The time of our separation is approaching; your talent will now procure you an engagement in any theatre in Europe. I have written to Campigli, the manager of the Pergola theatre in Florence (he was also a sort of agent, and was, at that time, in correspondence with, and furnished every Italian opera in Europe, with singers, dancers, composers, &c.) he will be glad to see you, and under his care and patronage you cannot fail of success; because you have the peculiar distinction of being the only public scholar I ever taught. A Syracusan polacre will sail in a few days for Leghorn, in which I will procure you a passage, and will give you several letters

of recommendation; and so, God bless you, my good boy!"

I was overwhelmed with melancholy at the thought of leaving my kind, liberal, and great master. He was a man of the most honourable and independent mind I ever met, and considered an excellent scholar. He took great pains to explain Metastasio, and other great Italian poets to me, and particularly inculcated a love of truth, and a horror of committing a mean action; I may truly say, with Nicodeme, in the French play, "Le maître qui prit soin de former ma jeunesse, ne m'a jamais appris à faire une bassesse.”

I prevailed on him to accept, as a remembrance, the piano-forte I brought from Ireland;-it was my only possession, but I declare that had it been worth thousands, it would have been his; my love and gratitude to him were so strong *.

* Many years afterwards, when dining with my dear and lamented friend, the late Lady Hamilton, at Merton, I had the pleasure of hearing of this circumstance from the illustrious Lord Nelson, near whom I had the honour of being seated at table. He said, "Mr. Kelly, when in Naples, I have frequently heard your old master, Aprile, speak of you with great affection, though he said, that when with him, you were as wild as a colt. He mentioned, also, your having given him your piano-forte, which, he said, nothing should induce him to part with." I confess I was much gratified by the repetition of this trifling anecdote.

The day arrived when I was to leave my beloved master. He amply provided me for the voyage, and paid my passage, giving me, at the same time, thirty Neapolitan ounces, which were sufficient to take me to Florence, where I might expect an engagement. After taking an affectionate leave of me; he sent his faithful valet Giuseppe, a Milanese, who had lived with him several years, in the boat with me, to see me safe on board. Giuseppe was a worthy creature, but as vain of his hair-dressing as the elder Vestris was of his dancing, and flourished his comb with as much grace and dignity as le Dieu de dance moved the minuet de la cour. Poor fellow, he shed tears at parting with me, and said, "Farewell, Signor! remember your attached Giuseppe; in whatever part of the world you may be, if embarrassed, write to me, and I will go to you. I can live any where, for in classical hair-dressing I will yield to none, however illustrious; and thank heaven! in these days, the comb takes the lead of every thing."

The wind was fair, and we set sail from beautiful Sicily, "where Ceres loves to dwell." I was dreadfully sick during the first day and night, and obliged to keep below. The second, I went on deck, and had a view of the Lipari Islands, famous for their delicious wines; Stromboli, their chief, was out of humour, for it poured forth volumes of flame.

It is said that this mountain discharges a greater quantity of lava than either Etna or Vesuvius, and never ceases roaring! On the third morning, I was roused by a dreadful noise on deck; when I went up, all was uproar; at last the captain told me we were pursued by a Turkish galera; the crew, instead of working the vessel and endeavouring to escape, were on their knees, each praying to his patron saint! some one of which, however, was propitious, for a stout breeze springing up, we got close in shore, and lost sight of the terrible galera. After being six days at sea, during the last of which it blew a complete hurricane, at eight o'clock in the morning we arrived in the bay of Leghorn, and lay close to the Lazzaretto; it is a beautiful building, and was then used as an hospital for seamen. After we had been visited by the officers of health, I went on shore to shew my passport at the Custom-house; I had on a Sicilian capote, with my hair (of which I had a great quantity, and which, like my complexion, was very fair) floating over it: I was as thin as a walking stick. As I stepped from the boat, I perceived a young lady and gentleman standing on the Mole, making observations; as the former looked at me she laughed, and as I approached, I heard her say to her companion in English, which, of course, she thought I did not understand, "Look at that girl dressed in boy's clothes!" To her astonishment,

I answered in the same language, "You are mistaken, Miss; I am a very proper he animal, and quite at your service !”

We all laughed till we were tired, and became immediately intimate; and these persons, my acquaintance with whom, commenced by this childish jest on the Mole at Leghorn, continued through life the warmest and most attached of my friends. All love and honour to your memories, Stephen and Nancy Storace! He was well known afterwards, as one of the best of English composers, and she was at that time, though only fifteen, the prima donna of the Comic Opera at Leghorn. They were Londoners, and their real name wanted the t, which they introduced into it. Their father was a Neapolitan, and a good performer on the double bass, which he played for many years at the Opera House, when the band was led by the celebrated Giardini. He married one of the Misses Trusler of Bath, celebrated for making a peculiar sort of cake, and sister to Doctor Trusler, well known in the literary world as a chronologist.

The elder Storace, Doctor Arnold, and Lowe, the singer, opened Mary-le-bone Gardens for the performance of burlettas, &c. &c. Owing to the attraction of the music, and Miss Trusler's plumcakes, the Gardens were successful for a time, but, disagreeing among themselves, the proprietors closed them, I believe, with loss.