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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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mmMm ^ m 4 M % »! < # 1 *^ 4 ; fhg li * e ^ portion being dropped , his engagement dropped witfr if / a © d Richard Ay ton then tried his hand at writing for the stage . Probably , jtbi f species of composition was not his forte " : it is equally projj&ble that he ^ as not fairly dealt by ; fotf while some of these pieces were damned , and some very successful , it so happened that he got nothing worth mentioning fbr his labour , time , and anxiety . The art of writing well , is o ^ e thing ; the art of getting paid , is quite a different matter . || e yvas the uncle of Fanny Ayton , who once made a great fuss find a great deal of money as ati Italian cantatrice . But * ' music hath charms . " So Richard Ayton went a sea voyage to stimulate his health and spirits . The vessel was nearly lost , but was saved , as a brief memoir informs us , " by his strength arid
activity in cutting away the wreck of the foretop-mast . " , No mere helpless , common-place man of " letters " was this Richard Ayton . Amidst the fall or jamming of the spars , Jioweyer , | ie received an injury which prevented him from leaving bis room for a twelve-month . But after he had thrown away his crutches , he found himself unable to recover the shock his constitution had received , and a painful illness soon put an end to Richard
Ayton . " He sank into the grave , apparently an old man at the age of thirtysix or thirty-seven . He lamented his approaching death only as- it prevented him from fulfilling the many plans he had formed of benefiting the world , as far as he could , by his writings . His worldly prospects had certainly nothing in tjiem to make him in love with lifje , and ^ is views of death were cheerful and serene . But still , for the abo . ye purpose , and for that alone , he wished to live . All his plans , however , dj p d with him , for not a leaf of manuscript was found at his lodgings after his death . How much he might have done , we have the best mean ? of judging from what he did . And from a review of the essays in tliw volume , it wiil appear evident , that Jus power to instruct and delight tiie world by his writings fell nothing short of his mcUnatibn . " — ^ P ^ moir / p . ll .
The few , yet well-condensed , pages of memoir from whi $ h the foregoing extract is taken , were written , we belief e , fcy Stothard the painter , and are the manifestation of a humane heart , and a fine intellectual sympathy . The Essays contained in this volume were produced by the author during the painful period of his last illness—an illness from which he neyer expected to recover . Yet , how fv \\ of the freshpeis of ijnflfci * nUiQn m of r ^ spa—how instinct with the best ; eri £ rgi $ f of philanthropy ! Not from wdojence , misconduct , weakpeifa , Or misapplied strength , did Richard Ayto *> }\ p $ and die , unknown ; but froiQ evil circumstaiice , and frqin ^ w ^ fl ^ s ' ignorance and neglect . It was owing to no wan t of fortitude mit Hk dUd in hmxry and bbicutity ; and that felon | 6 ui time ¦¦ 1 ¦ ¦ ¦
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1837, page 323, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1832/page/5/
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