OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY.-LXIII. SIR JOHN A. STEVENSON, MUS. DOC. "He who, if aught of grace there be In the wild notes I write or sing, First smooth'd their links of harmony, And lent them charms they did not bring ; He, of the gentlest, simplest heart, With whom, employ'd in his sweet art, A notion how they speak in heav'n ;) I've pass'd more bright and charmed hours, Than all earth's wisdom could have giv'n."-MOORE. AMONG the many remarkable men who distinguished themselves in Ireland during the last century, Sir John Stevenson's name deserves to be recorded. His life presents an instructive as well as interesting page in our history. Raising himself from obscurity by his own exertions and industry, he acquired celebrity as a musician, and identified himself, both in his professional and social character, with the best and most honoured of his cotemporaries. There are many with us still who recollect him in that festive intercourse which his genius adorned, and but few unacquainted with the part which he took in the adaptation of our National Melodies to the most brilliant gems of Moore's lyric fancy; while his sacred compositions hold a place among the best of choral services, and are still to be heard in the swelling notes of the organs of our ancient cathedrals, with which his earlier career and subsequent fame are so intimately associated. Some ninety-one or ninety-two years ago, there lived in an humble lodging in Crane-lane, off Dame-street, in the city of Dublin, a musician, professing the violin, whose name was John Stevenson. He was the son of one Andrew Stevenson a coach-maker, a native of Glasgow, where he also was born. Brought up to his father's business, he continued to follow it in his youth, until he began to think, that he could do better for himself in the world by scraping the strings of a fiddle, than by performing the less harmonious operation on the spokes of coachwheels. Leaving his home and his trade, he wandered from town to town, earning a very scanty livelihood by his new occupation; and by way of improving his fortunes came over to Dublin in the year 1760, taking up his abode in the locality we have already stated. There (and we could show the house in the lane, for it was pointed out to us the other day), was born, in the summer of 1762, John Andrew Stevenson, the subject of this memoir, and, in a year after his birth, another son, whose name, we believe, was William. Of their early boyhood, passed in the routine of such education as their parents' means could afford, we know of nothing interesting to relate. Their father worked hard to support his family, occasionally playing in the orchestras of the musical societies and concerts of the metropolis, and giving lessons on his favourite instrument. In the month of September, 1771, he was attacked by fever, of which he died after a short illness, and his wife having caught the infection, by close and affectionate attendance on her husband, followed him in a few days. They are both buried in the church-yard of Rathfarnham, from which neighbourhood it is supposed Mrs. Stevenson's family came; he married her shortly after his arrival in Ireland. The condition of two children thus suddenly, and at so early an age, deprived of both parents, was aggravated by their having been left almost totally unprovided for. The sympathy, however, of some kind relations and friends was excited in their behalf, and they received at this critical time very generous assistance. Mr. Gibson, of the firm of Woffington and Gibson, who kept a musical instrument shop in Grafton-street, knew Stevenson well, and having ascertained that John Andrew (or Andrew, as he was then called) had inherited somewhat of his father's musical taste, interested himself in his behalf, and, after considerable difficulty, obtained for him admission to the choirschool of Christ Church Cathedral, where the boys are educated, clothed, boarded, and lodged. This was in the early part of the year 1771, he being OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY.-LXHI. SIR JOHN A. STEVENSON, MUS, DOC. "He who, if aught of grace there be In the wild notes I write or sing, A notion how they speak in heav'n ;) I've pass'd more bright and charmed hours, Than all earth's wisdom could have giv'n."-MOORE. AMONG the many remarkable men who distinguished themselves in Ireland during the last century, Sir John Stevenson's name deserves to be recorded His life presents an instructive as well as interesting page in our history. Raising himself from obscurity by his own exertions and industry, he acquired celebrity as a musician, and identified himself, both in his professional and socia character, with the best and most honoured of his cotemporaries. There are many with us still who recollect him in that festive intercourse which his genim adorned, and but few unacquainted with the part which he took in the adap tation of our National Melodies to the most brilliant gems of Moore's lyric fancy: while his sacred compositions hold a place among the best of choral services, and are still to be heard in the swelling notes of the organs of our ancient cathedrals, with which his earlier career and subsequent fame are so intimately associated. Some ninety-one or ninety-two years ago, there lived in an humble lodging in Crane-lane, off Dame-street, in the city of Dublin, a musician, professing the violin, whose name was John Stevenson. He was the son of one Andrew Stevenson a coach-maker, a native of Glasgow, where he also was born. Brought up to his father's business, he continued to follow it in his youth, until he began to think, that he could do better for himself in the world by scraping the strings of a fiddle, than by performing the less harmonious operation on the spokes of coachwheels. Leaving his home and his trade, he wandered from town to town, earning a very scanty livelihood by his new occupation; and by way of improving his fortunes came over to Dublin in the year 1760, taking up his abode in the locality we have already stated. There (and we could show the house in the lane, for it was pointed out to us the other day), was born, in the summer of 1762, John Andrew Stevenson, the subject of this memoir, and, in a year after his birth, another son, whose name, we believe, was William. Of their early boyhood, passed in the routine of such education as their parents' means couli afford, we know of nothing interesting to relate. Their father worked hard to support his family, occasionally playing in the orchestras of the musical societies and concerts of the metropolis, and giving lessons on his favourite instrument. In the month of September, 1771, he was attacked by fever, of which he died after a short illness, and his wife having caught the infection, by close and affectionate attendance on her husband, followed him in a few days. They are both buried in the church-yard of Rathfarnham, from which neighbourhood it is supposed Mrs. Stevenson's family came; he married her shortly after his arrival in Ireland. The condition of two children thus suddenly, and at so early an age, deprived of both parents, was aggravated by their having been left almost totally unprovided for. The sympathy, however, of some kind relations and friends was excited in their behalf, and they received at this critical time very generous assistance. Mr. Gibson, of the firm of Woffington and Gibson, who kept a musical instrument shop in Grafton-street, knew Stevenson well, and having ascertained that John Andrew (or Andrew, as he was then called) had inherited somewhat of his father's musical taste, interested himself in his behalf, and, after considerable difficulty, obtained for him admission to the choirschool of Christ Church Cathedral, where the boys are educated, clothed, boarded, and lodged. This was in the early part of the year 1771, he being |