He came to Magilligan many years ago, and at an advanced age married a woman of Innishowen, whom he found living in the house of a friend. 'I can't tell,' quoth Hampson, 'what it was that buckled us together; she being lame and I blind.' By this wife he had one daughter, married to a cooper, who has several children, and maintains them all, though Hampson (in this alone seeming to dote,) says, that his son-in-law is a spendthrift, and that he himself maintains them; the family humour his whim, and the old man is quieted. He is pleased when they tell him, as he thinks is the case, that people of character for musical taste, send letters to invite him; and he, though incapable now of leaving the house, is planning expeditions never to be attempted, much less realized. These are the only traces of mental debility, and as to his body, he has no inconvenience but that arising from a chronic disorder. His habits have ever been sober; his favourite drink, once beer, now milk and water, and his diet chiefly potatoes. I asked him to teach my daughter, but he declined; adding, that it was too hard for a young girl, but nothing would give him greater pleasure, if he thought it could be done. "Lord Bristol, when lodging at the bathing house of Mount Salut, near Magilligan, gave three guineas, and ground rent free, towards the house where Hampson now lives; and at the house-warming, his Lordship, with his Lady and family, came, and the children danced to his harp. The Bishop also gave three crowns to the family, and in the dear year, his Lord ship called at the door in his coach and six, and gave them a guinea to buy meal. "The following lines are sculptured on the old harp, the sides and front of which are of white sally, the back of fir, patched with copper and iron plates. 'In the time of Noah I was green, By Corman Kelly under ground; "His daughter, now attending him, is only thirtythree years old. "I have now given you an account of my visit, and even thank you, (though my fingers are tired,) for the pleasure you procured to me by this interesting commission. Ever yours, G. V. SAMPSON." Hampson died at the advanced age of a hundred and ten years. A few hours before his death, he tuned his harp, that it might be in readiness to entertain some company who were expected to pass that way shortly after; however, he felt the approach of death, and calling his family around him, he resigned his breath without a struggle, retaining his faculties in a considerable measure, until the last moment of his existence. The foregoing account of Hampson does not mention whether he had been married more than once, but this seems probable, from the age of his daughter attending him at the time it was written, who, if thirty three years old then, must have been born when he was seventy-five. LINES ON HAMPSON'S DEATH, Which appeared in the Belfast Magazine, January, 1808. For Hampson, no more shall thy soul-touching finger While strains from thy harp warble soft round the shore. No more thy harp swells with enraptured emotion, No longer thy minstrelsy charms the rude ocean Yet vigour and youth with bright visions had fired thee, And urged thee to wander, bright laurels to seek. Yes, oft hast thou sung of our kings crowned with glory And oft hast thou sung of the bards famed in story, Whose wild notes of rapture have long passed away. Thy grave shall be screened from the blast and the billow, Erin's children shall wet with tears thy cold pillow, AUTHORITIES. Lady Morgan's wild Irish Girl, vol. 3-Belfast Magazine. THE LIFE OF FRANCISCUS SALINAS, A CELEBRATED MUSICIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SALAMANCA. "From what blest spring did he derive his art Dilating joy, as light o'erspreads the skies. From an immortal source, like that it came; But light we know—this wonder wants a name ! What art thou? From what causes dost thou spring? Franciscus Salinas, the son of the quæstor or treasurer of Burgos, was born about the year 1513. Although, from the day of his birth, he laboured under the misfortune of an incurable blindness, he was the author of one of the most valuable books on mu sic now extant in any language. He began very early to devote himself to the study of music, and during his youth, nearly the whole of his time was employed in singing and playing on the organ. While he was a boy, a young female, who was about T to take the veil, happened to come to the place where he resided. She expressed a desire of learning to play on the organ, and for that purpose became an inmate in his father's house, and was taught music by Salinas, while he, in return, received from her instruction in Latin. His parents afterwards sent him to Salamanca, where, for some years, he assiduously applied himself to the study of the Greek language; and also to the study of philosophy, and the arts. The narrowness of his circumstances, however, soon compelled him to leave the university, after which he was taken into the king's palace, where he was patronized by Petrus Sarmentus, Archbishop of Compostella. When the Archbishop was made a Cardinal, Salinas accompanied him to Rome, where he spent thirty years in studying the works of Boetius, and the writings of the ancient Greek harmonicians. He afterwards returned to Spain, hoping to spend the remainder of his days in his native country; but at the end of three years, he was recalled into Italy, and afterwards invited to Salamanca, as professor of music, on a liberal salary. He was an excellent composer for the organ and other instruments, and was much esteemed by persons of rank, particularly by Pope Paul the Fourth, through whose favour he was created Abbot of St. Pauciato de la Rocca Salegna, in the kingdom of Naples. He died in the month of February, 1590, at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. He wrote a treatise, "De Musicâ," which is divided into seven books. In the first, he treats only of the different methods of calculating the ratios of sound. In the eighth and ninth chapters of the second book |