Page:Notable South Australians.djvu/233

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OR, COLONISTS—PAST AND PRESENT.
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were not altogether devoted to pursuits of this nature. He was a moderate sportsman, and a successful shot in the "South Australian Free Rifles." Although he was necessarily fully occupied by his duties as editor of a daily journal, he found time for farming, of which he was passionately fond, and to the last managed a plot of land of ninety-two acres about five miles from Adelaide, where he resided, and chiefly worked between the hours of Ave and nine in the mornings. Mr. Whitridge died of pleurisy after only a fortnight's illness, and South Australia mourned for one of her most useful colonists.


Herr Linger,

A NATIVE of Berlin, where he was born in March 1810. His father was an engraver of some eminence, and observing that he early manifested great taste for music, had him taught its rudiments. So rapid was young Linger's progress that, at the age of twelve, he had obtained sufficient proficiency to be able to give lessons on the pianoforte. Placed under Beissiger and Klein, from whom he obtained a thorough insight into the theory of counterpoint and the general principles of composition, he made rapid strides, and soon was almost the equal of his teachers. He then commenced his career as a composer, and amongst the first-fruits of his genius were six sacred songs, dedicated to the Princess Royal of Prussia. These established his reputation in his native land, and induced him to aim at higher attainments. He visited Milan, Venice, and other cities in Italy for the purpose of obtaining practical acquaintance with the Italian school of music, and then returned to Berlin, where he composed various musical pieces, regarded by competent judges as possessing great merit. Amongst these were two entire operas, entitled, "The fight with the Dragon" and "Alfred the Great," three or four masses, several symphonies