Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/529

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LISTER able for cultivation in concert with other cap- italists, and also took an active interest in the establishment of railroads. In 1830 he was appointed United States consul at Hamburg; but after a residence in Paris, he came back to Pennsylvania, and finally returned to Europe in 1832, and in 1833 took up his abode at Leipsic, where for some time he officiated as American consul. In 1837 he went to Paris, whence he wrote a series of letters to the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, subsequently collected in a work, the first volume of which was published under the title of Das nationale System der politischen Oekonomie (Stuttgart, 1841). In 1843 he established at Augsburg the Zollvereinsblatt, in which he proposed the enlargement of the customs union, and the organization of a national commercial system and of a national fleet. In 1844 he visited Austria and Hungary, and in 1846 England with the view of forming a commercial alliance between that country and Germany. He was not successful, and, having lost his property and his health, shot himself. His works have been published with his biography by Hausser (3 vols., Stuttgart, 1850-'51). LISTER, Thomas Henry, an English author, born about 1800, died in 1842. He was regis- ter general of births. He wrote two novels, " Granby " and " Herbert Lacy," and a "Life of Lord Clarendon, the Historian." His wid- ow, a sister of the earl of Clarendon, was in 1844 married to Sir George Cornewall Lewis. (See LEWIS.) LISTOBf, John, an English actor, born in London in 1776, died March 22, 1846. He was educated at Dr. Barrow's school, Soho, and subsequently became second master in the grammar school of St. Martin's, Leicester square, founded by Archbishop Tenison. Hav- ing been expelled from this establishment for acting in plays with the large boys, he went upon the stage, and for several years appeared in provincial theatres with moderate success. His Diggory in " She Stoops to Conquer " first revealed his remarkable comic genius. In 1806 he obtained an engagement at the Hay- market theatre, and by his Gawkey in the " Chapter of Accidents " and Lord Grizzle in " Tom Thumb " established a reputation as one of the first low comedians of the day. In 1809 he attempted tragedy, with but moderate success. His famous character of Paul Pry, first performed in 1825, created an unusual sen- sation. Among his other principal characters were Mawworm, Tony Lumpkin, Bombastes Furioso, and Billy Lackaday in " Sweethearts and Wives." He retired from the stage about 1837. He was a man of exemplary character. His wife, whose maiden name was Tyres, born in London about 1780, was almost a dwarf, but was for many years a favorite with the public in her acting as well as in her songs. Her best part was that of Queen Dol- lalolla in "Tom Thumb." She was married to Listen in 1807, and died Sept. 19, 1854. LISZT 523 LISZT, Franz, a Hungarian pianist and com- poser, born at Raiding, near Oedenburg, Oct. 22, 1811. At six years of age he manifested so extraordinary an aptitude for music, that his father, himself a musician of some repute, thenceforth carefully instructed him on the pia- noforte. In his ninth year he performed at a public concert in Presburg at which were pres- ent several wealthy Hungarian noblemen. The latter, astonished at young Liszt's talents, at once proposed to contribute to his musical edu- cation during the next six years. In accordance with this proposition Liszt was taken by his father to Vienna and put under the instruc- tion of Karl Czerny and Salieri, with whom he remained about 18 months, after which he appeared in concerts in Vienna, Munich, and elsewhere, with great success. At Paris, where he arrived in 1823, he received the most flat- tering attentions. Although rejected as a pu- pil by the conservatory on account of his for- eign birth, he was carefully instructed in coun- terpoint by Reicha, and not a day passed in which he did not give many hours of practice to the works of Bach and other eminent com- posers for the pianoforte. When his education was considered finished, father and son made lucrative concert tours in the provinces and in England. Upon his return to Paris in 1825, Franz produced an opera in one act entitled Don Sanche, ou le chateau de Vamour, which only escaped condemnation on account of the youth of the composer. In 1827 he lost his father, an event which made a deep impres- sion upon him, and under the influence of an unusually active imagination he surrendered himself to gloomy fancies and religious rhap- sodies. An unhappy attachment to a woman of rank at the same time prompted him to re- tire from the world, and for several years he almost wholly relinquished his art. In this in- terval he embraced at different times the doc- trines of the St. Simonians, the philosophy of Lamennais, and the vivid poetic fancies of Vic- tor Hugo or George Sand. During the revo- lution of July, 1830, he composed a Sympho- nic revolutionaire, which was never published. The appearance of Paganini in Paris in 1831 roused him from this mood, and, full of the idea of becoming the Paganini of the pianoforte, he resumed his practice on that instrument. In 1835 he heard of the success of Thalberg in Paris, and, after an interval of eight years, sud- denly made his reappearance there with an eclat which his long absence had in no respect diminished. A contemporary critic, in enu- merating the qualities which distinguished both pianists, observed : " Thalberg is the first, but Liszt is the only one." From Paris Liszt pro- ceeded in 1837 to Italy, creating everywhere a sensation not less lively than that caused by Paganini. At Vienna he gave a series of con- certs im aid of the sufferers by the great inun- dation of 1838 at Pesth; and at the solicitation of a deputation of Hungarian noblemen he sub- sequently visited the latter city, where he was