My father and mother were both excessively fond of music, and considered to sing with taste: all their children (fourteen in number) evinced musical capabilities, and I, the eldest of the family, was, at three years old, daily placed with the wine on the table, to howl Hawthorn's song in Love in a Village, "There was a Jolly Miller," for the entertainment of my father's company ; for company, unfortunately for his family, he had every day; and no man in the city, so justly renowned for hospitality, gave better dinners or better wine.