... The most pre-eminent meetings of this kind are the soirées of Dr. Elliotson, the distinguished professor in the London University.... I heard one of the posthumous quartetts of Beethoven, which are so difficult to be understood, played with consummate skill by Eliason, Guynemer, Ella, and Lucas. The extraordinary Henry Herz executed a sonata of Mendelssohn with unparalleled brilliancy. The Capricio of this author in E minor stands by itself; full of sublimity, it awakens in the mind a train of thought that penetrates into the unexplored regions of the fancy. It was announced that Signor Rossi would improvize, if any gentleman would propose a subject. A stranger gave the 'Death of Cleopatra.' The Signor then solicited Mons. Chelard, the conductor of the German Opera, who was near to him, to strike a few notes upon the piano-forte, to a sort of tune he hummed in his ear. Then, fixing his eyes upon the carpet for a few minutes, he commenced his poem, which ran to the extent of fifteen or twenty verses.