A POOR AUTHOR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6504, 31 December 1881, Page 3

A POOR AUTHOR.

Muf hearts that have b«es moved by the music of “ Kathleen M&vourneen" will Imri with regret that the. gifted author of that famous aoDg has not been saooessfnl in the battle of life, and is now, at tbs age of 73, reduced to the necessity of working as a tnr* either In a Baltimore factory. It is elmoet bewildering to think of this talented musician—who was the friend of Thackeray, of Douglas Jerroid, of Thomas Campbell, and of Samvel Roger*, and whose compositions ate sung and applauded wherever the Knglith Itaguege it spoken—being so reduced by poverty that, after the ntual three-score ycerssnd tea of man's life, he ie glad to earn a elender pittance as a hard-working artisan. Nicholas Crouch was born in 1808, and at the age of nine was a performer on the bass viol at the Royal Coburg Theatre. Afterwards, the skill with which he played a violincello solo before Bostic i made him a pupil of Bookura, who was then the conductor of the Opera. His next instructor was Hawes. When the Royal Academy of Music was founded, Crouch became one of the students, and was afterwards one of the gentlemen of Queen Adelaide's private Band. An engage* menfe at Drary Lins followed, and here he wrote a song for Kiss Annie Tree and another for Madame Malibrea. He entered into business as a sine manufacturer, but ■till continued to attend to musical matters. The combination was not harmonious, and his commercial affairs turned out unfortunately. It was during a residence in Devon* shire, on the romantic hanks of the Tamar, that he wrote " Kathleen Kavourneen " end many other of his Irish works. He was one of the singers at the coronation of Queen Victoria, and became connected with the firm of D'Almaine end Co., and waa the musical critic of the JfrfrqpeWoa, which wee then edited by Marryat, who had gathered round him many authors of eon* •piouout ability. These were probably the happiest, as they were the moat prosperous, days of Crouch. In 1848 he waa induced to emigrate to tha Doited States, and here he has undergone a series of sueceesea and re* verses, in which the latter have predominated. When the California excitement waa at its height he determined to tiy his fortune there, but at Philadelphia the Qlness of his wife exhausted all Us earnings and he became destitute. For a time he retrieved his post* tion, and waa fairly sucesssful both in Washington and Richmond. On the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the Goofedcrate army, eud lost heavily in the Southern cease. When the emy of Lee surrendered, Crouch, with three ribs broken and n bend badly injured, mads Us way from the field and obtained employment as a farm labourer in the neighbourhood of Buckingham Court House. From thence he removed to Haitimors, where, ns ws have stated, be is sow gaining a scanty livelihood m a varnither in n faotovy. Sow ie the narrative given by the Ntm Yfk JS*pnu, and it agrees only 100 sadly with other accounts which have from

time to time niebid the land of hi* birth of the unfortunate character of Crouch's trees* atlontio experiences. lb would be a relief to hear that some scheme hod b<-«n adopted lor smoothing the remaining jean of oae to whom fortune had been so unkind, and who has given pleasure of the purest kind to so many thousands of the English-speaking race, scattered as they arc over the fear quarters of the globe. —ManohnUr OuardUm,