Mr. John Abell was one of the Chapel Royal, in the reign of King
Charles II. He was celebrated for a fine counter-tenor voice, and for
his skill in playing on the lute. The king admired his singing, and was
desirous of sending him, with the subdean of his chapel, Mr. Gostling,
to the Carnival of Venice, to show the Italians what good voices were
produced in England: but the latter expressing an unwillingness to
go, the king desisted from his purpose. Mr. Abell continued in the
chapel till the time of the Revolution, when he was discharged in
consequence of being a Roman Catholic. He then went abroad, travelled
through Holland, and acquired considerable sums of money, by singing
in public, at Hamburgh and other places. During this period, he lived
in great profusion, and affected the expense of a man of quality,
frequently travelling in his own equipage, though, at times, he was
so reduced, as to walk through whole provinces with his lute slung at
his back. Rambling through Poland, he arrived at Warsaw; of which
the king having notice, sent for him to court. This honour Abell at
first declined, on some frivolous excuse; but, dreading the royal
displeasure, he made an apology, and attended the king on the following
day. Upon his arrival, he was seated in a chair in the middle of a
great hall, and immediately drawn up to a considerable height; soon
after, the king appeared in an opposite gallery, when a number of wild
bears were turned in, and poor Abell was left to his choice, either to
sing, or be let down among them. Of these alternatives, it may seem
unnecessary to say, that Abell preferred the former; and he afterwards
constantly declared that he never sung so well in all his life.
About the latter end of Queen Anne’s reign, Abell was at Cambridge,
with his lute, where he met with but little encouragement. It is
uncertain how long he lived after this period, but he appears to have
required assistance from his friends for support, though he preserved
the tone of his voice to an extreme old age.
_Harrison’s Musical Magazine._