A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Billington, Elizabeth
BILLINGTON, ELIZABETH,
The most celebrated English singer of her day, was born in 1770. She was the daughter of Mr. Weichsell, a German. At the age of fourteen she made her first appearance as a singer, at Oxford; and two years afterwards married Mr. Billington, whom she accompanied to Dublin. Here she made her début in the opera of "Orpheus and Eurydice." On returning to Tendon, she appeared at Covent Garden with great success, and rapidly acquired a high reputation. She afterwards visited the continent to avail herself of the instructions of the masters of the art in Paris and Italy. In 1796, she appeared at Venice and at Rome, receiving everywhere the loudest expressions of applause. In 1801, she returned to the London stage, and astonished the whole world by her Mandane, a performance that has hardly ever been equalled in English opera. The last exhibition of her powers was for the benefit of a charity at Whitehall chapel; the queen, the prince-regent, and most of the branches of the royal family, being present. She left England in 1817, and died soon after at an estate she had purchased in the Venetian territories. Her character as a private individual was very bad.