John Weeks Moore

“ I make my pieces difficult whenever I please, according to my disposition and that of my audience.' Yet in nothing was he so superior to himself', and to other musicians, as in writing and playing adagios, in which the most pleasing, yet learned modulation, the richest harmony, and the most elegant and polished melody, were all expressed with such feeling, taste, and science, that no musical production or performance with which I was then acquainted seemed to approach nearer perfection. ”

“ King Frederic William, then prince royal of Prussia, on hearing his performance or the viol da gamba, presented him with a valuable smuff box and a hundred pieces of gold. A few years after this, the derangement of his affairs obliged him to remain for some time at Paris, whence he subsequently returned to Loudon. Abel was a man who well knew the world, and kept on tolerable terms with society, though a natural irascibility and disposition to say strong things sometimes rendered him overbearing and insolent in company. ”