Barnum looked about for an agent to entice her to the United States by means of stupendous bait, and he found him in the person of John Hall Wilton, an Englishman who was visiting this country with The Sax-Horn Players. In a few minutes’ conversation Barnum and Wilton agreed that if Wilton secured Jenny Lind’s services for Barnum he was to have a liberal commission, and that if he was not successful he would receive only his expenses and a small sum for his time. There is some reason to believe that Wilton suggested the Jenny Lind project to Barnum in the first place. Barnum’s letter of instruction to Wilton begins, “In reply to _your proposal_ to attempt a negotiation with Mlle. Jenny Lind to visit the United States professionally.” As we shall see later, Barnum often omitted credit in his autobiography where it was due, preferring to take the admiration of his readers for his own perspicacity in many instances of conceptions which originated in the minds of other men. Wilton left for Europe on November 6, 1849, carrying letters of instruction from Barnum and letters of introduction to his bankers, Baring Brothers. His instructions were to engage Jenny Lind on the basis of a share in the profits of the concerts, if possible, and if that was not possible, to engage her at $60,000 for one hundred concerts, or, if absolutely necessary, to offer her $150,000 for one hundred and fifty concerts. Wilton was also empowered to engage an orchestra conductor and another singer. Wilton visited London, where he discovered that Jenny Lind was resting at Lübeck in Germany. He wrote to her and learned that one of her stipulations for an American tour, to which she was not averse, was that she be accompanied to the United States by Julius Benedict, afterwards Sir Julius Benedict, the composer, pianist, and orchestra director, and by Giovanni Belletti, an Italian baritone. Wilton engaged both these artists in London and proceeded to Lübeck. Jenny Lind told him during their first interview that she had offers from several persons for a tour of the United States. One of these was from the famous Chevalier Wyckoff, who had toured this country as the manager of Fanny Elssler, the danseuse, with great success. Wyckoff was an American, who was well known for many years at the courts of Europe, and who had attained notoriety by a speculative marriage with a titled lady and by the account which he later wrote of his love affairs. Chevalier Wyckoff told Jenny Lind when she happened to mention Mr. Barnum that Barnum was a mere showman, and that in order to make money out of her he would put her in a box and exhibit her about the United States at twenty-five cents admission. This prediction had frightened her, and she wrote to Joshua Bates, of Baring Brothers, at whose London house General Tom Thumb had performed; he had reassured her that if she dealt with Barnum she would not be dealing with an adventurer.