After disposing of several pieces of property for cash, I footed up the various amounts, and still discovered myself five thousand dollars short. I felt that it was indeed “the last feather that breaks the camel’s back.” Happening casually to state my desperate case to the Rev. Abel C. Thomas, of Philadelphia, for many years a friend of mine, he promptly placed the requisite amount at my disposal. I gladly accepted his proffered friendship, and felt that he had removed a mountain-weight from my shoulders. CHAPTER XVIII. THE NIGHTINGALE IN NEW YORK. FINAL CONCERTS IN LIVERPOOL--DEPARTURE FOR AMERICA--ARRIVAL OFF STATEN ISLAND--MY FIRST INTERVIEW WITH JENNY LIND--THE TREMENDOUS THRONG AT THE WHARF--TRIUMPHAL ARCHES--“WELCOME TO AMERICA”--EXCITEMENT IN THE CITY--SERENADE AT THE IRVING HOUSE--THE PRIZE ODE--BAYARD TAYLOR THE PRIZEMAN--“BARNUM’S PARNASSUS”--“BARNUMOPSIS”--FIRST CONCERT IN CASTLE GARDEN--A NEW AGREEMENT--RECEPTION OF JENNY LIND--UNBOUNDED ENTHUSIASM--BARNUM CALLED OUT--JULIUS BENEDICT--THE SUCCESS OF THE ENTERPRISE ESTABLISHED--TWO GRAND CHARITY CONCERTS IN NEW YORK--DATE OF THE FIRST REGULAR CONCERT. After the engagement with Miss Lind was consummated, she declined several liberal offers to sing in London, but, at my solicitation, gave two concerts in Liverpool, on the eve of her departure for America. My object in making this request was, to add the _éclat_ of that side to the excitement on this side of the Atlantic, which was already nearly up to fever heat. The first of the two Liverpool concerts was given the night previous to the departure of the Saturday steamer for America. My agent had procured the services of a musical critic from London, who finished his account of this concert at half past one o’clock the following morning, and at two o’clock my agent was overseeing its insertion in a Liverpool morning paper, numbers of which he forwarded to me by the steamer of the same day. The republication of the criticism in the American papers, including an account of the enthusiasm which attended and followed this concert,--her trans-Atlantic,--had the desired effect. On Wednesday morning, August 21, 1850, Jenny Lind and Messrs. Benedict and Belletti, set sail from Liverpool in the steamship Atlantic, in which I had long before engaged the necessary accommodations, and on board of which I had shipped a piano for their use. They were accompanied by my agent, Mr. Wilton, and also by Miss Ahmansen and Mr. Max Hjortzberg, cousins of Miss Lind, the latter being her Secretary; also by her two servants, and the valet of Messrs. Benedict and Belletti.