Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1Stowe, Harriet Beecher
History
Sunny Memories Of Foreign Lands, Volume 1
Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Europe -- Description and travel
In the evening quite a circle came in; among others, Lady Emma Campbell,
sister of the Duke of Argyle; the daughters of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, who very kindly invited me to visit them, at Lambeth; and
Mr. Arthur Helps, besides many others whose names I need not mention.
People here continually apologize for the weather, which, to say the
least, has been rather ungracious since we have been here; as if one
ever expected to find any thing but smoke, and darkness, and fog in
London. The authentic air with which they lament the existence of these
things _at present_ would almost persuade one that _in general_ London
was a very clear, bright place. I, however, assured them that, having
heard from my childhood of the smoke of London, its dimness and
darkness, I found things much better than I had expected.
They talk here of spirit rappings and table turnings, I find, as in
America. Many rumors are afloat which seem to have no other effect than
merely to enliven the chitchat of an evening circle. I passed a very
pleasant evening, and left about ten o'clock. The gentleman who was
handing me down stairs said, "I suppose you are going to one or two
other places to-night." The idea struck me as so preposterous that I
could not help an exclamation of surprise.
May 6. A good many calls this morning. Among others came Miss
Greenfield, the (so called) Black Swan. She appears to be a gentle,
amiable, and interesting young person. She was born the slave of a kind
mistress, who gave her every thing but education, and, dying, left her
free with a little property. The property she lost by some legal
quibble, but had, like others of her race, a passion for music, and
could sing and play by ear. A young lady, discovering her taste, gave
her a few lessons. She has a most astonishing voice. C. sat down to the
piano and played, while she sung. Her voice runs through a compass of
three octaves and a fourth. This is four notes more than Malibran's. She
sings a most magnificent tenor, with such a breadth and volume of sound
that, with your back turned, you could not imagine it to be a woman.
While she was there, Mrs. S.C. Hall, of the Irish Sketches, was
announced. She is a tall, well-proportioned woman, with a fine color,
dark-brown hair, and a cheerful, cordial manner. She brought with her
her only daughter, a young girl about fifteen. I told her of Miss
Greenfield, and, she took great interest in her, and requested her to
sing something for her. C. played the accompaniment, and she sung Old
Folks at Home, first in a soprano voice, and then in a tenor or
baritone. Mrs. Hall was amazed and delighted, and entered at once into
her cause. She said that she would call with me and present her to Sir
George Smart, who is at the head of the queen's musical establishment,
and, of course, the acknowledged leader of London musical judgment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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