The duchess took me to look at a model of Dunrobin - their castle on
the Sutherland estate. It is in the old French chateau style in
general architecture, something like the print of Glamis. It is
curious that the French architecture has obtained in Scotland. Her
grace kindly invited me to visit Dunrobin on my return to Scotland in
the autumn, taking it after Inverary. This will be delightful. That
Scottish coast I love almost like my own country.
Lord Shaftesbury was there. He came and spoke to us after the concert.
Speaking of Miss Greenfield, he said, "I consider the use of these
halls for the encouragement of an outcast race, a _consecration_.
This is the true use of wealth and splendor when it is employed to
raise up and encourage the despised and forgotten."
In the evening, though very weary, C. persuaded me to accept an
invitation to hear the Creation, at Exeter Hall, performed by the
London Sacred Harmonic Society. They had kindly reserved a gallery for
us, and when we went in Mr. Surman, the founder and for twenty years
conductor of the society, presented me with a beautifully bound copy
of the Creation.
Having never heard it before, I could not compare the performance with
others. I heard it as I should hear a poem read, simply thinking of
the author's ideas, and not of the style of reading.
