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. Haydn I was
thinking of, - the bright, brilliant, cheerful Haydn, - who, when
complained of for making church music into dancing tunes, replied,
"When I think of God my soul is always so full of joy that I want to
dance!" This Creation is a descriptive poem - the garden parts unite
Thomson and Milton's style - the whole effect pastoral, yet brilliant.
I was never more animated. I had had a new experience; it is worth
while to know nothing to have such a fresh sensation.
The next day, Tuesday, May 24, we went to lunch with Miss R., at
Oxford Terrace. Among a number of distinguished guests was Lady Byron,
with whom I had a few moments of deeply interesting conversation. No
engravings that ever have been circulated of her in America do any
justice to her appearance. She is of a slight figure, formed with
exceeding delicacy, and her whole form, face, dress, and air unite to
make an impression of a character singularly dignified, gentle, pure,
and yet strong. No words addressed to me in any conversation hitherto
have made their way to my inner soul with such force as a few remarks
dropped by her on the present religious aspect of England - remarks of
such a quality as one seldom hears.
Lady Byron's whole course, I have learned, has been one made venerable
by consistent, active benevolence. I was happy to find in her the
patroness of our American outcasts, William and Ellen Crafts. She had
received them into the schools of her daughter, Lady Lovelace, at
Occum, and now spoke in the highest terms of their character and
proficiency in study. The story of their misfortunes, united with
their reputation for worth, had produced such an impression on the
simple country people, that they always respectfully touch their hats
when meeting them. Ellen, she says, has become mother of a most
beautiful child, and their friends are now making an effort to put
them into some little business by which they may obtain a support.
I could not but observe with regret the evident fragility of Lady
Byron's health; yet why should I regret it? Why wish to detain here
those whose home is evidently from hence, and who will only then fully
live when the shadow we call life is passed away?
Here, also, I was personally introduced to a lady with whom I had
passed many a dreamy hour of spiritual communion - Mrs. Jameson, whose
works on arts and artists were for years almost my only food for a
certain class of longings.
Mrs. Jameson is the most charming of critics, with the gift, often too
little prized, of discovering and pointing out beauties rather than
defects; beauties which we may often have passed unnoticed, but which,
when so pointed out, never again conceal themselves.
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