Records Of A Girlhood Volume 1 (1 Of 2), Frances Ann Kemble [i can read book club .txt] 📗
- Author: Frances Ann Kemble
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And Herself Object To My Going Anywhere Without Some Member Of My
Family As Chaperon; And As This Is A General Rule, The Infringement
Of It In A Particular Instance, However Much I Might Wish It, Would
Be Better Avoided, For Fear Of Giving Offense Where I Should Be
Glad To Plead The Prohibition. She Bids Me Add That She Fears She
Cannot Go Out To-Morrow, But That Some Day Soon, At An Early Hour,
She Hopes To Be Able To Accompany Us Both To The British Gallery.
Will You Come To Us On Sunday Evening? You See What Is Hanging Over
Volume 1 Chapter 20 Pg 154Me For Thursday Next; Shall You Go To See Me?
Yours Affectionately,
F. A. K.
I Did Not, And Do Not, At All Question The Good Judgment Of My Parents
In Not Allowing Me To Go Into Society Unaccompanied By One Or The Other
Of Themselves. The Only Occasion On Which I Remember Feeling Very
Rebellious With Regard To This Rule Was That Of The Coronation Of King
William And Queen Adelaide, For Which Imposing Ceremony A Couple Of
Peers' Tickets Had Been Very Kindly Sent Us, But Of Which I Was Unable
To Avail Myself, My Father Being Prevented By Business From Escorting
Me, My Mother Being Out Of Town, And My Brother's Countenance And
Protection Not Being, In Their Opinion, Adequate For The Occasion. So
John Went Alone To The Abbey, And Say The Fine Show, And My Peer's
Ticket Remained Unused On My Mantelpiece, A Constant Suggestion Of The
Great Disappointment I Had Experienced When, After Some Discussion, It
Was Finally Determined That He Was Too Young To Be Considered A Proper
Chaperon For Me. Dear Me! How Vexed I Was! And How Little Charmed With
My Notoriety, Which Was Urged As The Special Reason For My Being Hedged
Round With The Utmost Conventional Decorum!
GREAT RUSSELL STREET, March, 1831.
DEAR MRS. JAMESON,
I Have But Two Minutes To Say Two Words To You, In Answer To Your
Very Kind Note. Both My Mother And Myself Went Out Of Town, Not To
Recover From Absolute Indisposition, But To Recruit Strength. I Am
Sorry To Say She Is Far From Well Now, However; But As I Think Her
Present Suffering Springs From Cold, I Hope A Few Warm Days Will
Remove It. I Am Myself Very Well, Except A Bad Cough Which I Have
Had For Some Time, And A Very Bad Side-Ache, Which Has Just Come
On, And Which, If I Had Time In Addition To The Inclination Which I
Have, Would Prevent Me From Writing Much More At Present. I Envy
You Your Time Spent In The Country; The First Days Of Spring And
Last Of Autumn Should Never Be Spent Between Brick Houses And Stone
Pavements. I Am Truly Sorry For The Anxieties You Have Undergone;
Your Father Is, I Trust, Quite Recovered; And As To Your Dear Baby
(Mrs. Jameson's Niece), Remember It Is But Beginning To Make You
Anxious, And Will Continue To Do So As Long As It Lives, Which Is A
Perfect Job's Comforter, Is It Not? The Story Of Your Old Man
Interested Me Very Much; I Suppose A Parent Can Love All Through A
Whole Lifetime Of Absence: But Do You Think There Can Be A Very
Strong And Enduring Affection In A Child's Bosom For A Parent
Hardly Known Except By Hearsay? I Should Doubt It. I Must Leave Off
Now, And Remain,
Always Yours Most Truly,
F.A. KEMBLE.
GREAT RUSSELL STREET, March 29, 1831.
DEAR MRS. JAMESON,
Volume 1 Chapter 20 Pg 155
Will You Be Kind Enough To Forward My Very Best Acknowledgments To
Sir Gerard Nöel, Both For His Good Wishes And The More Tangible
Proof Of Interest He Sent Me (A Considerable Payment For A Box On
My Benefit Night)? I Am Sorry You Were Alarmed On Monday. You
Alarmed Us All; You Looked So Exceedingly Ill That I Feared
Something Very Serious Had Occurred To Distress And Vex You. Thank
You For Your Critique Upon My Constance; Both My Mother And Myself
Were Much Delighted With It; It Was Every Way Acceptable To Me, For
The Censure I Knew To Be Deserved, And The Praise I Hoped Was So,
And They Were Blended In The Very Nicest Proportions. We Dine At
Six To-Morrow. Lady Cork Insisted Upon Five, But That Was Really
Too Primitive, Because, As The Dandy Said, "We Cannot Eat Meat In
The Morning."
Ever Yours Most Truly,
F. A. K.
GREAT RUSSELL STREET, March 30, 1831.
DEAR MRS. JAMESON,
Thank You For Your Money; It Is Necessary To Be Arithmetical If One
Means To Be Economical, And I Receive Your Tribute With More
Pleasure Than That Of A Duchess. I Sometimes Hear People Lament
That They Have Anything To Do With Money. I Do Not At All Share
That Feeling; Money, After All, Only Represents Other Things. If
One Has Much, It Is Always Well To Look To One's Expenditure, Or
The Much Will Become Much Less; And If One Has Little, And Works
Hard For It, I Cannot Understand Being Above Receiving The Price Of
One's Labor. In All Kinds "The Laborer Is Worthy Of His Hire," And
I Think It Very Foolish To Talk As If We Set No Value Upon That
Which We Value Enough To Toil For. With Regard To The Tickets You
Wish Me To Send You, I Must Refer You To The Theater; For, Finding
That My Wits And Temper Were Both Likely To Be Lost In The
Box-Book, I Sent The Whole Away To Mr. Notter, The Box-Book Keeper,
To Whom You Had Better Apply.
Yours Ever Truly,
F. A. K.
This And The Preceding Note Refer To My Benefit, Of Which, According To
A Not Infrequent Custom With The More Popular Members Of The Profession,
I Had Undertaken To Manage The Business Details, But Found Myself, As I
Have Here Stated, Quite Incompetent To Encounter The Worry Of
Applications For Boxes, And Seats, And Special Places, Etc., Etc., And
Have Never Since, In The Course Of My Whole Public Career, Had Anything
To Do With The Management Of My Own Affairs.
GREAT RUSSELL STREET, March, 1831.
DEAR MRS. JAMESON,
I Was Not At Home Yesterday Afternoon When You Sent To Our House,
And All The Evening Was So Busy Studying That I Had Not Time To
Answer Your Dispatch. Thank You For Your Last Year's Letter; It Is
Volume 1 Chapter 20 Pg 156Curious To Look Back, Even To So Short A Time, And See How The Past
Affected One When It Was The Present. I Remember I Was Very Happy
And Comfortable At Bath, The Critics Notwithstanding. Thank You,
Too, For Your More Recent Epistle. I Am Grateful For, And Gratified
By, Your Minute Observation Of My Acting. I Am Always Thankful For
Your Criticisms, Even When I Do Not Quite Agree With Them; For I
Know That You Are Always Kindly Anxious That I Should Not Destroy
My Own Effects, Which I Believe I Not Unfrequently Do. With Regard
To My Action, Unless In Passages Which Necessarily Require A
Specific Gesture, Such As, "You'll Find Them At The Marchesa
Aldabella's," I Never Determine Any One Particular Movement; And,
Of Course, This Must Render My Action Different Almost Every Time;
And So It Depends Upon My Own State Of Excitement And Inspiration,
So To Speak, Whether The Gesture Be Forcible Or Not. My Father
Desires Me To Send You Retsch's "Hamlet;" It Is His, And I Request
You Not To Judge It Too Hastily: I Have Generally Heard It Abused,
But I Think In Many Parts It Has Very Great Merit. I Am Told That
Retsch Says He Has No Fancy For Illustrating "Romeo And Juliet,"
Which Seems Strange. One Would Have Thought He Would Have Delighted
In Portraying Those Lovely Human Beings, Whom One Always Imagines
Endowed With An Outward And Visible Form As Youthful, Beautiful,
And Full Of Grace, As Their Passion Itself Was. Surely The Balcony,
The Garden, And Grave-Yard Scenes, Would Have Furnished Admirable
Subjects For His Delicate And Powerful Hand. Is It Possible That He
Thinks The Thing Beyond Him? I Must Go To Work. Good-By.
Ever Yours Truly,
F. A. K.
You Marked So Many Things In My Manuscript Book That I Really Felt
Ashamed To Copy Them All, For I Should Have Filled More Than Half
Yours With My Rhymes. I Have Just Added To Those I Did Transcribe A
Sonnet I Wrote On Monday Night After The Play.
It May Have Been That The Execution Of "Faust," His Masterpiece,
Disinclined Retsch For The Treatment Of Another Love Story. He Did
Subsequently Illustrate "Romeo And Juliet" With Much Grace And Beauty;
But It Is, As A Whole, Undoubtedly Inferior To His Illustrations Of
Goethe's Tragical Love Story. Retsch's Genius Was Too Absolutely German
To Allow Of His Treating Anything From Any But A German Point Of View.
Shakespeare, Englishman As He Is, Has Written An Italian "Romeo And
Juliet;" But Retsch's Lovers Are Teutonic In Spite Of Their Costume, And
Nowhere, As In The Wonderful Play, Is The Southern Passion Made Manifest
Through The Northern Thought.
The Private Theatricals At Bridgewater House Were Fruitful Of Serious
Consequences To Me, And Bestowed On Me A Lasting Friendship And An
Ephemeral Love: The One A Source Of Much Pleasure, The Other Of Some
Pain. They Entailed Much Intimate Intercourse With Lord And Lady Francis
Leveson Gower, Afterward Egerton, And Finally Earl And Countess Of
Ellesmere, Who Became Kind And Constant Friends Of Mine. Victor Hugo's
Play Of "Hernani," Full Of Fine And Striking Things, As Well As Of
Exaggerations Verging On The Ludicrous, Had Been Most Admirably Rendered
Into Rhymed Verse By Lord Ellesmere. His Translations From The German
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