Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/627

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n s. vi. DF,, 28, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.


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we suspect the modesty of the latter has pre- vented this.

Among the twenty-eight women in the volume there is one who stands alone, and whose name will ever be a household word Florence Night- ingale, born in 1820, and named after the city of her birth. She was as modest as she was good, and when, after the Crimean War, a ship of war was offered her for her passage home, she re- turned privately in a French vessel, crossed to England unnoticed, and slipped quietly into her home, Lea Hurst, while the whole nation was waiting to demonstrate its affection for her. At her death on the 13th of August, 1910, the offer of burial in Westminster Abbey was, in accordance with her wishes, refused by her relatives. Mr. Stephen Paget in the memoir well says : " Miss Nightingale raised the art of nursing in this country from a menial employ- ment to an honoured vocation."

Another woman was our English nightingale in song, Clara Novello (18181008), born in Oxford Street to

add a grace

To the most musical Novello race, as Lamb recorded in his lines addressed to her which appeared in The Athencevm on July 26th, 1834. Her voice was a pure, clear soprano, and her rendering of "I know that my Redeemer liveth " will never be forgotten by those who had the privilege of hearing it. Chorley in The Aihenceum of the 17th of June, 1854, in reference to her singing at the opening of the Crystal Palace, said that her voice could be " heard to remote corners of the building." The enthusiasm she inspired was marvellous ; her name seemed to imply a benediction when it was mentioned. Handel's music was particularly adapted to her style, and she was one of the most prominent of the solo singers at the concerts of the Sacred Harmonic Society at Exeter Hall. We remember that on one occasion the Queen and Prince Albert were present, when Clara Novello's singing of the National Anthem was greeted with such applause that Costa turned to Her Majesty to see if she consented to an encore, which she did by a wave of her fan.

Among the other women are Mrs. On 1 , the biographer of Browning ; Mrs. Parr the novelist ; Mrs. Riddell, who, by making commerce the theme of many of her novels, introduced a new element into English fiction : Adeline Sergeant, author of over ninety novels '; and Elizabeth Sewell, author of ' Amy Herbert.' Miss Sewell's father died heavily in debt, owing to the failure of two banks, and Elizabeth and the other children undertook to pay off the creditors, which they succeeded in doing by means of literary work and their school at Bonchurch. In 1849 the sisters, with Capt. and Lady Jane Swinburne and their son Algernon, then a boy of twelve, visited Wordsworth at Kydal Mount.

Those connected with the newspaper and pub- lishing world include Sir George Newnes ; Kegan Paul, author and publisher ; Wemyss Reid, editor of The Leeds Jfercury, and afterwards manager of Cassell's ; Robinson, manager of The Daily Neics ; and Russell, The Times war correspondent. Newnes 's fortune dated from his starting Tit-BUs, a journal devoted to anecdotes, first published October 2nd, 1881, when within two hours 4,000 copies were sold in the streets. In 1890, at the


suggestion of Stead, he brought out The Review of Rei'ieics, and in 1891 started The. Strand Maga- zine. In 1891 his publishing firm was incor- porated as a limited company. On January Hist; 1893, Newnes started The Westminster Gazette as an organ of the Liberal party. Among many patriotic acts, he in 1898 fitted out the South Polar Expedition under the guidance of Borchgrevink.

Musical composers and musicians include Oakeley, who among his hymn tunes will be remembered by those associated with the words " Saviour, blessed Saviour," and " Sun of my soul " ; Parry, the composer of two oratorios, ' Emmanuel ' and ' Saul of Tarsus,' and, among many other compositions, 400 hymn tunes ; and Sa la ma n, composer and conductor, and in. 1849 founder of the first Amateur Choral Society, The most famous of Salaman's numerous songs- is his beautiful setting of Shelley's " I arise from> dreams of thee."

Ebenezer Prout (1835-1900) was self-taught;. Music was to him a passion from his earliest years. From 1861 to 1885 he was Professor of the Pianoforte at the Crystal Palace, and from 1861 to 1873 organist at Dr. Alton's Chapel, Islington, always noted for beaxitiful music. From 1879 to 1889 he was musical critic of The Aihcnanim. Prout and his coadjutors, notably Dannreuther, quickly widened the outlook of the musical public, and led the way for the introduc- tion of Wagner's operas. Among undeveloped resources treated by Prout was the combination of pianoforte and harmonium, and he composed a Duet-Sonata in A major which was success- ful. His cantatas included ' Hercward,' 'Alfred,' and ' Freedom.' His series of textbooks are standard works : ' Harmony, its Theory and Practice,' has reached its twenty-fourth edition. He was a most painstaking and delightful teacher, and would lighten the task by the aid of comical verse ; as, for instance, in the "48" (edition in open score by Dr. Charles Vincent), where he put such verses over the subjects of the fugues, to in- dicate their exact length, also in some cases the phrasing. Here is one example :

Needles and Pins, Needles and Pins, When a man marries his trouble begins.


All through life Prout was a hard worker, and until his death, which was very sudden, was teaching at the Royal Academy of Music. The only recreation he allowed himself was a summer vacation in Norway, where the peasantry always accorded him a hearty welcome. He told us that the exhilarating air invariably had a wonderful effect upon his brain-power. His large and valuable library was acquired by Trinity College,. Dublin, where he had been appointed Professor in 1894.

Space forbids us to enlarge upon important names which have been amply illustrated elsewhere. We must, however, make passing mention of the articles on Stubbs, Bishop of Oxford, by Prof. Tout ; Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, by Archdeacon Spooner ; and Cardinal Vaughan, by Snead-Cox. Forbes Gray writes on. John Watson ("lanMaclaren "), whose 'Doctor of the Old School ' should be as immortal as ' The Christmas Carol ' by Dickens. These are only a few among many. Sir Sidney Lee has received'