Records Of A Girlhood Volume 1 (1 Of 2) - Frances Ann Kemble (sad books to read TXT) 📗
- Author: Frances Ann Kemble
Book online «Records Of A Girlhood Volume 1 (1 Of 2) - Frances Ann Kemble (sad books to read TXT) 📗». Author Frances Ann Kemble
Said In One Of Her Letters, "I Have Engaged A Lady To Be A----'S
Governess." Of Course The _Have_ Must Make The Expression Of Regret
Or Anxiety Undesirable, Since Both Are Unavailing. I Hope It Is The
Lady You Spoke Of In Your Letter To Me, For I Like Very Much The
Description You Give Of Her, And In Answer To The Doubt You Express
As To Whether _I_ Could Be Pleased With A Person Wanting In
Superficial Brilliancy And Refinement Of Intellect, I Can Reply
Unequivocally _Yes_. I Could Be Well Pleased With Such A Person For
My Own Companion, If The Absence Of Such Qualities Were Atoned For
By Sound Judgment And Sterling Principle; And I Am Certain That
Such A Person Is Best Calculated To Undertake The Task Which She Is
To Perform In Our House With Good Effect. The Defect Of Our Home
Education Is That From The Mental Tendencies Of All Of Us, No Less
Than From Our Whole Mode Of Life, The More Imaginative And Refined
Intellectual Qualities Are Fostered In Us In Preference To Our
Reasoning Powers. We Have All Excitable Natures, And, Whether In
Head Or Heart, That Is A Disadvantage. The Unrestrained Indulgence
Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 73Of Feeling Is As Injurious To Moral Strength As The Undue Excess Of
Fancy Is To Mental Vigor. I Think Young People Would Always Be The
Better For The Influence Of Persons Of Strong Sense, Rather Than
Strong Sensibility, Who, By Fortifying Their Reason, Correct Any
Tendency To That Morbid Excitability Which Is So Dangerous To
Happiness Or Usefulness.
I Do Not, Of Course, Mean That One Can Eradicate Any Element Of The
Original Character--That I Believe To Be Impossible; Nor Is Direct
Opposition To Natural Tendencies Of Much Use, For That Is Really
Cultivating Qualities By Resistance; But By Encouraging Other
Faculties, And By Putting Aside All That Has A Tendency To Weaken
And Enervate, The Mind Will Assume A Robust And Healthy Tone, And
The Real Feelings Will Acquire Strength By Being Under Reasonable
Control And By The Suppression Of Factitious Ones. A----'S
Education In Point Of Accomplishments And General Cultivation Of
Taste And Intellect Is Already Fairly Advanced; And The Lady Who
Is, I Hope, Now To Be Her Companion And Directress Will Be None The
Worse For Wanting The Merely Ornamental Branches Of Culture,
Provided She Holds Them At Their Due Value, And Neither _Under_ Nor
_Over_ Estimates Them Because She Is Without Them. I Hope She Is
Gentle And Attractive In Her Manners, For It Is Essential That One
Should Like As Well As Respect One's Teachers; And Should These
Qualities Be Added To The Character You Give Of Her, I Am Sure I
Should Like Her For A Governess Very Much Myself. You See By The
Room This Subject Has Occupied In My Letter How Much It Fills In My
Mind; Human Souls, Minds, And Bodies Are Precious And Wonderful
Things, And To Fit The Whole Creature For Its Proper Aim Here And
Hereafter, A Solemn And Arduous Work.
Now To Other Matters. You Reproach Me Very Justly For My Stupid
Oversight; I Forgot To Tell You Which Name Appeared To Me Best For
Your Book; The Fact Is, I Flew Off Into Ecstasies About The Work
Itself, And Gave You, I Believe, A Tirade About The "Tempest"
Instead Of The Opinion You Asked. I Agree With You That There Is
Much In The Name Of A Work; It Is Almost As Desirable That A Book
Should Be Well Called As That It Should Be Well Written; A
Promising Title-Page Is Like An Agreeable Face, An Inducement To
Further Acquaintance, And An Earnest Of Future Pleasure. For
Myself, I Prefer "Characters Of Shakespeare's Women;" It Is
Shorter, And I Think Will Look Better Than The Other In Print.
I Have Been Spending A Few Happy Days, Previous To My Departure
From Ireland, In A Charming Place And In The Companionship Of A
Person I Love Dearly. All My Powers Of Enjoyment Have Been
Constantly Occupied, And I Have Had A Breathing-Time Of Rest And
Real Pleasure Before I Recommence My Work. Such Seasons Are Like
Angel's Visits, But I Suppose One Ought To Rejoice That They Are
Allowed Us At All, Rather Than Complain Of Their Brevity And
Infrequency. I Am Getting Weary Of Wandering, And Long To Be Once
More Settled At Home.
What Say You To This French Revolution? Have Not They Made Good Use
Of Their Time, That In So Few Years From Their Last Bloody National
Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 74Convulsion Men's Minds Should So Have Advanced And Expanded In
France As To Enable The People To Overturn The Government And
Change The Whole Course Of Public Affairs With Such Comparative
Moderation And Small Loss Of, Life? I Was Still In Dublin When The
News Of The Recent Events In France Reached Us, And I Never
Witnessed Anything So Like Tipsiness As Lady Morgan's Delight At
It. I Believe She Wished Herself A Frenchwoman With All Her Heart,
And She Declared She Would Go Over As Soon As Her Next Work, Which
Is In The Hands Of The Publisher, Was Out. Were I A Man, I Should
Have Been Well Pleased To Have Been In France Some Weeks Ago; The
Rising Of The Nation Against Oppression And Abuse, And The Creating
Of A New And Better State Of Things Without Any Outbreak Of Popular
Excess, Must Have Been A Fine Thing To See. But As A Woman,
Incapable Of Mixing Personally In Such Scenes, I Would Rather Have
The Report Of Them At A Distance Than Witness Them As A Mere
Inactive Spectator; For Though The Loss Of Life Has Been
Comparatively Small, Considering The Great End That Has Been
Achieved, It Must Be Horrible To See Bloodshed, Even That Of A
Single Individual. I Believe I Am A Great Coward. I Shall Not Close
This To-Night, But Wait Till To-Morrow, To Tell You How My First
Appearance Here Goes Off.
TUESDAY, August 17th.
We Had A Very Fine House Indeed Last Night, And Everything Went Off
Remarkably Well. I Had Every Reason To Be Satisfied With The
Audience, Who, Though Proverbially A Cold One, Were Exceedingly
Enthusiastic In Their Applause, Which, I Suppose, Is The Best
Indication That They Were Satisfied With Me. Good-By, My Dear Mrs.
Jameson; Believe Me Yours Ever Truly,
F. A. K.
The Intention Of Engaging A Governess For My Sister Was Not Carried Out,
And She Was Taken To Paris And Placed Under The Charge Of Mrs. Foster,
Wife Of The Chaplain Of The British Embassy, Under Whose Care She
Pursued Her General Education, While With The Tuition Of The Celebrated
Bordogni, The First Singing-Master Of The Day, She Cultivated Her Fine
Voice And Developed Her Musical Genius.
The French Revolution Of 1830, Which Placed Louis Philippe Of Orleans On
The Throne, And Sent Charles X. To End His Days In An Obscure Corner Of
Germany, Was The First Of Four Revolutions Which I Have Lived To
Witness; And Since Then I Have Often Thought Of A Lady Who, During The
Next Political Catastrophe, By Which Louis Philippe Was Shaken Out Of
His Seat, Showing Mrs. Grote The Conveniences Of A Charming Apartment In
A Central Part Of Paris, Said, "Voici Mon Salon, Voici Ma Salle À
Manger, Et Voyez Comme C'est Commode! De Cette Fenêtre Je Vois Mes
Révolutions." The Younger Bourbon Of The Orleans Branch Had Learned Part
Of The Lesson Of Government (Of Which Even The Most Intelligent Of That
Race Seem Destined Never To Learn The Whole) In Democratic America And
Democratic Switzerland. Perhaps It Was In These Two Essentially
_Bourgeois_ Countries That He Learned The Only Virtues That
Distinguished Him As The _Roi Bourgeois, Par Excellence_.
Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 75Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 74 This Moment Writing In A Drawing-Room Full Of People, At Heaton
(Lord W----'S Place), Taking Up My Pen To Talk To You And Laying It
Down To Talk To Others. I Must Now, However, Close My Double And
Divided Conversation, Because I Have Not Brains Enough To Play At
Two Games At Once. I Am Ever Yours, Very Sincerely,
F. A. K.
While We Were Acting At Liverpool An Experimental Trip Was Proposed Upon
The Line Of Railway Which Was Being Constructed Between Liverpool And
Manchester, The First Mesh Of That Amazing Iron Net Which Now Covers The
Whole Surface Of England And All The Civilized Portions Of The Earth.
The Liverpool Merchants, Whose Far-Sighted Self-Interest Prompted Them
To Wise Liberality, Had Accepted The Risk Of George Stephenson's
Magnificent Experiment, Which The Committee Of Inquiry Of The House Of
Commons Had Rejected For The Government. These Men, Of Less Intellectual
Culture Than The Parliament Members, Had The Adventurous Imagination
Proper To Great Speculators, Which Is The Poetry Of The Counting-House
And Wharf, And Were Better Able To Receive The Enthusiastic Infection Of
The Great Projector's Sanguine Hope That The Westminster Committee. They
Were Exultant And Triumphant At The Near Completion Of The Work, Though,
Of Course, Not Without Some Misgivings As To The Eventual Success Of The
Stupendous Enterprise. My Father Knew Several Of The Gentlemen Most
Deeply Interested In The Undertaking, And Stephenson Having Proposed A
Trial Trip As Far As The Fifteen-Mile Viaduct, They, With Infinite
Kindness, Invited Him And Permitted Me To Accompany Them; Allowing Me,
Moreover, The Place Which I Felt To Be One Of Supreme Honor, By The Side
Of Stephenson. All That Wonderful History, As Much More Interesting Than
A Romance As Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction, Which Mr. Smiles's
Biography Of The Projector Has Given In So Attractive A Form To The
World, I Then Heard From His Own Lips. He Was A Rather Stern-Featured
Man, With A Dark And Deeply Marked Countenance; His Speech Was Strongly
Inflected With His Native Northumbrian Accent, But The Fascination Of
That Story Told By Himself, While His
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