The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-07 00:00:00

JENNY LIND.

Mr. Barnum, the proprietor of the American Mu-
scum at New York, has addressed the following cir-
cular to the American journals :
" American Museum, Feb. 19, 1850.
"In regard to the engagement of Millie. Jenny Lind
for America, I beg to state that I have this day rati-
fied the engagement made by my agent with this dis •
tinguished vocalist. It is true that in engaging Mdlle.
Lind, and the musical associates whom she has
selected to accompany her, viz., the distinguished
compozer and pianist, M. Julius Benedict and Signor
Giovani Beletti, the celebrated and famous Italian
barytone of the Italian Opera, of London and Paris,
my agent, to secure such talent, went beyond the
amount I had anticipated paying, but after all, the
sums to be paid these persons, great as they
may appear, are not so much as Mks Lind
has been in the habit of receiving for her services
alone, nor do Messrs. Benedict and Beletti receive
from me more than their distinguished services are at
this moment commanding in London. Perhaps I may
not make any money by this affair; but I assure you
that if I knew I should not realise a farthing profit,
I would ratify the agreement, so anxious am I that
the United States should be visited by a lady
whoseextraordinary vocal powers have never been even
approached by any other human being, and whose cha-
racter is charity, simplicity, and goodness personified.
It is well known that Jenny bind has never received
less than 4001. or 2,000 dolls. per night for her
own services, either in Manchester, Liverpool,
Dublin, Glasgow, or E linburgh ; in short, in
all the places she sang ; and that she fre-
quently received 6001., or 3,000 dolls. per night. My
agent saw an offer to her of 6,000/., or 30,000 dolls.,
to sing twelve nights in England, which she declined.
Also an enormous offer for the grand concerts at the
Imperial Court of Russia, an offer nearly double that
of my own, which she for reasons also declined; she
was offered 1,200/., or 6,900 dolls., to sing in one con-
cert, to be given at the Great World Convention of
Arts and Manufactures in Hyde-park, London, in
1851. It was further intimated to her from Queen
Victoria that her services would be desired in a con-
templated grand sacred festival, to be given about
the same period in Westminster Abbey, where the
tickets will be held from 25 dolls. to 100 dolls.
each, both of these last offers she was induced to de-
cline, in consequence of her desire to visit America,
as proposed by my agent. Miss Lind has numerous
better offers than the one she has accepted from me,
but she has a great anxiety to visit America.
She speaks of this country and its institutions in
the highest terms of rapture and praise; and, as
money is by no means the greatest inducement that
can be laid before her, has determined to visit us. In
her engagements with me (which includes Havana as
well as the United States), she expressly reserves for
herself the right to sing for and give charitable con-
certs whenever she may think proper. Since her
debut in England she has given to the poor,
front her own private purse, more than the
whole amount which I have engaged to
give her, and the proceeds of concerts for chari-
table purposes in Great Britain, where she has sang
gratuitously, have realised more than ten times that
amount. During the last eight months she has
been singing entirely and gratuitously for chari-
table purposes, and is now founding a benevolent
institution in Stockholm, her native city, at a cost of
350,000 dolls. A visit from such a woman, who regards
her high artistic powers as a gift from Heaven, for
the amelioration of affliction and distress, and whose
every thought and deed is philanthropy, I feel per-
suaded will prove a blessing to America, as she has to
every country she has visited, and I feel every confi-
dence that my countrymen and women will join me
heartily in saying, God bless her "