The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-24 00:00:00

JENNY LIND'S RECEPTION IN
AMERICA.
There is a 'shrine for some divinity or other in
every human heart. In this respect the Ainericans
are made pretty much like the rest of us. They
have not much reverence for a Sovereign, or a Lord,
or even for a Pops. In fact, their political engage-
ments have rather cut them out of the old-fashioned
circles. Bat set them once free, try them on a little
new ground, and their innate loyalty will come out
as strong as their own rivers and falls. Jenny Lind,
after flitting about Europe as free as a lark, jilting
Queens, suitere, and opera lessees, has lighted on the
New World, and made it her own. The Caribs were
not more awe-struck at the landing of Columbus
than the Yankees at the advent of Jenny Lind. Our
own countrymen were mad enough in all conscience,
considering that of the multitudes who raved about
Jenny, not one in ten had heard a note of her voice;
and though she sang for charities, she certainly did
not sing to "the millien." The Americans, however,
beat us out and out in the pitch of their devotion,
before a soul of them has seen her. It is already their
belief, es expressed by one of the soberest of their
journals, that "she has been raised up by the Great
Spirit to make the rest of the world humble,
while they adore His power." There is always a
certain relation between the worehipper and the wor-
shipped, and the must entranced homage will occa-
sloppily betray the contemplation of self. In the
present instance the prostrate multitude cannot help
being proud of their city, of their visitor, of themselves,
and of their own singular good taste. " The Swedish
Nightingale, the soul of song, has at length arrived
in the Empire City of the great republic of the New
World, and her welcome has been cordial and enthu-
siastic in proportion to her fame, and that intuitive,
instinct by which the people of New York never fail
to recognise and appreciate heroism, goodness, or
F genius." In this Pantheon of greatnesses, which is
most admired, and which stands on the principal
pedestal—the Nightingale, the Empire City, the
great republic, the New World, the people of New
York, or the abstract excellencies that wind up the
sentence ? Need we hesitate for an answer ? They
are all in proportion to one another, and the beauty
of Jenny Lind consists in her being of a piece with
New York. Our readers are already acquainted
with the splendour of Jenny Lind's reception; the
desertion of the churches—for it was Sunday ; the
assemblage of the population on the shore ; the
triumphal arches; the myriads of eyes fixed on the
Atlantic, as she steamed up the river; the meeting
of Jenny Lind and Barnum, with the brief but
important interchanges of sentiment that ensued ;
the rush of the eager multitude through the dock-
yard gates ; the progress to Irving-house ; the
gorgeous apartments prepared for the "Nightin-
gale ;" her admiration of the scenery, of the
stripes and stars, of the respectability of the mob,
of the comfortable riggers, of the airs, " Hail Co-
lumbia" end " Yankee Doodle," and of everything
that she beard or saw. As we have to 'epitomize
the proceedings of ten days, each of which
would fill several columns of this paper, we are
forced most reluctantly to omit heaps of the most
interesting and picturesque details. It is, however,
satisfectory to know that everything is recorded, and
if future ages should wish to realize these events they
will not have to draw on their imagination, or to be
content with these few scanty sentences in which the
fate of dynasties and empires have sometimes been
recorded. Not a word, not a smile, not a downcast
look, not a choking of the utterance, not a flourish of
the handkerchief or wave of the hand, not a pink riband
has been omitted from the history of the first moment
ous day, from the instant when Jenny Lind was: re

vealed to the 'cute "gaze of the American world by
her proximity to Barnum on the deck of the steamer,
. .

up to the witching hour of midnight, when, after a sere-
nade of two hundred musicians and the whole popula-
tion of New York, and a tremendous long address by,
the committee of the Musical Fund Society, " the de-

putation having conversed a few moments -With Jenny
Lind and Mr. Barnum then withdrew, and, the Night-
ingale retired to her downy rest." -We assure our
readers that we have cut the first day very short in-

deed. We have left out incidents enough to fill an
orthodox novel in 3 vols., duodecimo. There arenine

days before us, so, adopting the conspicuous arrange-
ment in the New York papers, we will proceed at

once to the

SECOND DAY.

On Monday morning the whole population of New
York had come to the conclusion "that there was no
humbug about Jenny Lind, and that she was a dia-
mond of the first water." They flocked to the hotel,
hoping to get a sight of her, and as it rained very
hard, they filled its halls and passages, the resident
company of the hotel being already nut far from a
thousand. At 12 o'clock the proprietor conducted
Jenny Lind to the ladies' dining-room, and in•
troduced her to the lady of Commodore Stocton
and 500 ladies, each of whom she shook by
the hand. At 2 she wai driven, with r o little difficulty,
through the crowd, to inspect the Jenny Lind Hall,
the Tabernacle, Niblo's Garden, and 13 trnum's
Museum. Castle-garden, received a more particular
examination. By the evening Mrs. and Miss Barnum
had bren telegraphed up from Connecticut. Presents
now poured in from all quarters, as also tickets for
fancy balls, &c. Mr. Beede took the measure of her
head for a riding hat. Certain intended visits were
postponed, and the public press urge Jenny Lind not
" to take Monday as a specimen of their glorious
autumn." The papers are fall of discussions on the

price and sale of the tickets and the chances of Mr.
Birnum's success, almost everybody in New York
having a dibrent opinion as to the proper scale of
prices. " The choice seats," it was known, " would
be auctioned." Another pecuniary topic of great
interest was the furniture of Jenny Lind's suite of
rooms, made expressly for the occasion, which must
have cost at least 6,000 dolls. It now transpired that
Jenny Lind had with her a middle-aged cousin
(Mademoiselle Ahmason), who, with Mr. Benedict,
took care of her affairs. "So much for Jenny Lind's
.seediid day in New York."

THIRD DAY.
".The Castle-garden has been taken by Barnum!"
The whole city was in ecstacy at the news. The
Castle-garden will hold 8,000 persons, and as it will,
of course, pay better at 3 dollars a ticket than a room

less than half the size at double the price, it would
evidently be Barnum's interest to give all his 160
concerts at New York as long as the room filled.
Everybody's chance of hearing was so much the better,
and, as Jenny Lind had no interest in the receipts,
the choice of this room was a new proof of her good-
n'ese. The requisite alterations in the room are now
mintttely discussed, whether to assist the voice, or to
prevent a crush. Barnum is beset with splendid offers
from Toronto, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and other cities
south and west. The crowd before Irving-house
continues night and day. A perpetual stream
of bouquets and other " elegant tokens
of esteem " pour in, and Jenny Lind
begins to be aghast at the frightful debt of gratitude
she is incurring. She asks at least to see her nume-
rous beneftctors, or to be excused receiving their pre-
sents. The charitable institutions are early in the
field preferring their claims. In the afternoon
Jenny Lind drove out with Mr. Benedict; and it was
surmised that their object must be to look out for a
quieter place than Irving Hotel—much as she was
pleased with Mr. Howard and his splendid establish-
ment. At all events, they called at the York Hotel.
On her return from her drive, she dined at the public
table at half-past three, where she and the company
were delighted with one another. What Jenny Lind
did after dinner does not immediately transpire, but
the gap is filled up with Mr. Barnum's present of a
service of plate to Mr. Wilton, the agent who effected
the engagement. It was to be seen at Tenney's, in
Broadway.