The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-03-26
THE CIRCULATION OF THE DIS
PATCH rs LARGER THAN TBE COMBINED
CwcuL ALTON OF Al L THE OTHER DAILY
NEWSPAPERS OF THE CITY.
TIE HOME or JENNY LIND.
No Pretsier Place In All ENGLAND Than the
Nest Of the swedish Nightingale.
.TYrom the London world.l

Nest OF the sWedten Nt&ntinGule.
.IYrom the London world.l
In all England there Is no prettier or
more romantic-looking residence than East.
nor Castle. When viewed from the road
10 Ledbury, across the swan-haunted lake,
its massive towers suggest many fairy
tale, and Il might have been the ideal OF
the home OF The Sleeping Beauty. IL Is
true an arclao,ogist may find fault with
its details, but there II stands, veri-
table castle, with romantic gardens,
mazes. Terraces, with little fairy islands
dotting the surface OF the expansive
lake. beyond which the deer may be
seen browsing In the extensive park,
which has for q background the southern
ridge Of the Maiverns. There are weird
stories told OF the gaunt Raggedstone Hill,
which lies to the south OF the Hollybush
Pass, while Midsummer Hill, on the north,
Is crowned with ramparts and circular
pits. which formed the dwellings OF the
fathers OF the land when time was much
Younger than II now is. The fires Of Baal
had blazed from It's summit, even until
later DAYS, on midsummer eve. Its dells
are lonely, wooded, and beautiful; but be-
yond all rises the great and forbidding
Herefordsbire Beacon. It's stupendous
ramparts, its massive citadel, its winding
chariot road, become more formidable as
we pass along the ridgway, which rs
one of the few places where the
mistletoe yet clings 10 the oak, as
In the far-off Druidical times. The
road along this curious rldgway is retired,
sylvan, and the home OF thousand wild
flowers. Glimpses OF iar-of undulating
country may be seen through the trees to
the west, while those on the east hide the
old Beacon until we are at its foot. At any
time in sweet spring-time and summer
weather you may meet here midde-aged
lady, now accompanied by some young
folks, now by her husband or friend.
They are known TO few on the country
side, for there are but few TO know them.
The pleasure-seeker heeds them not-the
archaologist knows them not. Excursion
lists, who come TO the breezy hills by the
hundred in summer time, have probably
never heard their name. To even old Lon
don hdJitafS the name OF Jenny Lind re-
calls but a pleasant memory. In this
neighborhood she and her husband have
made their home. The country people
call it - Winds Point" The house is bet
ter known as "Johnson's Folly" but In
future IL ought to be known as the might
ingale's Nest"
To those who were living in London in
1S47 the very name Of Jenny Lind sends
thrill through the veins. The hopes, the
anhcipations Of one day in that wild time
were danped the next by the announce
ment that the singer, whose fame was Euro
pean, had declined to appear. Miss Fred
cika Bremen had made her the heroine Of
her charming novel. "The Home" We
heard OF her enhancing the opera-goers at
Berlin, and being regarded as the singing
angel In her native city. Her charities and
bome-life were made the theme of news
paper articles; great composers sounded
her praises; London went mad with
excitement and curiosity, as each day
rumor contradicted the certaintles OF
the day before. Few of those who
were In the neighbOrhood Of her
Maiesty's Theatre on that May day-the
4th, we believe lin 1S47 will ever forget
the crush and the excitement caused by
her first appearance as Alice in Robert lie
Diable." Her singing, superb and great
rs 1t was, did not surpass the charm OF her
acting. But these are old memories, il
pleasant ones, and they belong to long
ago time. Bad as times were then--for we
had the Irish famine on hand, and the
California gold-felds had not been worked,
nor the Australian ones discovered-prices
for admission went up to fabulous height.
The town went mad, the ladies were con-
tent, and obliged to be content, to sit on
the stairs Of the opera-house. unable to
penetrate further. What change from
these brilliant triumphs to the quiet soli-
tude Of Winds Point!
When London was in a state OF daze
with news from Paris, when frantic crowds
rushed through the streets, when there was
a midday Telegraph published i'm Fleet
street. and the Daily Telegraph was not
when {" Mr.. Smith" left Paris suddenly,
and found refuge at Claremont; when
Louis Napoleon became "special" in the
April days Of '4S, and rebel fires burned
on Slieve-na-Mon, in dreaded Tipperary,
the Swedish Nightingale continued TO
ravish the town. both sacred and profane.
Who can forget the wall of regret that fol-
lowed the announcement that Jenny Lind
would sing no more on the operate stage ?
Exeter Hall had triumphed. Bishops had
taught her that the entrance to theatre
was the portal OF sin; and though she
did appear in the spring of lS49 at her
Majesty's IL was In a modified form
of opera. How she sang then and "made |
mems memories the abiding-place of life |
long harmonies," and, like the "Queen of |
Song, opened her parliament OF hearts," |
let the contemporary newspapers speak. |
Henceforth her triumphs were confined to |
the concert-r0om; and what trinmphs they |
werel They stamped her name on the |
i" golden book OF singers" A year after |
this she went TO America, and there met |
her fate. She was married to Mr.. Otto |
Goldschmidt in February, 1852, at Boston,
and then returned to Europe. She sang |
for the last time In public for the benefit OF |
the Great Western Railway Servants Fund |
at West Malvern Concert Hall last autumn, |
and there was something OF the old tone |
about "honey-hearted Jenny" as she |
helped these poor fellows at their annual !
fste.
Since she left wimbledon she has re- !
sided more or less at Malvern, and in the |
summer OF last year she bought the house |
at Burstner's Cross, which was erected q |
few wears ago by q Captain johnson, who |
blasted away the rocks, which he hurled |
down the great gully which forms the |
southeastern defence OF the great camp OF
the Herefordshire Beacon. The house is
built In this rocky quarry. Fine shrubs
grow around IL. There are pleasant walks, |
sheltered from the bleak north and east |
winds, which here, some thousand feet |
above the sea-level, swirl and rave at |
will. From the house can be heard at times |
the innocent reyelry at Peter Pockets
humble hostelry, so well known 10 tour.
lists. The climbers over the old ramparts |
can look down on this pleasant house, with
Its green yerandas. The students OF the
earth's crust the incipient Murchisons,
Sedgwlcks and Lyells. look wistfuly at the
rude pillar Of dark stone left by the quarry
men In the grounds; for it Is the core OF
the hills~-a specimen of Laurentian gneiss,
relic OF the primeval land, the Oldest
stratined rock which bad been upheayed by
The eruption which formed the Plutonic
ridge which forms the Malvern chain OF