1850-51 SIMS REEVES • 353 



I don't at all set my mind on his winning his 

 election next year.' 



Describing a concert at Exeter Hall, he 

 writes : ' We had front seats, and therefore I 

 had a good opportunity of observing Ernst and 

 Thalberg, who were both playing. Ernst is 

 more like a vampire than a man, awful to look 

 at ; Thalberg as great a contrast to him as one 

 can conceive, his whole being redolent of meat, 

 pudding, and creature comforts. Both perfectly 

 calm and imperturbable, but the one is the placi- 

 dity of a dumpling, the other that of a corpse. 

 Miss Dolby sang, but there was a new star too — 

 Mr. Sims Reeves. He has a truly fine voice, and 

 knows how to manage it. He sang " My Pretty 

 Jane," but I personally prefer to hear it as it was 

 written, and in its original simplicity. Also he 

 sang the words " Meet me in the gloaming" — 

 " Meet me in the evening," a small thing, but he 

 might as well have used the right word.' 



One of the memorable events of the year 1850 

 was the inception of the scheme for the Great 

 Exhibition of 1851, in which Prince Albert took, 

 as is well known, a most active part. The first 

 meeting of the Committee — which included Lord 

 Granville, Lord Stanley, Owen, Lyell, De la 

 Beche, and others among its members — was held 

 at Buckingham Palace on February 13. 



Mrs. Owen writes in her diary : — 



'February 14. — At past 2 o'clock a message 



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