i 3 6 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. v. 



On February 26, 1863, Owen writes to his 

 sister Eliza a long account of the first Levee held 

 by the Prince of Wales, and says : * His Royal 

 Highness had a severe taste of that part of his 

 future duties: 1,000 presentations! . . .It was 

 the most crowded ever known, and I was lucky 

 to escape with no other loss than a shoe-buckle. 

 . . . I met the American Minister and Mrs. and 

 Miss Adams, Mr. Bates and M. and Madame 

 Goldschmidt at Mr. Stuart- Wortley's at Sheen 

 last Saturday. The etiquette is not to ask Jenny 

 to sing ; but she kindly proposed it after dinner : 

 began with " My mother bids me bind my hair," 

 and ended with a glorious solo from the " Messiah," 

 singing four pieces to perfection, her husband 

 accompanying.' 



Another entry in the diary refers to the great 

 singer. When Jenny Lind was coming out of 

 church on a cold day in the very early spring, she 

 expressed her annoyance at the way in which 

 people stared at her, whenever she opened her 

 mouth, and said : ' I think I will never sing again 

 in church.' ' I told her,' writes Mrs. Owen, ' that it 

 was only natural, and that I had a friend staying 

 with me to whom it was a great disappointment 

 that she was too ill to come and see her to-day. 

 Jenny, who evidently felt that the cold had given 

 a tinge to her nose, said : " My dear Mrs. Owen, 

 tell her of my nose, and that will be quite enough. 

 Tell her, if you like, that I am a very ugly woman!" 



