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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