Records Of A Girlhood Volume 1 (1 Of 2) by Frances Ann Kemble (most popular novels of all time TXT) 📖

Man (Or Woman). My Mother

     Said In One Of Her Letters, "I Have Engaged A Lady To Be A----'S

     Governess." Of Course The _Have_ Must Make The Expression Of Regret

     Or Anxiety Undesirable, Since Both Are Unavailing. I Hope It Is The

     Lady You Spoke Of In Your Letter To Me, For I Like Very Much The

     Description You Give Of Her, And In Answer To The Doubt You Express

     As To Whether _I_ Could Be Pleased With A Person Wanting In

     Superficial Brilliancy And Refinement Of Intellect, I Can Reply

     Unequivocally _Yes_. I Could Be Well Pleased With Such A Person For

     My Own Companion, If The Absence Of Such Qualities Were Atoned For

     By Sound Judgment And Sterling Principle; And I Am Certain That

     Such A Person Is Best Calculated To Undertake The Task Which She Is

     To Perform In Our House With Good Effect. The Defect Of Our Home

     Education Is That From The Mental Tendencies Of All Of Us, No Less

     Than From Our Whole Mode Of Life, The More Imaginative And Refined

     Intellectual Qualities Are Fostered In Us In Preference To Our

     Reasoning Powers. We Have All Excitable Natures, And, Whether In

     Head Or Heart, That Is A Disadvantage. The Unrestrained Indulgence

Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 73

Of Feeling Is As Injurious To Moral Strength As The Undue Excess Of

     Fancy Is To Mental Vigor. I Think Young People Would Always Be The

     Better For The Influence Of Persons Of Strong Sense, Rather Than

     Strong Sensibility, Who, By Fortifying Their Reason, Correct Any

     Tendency To That Morbid Excitability Which Is So Dangerous To

     Happiness Or Usefulness.

 

     I Do Not, Of Course, Mean That One Can Eradicate Any Element Of The

     Original Character--That I Believe To Be Impossible; Nor Is Direct

     Opposition To Natural Tendencies Of Much Use, For That Is Really

     Cultivating Qualities By Resistance; But By Encouraging Other

     Faculties, And By Putting Aside All That Has A Tendency To Weaken

     And Enervate, The Mind Will Assume A Robust And Healthy Tone, And

     The Real Feelings Will Acquire Strength By Being Under Reasonable

     Control And By The Suppression Of Factitious Ones. A----'S

     Education In Point Of Accomplishments And General Cultivation Of

     Taste And Intellect Is Already Fairly Advanced; And The Lady Who

     Is, I Hope, Now To Be Her Companion And Directress Will Be None The

     Worse For Wanting The Merely Ornamental Branches Of Culture,

     Provided She Holds Them At Their Due Value, And Neither _Under_ Nor

     _Over_ Estimates Them Because She Is Without Them. I Hope She Is

     Gentle And Attractive In Her Manners, For It Is Essential That One

     Should Like As Well As Respect One's Teachers; And Should These

     Qualities Be Added To The Character You Give Of Her, I Am Sure I

     Should Like Her For A Governess Very Much Myself. You See By The

     Room This Subject Has Occupied In My Letter How Much It Fills In My

     Mind; Human Souls, Minds, And Bodies Are Precious And Wonderful

     Things, And To Fit The Whole Creature For Its Proper Aim Here And

     Hereafter, A Solemn And Arduous Work.

 

     Now To Other Matters. You Reproach Me Very Justly For My Stupid

     Oversight; I Forgot To Tell You Which Name Appeared To Me Best For

     Your Book; The Fact Is, I Flew Off Into Ecstasies About The Work

     Itself, And Gave You, I Believe, A Tirade About The "Tempest"

     Instead Of The Opinion You Asked. I Agree With You That There Is

     Much In The Name Of A Work; It Is Almost As Desirable That A Book

     Should Be Well Called As That It Should Be Well Written; A

     Promising Title-Page Is Like An Agreeable Face, An Inducement To

     Further Acquaintance, And An Earnest Of Future Pleasure. For

     Myself, I Prefer "Characters Of Shakespeare's Women;" It Is

     Shorter, And I Think Will Look Better Than The Other In Print.

 

     I Have Been Spending A Few Happy Days, Previous To My Departure

     From Ireland, In A Charming Place And In The Companionship Of A

     Person I Love Dearly. All My Powers Of Enjoyment Have Been

     Constantly Occupied, And I Have Had A Breathing-Time Of Rest And

     Real Pleasure Before I Recommence My Work. Such Seasons Are Like

     Angel's Visits, But I Suppose One Ought To Rejoice That They Are

     Allowed Us At All, Rather Than Complain Of Their Brevity And

     Infrequency. I Am Getting Weary Of Wandering, And Long To Be Once

     More Settled At Home.

 

     What Say You To This French Revolution? Have Not They Made Good Use

     Of Their Time, That In So Few Years From Their Last Bloody National

Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 74

     Convulsion Men's Minds Should So Have Advanced And Expanded In

     France As To Enable The People To Overturn The Government And

     Change The Whole Course Of Public Affairs With Such Comparative

     Moderation And Small Loss Of, Life? I Was Still In Dublin When The

     News Of The Recent Events In France Reached Us, And I Never

     Witnessed Anything So Like Tipsiness As Lady Morgan's Delight At

     It. I Believe She Wished Herself A Frenchwoman With All Her Heart,

     And She Declared She Would Go Over As Soon As Her Next Work, Which

     Is In The Hands Of The Publisher, Was Out. Were I A Man, I Should

     Have Been Well Pleased To Have Been In France Some Weeks Ago; The

     Rising Of The Nation Against Oppression And Abuse, And The Creating

     Of A New And Better State Of Things Without Any Outbreak Of Popular

     Excess, Must Have Been A Fine Thing To See. But As A Woman,

     Incapable Of Mixing Personally In Such Scenes, I Would Rather Have

     The Report Of Them At A Distance Than Witness Them As A Mere

     Inactive Spectator; For Though The Loss Of Life Has Been

     Comparatively Small, Considering The Great End That Has Been

     Achieved, It Must Be Horrible To See Bloodshed, Even That Of A

     Single Individual. I Believe I Am A Great Coward. I Shall Not Close

     This To-Night, But Wait Till To-Morrow, To Tell You How My First

     Appearance Here Goes Off.

 

                                                 TUESDAY, August 17th.

 

     We Had A Very Fine House Indeed Last Night, And Everything Went Off

     Remarkably Well. I Had Every Reason To Be Satisfied With The

     Audience, Who, Though Proverbially A Cold One, Were Exceedingly

     Enthusiastic In Their Applause, Which, I Suppose, Is The Best

     Indication That They Were Satisfied With Me. Good-By, My Dear Mrs.

     Jameson; Believe Me Yours Ever Truly,

 

                                                              F. A. K.

 

The Intention Of Engaging A Governess For My Sister Was Not Carried Out,

And She Was Taken To Paris And Placed Under The Charge Of Mrs. Foster,

Wife Of The Chaplain Of The British Embassy, Under Whose Care She

Pursued Her General Education, While With The Tuition Of The Celebrated

Bordogni, The First Singing-Master Of The Day, She Cultivated Her Fine

Voice And Developed Her Musical Genius.

 

The French Revolution Of 1830, Which Placed Louis Philippe Of Orleans On

The Throne, And Sent Charles X. To End His Days In An Obscure Corner Of

Germany, Was The First Of Four Revolutions Which I Have Lived To

Witness; And Since Then I Have Often Thought Of A Lady Who, During The

Next Political Catastrophe, By Which Louis Philippe Was Shaken Out Of

His Seat, Showing Mrs. Grote The Conveniences Of A Charming Apartment In

A Central Part Of Paris, Said, "Voici Mon Salon, Voici Ma Salle À

Manger, Et Voyez Comme C'est Commode! De Cette Fenêtre Je Vois Mes

Révolutions." The Younger Bourbon Of The Orleans Branch Had Learned Part

Of The Lesson Of Government (Of Which Even The Most Intelligent Of That

Race Seem Destined Never To Learn The Whole) In Democratic America And

Democratic Switzerland. Perhaps It Was In These Two Essentially

_Bourgeois_ Countries That He Learned The Only Virtues That

Distinguished Him As The _Roi Bourgeois, Par Excellence_.

Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 75

Volume 1 Chapter 15 Pg 74     This Moment Writing In A Drawing-Room Full Of People, At Heaton

     (Lord W----'S Place), Taking Up My Pen To Talk To You And Laying It

     Down To Talk To Others. I Must Now, However, Close My Double And

     Divided Conversation, Because I Have Not Brains Enough To Play At

     Two Games At Once. I Am Ever Yours, Very Sincerely,

 

                                                              F. A. K.

 

While We Were Acting At Liverpool An Experimental Trip Was Proposed Upon

The Line Of Railway Which Was Being Constructed Between Liverpool And

Manchester, The First Mesh Of That Amazing Iron Net Which Now Covers The

Whole Surface Of England And All The Civilized Portions Of The Earth.

The Liverpool Merchants, Whose Far-Sighted Self-Interest Prompted Them

To Wise Liberality, Had Accepted The Risk Of George Stephenson's

Magnificent Experiment, Which The Committee Of Inquiry Of The House Of

Commons Had Rejected For The Government. These Men, Of Less Intellectual

Culture Than The Parliament Members, Had The Adventurous Imagination

Proper To Great Speculators, Which Is The Poetry Of The Counting-House

And Wharf, And Were Better Able To Receive The Enthusiastic Infection Of

The Great Projector's Sanguine Hope That The Westminster Committee. They

Were Exultant And Triumphant At The Near Completion Of The Work, Though,

Of Course, Not Without Some Misgivings As To The Eventual Success Of The

Stupendous Enterprise. My Father Knew Several Of The Gentlemen Most

Deeply Interested In The Undertaking, And Stephenson Having Proposed A

Trial Trip As Far As The Fifteen-Mile Viaduct, They, With Infinite

Kindness, Invited Him And Permitted Me To Accompany Them; Allowing Me,

Moreover, The Place Which I Felt To Be One Of Supreme Honor, By The Side

Of Stephenson. All That Wonderful History, As Much More Interesting Than

A Romance As Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction, Which Mr. Smiles's

Biography Of The Projector Has Given In So Attractive A Form To The

World, I Then Heard From His Own Lips. He Was A Rather Stern-Featured

Man, With A Dark And Deeply Marked Countenance; His Speech Was Strongly

Inflected With His Native Northumbrian Accent, But The Fascination Of

That Story Told By Himself, While His