Chapter IV: The Concert for the Brompton Hospital

Clairville Cottage, though Mdlle. Lind had chosen it solely for the sake of its retirement from the world, was none the less frequented by a goodly company of trusted and congenial friends, who delighted to sit at rest in the shade of its noble plane-tree, and inhale the sweet perfume of its beloved magnolias, and whose presence, renewed from time to time, effectually prevented its solitude from becoming irksome. We have seen that Herr Berg and his family made a lengthened stay there. Mrs. Grote was a constant visitor. So also was Thalberg, of whose talent Mdlle. Lind always spoke with warmest admiration, and whose manner of interpreting Schubert’s songs on the pianoforte initiated her into the true Viennese spirit which is indispensable to their traditional effect. And no less welcome were Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Carter Hall, who occupied a house in the immediate vicinity of the pretty cottage, and were on terms of friendliest intercourse with its mistress.

Within a few minutes’ walk of this peaceful habitation rose a pile of buildings which the friends regarded with peculiar interest—the first beginnings of the then but half-completed “Brompton Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest.”

In an autobiographical work,[117] which has attained great popularity, Mr. S. C. Hall makes mention of a concert given by Mdlle. Lind, at Her Majesty’s Theatre, for this excellent institution. His account is so circumstantial, that it seems difficult, at first sight, to doubt the accuracy of any part of it. It is, however, inaccurate in certain particulars, as we shall presently show, though the main facts are stated correctly enough.

Mdlle. Lind had visited the Hospital during the height of the Opera season, and had taken a vivid interest in it. It was indeed well worthy of her attention. It owed its foundation, in the first instance, to the benevolent energy of Mr. (afterwards Sir Philip) Rose, who, in the year 1841, formed a nucleus for it in a building known as the Manor House, overlooking the grounds of Chelsea Hospital, and now used as an auxiliary to the general work of the Institution. The present buildings were begun in 1844, and were still far from complete in 1848, when Mdlle. Lind, having heard that accommodation for an increased number of patients was urgently needed, determined to use every possible exertion for the addition of a new wing.

Some interesting particulars concerning her proposal are given in the journals of the period, from which we select one, the authority of which cannot be doubted:—

“The concert that will be given this day at Her Majesty’s Theatre for
the benefit of the Hospital for Consumption at Brompton, is a striking
instance of the benevolence and generosity of Mdlle. Lind. Not only
does she give her own services, but she has made arrangements with Mr.
Lumley, providing the society gratuitously with everything required;
so that no expense will be incurred, while it is expected that the
funds will be materially increased.

“The benefit that is to be done to the charity by this concert, is of
a special kind—namely, the erection of an eastern wing to the
hospital, in which an increase of room for the admission of patients
is most desirable.

“The ‘Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest’ has peculiar
claims to public support. The incurable nature of the consumptive
patient’s complaint, and the fact that he must long occupy a bed which
might be more profitably devoted to sufferers from other maladies,
shut him out from all hospitals whatever, before the establishment of
this one. The confirmed consumptive patient literally had no home,
before the foundation, in 1841, of a hospital devoted exclusively to
sufferers of this class. In aiding this establishment, therefore, the
benevolent are contributing towards a purpose that cannot be
accomplished by any other charity whatever. They are not merely
providing medical assistance in the case of a particular disease, but
they are providing a permanent domicile to a whole class of houseless
invalids.

“The report of the charity spoke favourably of its progress; but
showed that much more remained to be done. In 1847, there were already
sixty beds for patients, which were constantly occupied; and it was
expected that forty more, which the portion of the building then
completed was capable of accommodating, would soon be made available.
It is statistically shown that, in this metropolis, 11,000 persons are
constantly wasting away, from the attacks of pulmonary disease; and
that a large portion of these are working men, totally without the
means of providing for themselves, and excluded, as we have already
said, from the general hospitals.

“It is hoped that the concert will be one of those instances of the
amusement of the rich contributing to the relief of the poor, that
have lately been happily frequent, in the metropolis. The conduct of
Mdlle. Lind, who, according to the prospectus of the concert,
‘generously expressed her desire’ to augment the funds of this
excellent charity, is worthy of all praise.”[118]

In one point only, the contributor of this interesting article to the _Times_ fails to do full justice to a gentleman who behaved, on this occasion, with great and liberal forbearance. It will be remembered that, by her contract with Mr. Lumley, Mdlle. Lind was forbidden to sing at any public concert. She could not, therefore, have made her contemplated gift to the Brompton Hospital without Mr. Lumley’s permission; and he not only gave this, but added to it the loan of the “Great Concert Room at Her Majesty’s Theatre,” for the morning indicated in the advertisements.

The concert was duly announced to take place on Monday, the 31st of July, 1848. The price of tickets for the reserved seats was fixed at two guineas each, that for unreserved places, at one guinea. Nine hundred tickets—mostly reserved—were sold at these high prices, and, the room, (notwithstanding its imposing title,) being a comparatively small one, many gentlemen were compelled to stand throughout the entire performance. Mdlle. Lind herself was strongly opposed, on principle, to “raised prices,” against which we have already seen her protesting at Vienna; but, on this occasion, when funds were so urgently needed for a sacred purpose, she suffered herself to be overruled by the arguments of Mr. S. C. Hall.

She was assisted in the business portion of her work, by the Honorary Secretary—Mr. Philip Rose—and other officers of the charity; and, at the concert, by Mdlle. Cruvelli, Signori Lablache, Belletti, and Coletti, MM. Remusat and King (Flautists), and Mr. Cooper (Violinist). Mr. Otto Goldschmidt also played, at her request, two solos on the pianoforte.[119]

A few days after the performance, Mdlle. Lind paid a visit to the Hospital, giving each of the wards a careful inspection. We can imagine the satisfaction of the generous donor, when, in passing through the wards, between the rows of beds in which so many poor pale sufferers lay stretched on either side, she thought of the augmented number now rendered possible through her exertions. The success of her scheme extended far beyond the sum it actually placed at the disposal of the committee, for it gave a notable impulse to the collection of funds for the work in hand. The Eastern Wing was no longer thought of as a remote possibility. The committee were justified, now, in making the necessary arrangements for its rapid completion; and when it was opened, and made ready for the reception of patients, in 1855, its first floor, containing ten wards for the accommodation of female sufferers, was called “The Jenny Lind Gallery,” as the corresponding portion of the Western Wing had been previously named “The Victoria Gallery” in token of gratitude to Her Majesty, the Patroness of the charity; and, at the same time, one of the ten new wards within the “Jenny Lind Gallery” was named after Mrs. S. C. Hall.

In spite of her rooted antipathy to the presentation of testimonials, in recognition of her works of charity, Mdlle. Lind had not the heart to refuse that which was offered to her in the name of the recipients of her bounty at Brompton, in the form of a beautiful silver salver, twenty inches broad, bearing in its centre an engraving of the unfinished building, with the following delicately-worded inscription:—

IN THE NAME OF THE SUFFERERS RELIEVED BY HER BOUNTY,
THIS HUMBLE MEMORIAL OF ONE OF HER NOBLE ACTIONS
IS PRESENTED

TO JENNY LIND

BY THE COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT
OF THE HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMPTION AT BROMPTON, LONDON,
AS A SLIGHT TOKEN OF THEIR ESTEEM AND GRATITUDE,
AND IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CONCERT GIVEN BY HER
ON THE THIRTY-FIRST DAY OF JULY, MDCCCXLVIII,
ON WHICH OCCASION, THROUGH THE EXERTION OF HER
UNRIVALLED TALENTS,
ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX POUNDS
WERE ADDED TO THE FUNDS OF THE CHARITY
AND A SOLID FOUNDATION LAID FOR COMPLETING THE FABRIC,
THE UNFINISHED CONDITION OF WHICH HAD EXCITED
HER GENEROUS SYMPATHY.

“BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY.”[120]

On the seventh anniversary of the opening of the Hospital, celebrated in 1849, the late Lord Beaconsfield—then, the Right Hon. B. Disraeli—paid perhaps the aptest and most beautiful tribute on record to the generous action of Mdlle. Lind in relation to the charity, in a speech delivered in presence of the Governor, and a crowded audience.

“The generosity of Mdlle. Lind to the Hospital,” said the great
Statesman, “can only be characterised as marvellous. It comes upon us,
as it were, in a heavenly burst of music that charms every sense, and
touches every heart—a sweet carol of charity that fills the popular
ear with bewilderment, sympathy, and rapture.

“I look upon the conduct of this lady as one of the most remarkable
features of the age we live in. I know nothing in classic story, or in
those feudal epochs when we are taught that the individual was more
influential, when character was more forcible—I know nothing to be
compared with the career of this admirable woman. Why, gentlemen, it
almost reaches the high ideal of human nature when we portray to
ourselves a youthful maiden, innocent and benignant, in the possession
of an unparalleled and omnipotent charm, alternately entrancing the
heart of nations, and then kneeling at the tomb of suffering, of
calamity, and of care.

“And, gentlemen, I, for one, honour Jenny Lind above all things,
because she has shown that she comprehends her position, and that a
great artist, sustained by virtue, upheld by self-respect, and full of
the magnificence of her mission, ranks in the highest class of human
beings and human benefactors.”

And thus, in the midst of her second London season, was inaugurated the first of that long line of noble works which have surrounded the name of Jenny Lind with a halo more bright than even that enkindled by the fire of her genius.