Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the originaldocument have been preserved.
CHARLES AUCHESTER
Volume I.
MENDELSSOHN
FROM AN ORIGINAL PORTRAIT—1821.
Charles Auchester
BY
ELIZABETH SHEPPARD
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
By GEORGE P. UPTON
AUTHOR OF "THE STANDARD OPERAS," "STANDARD ORATORIOS," "STANDARDCANTATAS," "STANDARD SYMPHONIES," "WOMAN IN MUSIC," ETC.
In Two Volumes
Volume I.
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG AND COMPANY
1891
Copyright,
By A. C. McClurg and Co.
a.d. 1891.
INTRODUCTION.
The romance of "Charles Auchester," which is reallya memorial to Mendelssohn, the composer, was firstpublished in England in 1853. The titlepage bore thename of "E. Berger," a French pseudonym, which forsome time served to conceal the identity of the author.Its motto was a sentence from one of Disraeli's novels:"Were it not for Music, we might in these days say,The Beautiful is dead." The dedication was also to thesame distinguished writer, and ran thus: "To the authorof 'Contarini Fleming,' whose perfect genius suggestedthis imperfect history." To this flattering dedication, Mr.Disraeli replied in a note to the author: "No greaterbook will ever be written upon music, and it will one daybe recognized as the imaginative classic of that divineart."
Rarely has a book had a more propitious introduction tothe public; but it was destined to encounter the proverbialfickleness of that public. The author was not withouthonor save in her own country. It was reserved forAmerica first to recognize her genius. Thence her fametravelled back to her own home; but an early death preventedher from enjoying the fruits of her enthusiastictoil. Other works followed from her busy pen, amongthem "Counterparts,"—a musico-philosophical romance,dedicated to Mrs. Disraeli, which had a certain success;"Rumor," of which Beethoven, under the name of Rodomant,6is supposed to have been the hero; "Beatrice Reynolds,""The Double Coronet," and "Almost a Heroine:"but none of them achieved the popularity which "CharlesAuchester" enjoyed. They shone only by the reflectedlight of this wonderful girl's first book. The republicationof this romance will recall to its readers of an earlier generationan old enthusiasm which may not be altogether lost,though they may smile as they read and remember. Itshould arouse a new enthusiasm in the younger generationof music-lovers.
Elizabeth Sheppard, the author of "Charles Auchester,"was born at Blackheath, near London, in 1837. Her fatherwas a clergyman of the Established Church, and her mothera Jewe