LINCOLN, ELIZABETH, COUNTESS OF,
Was one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Sir John Knevet, of Charlton, in Wiltshire, and was married to Thomas, Earl of Lincoln, about 1602, by whom she had seven sons and nine daughters. She published, in 1628, a small but valuable tract, called "The Countess of Lincoln's Nursery." It was addressed to her daughter-in-law, the Countess of Lincoln, and is a well-written essay on the advantages of mothers nursing their own children.
LIND, JENNY.
This incomparable singer, whose maiden name we have chosen to retain, as it is that under which she obtained her world-wide reputation, was born in the city of Stockholm, in the parish of St. Clara, October 21st., 1821. "Her parents," says Dr. Baird, in his "Sketch of the Life and Character" of this renowned songstress, "though not in affluent circumstances, are (for they still live to rejoice in the wonderful success of their beloved daughter) much respected by all who know them. Her father is a member of the legal profession. Her mother for many years kept a boarding-school for girls. By a former marriage, she had a daughter, who died before reaching adult age. Jenny Lind is her only child by second marriage. Both parents are Protestants, and are members of one of the churches in Stockholm. In the same church, the subject of this notice made her first communion, according to the practice of the Lutheran church, the National Church of Sweden, and of all other Scandinavian countries. Of the same church she has continued a member since her fifteenth or sixteenth year.
From childhood she displayed a remarkable talent for music, and was encouraged by her friends to cultivate her extraordinary powers. In her ninth or tenth year, she attracted the attention of an old teacher of music, named Croelius, who proved to be a true friend. He secured for her the friendship of Count Pucke, the administrator of the Royal theatre in Stockholm, who admitted her to the musical school attached to that theatre, where she made rapid progress. At the early age of fifteen, she commenced singing in public, and became a great favourite with the music-loving people of that city. But it was not long before her voice failed, and she had to give up the stage. Years of disappointment passed away, during which she aided her mother in her school. At length her voice began to return, and her hopes revived.
The good old Croelius now advocated her going to Paris, where she spent portions of 1841-2, enjoying the tuition of Garcia, the greatest musical teacher in that city. Her efforts were unceasing to master thoroughly the principles of the science, and to improve and perfect her voice.
Those who suppose she owes all to nature, know but little of the immense labour which she bestowed for many years upon the acquisition of the principles of music, and the perfecting of her voice, which recovered in time all its early sweetness and beauty, and acquired its present astonishing flexibility and strength.
In the winter of 1843–4, she commenced in Berlin her wonderful career as a public singer, and soon acquired great celebrity in Germany. In the summer of 1844, she returned to Stockholm, where she was received with unbounded demonstrations of affection and of
