his power over cards. I should have been sorry
to have seen it in any one but a true artist; but
while he satisfied every just claim in the style and
selection of the music of the concert, he permitted
the rabble to hear what they had paid fifty cents
to hear. He could not be accused of lowering
or pampering the popular taste, for the music that
he played was elevating, and the gymnastics not music
at all.
I was glad to see Mrs. Ripley last Monday, and to
hear from her the result of your Sunday meeting.
I was a little sceptical, because I think permanent
forms of worship spring from a very deep piety, and
the pious persons whom I know I could count on my
hands. Such themes are too good for heel-taps
to a letter, and I shall wait the issue of your movement
with a great deal of interest. Give my love to
Mrs. Ripley, and tell her I hope the whole winter
will not pass without my hearing from her.
I feel sorry to go from Concord, which we shall do
in about a fortnight, for it is a quiet place, full
of good people and pleasant spots. But I have
found the same everywhere, so
“To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures
new.”
Your friend,
G.W.C.
NEW YORK, December 22, 1845.
A merry Christmas and happy New Year to you, if you
are still alive, for since small-pox has joined your
Phalanx I am not sure but his ambition for the supreme
power has swept you all away. Yet every Saturday’s
Harbinger is a missive from Brook Farm which
tells of other things than the cosmogonies, etc.,
of which it ostensibly discourses. I shall be
glad to smuggle myself in for a share of the commendation
bestowed upon those who have increased your list with
the new volume, but my New York friends are pale at
Greeley’s Tribune, and would christen
your sheet “An Omen Ill” instead of Harbinger.
Individually I am grateful for your article upon De
Meyer. It gives me an idea of his exhilarating
impression, which I had dimly supposed from what I
heard of him. I wait eagerly for his reappearance
here, and cannot discover why he tarries so long in
Boston. Privately I have heard very much good
music since I have been here, mainly Mendelssohn and
Spohr, with singing of Schubert and “Adelaide,”
etc. Publicly I have heard Huber, the German
opera, and Mendelssohn’s “St. Paul,”
a rich, melodious oratorio, squeezing the utmost drop
from the power of the orchestra, and uniform at a
point of the most luminous delicacy, refinement, and
grace. I missed the heavy choruses of the Handel
and Haydn, for, particularly, “Stone him to
death,” and “Lovely are the messengers,”
and “Oh, be gracious, ye Immortals” are
magnificent. From what I have heard I prefer Mendelssohn
to Spohr, as being the most original and luxuriant
genius, although I hear that I shall not maintain
that opinion when I have heard Spohr more.
