The Light of Other Days Seen Through the Wrong End of an Opera Glass (Volume 2) - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II. GRISI AND MARIO MRS. GODFREY PEARSE's BOOK.-Wh1le we were still quite children,' said Mrs. Godfrey Pearse to me at a recent interview, ' my father made me and my sisters keep a diary, saying: "Put down all you think about and what you see, and in after-life you will be pleased to read what you write now." I did so, and it is from my daily journal and from his letters to me and my sisters that I wrote the book I place in your care, to do with as you may decide.' With the permission granted me, I take the following from that which Mrs. Godfrey Pearse has written: 'My mother, Giulia Grisi, was born at Milan. Her birthday was May 22, the fete of Santa Giulia, hence her baptismal name; she was one of two daughters of Gaetano Grisi, an officer of engineers in the service of Napoleon I. I remember him well, for he only died in February, 1870 (three months after my dear mother), at the ripe old age of ninety-five. His head was still covered with thick white hair, cropped closely, in the French fashion; he was a very handsome old man. 'Many a time he has related to us children stories of the famous Revolution, when he was among the crowd in Paris surrounding the guillotine of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette and Charlotte Corday. 'Though Italian, his family had been living for many years in France, and he was there during the Reign of Terror. He resided at Batignolles, and remained in the same quartier till he returned to Milan a few years before his death. He married, for the second time, at the age of eighty, quite a young wife, who died in giving birth to three daughters, two of whom lived and are now married and settled in Italy. My mother's choice of the musical profession was decided by the success of her eldest sister on the operatic stage, and a...