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The eldest daughter of the Hohenlohe family, Princess Elise, a girl of great promise, had died at Venice of consumption in her twenty-first year. Yachting excursions were again made to Devonshire and Cornwall, to Torquay and the often-visited beauties of Mount Edgcumbe and the banks of the Tamar.
Hardly had the report been received when the air-ship herself passed over Mount Edgcumbe and came towards the town. "The news spread like wildfire, and in a few minutes the streets were filled with crowds of people, who had thrown on a few clothes and rushed out to get a look at the strange visitant.
Lord Mount Edgcumbe, who had a prejudice for bravura singing, said: "No doubt the deaf would have been charmed with Grassini, but the blind must have been delighted with Mrs. Billington": a malicious comment on the Italian singer, which this distinguished amateur, when in a less cynical mood, revoked by cordial admiration of Grassini's remarkable gifts both as vocalist and actress.
It is said that a parish clerk, more than a century since, wrote a poem about Mount Edgcumbe in which he stated that "Mount Edgcumbe is a pleasant place, It looketh on Hamoaze, And on it are some batteries To guard us from our foes." The batteries are certainly there, more numerous than ever, and we may hope that they will fulfil the purpose ascribed to them.
From the sea it has so much the appearance of the bosky slopes of Mount Edgcumbe, that, were it not for the characteristic palm, one could well imagine one's self looking at a bit of our own dear England.
Lord Mount Edgcumbe, however, an excellent critic, wrote of it "as quite of the new school, but not copied from its founder, Rossini; original, odd, flighty, and it might be termed fantastic, but at times beautiful. Here and there most delightful melodies and harmonies occurred, but it was unequal, solos being as rare as in all the modern operas."
In short, there is a great deal to see at Plymouth besides the sea itself: but what I particularly wish now is, that you will stand at the Battery of Mount Edgcumbe and look into Barn Pool below you, and there you will see, lying at single anchor, a cutter; and you may also see, by her pendant and ensign, that she is a yacht.
In 1803 she died obscurely; and the same year there also passed out of the world two other celebrated women, the great actress Clairon and the singer De Beaumesnil, once Sophie's rival. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his "Musical Reminiscences," speaks of Sophie Arnould, whom he heard in ante-revolutionary days, as a woman of entrancing beauty and very great dramatic genius.
I found many of the islanders much inclined to be friends with us, especially the old people; on the other hand, most of the younger were daring and insolent, and obliged us to keep to our arms. I staid till I saw no disturbance was like to happen, and then returned to the ship, leaving the party under the command of Lieutenants Clerke and Edgcumbe.
Yet the plea of botanical interest, educational use, may be added to the attraction of rarity as a defence of all such cultivations as we find not only at Heligan and Mount Edgcumbe, but at Morrab Gardens and Tresco. Those of us who dislike them can keep away. But Heligan has a reputation also for genuine English beauty.
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