Popping the Question; And Other Tales. Embracing the Best Stories of the Best Authors. Now First Collected

by George Palmer Putnam

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.1860 ... Faust--1 have laid no snare for thee; thou hast run into the net of thy own free will. Let whoever has got hold of the devil, keep hold of him; he will not catch him a second time in a hurry.--Faust JTaywarcPs Translation. Qi (yjj'HEi Rubini, the famous tenor, was at the summit of his celebrity and the full maturity of his powers, a time in which all the musical amateurs and cognoscenti of the provinces esteemed it a point of duty to make a pilgrimage to the metropolis, solely to hear him warble some of his great songs of melody and passion, three gentlemen set out from Bath one morning in May for the express purpose of following the mode, and procuring the ability to say during the remainder of their lives, " We have heard the great Rubini." They were all young, single, and of independent property, thus' favorably circumstanced for the pleasures of easy friendship, and well able to afford the gratification of any impulse of curiosity like the present. It was on Tuesday night that our three dilettanti--Charles Vivian, Henri Coleraine, and Frederic Burgess--arrived in London. Rubini was to sing in Bellini's "Pirata," on Thursday evening, so they had a clear day before them to spend as they pleased. This interval they employed in visiting several old friends and cronies, among whom was one especial favorite, a personage having several little peculiarities and eccentricities of character, who was regarded with that interest which most of us are ready to accord to the decidedly "original." Tom Saint-Aubyn was a strange fellow, with talent and genius in him, buried in the depths of a cynical, intractable, and somewhat slothful disposition.' Notwithstanding his eccentricities, his company was much sought by such acquaintances as could comprehend him. The three fr...

94 pages, Paperback

Published February 8, 2012

About the author

1814-1872