[Still living.]
Second daughter of Charles Kemble: highly distinguished as a vocalist of
the Italian school; she made her first appearance at Covent Garden
Theatre, in Norma, Nov. 2, 1841, and sang and acted with great success
at the same theatre in 1841 and 1842; but at the end of 1842 she retired
from her profession into private life.
[By Dantan, of Paris.]
405*. GRACE DARLING. _Lighthouse-keeper’s Daughter._
[Born at Bamborough, Northumberland, 1815. Died 1842. Aged 27.]
“ONE whose very name bespeaks
Favour divine, exalting human love;
Whom, since her birth on bleak Northumbria’s coast,
Known unto few, but prized as far as known,
A single act endears to high and low,
Through the whole land.”--WORDSWORTH.
Grace was the seventh child of a humble man who had charge of a
lighthouse on one of the Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland.
In the month of September, 1888, the “Forfarshire” steamer, of 300 tons,
having on board sixty-three souls, during a terrible storm and dense
fog, struck on a rock within a mile of the light-house. It was deep
night. The ship snapped in half. Nearly all the creatures on board were
swallowed by the chafing sea; and when morning broke, all that remained
of the “Forfarshire” and its people, were nine of the passengers
clinging to the windlass in the forepart of the vessel. It was a fearful
morning, the fog still prevailing--the sea hardly less boisterous.
Through the mist, however, the sad spectacle could be witnessed from the
mainland, and a reward was offered to any boat’s crew that would venture
to the rescue. It was offered in vain. But the despairing castaways were
visible also from the lighthouse, where none was rich enough to offer
reward of any kind, for the sole inhabitants were husband, wife, and
daughter. It was the last watch before extinguishing the light at
sunrise, and Grace was keeping it. She intreated her father to go to
sea, and he consenting, the girl shared his boat, and the pair in dread
and awe put off. Why speak of danger? Why detail the miracle? The risk
was incalculable. The chances of recovery, nay, of self-preservation,
were infinitesimal. But God strengthened the woman’s arm, as he had
visited her heart, and, after painful labour, the rescue was effected.
The delivered nine were taken to the lighthouse, and there kindly
treated by the heroic girl and her aged parents. The spirit of the
nation was stirred by the act. Money enough to provide for her as long
as she should live, and gifts innumerable, were brought to her sea-girt
rock; but she would not leave the light-house. Why should she? What
place so fitting to hold this queen? She held her modest Court there
until her early death. One who visited her speaks of her genuine
simplicity, her quiet manner, her perfect goodness. In 1841, symptoms of
consumption--the poisonous seed sown, it may be, on that drear
morning--revealed themselves. In a few months she died, quietly,
happily, religiously. Shortly before her death, she received a farewell
visit from one of her own sex, who came in humble attire, to bid her God
speed on her last illimitable journey. The good sister was the Duchess
of Northumberland, and her coronet will shine the brighter for all time,
because of that affectionate and womanly leave-taking. Joan of Arc has
her monument. Let Grace of Northumbria have none. Her deed is
registered--
“in the rolls of Heaven, where it will live
A theme for angels when they celebrate
The high-souled virtues which forgetful earth
Has witnessed.”
[Medallion by David Dunbar. Modelled from the marble bust in the
possession of the Bishop of Durham. The original model was taken. from
the life at the Longstone lighthouse, soon after the incident above
recorded, and three years before the death of Grace.]
405.** WILLIAM DARLING. _Lighthouse-Keeper._
[Born 1783. Still living.]
The father of Grace Darling. He succeeded his own father as keeper of
the Coal-light on the Brownsman, the outermost of the Farne islands, on
the coast of Northumberland. In 1826, he was transferred to the
lighthouse on the Longstone, another of the same group of islands.
Solitary, cut off for weeks from communication with the mainland, this
humble man has passed his days in self-improvement. He is intelligent,
quiet, and well-conducted. His children have received a good education
for their position in life, the father being the sole instructor--and
one daughter at least has not thrown discredit upon her bringing up.
[By David Dunbar.]
POETS AND DRAMATISTS.