A few memories

156 A FEW MEMORIES
roundings: the British Museum, the public galleries, the magnificent collections of art treasures in the country-houses we visited from Saturday till Monday; the continued opportunities of hearing the best music well rendered; constant contact with original minds of different nations, and, above all, ample time to digest everything that was seen, heard, or felt Such outward influences spurred me on to renewed efforts, and the improvement in my work, I was told, was steady and rapid.
It was about this time that the sad death of the Duke of Albany occurred. The remembrance of that occasion has always been most painful to me. The Lyceum was not under my management at the time, and the pressure brought to bear upon me to act Galatea on the night of the funeral— my last appearance that season — added to the fatigue of many consecutive months of arduous work, made me so ill and nervous that my physician pronounced me unfit to appear. The theatre doors were therefore closed on that night of general mourning.