[Letter from Jemima Yorke to Mary Gregory, 8^th May 1749]

[...] I forgot in my last to mention a great & extraordinary Event, one of those unexpected fortunate Events which may happen perhaps once in a whole Life, & which help'd among other new & surprizing Things to make the last Thanksgiving Week so memorable. – Guess it if you can? Nothing less I assure you than the Hearing S.t Germain Play.

This Party was made (I can't imagine how) at L.d Morton's: an Invitation from him to the Family at Powis-House (brought about accidentally in Conversation) & to Us here, to dine with him & hear Mons.r le Comte. We went accordingly, met him at Dinner & spent the whole Evening together. After Tea, Coffee &c., his Violin, a Harpsichord & two or three other Instruments appeared & they began. But unfortunately he had a dress'd Coat on which confin'd his Arms, & makes him always very miserable, & there followed many Ceremonies & variety of Consultations about getting a Habit more to his Mind. At last a little Linen Bedgown of L.dy Browne's was proposed by her Ladyship ( who was come in to be of the Party as well as S.r Robert) a Messenger dispatch'd for it into the next Street, & le Comte when attir'd in it made as much the figure of a Harlequin as you ever saw. But his Play indeed is delightful! The Violin in his Hands has all the Softness & Sweetness of a Flute, & yet all [the] Strength of the loudest Strings: his Execution is not of that rapid prodigious kind as Veracini & Geminiani, but his Play is more easy & harmonious & his Excellence is Softness. He piques himself you know upon the Expression of the Passions in his Music especially the Tender Ones, & both his Composition & his Manner are almost all Affettuoso; for his Musick is entirely fitted to his own way of Performing & would be nothing I am convinced from anybody else. After he had Play'd a considerable time, Frasi who had been appointed to meet him arrived after the Opera. She is his Favourite Singer I find, he teaches her his Songs & sings Duetts with her & her Only: but he also sung some Songs alone & his Manner then is past all Description. I believe you was never honour'd with hearing him though he visited at your House so often. He has absolutely no Voice, what he sings with is entirely Feign'd & so low that in a large Room it is quite lost, yet he will raise it sometimes to Thunder out a Song of Rage as much as he will Languish in One of Love: for his Action is still more Expressive than his Sounds. He accompanies himself without Book, & addresses himself in all he has to express to the Company: he Frowns & Scowls & Threatens & looks like a Fury when he is to be in a Passion, & is so terribly Soft & Languishing in his Tender Fits that there is no supporting it. – Woe! be to the Person within the reach of his Eye! for he makes Love so violently they must have a most Inflexible Countenance to stand it. As he is wholly posses'd by the part he is Acting. I believe it would be address'd equally to an Old Man or a Young Woman who was his next Neighbour, but poor Miss Yorke who happened to be in that Situation, & not much used to be so address'd nor understanding what he was saying, would have been very glad to be out of it, & look'd so Embarrassée we were not a little diverted. – In short we stay'd there till Twelve o'Clock at Night & were very much entertain'd either by him or at him the whole Time. –– I mean the Oddness of his Manner which it is impossible not to laugh at, otherwise you know he is very sensible & well-bred in Conversation.

He was here at the Concert on Wednesday, & as a great Favor staid late on purpose to give us a Couple of Songs when most of the Company were gone. It is vastly agreable as well as Odd to hear him. His Skill is certainly very great, & his Songs are as much suited to his Expression in Singing as his Solos are to his Playing. I had never heard Justice done them before, even by his Other favorite Disciple. She fritters them & makes them so fine that they are nothing: she apes his Manner without having his Force. But I have persuaded myself since I heard him to wonder less at her being so Caught. No Fine Lady can stand at his Elbow while he sings, & fancy herself a real Object of all that Languishment without its going to her Heart. ––

He is an Odd Creature, & the more I see him the more curious I am to know something about him. He is everything with everybody: he talks Ingeniously with M.r Wray, Philosophy with L.d Willoughby, & is gallant with Miss Yorke, Miss Carpenter & all the Young Ladies. But the Character of Philosopher is what he seems to pretend to, & to be a good deal conceited of: the Others are put on to comply with Les Manieres du Monde, but That you are to suppose his real Charecteristick; & I can't but fancy he is a great Pretender in all kinds of Science, as well as that he really has aquired an Uncommon Share in some. ––– Well! so much for Mons.r le Comte de S.t Germain, whom neither you nor I have anything to do with, (though he inquir'd very kindly after you:) –– And so –– Goodnight.