Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Richard Hoffman At 78 Frontispiece From a bust by his daughter Malvina Facing Frederic Rackemann 10 Mrs. Kemble 12 Taken from life From the collection of Evert Jansen Wendell William Scharfenberg 20 Chickerlng Hall, Formerly At Eighteenth Street And Fifth Avenue 24 Adelina Patti As "marguerite" .... 32 Richard Hoffman In His Study .... 42 Facsimile Of Programme -- Testimonial Con- Cert 50 Facsimile Of Mr. Hoffman's Last MS. . 54-55 Richard Hoffman -- Taken In August, 1909, With His Champion Sheep Dog, "SiR Wally Harkaway" 58 Richard Hoffman's Hand 60 Life cast by Victor Salvatore niCHARD HOFFMAN was born in -- Manchester, England, May 24, 1831. May 24th was also the birthday of Queen Victoria, and always on that day for as long as I can remember, he sat down to the piano after breakfast and played "God Save the Queen," and hung a small English flag over the mantelpiece. He never became an American citizen; his love for his native land and the obligation of forswearing allegiance to the beloved Queen always held him back. He was, however, in every sense loyal to his adopted country and was fortunately spared the trying test of choosing between them at any vital moment. His father was a musician and insisted that all his children, nine in number, should be educated to the profession of music. In the case of three of them it was successful, but for the other six it proved a waste of time. Richard was brought before the public at the age of six when he played on three different instruments, violin, piano, and concertina. His father in doing this was only imitating his own experience. At the same age he had been playing theatrical parts in the provinces, and in his autobiography gives an ...