Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/423

 and toured with Theodore Thomas's orchestra; on 13 May she gave a farewell concert at Boston, Her first engagement in London was at the promenade concert of 6 Nov. 1873; the programmes were then distinctly popular, with a tendency towards vulgarity; she insisted, in spite of all expostulations, in singing the 'Slumber Song' from Bach's 'Christmas Oratorio' and some classical Lieder. She obtained great popular success, and enthusiastic receptions on her appearance at the Crystal Palace, the Albert Hall, Exeter Hall, and St. James's Hall quickly followed. In Feb. 1874 she sang in Mendelssohn's ’Elijah' on two consecutive nights at Exeter Hall and Royal Albert Hall. Her repertory was entirely oratorio music or German Lieder. Dissentient voices were not lacking; 'her style is wanting in sensibility and refinement. Excellence of voice is not all that is required in the art of vocalisation' (Athenæum, 14 March). Her popularity was undeniable, and she was engaged for the three choirs festival at Hereford. On Easter Sunday 1875 she was married at the Savoy Chapel to John MacKinlay, a Scotch American; they settled in Stanhope Place, London.

She did not improve in musicianship; her time was quite untrustworthy. Engagements for high-class concerts gradually ceased, but she still for some years sang in oratorio, and her taste remained faithful to the Grerman school, including Wagner. In 1877 she found her vocation. Sullivan's 'Lost Chord' exactly suited her, and attained unprecedented popularity. She became more and more restricted to simple sentimental ballads, especially those with semi-religious or moralising words, which she declaimed with perfect distinctness and intense fervour. She invested 'Caller Herrin' with singular significance. In her later years she favoured Tennyson's 'Crossing the Bar' in Behrend's setting.

She had always leant to eccentricity, refusing to wear a low-necked dress, and getting permission to dispense with one at a command performance before Queen Victoria. She never wore a corset. After belonging to various sects, she at last became an ardent believer in 'christian science.' In 1893 she made an Australian tour, during which her husband died at Adelaide. In 1895 she revisited America, but did not feel at home there, and soon returned to London.

In the winter of 1902-3 her farewell tour was announced. Her last appearance was at East Ham on 15 Oct. 1903, and the last song which she sang was 'Crossing the Bar.' She died at her residence in Hampstead on 10 Jan. 1904, and was cremated at Golder's Green. She was survived by a son and a daughter, both now popular vocalists. A full-length portrait by James Doyle Penrose, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1891, now belongs to her son.

 STEVENSON, DAVID WATSON (1842–1904), Scottish sculptor, born at Ratho, Midlothian, on 25 March 1842, was son of Wilham Stevenson, builder. Educated at the village school, Ratho, he was for eight years (1860–8) in Edinburgh as pupil of the sculptor William Brodie [q. v.]. During that time he attended the School of Art and the Life School of the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1868 he took a studio at Edinburgh and commenced work as a sculptor on his own account. Subsequently, in 1876, he pursued his studies in Rome, and later interest in modern French sculpture took him frequently to Paris. Elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1877, he gradually added to his reputation, and in 1886 he was chosen academician. As early as 1868 he undertook the groups of 'Labour' and 'Learning' for the Prince Consort memorial, Edinburgh, and amongst later commissions of a monumental kind were the Platt memorial, Oldham, the colossal figure of Wallace for the national monument on the Abbey Craig, and statues of Tannahill at Paisley, 'Highland Mary' at Dunoon, and Burns at Leith. Of his ideal works, 'Nymph at the Stream,' 'Echo,' 'Galatea,' and 'The Pompeian Mother' may be named. He also executed many portrait busts. While his earlier work was pseudo-classic in manner, his later shows a certain sensitiveness to modern developments in which realism, individuality, and style are combined. After a few years of failing health, he died unmarried in Edinburgh on 18 March 1904. His younger brother, Mr. W. G. Stevenson, R.S.A., is a sculptor, and his sister, Mrs. Drew, is an accomplished embroiderer. [Private information; R.S.A. catalogues