a was receiving one thousand thalers a month,
Patti was being paid one thousand francs a night. Lucca was living in
apartments on a fourth floor, in quite an unconventional style, and was
in bed when Patti called. Nevertheless, she received her visitor, and
Strakosch, her manager, with many signs of unaffected pleasure, and they
became firm friends, their rivalry being confined to the stage.

Lucca's progress to fame was now very rapid. She appeared in London in
1863 and 1864, making a remarkable impression. In 1865 Meyerbeer's
"L'Africaine" was to be produced in Paris, and he was anxious that Lucca
should sing the part of Selika, but this was impossible without the
consent of the King of Prussia, and as he was opposed to her singing in
Paris at that time, he would not give the necessary consent. Meyerbeer
felt so strongly on the subject that he added a codicil to his will
stating that, if Pauline Lucca was engaged to sing Selika at the Opera
House in Berlin, the work might be sung there in German,--otherwise, he
forbade its production. "L'Africaine" was produced in Paris on April 28,
1865; but Meyerbeer never witnessed its performance in public, for he
was seized with illness on April 23d of that year, and died on May 2d.

In London this opera was produced on July 22d, and Lucca sang the part
for which Meyerbeer had selected her, as she also did at Berlin. Her
performance in London is on record as one of the very highest
achievements in the lyrical drama. In Berlin she created a perfect
furore, singing in a company which introduced Wachtel and Betz. While
the performance was in progress, the house and even the carriage of the
young prima donna were decorated with the rarest and most beautiful
flowers, and with such profusion that she was hardly able to recognize
her home.

The Czar of Russia now wished to hear this incomparable singer, so he
sent a polite message to the King of Prussia, requesting that she be
allowed to sing at St. Petersburg, and offering her a salary of eighty
thousand rubles for the season of four months. The King of Prussia had
not the same scruples concerning Russia that he had about France, so his
gracious consent was given, as it was, also, on the following season.

Lucca made an immense impression at St. Petersburg, where at the end of
the season she was serenaded by the band of the Imperial Guards. The
streets were illuminated from the theatre to her house at the orders of
the Crown Princes