, she carries with her an amulet from
Hindostan, and nothing can induce her to appear without it.

Her first visit to America was in the season of 1893-94, during which
she appeared as Mignon, in Boston, for the first time in any part of the
world. Her reception during that tour was splendid. She did not again
visit America until the season of 1895-96, but she returned the
following season, when her appearance as Marguerite in "Faust" was one
of the leading events of the season. During her absence she had improved
wonderfully in vocal form and appearance, and the critics gave her
unstinted praise. Her impersonation of Carmen again created a furore,
and, notwithstanding the superb array of talent exhibited during those
seasons, "Calve" was, above all, the subject of interest to opera-goers.

She makes her home in Paris, but her vacations are spent at a
picturesque little place called Chateau Cambrieres, situated in the
shadow of the Pyrenees. Calve is not yet at her prime, and with genius
such as she possesses it is likely that she will eclipse the
achievements of the greatest dramatic singers of the past.

Of the numerous successors of Patti, Madame Melba seems to have more
fully met the requirements than any other. In many respects she has
exceeded them, for her voice is fuller and more powerful than Patti's
ever was, but she has the same easy vocalization and marvellous
spontaneity that constituted the great charm in Patti's singing.

Melba is the daughter of a wealthy citizen of Melbourne in Australia,
and in that city, from which she takes her stage name, Nellie Mitchell
was born in 1865. There was much musical talent in the family, but it
was exercised for their own enjoyment only, for they were of Scotch
Presbyterian descent, and the idea of the stage was objectionable to
them. For this reason, while their daughter was given every advantage in
the study of the pianoforte, violin, and harp, her voice was not
cultivated. Singing was nevertheless her chief delight, and her great
desire was to take lessons.

[Illustration: _Melba as Ophelia._]

In 1883 Miss Mitchell married a Captain Armstrong, but the marriage was
not a happy one, and when her father, shortly afterwards, was appointed
commissioner from Australia to the Colonial exhibition in London, she
went there with him, and soon found herself able to enter upon study for
a musical career.

She went to Paris, where at one of Marchesi's receptions she sang a