aken
out of the river. This argument prevailed, and the prima donna deferred
her demise.

In spite of the large amount of money earned by Mario, he retired from
the stage a poor man. His improvidence was magnificent. Twice the public
subscribed for his needs, and once, the old unthriftiness about him
still, he flung away his capital and was royally penniless again.

At Rome, in which city he spent his last days, he was given the post of
curator of the Museum; but the glory of his past still adhered to him,
and he was surrounded by a host of admirers, who enjoyed hearing the old
man talk about his adventures. He died, in 1883, in the arms of Signor
Augusto Rotoli. His life had been triumphant beyond the lot of all but
the most fortunate, and the memory he left was singularly kind and
beautiful.

A memorandum, published at the time of Mario's retirement, states that
during his career he gave, in London alone, 935 performances, of which
225 were in operas of Donizetti, 170 Meyerbeer, 143 Rossini, 112 Verdi,
82 Bellini, 70 Gounod, and 68 Mozart, the remaining 65 performances
being operas of seven other composers.

CHAPTER III.

MARIO TO TIETIENS.

Contemporary with Sontag, Malibran, and Grisi, was Madame
Schroeder-Devrient, who was one of the earliest and greatest interpreters
of German opera. Though others have surpassed her in vocal resources,
she stands high in the list of operatic tragediennes, and for a long
time reigned supreme in her art. Her deep sensibilities and dramatic
instincts, her noble elocution and stately beauty, fitted her admirably
for tragedy, in which she was unrivalled except by Pasta. Her voice was
a mellow soprano, which, though not specially flexible, united softness
with volume and compass. Her stage career began at the age of six, but
she was seventeen when she made her debut in opera. Her highest triumph
was achieved as Leonora in the "Fidelio."

Her marriage with M. Devrient, a tenor singer whom she met in Dresden,
did not turn out happily. Madame Devrient retired in 1849, having
amassed a considerable fortune by her professional efforts. Her
retirement occasioned much regret throughout Germany, and the Emperor
Francis I. paid her the unusual compliment of having her portrait
painted in all her principal characters, and placed in the Imperial
Museum. She died in 1860 at Cologne, and the following year a marble
bust was placed in the opera house at Berlin.

Madame Devrient mus