place about
him, and hoping to get news of his friends.

Friar Tuck was finally discovered locked up in a tower, and with his
dirty face at the window. It would have been a shame for so dirty and
merry a gentleman as the Friar to have his life cut short, and of
course he was freed, but before this happened he had plenty of chance
to get scared half to death.

At the very moment when Maid Marian was distracted because she feared
that her lover, Robin Hood, was to be led to the gallows, a message
came from the King, pardoning all of the outlaws. Some one had
revealed to his Majesty the doings of the Sheriff, and the King had
hastened to look into matters. When everybody's life seemed to be in
danger, the King rushed back from the Crusades and saved them all, and
put the temporary outlaw into his rightful place, and forgave all the
other merry men because they had befriended Robert of Huntingdon.

In the midst of the rejoicing, Robin bade the foresters farewell,
clasped his cousin in his arms, the Sheriff was properly punished, and
the merriest of operas came to an end.

FLOTOW

There has never been more uncertainty and disagreement about the
production, composition, and source of any opera than about the opera
of "Martha." Among the reasonable guesses as to its source is one that
Flotow found the theme for the story in a French ballet named "Lady
Henriette, ou la Foire de Richmond," also, "Lady Harriette, ou la
Servante de Greenwich." Among the German titles we find "Martha, oder
der Markt zu Richmond," and "Martha, oder der Maegdemarkt zu Richmond."
When all is said and done, it is still a German opera.

Flotow belonged to the petty nobility of Mecklenburg. He was destined
for the diplomatic profession and his art work was continually
interrupted by revolutions in his own country and in France.

He had already written a number of unimportant pieces before he
undertook "Martha." This opera was made under particularly interesting
circumstances, being originally the work of three composers. The
Marquis Saint-Georges--the librettist of the day--asked Flotow to
undertake the music of one act only, as the other two had already been
assigned to two different composers. This proved to be on account of a
contract made by the manager of the Grand Opera with the French
Government to produce a new ballet in three acts every year--and the
Marquis had tried to evade the contract on the ground that it would
bankrupt hi