ively chorus ("List to the gay
Castanet"). Elvira and Carmen, her attendant, enter upon the scene,
and are asked to join in the dance, but instead, Elvira delights them
with a song, a vocal scherzo ("Yes, I'll obey you"). The innkeeper is
rude to them, but they are protected from his coarseness by Manuel,
the muleteer, who suddenly appears and sings a rollicking song ("I am
a simple Muleteer") to the accompaniment of a tambourine and the
snappings of his whip. A dialogue duet follows, in which she accepts
his protection and escort. She has already recognized the Infant, and
he has fulfilled the motive of the story by falling in love with her.
At this point the three conspirators, Don Pedro, Don Sallust, and Don
Florio, enter, the first of whom has designs on the throne. They
indulge in a buffo trio, which develops into a spirited bacchanal
("Wine, Wine, the Magician thou art!"). Observing Elvira's likeness to
the Queen, they persuade her to personate her Majesty. She consents
with feigned reluctance, and after accepting their escort in place of
Manuel's, being sure that he will follow, she sings a quaint rondo
("Oh, were I the Queen of Spain!"), and the act closes with a
concerted number accompanying their departure.

The second act opens in the throne-room of the palace, and is
introduced by a very expressive conspirators' chorus ("The Queen in
the Palace"); after which Don Pedro enters and gives expression to the
uncertainty of his schemes in a ballad ("Though Fortune darkly o'er me
frowns") which reminds one very forcibly of "The Heart bowed down," in
"The Bohemian Girl." The Queen, who has eluded the surveillance of the
conspirators, makes her appearance, surrounded by her attendants, and
sings that exquisite ballad, "The Convent Cell" ("Of Girlhood's happy
Days I dream"), one of the most beautiful songs ever written by any
composer, and certainly Balfe's most popular inspiration. At the close
of the ballad Manuel appears, and is granted an audience, in which he
informs her of the meeting with the peasant girl and boy, and declares
his belief that they were the Queen and Carmen. She ridicules the
statement, and a very funny trio buffo ensues ("I'm not the Queen, ha,
ha!"). He then informs her of the conspirators' plot to imprison her,
but she thwarts it by inducing a silly and pompous old Duchess to
assume the role of Queen for the day, and ride to the palace closely
veiled in the royal carriage. The plot succeeds,