ness, she pledged
herself to help him whenever the opportunity came, and soon after sang
at his benefit. Mara had resolved not to sing again on the lyric stage,
and her condescension was a godsend to Kelly, who was then very much out
at elbows. Speaking of her proffer, he says: "I was thunderstruck at her
kindness and liberality, and thankfully accepted. She fixed on _Mandane_
in 'Artaxerxes,' and brought the greatest receipts ever known at that
house, as the whole pit, with the exception of two benches, was railed
into boxes. So much," he adds sententiously, "for a little German
proficiency, a little common civility, and a pot of porter."

IV.

Mme. Mara made such a brilliant hit in opera that the public clamor
for her continuance on the stage overcame her old resolutions. The
opera-house was reopened, and Sir John Gallini, with this popular
favorite at the head of his enterprise, had a most prosperous season.
Both as a lyric cantatrice and as the matchless singer of oratorio, she
was the delight of the public for two years. In 1788 she went to Turin
to sing at the Carnival, where it was the custom to open the gala season
with a fresh artist, who supplied the place of the departing vocalist,
whether a soprano or tenor. Her predecessor, a tenor, was piqued at his
dismissal, and tried to prejudice the public against her by representing
her as alike-ugly in person and faulty in art. Mara's shrewdness of
resource turned the tables on the Italian. On her first appearance her
manner was purposely full of _gaucherie_, her costume badly considered
and all awry, her singing careless and out of time. The maligner was
triumphant, and said to all, "Didn't I say so? See how ugly she is; and
as for singing--did you ever hear such a vile jargon of sounds?" On the
second night Mara appeared most charmingly dressed, and she sang like
an angel--a surprise to the audience which drove the excitable Italians
into the most passionate uproar of applause and delight. Mara was
crowned on the stage, and was received by the King and Queen with the
heartiest kindness and a profusion of costly gifts. A similar reception
at Venice tempted her to prolong her Italian tour, but she preferred to
return to London, where she sang under Wyatt at the Pantheon, which
was transformed into a temporary opera-house. She now sang with
Pacchierotti, the successor of Farinelli and Caffarelli, and the last
inheritor of their grand large style. "His duettos with