gnor Mario, and Signor
Tamburini. The new establishment was also strengthened by the accession
of several new performers, among whom was Mlle. Alboni, the great
contralto. "Her Majesty's" secured the possession of Jenny Lind, who
became the great support of the old house, as Grisi was of the new
one. The appearance of Mme. Grisi as the Assyrian Queen and Alboni as
_Arsace_ thronged the vast theatre to the very doors, and produced
a great excitement on the opening night. The subject of our sketch
remained faithful to this theatre to the very last, and was on its
boards when she took her farewell of the English public. The change
broke up the celebrated quartet. It struggled on in the shape of a trio
for some time without Lablache, and was finally diminished to Grisi and
Mario, who continued to sing the _duo concertante_ in "Don Pasquale," as
none others could. They were still the "rose and nightingale" whom Heine
immortalizes in his "Lutetia," "the rose the nightingale among flowers,
the nightingale the rose among birds." That airy dilettante, N. P.
Willis, in his "Pencilings by the Way," passes Grisi by with faint
praise, but the ardent admiration of Heine could well compensate her
wounded vanity, if, indeed, she felt the blunt arrow-point of the
American traveler.

A visit to St. Petersburg in 1851, in company with Mario, was the
occasion of a vast amount of enthusiasm among the music-loving Russians.
During her performance in "Lucrezia Borgia," on her benefit night, she
was recalled twenty times, and presented by the Czar with a magnificent
Cashmere shawl worth four thousand rubles, a tiara of diamonds and
pearls, and a ring of great value. From the year 1834, when she first
appeared in London, till 1861, when she finally retired, Grisi missed
but one season in London, and but three in Paris. Her splendid physique
enabled her to endure the exhaustive wear and friction of an operatic
life with but little deterioration of her powers. When she made her
artistic tour through the United States with Mario in 1854, her voice
had perhaps begun to show some slight indication of decadence, but her
powers were of still mature and mellow splendor. Prior to crossing the
ocean a series of "farewell performances" was given. The operas in which
she appeared included "Norma," "Lucrezia Borgia," "Don Pasquale," "Gli
Ugonotti," "La Favorita." The first was "Norma," Mme. Grisi performing
_Norma_; Mlle. Maria, _Adalgiza_; Tamberlik, _Poll