more curious plot, at the
Ambigu-Comique."[28] One thing is certain, that "L'Africaine" was
discarded, if ever it was offered, and would never have been thought of
again but for Meyerbeer's intense and frankly acknowledged admiration of
Felicien David's genius.

[Footnote 28: I have taken some pains to unearth this play. It
was called "Amazampo; or, The Discovery of Quinine." The scene
was laid in Peru in 1636. Amazampo, the chief of a Peruvian
tribe, is in love with Maida, who on her part is in love with
Ferdinand, the son of the viceroy. Amazampo is heart-broken,
and is stricken down with fever. In his despair and partial
delirium he tries to poison himself, and drinks the water of a
pool in which several trunks of a tree called _kina_, reported
poisonous, have been lying for years. He feels the effect
almost immediately, but not the effect he expected. He
recovers, and takes advantage of his recovered health to forget
his love passion, and to be avenged upon the oppressors of his
country, many of whom are dying with fever. Lima becomes a huge
cemetery. Then the wife of the viceroy is stricken down. Maida
wishes to save her, but is forestalled by Amazampo, who compels
Dona Theodora to drink the liquor, and so forth. But Amazampo
and Maida die.--EDITOR.]

To return for a moment to Felicien David, whose melancholy vanished as
if by magic when he related his wanderings in the East. I do not mean
the poetical side of them, which inspired him with his great
compositions, but the ludicrous one. I do not remember the dress of the
Saint-Simoniens, I was too young at the time to have noticed it, but am
told it consisted of a blue tunic and trousers to match, a scarlet
jersey, which buttoned at the back, and could not be undone except with
the aid of some one else. It was meant to symbolize mutual dependence
upon one another. "As far as Marseilles everything went comparatively
well," said David; "we lived by giving concerts, and though the receipts
were by no means magnificent, they kept the wolf from the door. Our
troubles began at Constantinople. Whether they did not like our music,
or ourselves, or our dresses, I have never been able to make out, but we
were soon denounced to the authorities, and marched off to prison,
though our incarceration did not last more than a coup