ANGELICA CATALANI.

The Girlhood of Catalani.--She makes her _Début_ in
Florence.--Description of her Marvelous Vocalism.--The Romance of Love
and Marriage.--Her Preference for the Concert Stage.--She meets Napoleon
in Paris.--Her Escape from France and Appearance in London.--Opinions
of Lord Mount Edgcumbe and other Critics.--Anecdotes of herself and
Husband.--The Great Prima Donna's Character.--Her Gradual Divergence
from Good Taste in singing.--_Bon Mots_ of the Wits of the Day.--The
Opera-house Riot.--Her Husband's Avarice.--Grand Concert Tour through
Europe.--She meets Goethe.--Her Return to England and Brilliant
Reception.--She sings with the Tenor Braham.--John Braham' s Artistic
Career.--The Davides.--Catalani's Last English Appearance, and the
Opinions of Critics.--Her Retirement and Death.


About the year 1790 the convent of Santa Lucia at Gubbio, in the duchy
of Urbino, was the subject of a queer kind of scandal. Complaint was
made to the bishop that one of the novices sang with such extraordinary
brilliancy and beauty of voice that throngs gathered to the chapel from
miles around, and that the religious services were transformed into a
sort of theatrical entertainment» so entranced were all hearers by the
charm of the singing, and so forgetful of the religious purport of these
occasions in the fascination of the music. His Reverence ordered the
lady abbess to abate the scandal; so the young Angelica Catalani was
no longer permitted to sing alone, but only in concert with the other