conceive of the piano being too high; I had the carpenter in with his
saw, and made him take six inches off each leg in my presence!"

When she made her engagement for the second season, M. Vallebrogue
demanded such exorbitant terms that the manager tore his hair with
vexation, saying that such a salary to one singer would actually disable
him from employing any other artists of talent. "Talent!" repeated the
husband; "have you not Mme. Cata-lani? What would you have? If you
want an opera company, my wife with four or five puppets is quite
sufficient." So, during the season of 1808, Catalani actually was
the whole company, the other performers being literally puppets. She
appeared chiefly in operas composed expressly for her, in which the part
for the prima donna was carefully adapted to the display of her
various powers. In "Semiramide" particularly she made an extraordinary
impression, as it afforded room for the finest tragic action; and
the music, trivial as it was, gave full scope for the extraordinary
perfection of her voice. She also appeared in comic operas, and in
Paesiello's "La Frascatana" particularly delighted the public by the
graceful lightness and gayety of her comedy. But in them as in tragedies
she stood alone and furnished the sole attraction. Her astonishing
dexterity seemed rather the result of the natural aptitude of genius
than of study and labor, and her most brilliant ornaments more the
fanciful improvisations of the moment than the roulades of the composer.
Of her elocution in singing it is said: "She was articulate, forcible,
and powerful; occasionally light, pleasing, and playful, but never
awfully grand or tenderly touching to the degree that the art may be
carried." Her marvelous strains seemed to distant auditors poured forth
with the fluent ease of a bird; but those who were near saw that her
efforts were so great as to "call into full and violent action the
muscular powers of the head, throat, and chest." In the execution of