alarm. When it did arrive, and as I ought to have sung the ominous
words and pointed the pistol at the Governor, I fell into such an utter
tremor at the thought of not being perfect in my character, that my
whole frame trembled, and I thought I should have fallen. Now only fancy
how I felt when the whole house broke forth with enthusiastic shouts of
applause, and what I thought when, after the curtain fell, I was
told that this moment was the most effective and powerful of my whole
representation! So, that which I could not attain with every effort
of mind and imagination, was produced at this decisive moment by my
unaffected terror and anxiety. This result and the effect it had upon
the public taught me how to seize and comprehend the incident, so,
that which at the first representation I had hit upon unconsciously, I
adopted in full consciousness ever afterward in this part."

Not even Malibran could equal her in the impersonation of this
character. Never was dramatic performance more completely, more
intensely affecting, more deeply pathetic, truthful, tender, and
powerful.

Some critics regarded her as far more of the tragedian than the singer.
"Her voice, since I have known it," observes Mr. Chorley, in his "Modern
German Music," "was capable of conveying poignant or tender expression,
but it was harsh and torn--not so inflexible as incorrect. Mme.
Schröder-Devrient resolved to be _par excellence_ 'the German dramatic
singer.' Earnest and intense as was her assumption of the parts she
attempted, her desire of presenting herself first was little less
vehement: there is no possibility of an opera being performed by a
company, each of whom should be as resolute as she was never to rest,
never for an instant to allow the spectator to forget his presence.
She cared not whether she broke the flow of the composition by some cry