one hundred and sixty-eight performances. The last of these occurred at the French Theatre, in New York, on the night of the 17th of May, 1867, when she took a farewell benefit, appearing as Medea. Her first speech in English was made on this occasion, when, at the end of the performance, she came forward, in response to the call of the audience, and spoke the following words:

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, This is the first moment of profound sorrow I have known in this country. To bid adieu to New York, the birthplace of my success, to say farewell to the United States, that have everywhere received me with open arms,-awakens emotions too deep for any words my poor tongue can utter. My visit to America is the grand event of my life; — grand in its temerity, grander yet in its triumphs. Your enthusiasm, your munificence, your goodness, I shall remember long and gratefully; remember till memory decays and my heart ceases to throb. Adieu!"

On the following day Ristori sailed for Europe; but in the autumn of 1867 she returned to New York, and commenced, on the 18th of September, her second, and last, American engagement. This was signalized by the production, on the 7th of October, of a new drama, then acted for the first time, Signor Giacommetti's "Marie Antoinette." The play is so constructed that it depicts the queen at various chief periods in her career. Its action commences in 1786, and terminates in 1793. Comedy and tragedy blend in it, and exact from the actress the utmost versatility and the deepest emotion. Ristori amply satisfied the demand. By all who saw the personation, her Marie Antoinette will ever be remembered as a stately image of majesty and sorrow. In the drama, as in history, Marie Antoinette is seen to have been subjected to bitter injustice and insult: ruthlessly separated from her hus

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band; harrowed by the knowledge of his death upon the guillotine; torn from her children; plunged into the deeps of agony and despair; and, finally, led forth to die amid the jeers of the brutal, infernal mob of the French revolution. Her experience, indeed, was the epitome of all miscries; but, over all miseries her indomitable constancy remained the victor. Ristori realized this ideal of suffering and fortitude. Her Marie Antoinette was a beautiful, brilliant woman, a loving wife, a fond mother, a proud-spirited queen, a profound sufferer, an exalted conqueror of all the ills of a most wretched fate. In two of the scenes, the pathos of her acting was such as no words can express. One scene, at the end of the fourth act, represented the parting betwixt Louis XVI. and his wife and children. Overcome by his emotions, the king, who knows himself condemned to die, rushes away into his oratory, and closes and fastens the door behind him. queen and children pursue him: and then it was that Ristori, bursting into a delirium, beat upon the door with both her hands, and cried out upon his name, "Ah! Luigi, una parola una sola!" and wrung every heart with grief and pity. The other scene represented the wife and children, kneeling in prayer for the husband and father, at that moment on his way to the guillotine. The roll of drums and the wail of the dead-march sounds in their ears, even while they pray, but continually grows fainter and fainter until it dies away in the distance. Ristori's face was a perfect picture of convulsive agony. A stupendous sorrow struggled in it with a vain, despairing effort at resignation. These scenes always produced an extraordinary effect upon the spectators. Historically accurate in every detail, and literally true to nature in every phase of emotion, Ristori's Marie Antoinette lives, indeed, in many memories, as the best of all her impersona tions. To have seen this piece of acting is to have apprehended every aspect of the French Revolution, — its horror,

its pathos, its hideous details, its retributive justice, and its full social significance.

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Ristori's second American engagement lasted nine months. Her last appearance in New York was made on the 26th of June, 1868, as Queen Elizabeth. The chief new part that she played during her final season was Isabella Suarez, in a five-act drama, of a religious character, entitled "Sor Teresa," the work of Signor Luigi Camoletti. The entire number of performances given during her second engagement was one hundred and eighty-one, of which fifty-six were given in the island of Cuba. Her prosperity in America was very great. Personally as well as professionally she made the most pleasing impression throughout this country. Away from the theatre," wrote one of her most earnest critics and devoted students, Kate Field, she is the most human (and humane), the most simple, the most unaffected, the most sympathetic of women. So strongly is the line drawn between reality and fiction, that, in Ristori's presence, it requires a mental effort to recall her histrionic greatness." That greatness, however, must forever survive in the history of the stage. Putting aside all differences of critical opinion, one thought is held in common by all who have watched her career and studied her achievements. That thought is, that she possesses a great intellect, a good heart, and a pure nature, and that she has exercised the best possible influence upon the drama. True to herself as well as to her profession, by her personal worth and private virtues she has attained a social station commensurate in eminence with that which her genius and aspiring energy have won for her in the world of art. The woman is as great as the actress; and the best minds and purest lives of our time have proudly and gladly recognized a fellowship with Adelaide Ristori.

II.

EUPHROSYNE PAREPA ROSA.

In the autumn of 1866 the musical public of America welcomed to these shores a richly-gifted and very remarkable musical artist,-Euphrosyne Parepa Rosa. At the beginning of her American career she awakened a lively interest. Her talents were seen to be extraordinary, and her temperament was recognized as uncommonly genial. Time has confirmed that first impression, and lively interest has deepened into an affectionate esteem. The story of the artist's life is brief and simple. She was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1839. Her father was a Wallachian nobleman, Baron Georgiades de Boyesku, of Bucharest. Her mother, Miss Seguin, was a sister to the once eminent basso of that name. Their married life lasted but a little while, being terminated by the sudden death of the Baron, whereby his widow, only twenty-one years of age at the time, was left in poverty. To support herself and her infant child, Euphrosyne, the bereaved Baroness shortly afterward adopted the lyric stage as a profession, and presently began the education of her daughter for the same pursuit. This proved a labor of ease as well as of love. In her musical studies the child made rapid progress; and she also acquired, with rare facility, five modern languages, - English, Italian, French, German, and Spanish. At the age of sixteen-in 1855she made her first public appearance in opera, in the city of Malta. Amina, in "Sonnambula,"-a customary rôle of operatic débutantes, - was the character she then assumed; and therein she made a marked and promising success. The unusual power and compass of her voice, and the felicitous method of her execution, speedily became themes of praise with European connoisseurs of music. At Naples, Genoa,

Rome, Florence, Madrid, and Lisbon, her first success was repeated and increased. So, for two years, she prospered, on the continent of Europe, receiving the applause of the people, the cordial favor of musical criticism, and the compliments and honorary gifts of nobles and of monarchs. In 1857 she made her début in London, in the same company with Ronconi, Gardoni, and Tagliafico, in "Il Puritani,” and thereafter took a high place in the favor of the British public. Her career in England lasted nine years; in the course of which period she became the wife of a British officer, whose death, however, left her in widowhood, at the end of sixteen months. The autumn of 1866, as has already been stated, found her in the United States. The company with which she came included the well-known cornet player, Levy, and the violinist, Carl Rosa, and was directed by Mr. H. L. Bateman. Her début here, September 11, was made in concert, in the city of New York; but she has since achieved honors in oratorio and opera, in most of

the principal cities of the Republic. In 1867 she became the wife of Carl Rosa, with whom she has happily lived and labored. Her rank in the musical world is high and honorable, and rests upon solid merits. Nature has endowed her with rich and remarkable gifts. Her voice, a pure soprano, is very powerful, is even in the register, and is thoroughly well balanced. Her method is entirely correct; and, in view of the great volume of her voice, her fineness of execution is unusual and surprising. Perfect in the technical part of music, and thoroughly acquainted with the nature and the scope of her own powers, she does every thing well that she undertakes, and she never undertakes a task that she is not fully able to perform. IIer intonation and enunciation are faultless. In oratorio and in the concert room she has no equal. On the stage, however, she somewhat lacks, in acting, the intensity of passionate emo