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FAMOUS
SINGERS
LAHEE
[Illustration: _Calve as Santuzza_.]
Famous Singers of To-day
and Yesterday
By
Henry C. Lahee
_ILLUSTRATED_
[Illustration: logo]
Boston
L. C. Page and Company
(Incorporated)
1898
_Copyright, 1898_
BY L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)
Colonial Press:
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, U. S. A.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE vii
I. FROM 1600 TO 1800 A.D. 11
II. PASTA TO MARIO 41
III. MARIO TO TIETIENS 77
IV. PRIMA DONNAS OF THE FIFTIES 110
V. PRIMA DONNAS OF THE SIXTIES 143
VI. PRIMA DONNAS OF THE SEVENTIES 186
VII. PRIMA DONNAS OF THE EIGHTIES 220
VIII. TENORS AND BARITONES 260
IX. CONTRALTOS AND BASSOS 296
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF FAMOUS SINGERS 325
INDEX 333
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
CALVE AS SANTUZZA _Frontispiece_
JENNY LIND 84
JEAN DE RESZKE AS ROMEO 98
ADELINA PATTI 128
NILSSON AS VALENTINE 162
LILLIAN NORDICA 220
MELBA AS OPHELIA 244
EMMA EAMES 258
EDOUARD DE RESZKE AS MEPHISTOPHELES 272
ALVARY IN RIGOLETTO 280
SOFIA SCALCHI 300
PLANCON AS RAMFIS IN AIDA 318
PREFACE.
It has been the desire of the author to give, in a book of modest
dimensions, as complete a record as possible of the "Famous Singers"
from the establishment of Italian Opera down to the present day. The
majority are opera singers, but in a few cases oratorio and concert
singers of exceptional celebrity have been mentioned also.
To give complete biographical sketches of all singers of renown would
require a work of several large volumes, and all that can be attempted
here is to give a mere "bird's-eye view" of those whose names exist as
singers of international repute.
For much information concerning the earlier celebrities the author is
indebted to Clayton's "Queens of Song," "Great Singers" by Ferris, and
"The Prima Donna" by Sutherland Edwards, in which interesting volumes
much will be found at length which is greatly condensed in this little
volume. To Maurice Strakosch's "Souvenirs d'un Impresario," and to
"Mapleson's Memoirs," the writer owes something also in the way of
anecdote and fact concerning many singers of the latter half of this
century.
As it is impossible to give biographical sketches of more than a
comparatively small number of singers who have achieved renown, the work
is supplemented by a chronological table which is more comprehensive. No
such table can, however, be perfect. For singers of the past the
following authorities have been used: "Grove's Dictionary of Music and
Musicians," C. Egerton Lowe's "Chronological Cyclopaedia of Musicians
and Musical Events," James D. Brown's "Biographical Dictionary of
Musicians," and "A Hundred Years of Music in America."
Concerning singers of later times, who have risen to fame since those
works were compiled, such items have been used as could be found in the
newspapers and magazines of their day, and the information is of
necessity imperfect. It is nevertheless hoped that the table may be of
some use as carrying the history of famous singers some years beyond
anything hitherto published in book form, and it has been the desire of
the author to make the book interesting alike to student and amateur.
FAMOUS SINGERS OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY.
CHAPTER I.
FROM 1600 TO 1800 A. D.
The year 1600 marked the beginning of a new era in musical history, for
in that year the first public performance of regular opera took place in
Florence, when the "Eurydice" of Rinuccini and Peri was given in honor
of the wedding of Marie de' Medici and Henry IV. of France. The growth
and ever-increasing popularity of the opera, the development of
civilization, the increase of wealth and the population of new
countries, have led not only to the highest cultivation of the human
voice, wherein music exerts its greatest power of fascination, but have
brought forward hundreds of competitors for the artistic laurels which
are the reward of those who reach the highest state of musical
perfection.
For nearly a century opera was confined to the continent of Europe, but
in 1691 Margarita de L'Epine, a native of Tuscany, appeared in London.
She was remarkable for her plainness of speech and of features, her
rough manners and swarthy appearance, and she must indeed have been
possessed of a fine voice to have been able to retain her hold on public
favor. In 1692 she announced her last appearance, but it was so
successful that she kept on giving last appearances and did not leave
England for several years, thus inaugurating a custom which is observed
to the present day. Margarita married the celebrated Doctor Pepusch.
Contemporary with her was Katharine Tofts, an English woman, for an
account of whom we are indebted to Colley Cibber, the great critic and
playwright. She was a very beautiful woman with an exquisitely clear,
sweet voice. Her career was short, for, after having achieved a
tremendous success in one of her parts, she became demented, and, though
eventually cured, she never returned to the stage. There was a lively
rivalry between the two singers, which furnished gossip for the town.
Anastasia Robinson, mild and pleasing in manners, with great sweetness
of expression and large blue eyes, was engaged to sing by George
Frederick Haendel, who at that time was the impresario of the London
opera. Other singers he engaged in Dresden, of whom Margherita
Durastanti was the soprano. Large, coarse, and masculine, she is said to
have been distinguished as much for the high respectability of her
character as for her musical talent. Senesino was considered the
leading tenor singer of his day. He was a man of imposing figure and
majestic carriage, with a clear, powerful, equal, and fluent voice. The
basso was Boschi, who was chiefly remarkable for a voice of immense
volume and a very vigorous style of acting.
Anastasia Robinson was eclipsed, after a career of twelve years, by
Francesca Cuzzoni, and married the Earl of Peterborough. She left a
reputation for integrity and goodness seldom enjoyed by even the highest
celebrities. Cuzzoni made an immediate and immense success, and Haendel
took great pains to compose airs adapted to display her exquisite voice.
She, in return, treated him with insolence and caprice, so that he
looked about for another singer. His choice fell upon Faustina Bordoni,
a Venetian lady who had risen to fame in Italy. She was elegant in
figure, agreeable in manners, and had a handsome face. Cuzzoni, on the
other hand, was ill made and homely, and her temper was turbulent and
obstinate. A bitter rivalry at once sprang up, Haendel fanning the flame
by composing for Bordoni as diligently as he had previously done for
Cuzzoni.
The public was soon divided, and the rivalry was carried to an absurd
point. At length the singers actually came to blows, and so fierce was
the conflict that the bystanders were unable to separate them until each
combatant bore substantial marks of the other's esteem. Cuzzoni was then
dispensed with, and went to Vienna. She was reckless and extravagant,
and was at several times imprisoned for debt, finally dying in frightful
indigence after subsisting by button making,--a sad termination of a
brilliant career. Bordoni led a prosperous life, married Adolfo Hasse,
the director of the orchestra in Dresden, sang before Frederick the
Great, and passed a comfortable old age. Both she and her husband died
in 1783, she at the age of eighty-three and he at eighty-four.
Other singers of this period were Lavinia Fenton, who became the Duchess
of Bolton, and who is chiefly remarkable for having been the original
Polly in Gay's "Beggar's Opera;" Marthe le Rochois, who sang many of
Lulli's operas,--a woman of ordinary appearance but wonderful magnetism;
Madame La Maupin, one of the wildest, most adventurous and reckless
women ever on the stage; and Caterina Mingotti, a faultless singer, of
respectable habits. Mingotti was seized with the fatal ambition to
manage opera, and soon reached the verge of bankruptcy. She contrived,
however, to earn enough by singing during the succeeding five years to
support her respectably in her old age.
To this period also belongs Farinelli, or Broschi, who was the greatest
tenor of his age, perhaps the greatest who ever lived, for we are told
that there was no branch of his art which he did not carry to the
highest pitch of perfection. His career of three years in London was a
continuous triumph, and he is said to have made L5,000 each year,--a
very large sum in those days. His singing also restored to health Philip
V. of Spain, who was a prey to depression, and neglected all the affairs
of his kingdom. At the court of Spain his influence became immense until
Charles III. ascended the throne, when Farinelli quitted Spain, "at the
royal suggestion," and retired to Bologna.
Of the long list of men who have distinguished themselves as singers in
opera, it is curious to note that almost, if not quite, the first were a
Mario and a Nicolini, names which are familiar to us as belonging to
well-known tenors of this (nineteenth) century. Of Mario but little is
recorded; but Nicolini, whose full name was Nicolino Grimaldi Nicolini,
and who was born in 1673, is known to have sung at Rome in 1694. He
remained on the stage until 1726, but the date of his death is unknown.
Nicolini sang in England in 1708, and at several subsequent times, and
was well received. Addison wrote of him, concerning his acting, that "he
gave new majesty to kings, resolution to heroes, and softness to
lovers."
Caterina Gabrielli was the daughter of a cook of the celebrated Cardinal
Gabrielli, and was born at Rome, November 12, 1730. She possessed an
unusual share of beauty, a fine voice, and an accurate ear. She made her
first appearance when seventeen years old at the theatre of Lucca, in
Galuppi's opera, "Sofonisba." She was intelligent and witty, full of
liveliness and grace, and an excellent actress. Her voice, though not
powerful, was of exquisite quality and wonderful extent, its compass
being nearly two octaves and a half, and perfectly equable throughout,
while her facility of vocalization was extraordinary. Her fame was
immediately established, and soon she had all mankind at her feet; but
she proved to be coquettish, deceitful, and extravagant. No matter with
whom she came in contact, she compelled them to give way to her whims.
On one occasion she refused to sing for the viceroy of Sicily, and was
therefore committed to prison for twelve days, where she gave costly
entertainments, paid the debts of her fellow prisoners, and distributed
large sums amongst the indigent. Besides this, she sang all her best
songs in her finest style every day, until the term of her imprisonment
expired, when she came forth amid the shouts of the grateful poor whom
she had benefited while in jail. Despite her extravagance Gabrielli had
a good heart. She gave largely in charity, and never forgot her parents.
Having by degrees lost both voice and beauty, Gabrielli retired finally
to Bologna in 1780, and died there in April, 1796, at the age of
sixty-six.
In the room in Paris in which the unfortunate Admiral Coligny had been
murdered, was born on February 14, 1744, the beautiful, witty, but
dissipated Sophie Arnould. At the age of twelve her voice, which was
remarkable for power and purity, attracted the attention of the Princess
de Modena, through whose influence she was engaged to sing in the king's
chapel. In 1757 she made her first appearance in opera, when her beauty
and her acting enabled her to carry everything before her.
The opera was besieged whenever her name was announced, and all the
gentlemen of Paris contested for the honor of throwing bouquets at her
feet. At length she eloped with Count Lauraguais, a handsome, dashing
young fellow, full of wit and daring. Her home resembled a little court,
of which she was the reigning sovereign, and her salon was always
crowded by men of the highest distinction. When Benjamin Franklin
arrived in Paris, he confessed that nowhere did he find such pleasure,
such wit, such brilliancy, as in the salon of Mlle. Arnould. She
remained faithful to her lover for four years, when he bestowed on her a
life-pension of 2,000 crowns. While she never spared any one in the
exercise of her wit, she was occasionally the subject of ridicule
herself, as, for instance, when the Abbe Galiani was asked his opinion
of her singing, and replied, "It is the finest asthma I ever heard."
Sophie Arnould appeared in several of Gluck's operas, and acquitted
herself to the satisfaction of the composer. Her voice had not
apparently fulfilled early expectations, but her beauty and her acting
made her a success. When Voltaire one day said to her, "Ah,
mademoiselle, I am eighty-four years old, and I have committed
eighty-four follies," she replied, "A mere trifle; I am not yet forty,
and I have committed more than a thousand."
In 1792 she purchased the presbytere of Clignancourt, Luzarches
(Seine-et-Oise). She had a fortune of 30,000 livres and innumerable
friends, but in less than two years she had lost her fortune, and her
friends being dispersed by exile, imprisonment, and the scaffold during
the Revolution, she was reduced to the lowest stage of poverty. She went
to Paris and sought an interview with Fouche, now a great man, who had
been one of her most ardent admirers. He awarded her a pension of 2,400
livres, and ordered that apartments should be given her in the Hotel
d'Angevilliers. In 1803 she died in obscurity.
Among the celebrated male singers of this period were Gasparo
Pacchierotti, and Giovanni Battista Rubinelli. The former of these was
considered to have been the finest singer of the latter part of the
eighteenth century. Endowed with a vivid imagination, uncommon
intelligence, and profound sensibility, a tall and lean figure, a voice
which was often uncertain and nasal, he required much determination and
strength of character to overcome the defects and take advantage of the
good qualities which nature had bestowed upon him. Yet he is described
by Lord Mt. Edgecumbe as "decidedly the most perfect singer it ever fell
to his lot to hear."
Rubinelli, on the other hand, from his fullness of voice and simplicity
of style pleased a greater number than Pacchierotti, though none perhaps
so exquisitely as that singer. Rubinelli's articulation was so pure and
well accented that in his recitatives no one conversant with the Italian
language ever had occasion to look at a libretto while he was singing.
His style was true cantabile, in which he was unexcelled.
Upon the retirement of Sophie Arnould a new star appeared in the person
of Antoinette Cecile Clavel St. Huberty, the daughter of a brave old
soldier who was also a musician. Her first appearances in opera were
made in Warsaw, where her father, M. Clavel, was engaged as repetitor to
a French company. From Warsaw she went to Berlin, where she married a
certain Chevalier de Croisy, after which she sang for three years at
Strasbourg. At last she went to Paris, where she appeared in 1777 in
Gluck's "Armida." Madame St. Huberty did not rush meteor-like into
public favor. Her success was gained after years of patient labor,
during which she endured bitter poverty, and sang only minor parts. In
person she was small, thin, and fair; her features were not finely
formed, and her mouth was of unusual size, but her countenance was
expressive. In 1783 she reached the summit of her success, when she
appeared in the title role of Piccini's opera, "Dodon." Louis XVI., who
did not much care for opera, had it performed twice, and was so much
pleased that he granted Madame St. Huberty a pension of 1,500 livres, to
which he added one of five hundred more from his privy purse. Concerning
her performance of this part we are told by Grimm, "Never has there been
united acting more captivating, a sensibility more perfect, singing more
exquisite, happier byplay, and more noble abandon."
In 1790 Madame St. Huberty retired from the operatic stage and married
Count d'Entraigues. After a political career in Spain and Russia, during
which the count and his wife passed through some trying vicissitudes,
they settled in England, but on the 22d of July, 1812, both the count
and countess were assassinated by a servant, who had been bribed by an
agent of Fouche to obtain certain papers in their possession.
Gertrude Elizabeth Mara was the daughter of Johann Schmaling, a
respectable musician of Hesse Cassel. Her mother died shortly after her
birth in 1749, but her father out of his limited means gave her the best
education he could. As she was considered a prodigy her father took her
from town to town till they reached Holland, where, after performing for
some time, they went to England. Thence, after earning some money by
giving concerts, they travelled to Germany, arriving at Leipzig in 1766,
where the young singer obtained an engagement at the theatre as first
singer, at a salary of six hundred dollars. From this time she continued
to prosper, and she quite captivated that opinionated monarch, Frederick
the Great.
In 1773 she fell in love with, and married, a handsome violoncellist
named Jean Mara. He was a showy, extravagant man, and fell into
dissipated habits, but through all Madame Mara was devoted to him.
Her personal appearance was far from striking. She was short and
insignificant, with an agreeable, good-natured countenance. Her manner,
however, was prepossessing, though she was an indifferent actress. But
her voice atoned for everything. Its compass was from G to E in
altissimo, which she ran with the greatest ease and force, the tones
being at once powerful and sweet. Her success she owed to her untiring
industry. Nothing taxed her powers, her execution was easy and neat, her
shake was true, open, and liquid, and though she preferred brilliant
pieces, her refined taste was well known.
In England she gathered many laurels, as well as in Germany and other
countries which she visited, but she came into collision with the
authorities at Oxford, on account of her ignorance of the English
language and of Oxford customs.
On leaving England she sang at a farewell concert which netted seven
hundred pounds, and her rival, Mrs. Billington, generously gave her
services. Madame Mara passed the last years of her life at Revel, where
she died, January, 1833, at the age of eighty-five. On the celebration
of her eighty-third birthday she was offered a poetical tribute by no
less a person than Goethe.
Of Madame Mara's contemporary male singers Luigi Marchesi is entitled to
mention, for he had, within three years of his debut, the reputation of
being the best singer in Italy. He visited all Europe, even penetrating
to St. Petersburg, in company with Sarti and Todi. Besides his wonderful
vocal powers, which enabled him to execute the most marvellous
embellishments, he was noted for great beauty of person, and for the
grace and propriety of his gestures.
Crescentini, too, who was considered the last great singer of his
school, sang at all the chief cities of Europe, and was given by
Napoleon the Iron Cross, an honor which aroused many jealousies.
"Nothing could exceed," says Fetis, "the suavity of his tones, the force
of his expression, the perfect taste of his ornaments, or the large
style of his phrasing." For several years after his retirement he was a
professor at the Royal College of Music at Naples.
Mrs. Elizabeth Billington was considered to be the finest singer ever
born in England. Her father was a member of the Italian Opera orchestra
named Weichsel, and her mother, a pupil of John Christian Bach, was a
leading vocalist at Vauxhall, whose voice was noted for a certain
reediness of tone, caused, it is said, by her having practised with the
oboe,--her husband's instrument.
Elizabeth Weichsel was born in 1770, and began to compose pieces for the
pianoforte when eleven years of age. At fourteen, she appeared at a
concert at Oxford. She continued her study of the piano under Thomas
Billington, one of the band of Drury Lane, to whom she was married in
1785, in opposition to the wishes of her parents. They were very poor,
and went to Dublin to seek engagements, and here Mrs. Billington
appeared at a theatre in Smock Alley, singing with the celebrated
Tenduccini. Her early efforts were not crowned with the greatest
success, but she did better at Waterford, and later on, when she
returned to London, she was still more successful.
Her voice was a pure soprano, sweet rather than powerful, of
extraordinary extent and quality in its upper notes, in which it had
somewhat the tone color of a flute or flageolet. In her manner she was
peculiarly bewitching. Her face and figure were beautiful, and her
countenance full of good humor, but she had comparatively little talent
as an actress. In 1786 she first appeared at Covent Garden, in the
presence of the king and queen, and her success was beyond her most
sanguine anticipations. She sang in a resplendently brilliant style,
and brilliancy was an innovation in English singing.
Mrs. Billington one day received a great compliment from Haydn, the
composer. Reynolds, the painter, was finishing her portrait, and Haydn,
on seeing it, said: "You have made a mistake. You have represented Mrs.
Billington listening to the angels; you should have made the angels
listening to her."
In 1796, while in Italy, Mr. Billington died in a sudden and mysterious
manner. Soon afterwards his widow went to Milan, where she fell in love
with a Frenchman, the son of a banker in Lyons, named Felican. He was a
remarkably handsome man, but no sooner were they married (in 1799) than
he commenced to treat her most brutally, and eventually she was obliged
to run away from him. She returned to London under the care of her
brother.
On reaching London, a lively competition for her services began between
Harris and Sheridan, the theatrical managers. She gave the preference to
Harris, and received L3,000 to sing three times a week, also a free
benefit was ensured at L500, and a place for her brother as leader of
the band. Eventually, however, the dispute was ended by arbitration, and
it was decided that she should sing alternately at each house. At the
height of her popularity Mrs. Billington is said to have averaged an
income of L14,000 a year.
She retired from the stage on March 30, 1806, on which occasion she was
the first to introduce Mozart's music into England, giving the opera,
"Clemenza di Tito," of which there was only one manuscript copy in
England. That belonged to the Prince of Wales, who lent it for the
occasion. After a separation of fifteen years, Mrs. Billington was
reunited to her second husband, but he at once resumed his brutal
treatment, and her death, in 1818, was caused by a blow from his hand.
One of the most popular and charming singers at La Scala, in the
Carnival of 1794, was Giuseppa Grassini, the daughter of a farmer of
Varese in Lombardy, where she was born in 1775. She received decided
advantages by making her debut with some of the greatest artists of her
time,--Marchesi, Crescentini, and Lazzarini.
Grassini was an exquisite vocalist in spite of her ignorance, and albeit
fickle and capricious, a most beautiful and fascinating
woman,--luxurious, prodigal, and generous, but heavy and dull in
conversation. Her voice was originally a soprano, but changed to a deep
contralto. It was rich, round, and full, though of limited compass,
being confined within about one octave of good natural notes. Her style
was rich and finished, and though she had not much execution, what she
did was elegant and perfect. She never attempted anything beyond her
powers, her dramatic instincts were always true, and in the expression
of the subdued and softer passions she has never been excelled. Her
figure was tall and commanding, and her carriage and attitudes had a
classic beauty combined with a grace peculiarly her own. Her head was
noble, her features were symmetrical, her hair and eyes of the deepest
black, and her entire appearance had an air of singular majesty.
Napoleon invited her to Paris, where she soon became an object of
inveterate dislike to the Empress Josephine. In 1804, returning to Paris
after a visit to Berlin, Napoleon made her directress of the Opera. In
the same year she visited London, singing alternately with Mrs.
Billington. In London she did not make a great success, and when her
benefit took place she asked the good-natured Mrs. Billington to sing,
fearing that she would not succeed alone. In succeeding seasons,
however, Grassini grew in public favor, and on reappearing in England,
in 1812, she was rapturously received, but her powers were now on the
wane, and at the end of the season she departed unregretted. For some
years longer she sang in Italy, Holland, and Austria, retiring about
1823.
She married Colonel Ragani, afterwards director of the Opera in Paris,
and resided for many years in that city. She died in Milan in 1850, at
the mature age of eighty-five.
Charles Benjamin Incledon and John Braham were two English singers of
renown who came into prominence about the same time. Incledon began as a
choir boy in Exeter Cathedral, after which he went into the navy, where
his voice developed into a fine tenor. Leaving the sea, he studied
singing, and soon became popular. His natural voice was full and open,
and was sent forth without the slightest artifice, and when he sang
pianissimo his voice retained its original quality. His style of
singing was bold and manly, mixed with considerable feeling, and he
excelled in ballads. In 1817 he visited America, where he was well
received.
The career of John Braham is of interest to all who love the traditions
of English music. In his early days he was so poor that he was obliged
to sell pencils for a living, but his musical talent being discovered by
Leoni, a teacher of repute, who took him under his tutelage, he appeared
at the age of thirteen at Covent Garden. At the age of about twenty he
was fitted for the Italian stage, and at once made his mark. Even
Crescentini, who was placed in the background, acknowledged Braham's
talent, and when he sang in Italy his name was freely quoted as being
one of the greatest living singers. As he grew older he attained a
prodigious reputation, never before equalled in England, and whether
singing a simple ballad, in oratorio, or in the grandest dramatic
music, the largeness and nobility of his style were matched by a voice
which in its prime was almost peerless. Braham amassed a large fortune,
and then aspired to be a manager, an experiment which quickly reduced
him to poverty. In 1840 he visited America, and made a grand operatic
and concert tour. In private life he was much admired, and was always
found in the most conservative and fastidious circles, where as a man of
culture, a humorist, and a raconteur, he was the life of society.
Braham was frequently associated in opera with Madame Angelica Catalani,
the last of the great singers who came before the public in the
eighteenth century. She was a woman of tall and majestic presence, a
dazzling complexion, large, beautiful blue eyes, and features of ideal
symmetry,--a woman to entrance the eye as well as the ear. Her voice was
a soprano of the purest quality, embracing a compass of nearly three
octaves, and so powerful that no band could overwhelm its tones. The
greatest defect of her singing was that, while the ear was bewildered
with the beauty and tremendous power of her voice, the feelings were
untouched,--she never appealed to the heart. She could not thrill like
Mara, nor captivate her hearers by a birdlike softness and brilliancy,
like Billington. She simply astonished her audiences.
Her private life was as exemplary as her public career was dazzling. She
was married, after a most romantic courtship, to a M. de Vallebregue, a
French captain of Hussars, who turned out to be an ignorant, stupid man,
but a driver of hard bargains for his wife's talents. His musical
knowledge is illustrated by an anecdote to the effect that on one
occasion, when his wife complained at a rehearsal that the piano was too
high, he had the defect remedied by sending for a carpenter and making
him cut off six inches from the legs of the instrument. In spite of the
reputation for avarice which her husband helped to create, Madame
Catalani won golden opinions by her sweet temper, liberality, and
benevolence.
Towards the end of her career Catalani drew down on her head the
severest reprobation of all good judges by singing the most extravagant
and bizarre show pieces, such as variations, composed for the violin, on
"Rule Britannia," "God Save the King," etc. The public in general,
however, listened to her wonderful execution with unbounded delight and
astonishment.
In 1831 Madame Catalani retired from the stage. Young and brilliant
rivals, such as Pasta and Sontag, were rising to contest her
sovereignty, and for several years the critics had been dropping pretty
plain hints that it would be the most judicious and dignified course.
She settled with her family on an estate near Lake Como; but in 1848
she went to Paris to escape the cholera, which was then raging, and in a
few months, notwithstanding her precaution, she fell a victim to that
dread disease.