the new servant, and at last finds himself violently in love.  He snatches a rose from her bosom, and refuses to return it unless she will consent to sing.  She replies with the familiar ballad, “’Tis the last Rose of Summer,” which Flotow has interpolated in this scene, and in the performance of which he makes a charming effect by introducing the tenor in the close.  Her singing only makes him the more desperately enamoured, and he asks her to be his wife on the spot, only to find himself the victim of Martha’s sport, although his devotion and sincerity have made a deep impression upon her.  Plunkett and Nancy at last return, and another charming quartet follows ("Midnight sounds"), better known as the “Good Night Quartet.”  The two brothers retire, but Martha and Nancy, aided by Tristan, who has followed them and discovered their whereabouts, make good their escape.  The next scene opens in the woods, where several farmers are drinking and carousing, among them Plunkett, who sings a rollicking drinking-song ("I want to ask you").  Their sport is interrupted by a hunting-party, composed of the Queen and her court ladies.  Plunkett and Lionel recognize their fugitive servants among them, though the ladies disclaim all knowledge of them.  Plunkett attempts to seize Nancy, but the huntresses attack him and chase him away, leaving Lionel and Lady Henrietta together again.  The scene contains two of the most beautiful numbers in the opera,—­the tenor solo, “Like a Dream bright and fair” ("M’ appari” in the Italian version), and a romance for soprano ("Here in deepest forest Shadows"); and the act closes with a beautiful concerted finale, quintet and chorus, which is worked up with great power.  In this finale the despairing Lionel bethinks him of his ring.  He gives it to Plunkett, desiring him to present it to the Queen.  By means of the jewel it is discovered that he is the only son of the late Earl of Derby, and she orders his estates, of which he has been unjustly deprived, to be restored to him.

The last act is not important in a musical sense, for the climax is attained in the previous finale.  The dramatic denouement is soon reached, and the Lady Henrietta, who has for some time been seriously in love with Lionel, is at last united to him; and it is almost needless to add that the fortunes of Plunkett and Nancy are also joined.  The charm of “Martha” is its liveliness in action and tunefulness in music.  Though not a great opera from a musical point of view, it is one of the most popular in the modern repertory, and though few others have been performed so many times, it still retains that popularity.  Its melodies, though sung in every country of the civilized world by amateurs and professional artists, have not yet lost their charms.

STRADELLA.