interruption by Gregory and retainers, whose appearance is rather absurd than otherwise.  The third act is constructed in two scenes.  The first is in the friar’s cell, where the secret marriage of the lovers takes place.  In the second, we are introduced to a new character, invented by the librettist,—­Stephano, Romeo’s page, whose pranks while in search of his master provoke a general quarrel, in which Mercutio is slain by Tybalt, who in turn is killed by Romeo.  When Capulet arrives upon the scene he condemns Romeo to banishment, who vows, however, that he will see Juliet again at all hazards.  The fourth act is also made up of two scenes.  The first is in Juliet’s chamber, and is devoted to a duet between the two lovers.  Romeo departs at dawn, and Capulet appears with Friar Laurence and announces his determination that the marriage with Paris shall be celebrated at once.  Juliet implores the Friar’s help, and he gives her the potion.  The next scene is devoted to the wedding festivity, in the midst of which Juliet falls insensible from the effects of the sleeping-draught.  The last act transpires in the tomb of the Capulets, where Romeo arrives, and believing his mistress dead takes poison.  Juliet, reviving from the effects of the potion, and finding him dying, stabs herself with a dagger, and expires in his arms.

While many numbers are greatly admired, the opera as a whole has never been successful.  Had not “Faust,” which it often recalls, preceded it, its fate might have been different.  Still, it contains many strong passages and much beautiful writing.  The favorite numbers are the waltz arietta, very much in the manner of the well-known “Il Bacio,” at the Capulet festival, the Queen Mab song, by Mercutio ("Mab, regina di menzogne"), and the duet between Romeo and Juliet ("Di grazia, t’ arresta ancor!"), in the first act; the love music in the balcony scene of the second act, which inevitably recalls the garden music in “Faust;” an impressive solo for Friar Laurence ("Al vostro amor cocente"), followed by a vigorous trio and quartet, the music of which is massive and ecclesiastical in character, and the page’s song ("Ah! col nibbio micidale"), in the third act; the duet of parting between Romeo and Juliet, “Tu dei partir ohime!” the quartet, “Non temero mio ben,” between Juliet, the nurse, Friar Laurence, and Capulet, and the dramatic solo for the Friar, “Bevi allor questo filtro,” as he gives the potion to Juliet, in the fourth act; and the elaborate orchestral prelude to the tomb scene in the last act.

MIREILLE.

“Mireille,” a pastoral opera in three acts, words by M. Carre, the subject taken from “Mireio,” a Provencal poem by Mistral, was first produced at the Theatre Lyrique, Paris, March 19, 1864, with the following cast:—­