cook could not put the child in the way of further instruction and training.  When Cardinal Gabrielli heard that enchanting but uncultivated voice, he called the little Catarina and made her sing her whole stock of arias, a mandate she willingly obeyed.  He was delighted with her talent, and took on himself the care of her musical education.  She was first placed under the charge of Garcia (Lo Spagnoletto), and afterward of Porpora.  The Cardinal kept a keen oversight of her instruction, and frequently organized concerts, where her growing talents were shown, to the great delight of the brilliant Roman society.  Catarina’s training was completed in the conservatory of L’Ospidaletto at Venice, while it was under the direction of Sacchini, who succeeded Galuppi.

“La Cuochettina,” as she was called from her father’s profession, made her first appearance in Galuppi’s “Sofonisba” in Lucca, after five years of severe training.  She was beautiful, intelligent, witty, full of liveliness and grace, with an expression full of coquettish charm and espieglerie.  Her acting was excellent, and her singing already that of a brilliant and finished vocalist.  It is not a marvel that the excitable Italian audience received her with the most passionate plaudits of admiration.  Her stature was low, but Dr. Burney describes her in the following terms:  “There was such grace and dignity in her gestures and deportment as caught every unprejudiced eye; indeed, she filled the stage, and occupied the attention of the spectators so much, that they could look at nothing else while she was in view.”  No indication of her mean origin betrayed itself in her face or figure, for she carried herself with all the haughty grandeur of a Roman matron.  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.  Her facility in vocalization was extraordinary, and her execution is described by Dr. Burney as rapid, but never so excessive as to cease to be agreeable; but in slow movements her pathetic tones, as is often the case with performers renowned for “dexterity,” were not sufficiently touching.

The young chevaliers of Lucca were wild over the new operatic star; for her talent, beauty, and fascination made her a paragon of attraction, and her capricious whims and coquetries riveted the chains in which she held her admirers.  Catarina, however she may have felt pleased at lordly tributes of devotion, and willing to accept substantial proofs of their sincerity, lavished her friendship for the most part on her own comrades, and became specially devoted to the singer Guardagni, whose rare artistic excellence made him a valuable mentor to the young prima donna.  Three years after her debut her reputation had become national, and we find her singing at Naples in the San Carlo.  The aged poet Metastasio, a name so imperishably connected with the development of the Italian opera, became