taken by Mme. De Meric, and that of the Abbess by the danseuse Mlle. Heberle.  On the 4th of May, 1847, the first Italian version was produced at Her Majesty’s Theatre, with Jenny Lind and Staudigl in the cast.  Gruneisen, the author of a brief memoir of Meyerbeer, who was present, says:  “The night was rendered memorable, not only by the massacre attending the general execution, but also by the debut of Mlle. Lind in this country, who appeared as Alice.  With the exception of the debutante, such a disgraceful exhibition was never before witnessed on the operatic stage.  Mendelssohn was sitting in the stalls, and at the end of the third act, unable to bear any longer the executive infliction, he left the theatre.”

The libretto of “Robert the Devil” is absurd in its conceptions and sensational in its treatment of the story, notwithstanding that it came from such famous dramatists as Scribe and Delavigne; and it would have been still worse had it not been for Meyerbeer.  Scribe, it is said, wished to introduce a bevy of sea-nymphs, carrying golden oars, as the tempters of Robert; but the composer would not have them, and insisted upon the famous scene of the nuns, as it now stands, though these were afterwards made the butt of almost endless ridicule.  Mendelssohn himself, who was in Paris at this time, writes:  “I cannot imagine how any music could be composed on such a cold, formal extravaganza as this.”  The story runs as follows:  The scene is laid in Sicily, where Robert, Duke of Normandy, who by his daring and gallantries had earned the sobriquet of “the Devil,” banished by his own subjects, has arrived to attend a tournament given by the Duke of Messina.  In the opening scene, while he is carousing with his knights, the minstrel Raimbaut sings a song descriptive of the misdeeds of Robert.  The latter is about to revenge himself on the minstrel, when Alice, his foster-sister and the betrothed of Raimbaut, appears and pleads with him to give up his wicked courses, and resist the spirit of evil which is striving to get the mastery of him.  Robert then confides to Alice his hopeless passion for Isabella, daughter of the Duke.  While they are conversing, Bertram, “the unknown,” enters, and Alice shrinks back affrighted, fancying she sees in him the evil spirit who is luring Robert on to ruin.  After she leaves, Bertram entices him to the gaming-table, from which he rises a beggar,—­and worse than this, he still further prejudices his cause with Isabella by failing to attend the tournament, thus forfeiting his knightly honor.

The second act opens upon an orgy of the evil spirits in the cavern of St. Irene.  Bertram is present, and makes a compact with them to loose Robert from his influence if he does not yield to his desires at once.  Alice, who has an appointment with the minstrel in the cavern, overhears the compact, and determines to save him.  Robert soon appears, mourning over his losses and dishonor; but Bertram