the sacred shield and calls the Druids to arms.  Pollio, now a prisoner, is brought before her for judgment, and she gives him a last choice, to renounce Adalgisa or to die.  He refuses to give up his love, whereupon Norma, in a passion of self-sacrifice, tears the sacred wreath from her own brow and declares herself the guilty one.  Pollio is touched by her magnanimity, and together they ascend the funeral pyre, in its flames to be cleansed from earthly sin.

It would be too much to assert that Bellini has risen to the level of this noble subject, but parts of his score have a fervour and a dignity which might scarcely have been expected from the composer of ’La Sonnambula.’  We may smile now at the trio between Pollio and his two victims, in which the extremes of fury and indignation are expressed by a lilting tune in 9-8 time, but it is impossible to deny the truth and beauty of Norma’s farewell to her children, and in several other scenes there are evidences of real dramatic feeling, if not of the power to express it.  It is important to remember, in discussing the works of Bellini and the other composers of his school, that in their day the art of singing was cultivated to a far higher pitch of perfection than is now the case.  Consequently the composer felt that he had done his duty if, even in situations of the most tragic import, he provided his executant with a broad, even melody.  Into this the consummate art of the singer could infuse every gradation of feeling.  The composer presented a blank canvas, upon which the artist painted the required picture.

Unlike that of ‘Norma,’ the libretto of ‘I Puritani,’ Bellini’s last opera, is a dull and confused affair.  The scene is laid in England, apparently at the time of the Civil War, but the history and chronology throughout are of the vaguest description.  Queen Henrietta Maria is imprisoned in the fortress of Plymouth, under the guardianship of Lord Walton, the Parliamentary leader, whose daughter Elvira loves Lord Arthur Talbot, a young Cavalier, Elvira’s tears and entreaties have so far softened her stern parent that Arthur is to be admitted into the castle in order that the nuptials may be celebrated.  He takes advantage of the situation to effect the escape of the Queen, disguising her in Elvira’s bridal veil.  When his treachery is discovered Arthur is at once proscribed, and Elvira, believing him to be faithless, loses her reason.  Later in the opera Arthur contrives to meet Elvira and explains his conduct satisfactorily, but their interview is cut short by a party of Puritans, who arrest him.  He is condemned to be shot on the spot, but, before the sentence can be carried out, a messenger arrives with the news of the king’s defeat and the pardon of Arthur.  Elvira, whose insanity has throughout been of an eminently harmless description, at once recovers her reason, and everything ends happily.