details of a conspiracy against his person which she has been fortunate enough to discover.  Peter’s anguish at the loss of his loved one is accentuated by the nobility of her conduct.  At first it is supposed that Catherine is dead, but by the exertions of Danilowitz she is at length discovered, though in a lamentable plight, for her troubles have cost her her reason.  She is restored to sanity by the simple method of reconstructing the scene of the Finnish dockyard in which she first made Peter’s acquaintance, and peopling it with the familiar forms of the workmen.  Among the latter are Peter and Danilowitz, in their old dresses of labourer and pastry-cook, and, to crown all, two flutes are produced upon which Peter and her brother play a tune known to her from childhood.  The last charm proves effectual, and all ends happily.

The lighter parts of ‘L’Etoile du Nord’ are delightfully arch and vivacious, and much of the concerted music is gay and brilliant.  The weak point of the opera is to be found in the tendency from which Meyerbeer was never safe, to drop into mere pretentiousness when he meant to be most impressive.  In some of the choruses in the camp scene there is a great pretence at elaboration, with very scanty results, and the closing scena, which is foolish and wearisome, is an unfortunate concession to the vanity of the prima donna.  But on the whole ’L’Etoile du Nord’ is one of Meyerbeer’s most attractive works, besides being an extraordinary example of his inexhaustible versatility.

‘Le Pardon de Ploermel,’ known in Italy and England as ‘Dinorah,’ shows Meyerbeer in a pastoral and idyllic vein.  The story is extremely silly in itself, and most of the incidents take place before the curtain rises.  The overture is a long piece of programme music, which is supposed to depict the bridal procession of Hoel and Dinorah, two Breton peasants, to the church where they are to be married.  Suddenly a thunderstorm breaks over their heads and disperses the procession, while a flash of lightning reduces Dinorah’s homestead to ashes.  Hoel, in despair at the ruin of his hopes, betakes himself to the village sorcerer, who promises to tell him the secret of the hidden treasure of the local gnomes or Korriganes if he will undergo a year of trial in a remote part of the country.  On hearing that Hoel has abandoned her Dinorah becomes insane, and spends her time in roving through the woods with her pet goat in search of her lover.  The overture is a picturesque piece of writing enough, though much of it would be entirely meaningless without its programme.  When the opera opens, Hoel has returned from his probation in possession of the important secret.  His first care is to find some one to do the dirty work of finding the treasure, for the oracle has declared that the first man who shall lay hands upon it will die.  His choice falls upon Corentin, a country lout, whom he persuades to accompany him to the gorge where the treasure lies hidden.  Corentin is not so stupid