uced, by the
advice of some of her mistaken friends, to give a public concert at
the King's Theatre, in her seventy-second year, when, in the course of
nature her powers had failed her. It was truly grievous to see such
transcendent talents as she once possessed, so sunk--so fallen. I used
every effort in my power to prevent her committing herself, but in
vain. Among other arguments to draw her from her purpose, I told her
what happened to Monbelli, one of the first tenors of his day, who
lost all his well-earned reputation and fame, by rashly performing the
part of a lover, at the Pergola Theatre, at Florence, in his
seventieth year, having totally lost his voice. On the stage, he was
hissed; and the following lines, lampooning his attempt, were chalked
on his house-door, as well as upon the walls of the city:--

_'All' eta di settanta
Non si ama, ne si canta.'"_

W. T. Parke, forty years principal oboe player at Covent Garden
Theatre, is kinder to Madame Mara in his "Musical Memoirs," but it
must be taken into account that he is kinder to every one else, too.
There is little of the acrimonious or the fault-finding note in his
pages. This is his version of the affair: "That extraordinary singer
of former days, Madame Mara, who had passed the last eighteen years in
Russia, and who had lately arrived in England, gave a concert at the
King's Theatre on the 6th of March (1820), which highly excited the
curiosity of the musical public. On that occasion she sang some of her
best airs; and though her powers were greatly inferior to what they
were in her zenith, yet the same pure taste pervaded her performance.
Whether vanity or interest stimulated Mara at her time of life to that
undertaking, it would be difficult to determine; but whichsoever had
the ascendency, her reign was short; for by singing one night
afterwards at the vocal concert, the veil which had obscured her
judgment was removed, and she retired to enjoy in private life those
comforts which her rare talent had procured for her."

Parke also speaks of a Mrs. Pinto, "the once celebrated Miss Brent,
the original Mandane in Arne's _Artaxerxes_," who appeared in 1785 at
the age of nearly seventy in Milton's _Mask of Comus_ at a benefit for
a Mr. Hull, "the respectable stage-manager of Covent Garden Theatre."
She was to sing the song of Sweet Echo and as Parke was to play the
responses to her voice on the oboe he repaired to her house for
rehearsal. "Alt