went to the Academie, and created a great
sensation with Madame Viardot, in "Le Prophete." His acting was good
both in tragic and comic parts, and he created many new roles.

In 1859 he met with an unfortunate accident, and lost his right arm by
the bursting of a gun, and this put an end to his operatic career in
Paris. He continued, however, to sing in provincial towns and in
Germany, until 1861, when he reappeared at the Opera Comique. But it was
evident that the time for his retirement had come, and he took pupils,
becoming a professor of singing at the Conservatoire in 1868, and
holding the position until his death in 1879.

The mantle of Braham, the greatest English tenor of his day, descended
to John Sims Reeves, the son of a musician, who was born at Shooter's
Hill, Kent, in 1822. Reeves, we are told, received the traditions of
Braham, and refined them.

He obtained his early musical instruction from his father, and at
fourteen held the position of organist at North Gray Church. Upon
gaining his mature voice he determined to be a singer, and at first sang
baritone and second tenor parts, making his debut in opera, at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, as Count Rudolpho in "La Sonnambula." Before long his
voice developed into a tenor of an exceptionally beautiful quality, and,
in 1847, when he appeared at Drury Lane, he at once took a position as a
singer of the first rank. His acting, too, was natural and easy, manly,
and to the purpose, exhibiting both passion and power without
exaggeration.

His greatest triumph, however, was achieved in oratorio, and his
performance of "The Enemy Said," in "Israel in Egypt," at the Crystal
Palace, in 1857, was of such a nature as to electrify his hearers.

In England the name of Sims Reeves was for many years sufficient to draw
an audience large enough to fill any auditorium to overflowing, although
he frequently disappointed the public by non-appearance. It was known
that he considered it wiser to disappoint the public than to risk losing
his voice, and, as a result, people soon realized that to hear him once
was sufficient to atone for several disappointments. To the general
public Sims Reeves endeared himself chiefly by his exquisite ballad
singing; and, just as Patti is associated with "Home, Sweet Home," his
name is coupled with "Come into the Garden, Maud."

Up to the age of seventy, Sims Reeves appeared occasionally in concerts,
and even at the present day he can secure an audie