e of rarest beauty.

Let us not wander too far afield. We were speaking of the main
thoroughfare of Valletta.

This central street, which runs very nearly north and south, contains a
number of fairly good hotels, three or four banks, besides several good
restaurants and boarding-houses. It is a favorite promenade, day and
evening, being well lighted by gas. A large and imposing opera house of
the Grecian order is situated at the highest point of the Strada Reale,
near to the Porta Reale,--"Royal Gate." The elaborate edifice is finely
ornamented with Corinthian columns. If its traditions are correct,
Adelina Patti made her debut at this house. Patti was then quite
unknown, and is said to have received one pound sterling for her part of
the performance on the occasion; to-day she realizes one thousand pounds
sterling for a similar service in America. Though her voice evinces the
corroding power of time, she is unquestionably queen of the operatic
stage. That there is excellent music dispensed at this fine Maltese
opera house one can easily believe, remembering the proximity of the
land of song. The edifice was originally built in 1864, but was
partially destroyed by fire in 1873, a fate which seems sooner or later
to befall all such places of amusement. It was promptly rebuilt, with
many and costly improvements, so that it is now as complete an operatic
establishment as those of Naples and Milan. It cost the Maltese
exchequer over fifty thousand pounds sterling. So elaborate and
pretentious a structure to be devoted to this purpose was hardly
demanded in a community of the proportions of Valletta, and
consequently, when the full amount of its cost was made public, there
was considerable fault found with those officials who were responsible
for such lavish outlay of the public funds. The opera season is from the
middle of October to the middle of May, the performances being given
three times each week. There is another theatre close to the square of
St. George, known as the Teatro Manoel. This is a much older though
quite as popular a place of amusement, and antedates the grand opera
house a full century.

The edifices on the Strada Reale are generally three stories high, many
of them large and luxuriously planned. They are mostly occupied as
dwelling-houses above the first floor, the latter being usually devoted
to some sort of shop. When they are not improved for this purpose, the
lower windows are guarded with large,