obliged to use the great hall of the
Public Exchange, which would hold more than four thousand people. At her
last concert the Emperor and Empress loaded her with costly gifts, among
them being a girdle of magnificent diamonds.

IV.

The career of John Braham must always be of interest to those who love
the traditions of English music. The associate and contemporary of a
host of distinguished singers, and himself not least, his connection
with the musical life of Cata-lani would seem to make some brief sketch
of the greatest of English tenor-singers singularly fitting in this
place. He was born in London in 1773, of Jewish parentage, his real name
being Abrams, and was so wretchedly poor that he sold pencils on the
street to get a scanty living. Leoni, an Italian teacher of repute,
discovered by accident that he had a fine voice, and took the friendless
lad under his tutelage. He appeared at the age of thirteen at the Covent
Garden Theatre, the song "The Soldier tired of War's Alarms" being the
first he sang in public. One of the papers spoke of him as a youthful
prodigy, saying, "He promises fair to attain every perfection,
possessing every requisite necessary to form a good singer." Braham at
one time lost his voice utterly, and his prospect seemed a gloomy
one, as his master Leoni also died about the same time. He now found a
generous patron in Abraham Goldsmith, however, and became a professor of
the piano, for which instrument he developed remarkable talent.

An Italian master named Rauzzini seems to have been of great service to
Braham when he was about twenty years of age, and under him he fitted
himself for the Italian stage, and secured an opening under Storace,
father of the brilliant Nancy Storace, at Drury Lane. His success was
so marked that the following season found him reengaged and his
professional life well opened to him. Braham's ambition, however,
would not permit him to rest on his laurels, or rest contented with the
artistic fitness already acquired. He determined to find in Italy that
finishing culture which then as now made that country the Mecca of
artists anxious to perfect their education. He visited Florence, Genoa,
Milan, Naples, and Rome, studying under the most famous masters. Not
content with his training in executive music, Braham studied composition
and counterpoint under Isola, and laid the foundation for the knowledge
which afterward gave him a place among notable English compose