ardent admirers.

She sang again in Paris in 1828, appearing in "La Cenerentola" as a
novelty, though the music had to be transposed for her. Malibran was
singing the same season, and a bitter rivalry sprang up between the
blonde and serene German beauty and the brilliant Spanish brunette. It
was whispered afterward, by those who knew Malibran well, that she never
forgave Henrietta Sontag for having been the first to be beloved by De
Beriot. The voices of the two singers differed as much as their persons.
The one was distinguished for exquisite sweetness and quality of tone,
and perfection of execution, for a polished and graceful correctness
which never did anything alien to good taste and made finish of form
compensate for lack of fire. The other's splendid voice was marred by
irregularity and unevenness, but possessed a passionate warmth in its
notes which stirred the hearts of the hearers. Full of extraordinary
expedients, an audience was always dazzled by some unexpected beauties
of Malibran's performance, and her original and daring conceptions gave
her work a unique character which set her apart from her contemporaries.
The Parisian public took pleasure in fomenting the dispute between the
rival queens of song, and each one was spurred to the utmost by the hot
discord which raged between them.

On April 16th of the same year Mile. Sontag made her first appearance
before the London public in the character of _Mosina_ in Rossini's "Il
Barbiere," a part peculiarly suited to the grace of her style and
the _timbre_ of her voice. One of her biographers thus sketches the
expectations and impressions of the London public:

"Since Mrs. Billington, never had such high promise been made, or so
much expectation excited: her talents had been exaggerated by report,
and her beauty and charms extolled as matchless; she was declared to
possess all the qualities of every singer in perfection, and as an
actress to be the very personification of grace and power. Stories
of the romantic attachments of foreign princes and English lords were
afloat in all directions; she was going to be married to a personage of
the loftiest rank--to a German prince--to an ambassador; she was pursued
by the ardent love of men of fashion. Among other stories in circulation
was one of a duel between two imaginary rival candidates for a ticket
of admission to her performance; but the most affecting and trustworthy
story was that of an early attachment b