the San Carlo. The aged poet
Metastasio, a name so imperishably connected with the development of the
Italian opera, became one of her bond slaves. Gabrielli was wont to use
her admirers for artistic advantage, and she learned certain invaluable
lessons in the delivery of recitative and the higher graces of her art
from one whose experience and knowledge were infinitely higher and more
suggestive than those of a mere singing-master. The courtly poet, the
pet of rank and beauty for nearly fifty years, sighed in vain at the
feet of this inexorable coquette, and shared his disappointment with a
host of other distinguished suitors, who showered costly gifts at the
shrine of beauty, and were compelled to content themselves with kissing
her hand as a reward.

Metastasio's interest, unchecked by the disdain of the capricious
beauty, succeeded in obtaining for her the position of court singer at
Vienna, where the Emperor, Francis I., was one of her admirers. She soon
created as great a furor among the gallants of the Austrian capital as
she had in Italy. Swords were drawn freely in the quarrels which she
delighted to foster, and dueling became a mania with those who aspired
to her favor. The passions she instigated sometimes took eccentric
courses. The French Ambassador, who loved her madly, suspected the
Portuguese Minister of being more successful than himself with the
lovely Gabrielli. His suspicions being confirmed at one of his visits,
he drew his sword in a transport of rage, and all that saved the
operatic stage one of its most brilliant lights was the whalebone
bodice, which broke the point of the furious Frenchman's rapier. The
sight of the bleeding beauty--for she received a slight scratch--brought
the diplomat to his senses. Falling on his knees, he poured forth his
remorse in passionate self-reproaches, but only received his pardon on
the most humiliating terms, namely, that he should present her with
the weapon which had so nearly pierced her heart, on which was to be
inscribed this memento of the jealous madness of its owner: "_Epee de
M------, qui osa frapper La Gabrielli_." Only Metastasio's persuasions
(for Gabrielli prized his friendship and advice as much as she trifled
with him in a different _role_) persuaded her to spare the Frenchman the
insufferable ridicule which her retention of the telltale sword would
have imposed on one whose rank and station could ill afford to be made
the laughing-stock of his ti