rs of the
lamented Malibran, that tears rolled down their cheeks, yet there
was something radically different withal peculiar to the singer. This
singular resemblance led to a curious incident afterward in Paris. A
young lady was taking a music-lesson from Lablache, who had lodgings in
the same house with Mlle. Garcia. The basso was explaining the manner in
which Malibran gave the air they were practicing. Just then a voice was
heard in the adjoining room singing the cavatina--the voice of Mdlle.
Garcia. The young girl was struck with a fit of superstitious terror as
if she had seen a phantom, and fainted away on her seat.

Yet in person there was but a slight resemblance between the two
sisters. Pauline had a tall, slender figure in her youth, and her
physiognomy, Jewish in its cast, though noble and expressive, was so far
from being handsome that when at rest the features were almost harsh in
their irregularity. But, as in the case of many plain women, emotion and
sensibility would quickly transfigure her face into a marvelous beauty
and fascination, far beyond the loveliness of line and tint. Her
forehead was broad and intellectual, the hair jet-black, the complexion
pale, the large, black eyes ardent and full of fire. Her carriage was
singularly majestic and easy, and a conscious nobility gave her bearing
a loftiness which impressed all beholders.

Her singing and acting in _Desdemona_ made a marked sensation. Though
her powers were still immature, she flooded the house with a stream of
clear, sweet, rich melody, with the apparent ease of a bird. Undismayed
by the traditions of Mali-bran, Pasta, and Sontag in this character,
she gave the part a new reading, in which she put something of her own
intense individuality. "By the firmness of her step, and the general
confidence of her deportment," said a contemporary writer, "we were at
first induced to believe that she was not nervous; but the improvement
of every succeeding song, and the warmth with which she gave the latter
part of the opera, convinced us that her power must have been confined
by something like apprehension." Kubini was the _Otello_, Tamburini,
_Iago_, and Lablache, _Elmiro_. Her performance in "La Cenerentola"
confirmed the good opinion of the public. Her pure taste and perfect
facility of execution were splendidly exhibited. "She has," said a
critic, "more feeling than Mme. Cinti Da-moreau in the part in which
the greater portion of Europe has assi