her first appearance as _Maffeo Orsini_, in
"Lucrezia Borgia," in 1842, Marietta then having reached the age of
twenty. She was then transferred to the La Scala, at Milan, where she
performed with marked success in "La Favorita." Rossini himself signed
her contract, saying, "I am the subscribing witness to your union with
renown. May success and happiness attend the union!" Her engagement was
renewed at the La Scala for four successive seasons. A tempting offer
from Vienna carried her to that musical capital, and during the three
years she remained there she won brilliant laurels and a fame which had
swiftly coursed through Europe; for musical connoisseurs visiting Vienna
carried away with them the most glowing accounts of the new contralto.
Her triumphs were renewed in Russia, Belgium, Holland, and Prussia,
where her glorious voice created a genuine _furore_, not less flattering
to her pride than the excitement produced at an earlier date by Pasta,
Sontag, and Malibran. An interesting proof of her independence and
dignity of character occurred on her first arrival in Berlin, before she
had made her _debut_ in that city.

She was asked by an officious friend "if she had waited on M------."
"No! who is this M------," was the reply. "Oh!" answered her inquisitor,
"he is the most influential journalist in Prussia." "Well, how does
this concern me?" "Why," rejoined the other, "if you do not contrive
to insure his favorable report, you are ruined." The young Italian drew
herself up disdainfully. "Indeed!" she said, coldly; "well, let it be as
Heaven directs; but I wish it to be understood that in _my_ breast the
woman is superior to the artist, and, though failure were the result,
I would never degrade myself by purchasing success at so humiliating a
price." The anecdote was repeated in the fashionable saloons of
Berlin, and, so far from injuring her, the noble sentiment of the young
_debutante_ was appreciated. The king invited her to sing at his court,
where she received the well-merited applause of an admiring audience;
and afterward his Majesty bestowed more tangible evidences of his
approbation.

It was not till 1847 that Marietta Alboni appeared in England. Mr.
Beale, the manager of the Royal Italian Opera, the new enterprise which
had just been organized in the revolutionized Covent Garden Theatre,
heard her at Milan and was charmed with her voice. Rumors had reached
England, of course, concerning the beauty of the