from hypocrisy, convenience, and interest. She strived hard to get hold of some rich Jew of the Ghetto, and endeavoured to rival Marina Benzona in the good graces of the Cavalier Trevis; but the fidelity of the Israelite remained unshaken.

As soon as the above-mentioned Carlo Pino found the power of Buonaparte in Italy firmly established, he quitted the Austrian service at Venice, and repaired to his native home, to live with his long neglected wife and family. His brother, the general, being the war-minister, soon got him employed at Milan; but having taken French leave of Chiaretta, and having given her, in an unguarded moment, a personal security of some magnitude, she soon followed him to enforce the payment of it. Not being able to comply therewith, and Chiaretta having, besides her pension of two livres a-day, collected together a small annuity, he persuaded her to take up her abode at Milan; where, though advanced in years, she still continues to receive company; and where her conversation continues to be the same strange melange of blunder, wit, and detraction, that it was wont to be in her youthful days.

Madame Giustina Venier, the wife of Mark Anthony Micheli, is a lady who has, with the

assistance of her English friends, translated some of Shakespeare's plays. She has also lately written a little book, called "Feste Veneziane," in the composition of which she has resorted too much to her inventive faculties, and has trusted more to the brilliancy of her imagination than to the truth of history. She is a gay and lovely dame, and was, for a long time, the chère amie of an English gentleman of the name of Parr. She was formerly a very interesting little figure, and had a most engaging countenance; but so negligent was she of her person, and so filthy in her dress, that she was more fitted to be the companion of Diogenes than of a well-bred Englishman. To her unpardonable neglect in these matters was this lively little creature indebted for the loss of her paramour; who parted with her for one who was as ugly as sin, and who had no earthly virtue but the one in which his former Dulcinea was so deficient. This circumstance, added to the loss of hearing, have so changed her former character, that most of her intimate friends and acquaintances have forsaken her; and, in consequence thereof, she has followed the wise conduct of many a female, who, finding herself neglected by her lovers, returns to the embraces of her husband. From the very habit of attach

ment, some of these southern ladies, when they can find no one to love or be loved by, turn religious bigots, and, for the mere want of earthly objects of enjoyment, transfer their affections to God and the Church, make a merit of necessity, and die with the reputation of being Saints! To such elderly dames may be applied what Pope says of Narcissa:

"A very heathen in the carnal part,

Yet still a sad, good Christian at her heart."

Marina Benzona was the only Venetian lady who had the honour of being visited by the late Queen Caroline of England; to whom, and to her suite, Marina gave an evening's entertainment. She is now married to her long attached cavalier servante, Giuseppe Rangoni, created by Buonaparte a knight of the Corona di Ferro and Legion d'Onore. He is a gentleman of merit and talent, and was ami de la maison, during the life-time of the husband.

CHAPTER XXIV.

VENICE.

Venice once the Seat of Music......Pacchierotti......Marchesi ......Hints for the Preservation of the Voice......Rubinelli ......Madame Mara...... Conduct of the Proprietors of the Fenice towards a certain "Great Lady in the Little Parlour."......Anecdotes of Mrs. Billington.

VENICE was, at one time, the seat of music, and had established her conservatoires long before any other country had done so. The Men-, dicanti, and the Zitelle, and the Ospidaletto, were as famous for vocal as for instrumental performers. Their masters were the celebrated Bertoni, Bianchi, and Mayer; and, in the Lent season, the oratorios were as well executed and as numerously attended, as those of any other city in Europe.

None of the natives of Italy have a more refined musical taste than the Venetians. Pacchierotti, with all his defects, was enchanting, whenever he happened to sing in tune, as he always addressed himself to the heart; while Marchesi, with ten times his ability and natural gifts, often disgusted, in consequence of his

.

re

deviations from that nature, the want of which Pacchierotti contrived to supply, by a finement of art, which no other singer, male or female, has hitherto been able to attain.

His habit of singing below pitch did not arise from want of ear, or of musical science, but from excessive sensibility, whereby his metaphysical powers often got the better of his physical a circumstance which is rarely or never the case with the musical professors of the north, who, in general, sing in too sharp a key, from their want of ear as well as of feeling. It is certainly most desirable to be perfectly in tune; but the singing in too flat a key depends on numerous physical causes, which produce the effect of imperfect intonation, and proceeds not uncommonly from weakness of the lungs or chest. In short, the human voice is of so delicate a nature, that every trifling thing that militates against the health is prejudicial to it. It is the height of folly in singers to fancy that the use of one particular liquid can be more serviceable than the use of another. Nothing on earth will preserve the voice; though the abuse of any thing may tend greatly to destroy it. A regular course of diet, accompanied with moderate exercise, is all that is required. It is, however, what few persons who have attained any