163.—ROYAL HONORS TO A SINGER.
The careers of many of the noted prima donnas read like romances rather than history. Fiction has nothing more sensational or brilliant to present than the adulation, the almost worship, accorded to some of these women by an admiring public. So many of the great singers met this flattering reception at the hands of the public that it is hard to choose one as an example. But we will here speak of two incidents of Madame Malibran's career.
On the last visit of this celebrated singer to Venice, the ovation she received was such as might have been awarded to some conquering general returning from his victories. As her gondola entered the Grand Canal, she was greeted by the blare of trumpets, the noise of bands, and the shouts of multitudes. This homage continued during all her stay in this city. When she appeared in public the admiring crowds were so great that she had to be protected from the crush by armed police; and when she went out in a gondola the other vessels of a similar sort that followed her were so numerous as to obstruct the passage of the canals. On her departure from this enthusiastic people she was presented with a magnificent diadem, studded with diamonds and rubies.
In Milan her reception was hardly less flattering. One night she was deluged with bouquets, the leaves of which were made of gold and silver, and her enthusiastic hearers recalled her twenty times. It is little wonder that she fainted at the end of the performance.