asked little Kitty if she could imitate it. The child went to the arbour, and in a few days came back, and at the end of the ballad, broke into a shake so perfect, so finished, that her teacher gave a scream of delight and surprise. The kind-hearted Bishop did not forget the impression the child's singing had made on him. He sent down to invite her to come and sing at the Palace, where she took part in various musical reunions, which were under the direction of the Brothers Rogers, one of whom became organist of Limerick Cathedral. The Bishop did more than this; he and his daughter-in-law got up a subscription to defray the expenses of Catherine Hayes's musical education. Money flowed in rapidly, and it was arranged that she should be sent to Dublin, and put under the tuition of Signor Sapio and his wife, who lived in Percy Place.
The Bishop wrote to him as follows:—
"Miss Hayes will be prepared to leave this in a week or ten days. … She is a most modest, gentle, unassuming girl, and so anxious is she for improvement—knowing, indeed, that her livelihood depends upon it—that I am convinced she will give her very soul to it."
It was on the 1st April, 1839, at the age of 14, that Catherine Hayes took up her residence with Signor Sapio, and a month afterwards she sang at a concert with him in a duet. O'er Shepherd
