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NOTABLE IRISHWOMEN.

difficulty that Miss Hayes was able to proceed to the carriage in waiting to convey her to the railway terminus. Hundreds of the poor, to whom she gave liberal charity, blessed her as she departed, and amid the farewell salutations of large bodies of ladies and gentlemen, the latter uncovered in her honour, she at length drove away, affected to tears by the favours enthusiastically heaped upon her."

An engagement the following year at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, by Lumley, was not entirely satisfactory. Catherine Hayes appeared but seldom, and other singers took her place. Dr. Tisdall has kindly thrown a light on this matter, which has hitherto been unexplained. He says:—"I well recollect the cause of Miss Hayes's objection to appear, and was present at a performance of the opera in which she refused to sing. It was La Tempesta, composed by Halévy, and its plot was founded on Shakespeare's play, The Tempest. Sontag was the 'Miranda,' a tenor named Calzolari 'Ferdinand,' and Lablache, 'Caliban.' Miss Hayes had carefully rehearsed the music assigned to 'Ariel' in the music room of the theatre, and then rehearsals on the stage began. She, to her great disappointment, heard from Lumley, the manager, that some of the music of her part was to be sung while she was suspended from a wire, to be worked from above the stage.