nally studied the opera in Italian; then in German; while on the occasion of the performances of the fiftieth anniversary of the work it was given in English; and now it was in French! Journet was the Landgrave, Van Dyck Tannhäuser, and Madame Eames Elizabeth. The conductor was Mancinelli, to whom it was all one in what language anything was sung; his language was the language of music.

At this time I had an interesting evening with Henry Irving. No one had been a harder worker than he, nor in his day had played more parts. He said, "Ah, my boy!" in his peculiar manner, " I see what you are doing at the opera - something different every time you play, eh? It reminds me of myself once; nowadays I have long runs. Yes, yes, so much for success; but the time was when I had to play a different thing every night, too; more of them than you do now, many more, only all that I did was in our own language; you have to sing sometimes in Italian, sometimes in French, sometimes in German, besides singing in English. Then, there's the music! How the devil do you know what is coming next? How do you keep one opera separate from the other in your mind? I can't make head or tail out of it. Ah, but it is a great life; yes, yes, my boy, a great life! Hard work, though - what? - hard work."

"Well, Sir Henry," said I, "hard work doesn't seem to trouble you at all."

"No," said he, " I like it; the more of it the better for me. As long as a man is interested he's happy, if he is happy he is content, and if he is content he is all right. Work as hard as you like, it will not hurt you, if you're happy and content. So, my boy, even with all those languages and all that music, if you like it, you're all right! But what puzzles me is, how you know when to come in! I don't know much about music," he added, "but I like a tune, and I don't find any tune in that damned German music!"

The company at Covent Garden that year was indeed of the best, including all the great people, and under Anton Seidl I had the joy of singing Wotan in "The Valkyrie" with Van Dyck, the talented American, Susan Strong, Schumann-Heink, and the superb Marie Brema.

My inches are not great, though my voice was adequate for that and many subsequent occasions as the Master of the Gods; but to simulate a height much greater than my own was a rather difficult thing to do, particularly when I was contrasted with persons taller than myself. It is interesting for an amateur and student to know how an artist supplies natural deficiencies. In my case, there being no secret about it, I confess to availing myself of every aid that costuming and make-up can afford. On my feet were buskins with heavy soles, including insoles and high heels, which together gave me an extra three inches. The cloak that hung from my shoulders reached nearly to the ground in perpendicular lines to add to the effect of height, there was long blond hair and beard, a helmet crowned my head with two great eagle wings rising from its sides, and I carried a long spear. As I am sturdy of build, the effect was remarkable from the front. I was constantly surprising myself in my make-up, as the god Wotan one night and the dwarf Alberich the next; now the stalwart Telramund and then the querulous Beckmesser. But these things are "all one," as the Clown says in "Twelfth Night":

"But that's all one, our play is done,

And we'll strive to please you every day."

Before leaving for America I had an invitation to sing at the Birmingham festival in the autumn of 1897, and while in New York had been engaged to appear at the festival at Worcester, Massachusetts, which began only two weeks earlier than that at Birmingham. It will readily be seen that it was necessary for me to bestir myself if I were to sing at both of these gatherings. That feat, however, was accomplished after a holiday taken to recuperate from the fatigues of the London season, by returning to America in September, just long enough to take part in four of the Worcester concerts. What was most vividly impressed upon my mind there was the performance of Horatio Parker's beautiful oratorio "Hora Novissima," Madame Gadski, Gertrude May Stein, Evan Williams, and myself being the quartette fortunate enough to render this distinguished composition.

In this connection I am glad to say that upon my return to England I not only carried word of the success of Parker's work to the directors of the Birmingham festival, but took with me as well a copy of the music, which I placed in the hands of Richter, by whom it was at once appreciated. He showed it to others, with the result that not long afterward this work was performed in Worcester Cathedral at the Festival of the Three Choirs, and because of its English reception our distinguished American musician received an honorary degree from Cambridge University.

It is unnecessary to give the programs of the two functions at which I sang in such close proximity; suffice it to say that our oldest American festival did not in the least suffer, all things being considered, by comparison with the splendid performances of the much older institution at Birmingham. There is in America, however, a lack of