As to the fifth act, it is of an admirable dramatic feeling. The novelty of the forms and the hitherto unusual development of the score of _Robert_ at first surprised the public, which was cautious about passing judgment. But surprise soon gave way to admiration, admiration grew to enthusiasm, and triumph, a triumph perhaps without precedent on the French stage, welcomed a work so abounding in beauties of a very high order. It is well known how rapidly the whole world ratified the judgment of the Parisian public. Meyerbeer has been criticised for his Italian souvenirs in his opera _les Huguenots_, particularly that pretty air of Marguerite's in the second act, charming in itself and from a strict musical point of view, but which is evidently an aside, a concession made to virtuosity, and which breaks the _ensemble_ and the unity of an otherwise strong, noble and severe work. This fault aside, however, what a masterpiece is this score of the _Huguenots_, in which the interest steadily increases, and which, from the first scene to the last, never ceases to rise higher and higher! Admiration knows not how to choose nor where to pause, so constant and varied are the demands made upon it, whether by the marvellous tableaux, like that of the arrival of Raoul at Marguerite's house, the picturesque curfew scene in the third act, the duel scene which follows, the powerful episode of the benediction of the poignards in the fourth, followed by the splendid duet of Raoul and Valentine, finally the scene of the massacre of the Huguenots in the fifth,--or by the delineation of the characters, traced with a surprising vigor and sureness of hand, such as those of Marcel, of Saint-Bris and of Nevers, which make an ineffaceable impression on the memory. And what color, what style, what grandeur from the beginning to the end of this work! Whether it be the dramatic element which dominates, as in the duel scene or that of the conjuration, whether it be the pathetic and passionate element, as in the _duo_ of the lovers, whether it be the popular and picturesque element, as in the entire third act, the superiority of the artist is always the same, always equally complete, with no sign of weakness nor faltering. In this opera he recalls with vividness and truth a world which has disappeared, and his music is marvellously in accord with the period which he undertakes to depict, the personages which he presents to us, and even the costumes of those personages. As to the inspiration, always warm, noble and vigorous, it is of an inexpressible richness and power. [Illustration: [Music] Fac-simile of Meyerbeer's musical manuscript, written in 1852.] [Illustration: Fac-simile of Meyerbeer's letter to his brother, written in 1837.]