Upon the second night Pasta did not come to hear her new rival. This time, when Malibran entered and sang her aria, her rendering was greeted with immense applause, which continued throughout the evening in ever-increasing enthusiasm. At the close she was called before the curtain again and again, and when she left the Opera House to drive home, the populace took out the horses and themselves dragged her to the hotel. From that moment she was the pet of the Milanese public: Pasta's reign was over. Señor Garcia added that the latter was a most finished vocalist, but cold, whereas the singing of his sister was full of warmth and fire. Strange to say, Maria Malibran soon found herself mixed up with the Italian Liberal politics. At Naples already her sympathy for the Carbonari had excited some talk. At Milan she was _fêted_ by all the aristocracy, who hated the Austrian rule. On the first night of Donizetti's "Marie Stuart," while taking the title-_rôle_, she had to reproach Elizabeth with her irregular birth, calling her "vile bastard." The whole audience at once saw in this expression an allusion to the usurpation of Lombardy, and broke out into loud shouts. Next day the Austrian governor ordered the scene to be suppressed, and at the same time threatened Maria Malibran with prison if she did not submit. The singer, however, resisted, declaring that the composer alone could make alterations in his work; and in consequence of this action the opera was withdrawn from the bill. This only increased her popularity, and in all political manifestations the cry would be raised, "Vive Malibran," as in after years "Vive Verdi" became synonymous with "Vive Victor-Emmanuel." Similar difficulties arose in Venice. The governor was afraid of Liberal manifestations, and was for that reason opposed to the engagement of the contralto at the Fenice Theatre; indeed it was the intervention of the Emperor alone which made him waive his objection. A sumptuary law of the sixteenth century, which had never been repealed, enacted that all gondolas must be painted uniformly black. Maria Malibran wished to change this. "I have introduced a novelty here," she writes, "which will mark an epoch in my career: I have had the outside of my gondola painted grey with decorations in gold. The gondoliers wear scarlet jackets, hats of pale yellow, the edges bound round with black velvet, blue cloth breeches with red ribbon down the side, in the French style, sleeves and collar of black velvet. The awning over the boat is scarlet with blue curtains."