After the first run of _Guillaume Tell_, the Opera returned to _La Muette de Portici_, and then for a time Auber's and Rossini's masterpieces were played alternate nights. On Wednesday, July 3rd, 1830, _La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and with a certain political appropriateness;--for the "days of July" were now at hand, and the insurrectionary spirit had already manifested itself in the streets of Paris. The fortunes of _La Muette de Portici_ have been affected in various ways by the revolutionary character of the plot. Even in London it was more than once made a pretext for a "demonstration" by the radicals of William the Fourth's time. At most of the Italian theatres it has been either forbidden altogether or has had to be altered considerably before the authorities would allow it to be played. Strange as it may appear, in absolute Russia it has been represented times out of number in its original shape, under the title of _Fenella_. [Sidenote: FRENCH NATIONAL SONGS.] We have seen that _Masaniello_ was represented in Paris four days before the commencement of the outbreak which ended in the elder branch of the Bourbons being driven from the throne. On the 26th of July, _Guillaume Tell_ was to have been represented, but the city was in such a state of agitation, in consequence of the issue of the _ordonnances_, signed at St. Cloud the day before, that the Opera was closed. On the 27th the fighting began and lasted until the 29th, when the Opera was re-opened. On the 4th of August, _La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and created the greatest enthusiasm,--the public finding in almost every scene some reminder, and now and then a tolerably exact representation, of what had just taken place within a stone's throw of the theatre. _La Muette_, apart from its music, became now the great piece of the day; and the representations at the Opera were rendered still more popular by Nourrit singing "_La Parisienne_" every evening. The melody of this temporary national song, like that of its predecessor (so infinitely superior to it), "_La Marseillaise_" (according to Castil Blaze), was borrowed from Germany. France, never wanting in national spirit, has yet no national air. It has four party songs, not one of which can be considered truly patriotic, and of which the only one that possesses any musical merit, disfigured as it has been by its French adapters, is of German origin. Nourrit is said to have delivered "_La Parisienne_" with wonderful vigour and animation, and to this and to Casimir Delavigne's verses (or rather to Delavigne's name, for the verses in themselves are not very remarkable) may be attributed the reputation which the French national song, No. 4,[92] for some time enjoyed. * * * * *