and muscles of the throat, which have degraded tragedy to melo-drama, and which would make one believe the audience had come to behold an execution, not a poetical performance. Such a style, we repeat, as that of Madame de Rossi, is essentially made for the enjoyment of select audiences, such as she found at St. Petersburg, within the precincts of the palace. The impression made was immense, and the effects lasting. To this cause is universally attributed the establishment on a noble scale of the Italian Opera at St. Petersburg, now become, in consequence of revolutions, which have destroyed elsewhere all art and refined industry, the chief resource of Italian artists in the winter. Such was the remembrance of the enjoyment, and such was the void left by the departure of Madame de Rossi, that Rubini was summoned to St. Petersburgh with a company of his own choosing, and at an outlay no other sovereign but the Czar could have borne. The Russians of every class possess an ear for music; their performances in chorus, their extraordinary _morceaux d'ensemble_ of single noted wind instruments, sufficiently prove this assertion. Amongst the higher classes art is a passion; and with such gifts as she possesses, Countess Rossi naturally became the object of the utmost enthusiastic admiration. In the summer season, when St. Petersburg is abandoned, parties were made at country seats, purposely to secure her presence. It was at a princely residence in the country, that the witty author of the popular "Letters from the Baltic," met Countess Rossi, charming and attractive as in the first burst of her popularity. The following extracts from this gifted lady's account of her meeting with Madame de Rossi, during a _villegiatara_ at Revel, will be read with interest:--