But where shall we now find, upon our scene, The Gentleman in action, look and word, Who wears his wit, as he would wear his sword, As polished and as keen? Come all who loved him: 'tis his passing bell: Look your last look: cover the brave old face: Kindly and gently bear him to his place-- Charles Kemble, fare thee well! [Sidenote: _The Reign of Italian Opera_] [Illustration: LABLACHE] A whole volume might be written on the glories, the splendours, and the absurdities of Italian opera in the 'forties and 'fifties as revealed, applauded, and criticized in the columns of _Punch_. We say Italian opera advisedly, because the domination of Italian composers and singers and of the Italian language was as yet practically unassailed. Germany, it is true, had already begun to knock at the door. Lord Mount Edgcumbe in his _Reminiscences_ mentions the visit of a German operatic company in 1832. Staudigl, who "created" the title-_rôle_ in Mendelssohn's _Elijah_ when it was produced at Birmingham in 1846, is mentioned by _Punch_ as singing in opera in London in 1841. Weber's _Der Freischütz_ was given at the Haymarket in the summer of 1844. But the greater lights in the operatic firmament, judged by the test of fashionable patronage and indeed general popularity, were all Italian. The meteoric Malibran--Spanish by race but Italian in training--died suddenly and tragically in 1836, and Pasta, her great rival, withdrew from the stage shortly afterwards. The retirement of the famous tenor Rubini is mentioned in _Punch's_ first volume, but his popularity was eclipsed by that of Mario, who reigned without a rival in virtue of his triple endowment of voice, good looks, and elegance. His triumphs were shared by Grisi, and the kings and queens of song on the lyric stage in these two decades were either Italians by birth--e.g., Grisi, Alboni, whom _Punch_ likens to a "jolly blooming she-Bacchus," Persiani, and Piccolomini--or trained in the Italian school and distinguished by their association with Italian opera, such as Sontag and Jenny Lind, Duprez the French tenor, and Lablache, who was born and bred in Italy though of Franco-Hibernian parentage, the greatest in bulk, in volume and beauty of voice, in dramatic versatility and in genial humour of all operatic basses. So too with the composers. It was the heyday of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and the earlier Verdi, whom _Punch_ in 1852 irreverently styles the "crack composer" as he cracked so many voices. _Punch_ cannot be blamed if he failed to foresee in the crude vigour of _Nabucco_ and the hectic sentimentality of _Traviata_ and _Trovatore_ possibilities of that wonderful Indian summer of genius which began with _Aïda_ and culminated in _Otello_ and _Falstaff_. Michael Costa was the conductor _par excellence_, who took outrageous liberties with scores, but was none the less a most efficient operatic drill-sergeant. Here our