HENRY OF NAVARRE. Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are! And glory to our Sovereign Liege, King Henry of Navarre! Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance, Through thy corn fields green, and sunny vines, oh, pleasant land of France! And thou, Rochelle, our own Rochelle, proud city of the waters, Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters. As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy, For cold, and stiff, and still are they who wrought thy walls annoy, Hurrah! hurrah! a single field hath turned the chance of war, Hurrah! hurrah! for Ivry, and King Henry of Navarre. T. B. MACAULAY. THE WAR OF THE NORMAS. Now glory to LA DIVA who still reigns the Queen of Song, And glory, too, to Costa, may he wield the bâton long. Now let the distant sound of song, and echo of the band, Be heard through Covent Garden, and Long Acre, and the Strand. And thou, too, _Morning Chronicle_, bold partisan of Beale, As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our weal. For ill-advised was Jenny, when she thought to reach the throne Of that unrivalled songstress who had made the part her own. Hurrah! hurrah! the first night proved she had essayed too much; Hurrah! hurrah for Grisi, and the _Norma_ none can touch! Oh! how our hearts were beating, when a week before the day, We saw proud Lumley posting up his bills in long array; There stood the name of grand Lablache, of mighty voice and limb; And there too, was Fraschini, but we did not care for him. And we cried unto our _Norma_, that she might be underlined, To combat for her own great name, and leave the Lind behind. * * * * * Ho! partisans of Lumley, don habiliments of woe! Weep, rend your hair, to hear _the truth_: your _Norma_ was “_no go_.” Ho! Verdi, bring for charity thy opera to their aid, That Jenny Lind may sing and no comparison be made. Ho! bold Bond-street librarians find the public still is true Unto their long-tried favourite, to whom all praise be due. For Grisi still hath proved herself the best of all the bunch, Hath mocked the critic of the _Post_, and box-bought praise of _Punch_. Then glory to LA DIVA who yet reigns the Queen of Song, And glory, too, to Costa――may he wield the baton long! From _The Man in the Moon_. Edited by Albert Smith and Angus B. Reach. Vol. II. Jenny Lind made her first appearance at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, in May, 1847 (when it was under the management of Mr. Lumley), with great success. She was much admired in every part she undertook, but in _Norma_ she had to stand comparison with Madame Grisi, who had long been identified with it, and opinions widely differed, as to the superiority of these famous singers in this, now almost forgotten, opera. ――――