Carlotta Grisi was born in 1821 at Visnida, in Upper Istria, in a palace built for the Emperor Francis II. When a mere child of five years old she was dancing, with other children, at the Scala, Milan, where she danced with such grace that she was nicknamed _La petite Heberlé_, a Mlle. Heberlé then being a very popular star. Subsequently she toured with a company through Italy appearing at Florence, Rome, Naples, and it was here she met and became the pupil and then wife of Perrot. Brief visits to London, Vienna, Milan, Naples followed, the young dancer gathering fresh triumphs at each, until finally she made her Parisian _début_ at the Renaissance on February 28th, 1840. Here she appeared both as singer and dancer in “Le Zingaro,” but on the closing of the theatre she went in February, 1841, to the Opera, and achieved an instant success in “La Favorita.” From that moment her career was one of continued triumph. In June of that year she appeared in “_Giselle, ou les Willis, ballet en deux actes, de MM. de Saint Georges, Th. Gautier et Coralli, musique de M. Adam, décors de M. Ciceri_,” as it is described on my copy of the original libretto. Carlotta’s appearance in it was _the_ artistic sensation of the Continent. “Giselle” is founded on one of those romantic legendary themes in which Germany was once so rich, and tells of the fate of a village girl who falls a victim to the mysterious _Willis_, or spirits of betrothed girls who in life were passionately fond of dancing, who have died ere marriage, and are doomed after death to dance every night from midnight to dawn, luring whom they may to the same fate. This, and the story of shattered hope and love forlorn, which bring about poor little Giselle’s destruction, are the two leading themes of a ballet which, touching both the heights of gaiety and depths of tragedy, is rich in every element that can interest or charm, and presents many dramatic situations that demand from a supremely accomplished dancer a power of mimic expression, intensity and poetic sympathy that are rare. Carlotta Grisi was ideally equipped, and she was _par excellence_--Giselle. A revival of the second act, under the title of “les Sylphides,” was given by the Russian dancers at the Coliseum a few seasons ago. Gautier’s admiration for Grisi was enthusiastic. “_Qu’est-ce que Giselle?_” he asked the day after the first performance, thus answering his own question: “_Giselle, c’est Carlotta Grisi, une charmante fille aux yeux bleus, au sourire fin et naïf, à la démarche alerte, une Italienne qui a l’air d’une Allemande à s’y tromper, comme l’Allemande Fanny avait l’air d’une Andalouse de Séville.... Pour la pantomime, elle a dépassé toutes les espérances. Pas un geste de convention. Pas un mouvement faux. C’est la nature prise sur le fait._”