Finding the President of the Academy Directors obdurate, I at once announced the farewell performances of Mdme. Adelina Patti, and shortly afterwards made arrangements for her appearance, together with that of the whole Company, at Boston, where I opened towards the close of December, glad, indeed, to get away from the Academy. Our success in Boston was very great. Amongst the productions was Gounod's _Mirella_, in which Nevada, Scalchi, De Anna, and other artists appeared. Afterwards, of course, came _Semiramide_, with Patti and Scalchi; one of our surest cards. We remained at Boston two weeks, concluding, what was then supposed to be Patti's positive farewell to the Bostonians, with a magnificent performance of _Linda di Chamouni_. At the conclusion of a representation of _Mirella_ given the following morning we started for Philadelphia, where we had a very remunerative season, the house being crowded nightly to the ceiling. The American theatres are much better kept than ours. They are dusted and cleaned every day, so that a lady in America can go to the play or to the opera without the least danger of getting her dress spoiled; which in England, if the dress be of delicate material, she scarcely can do. The American theatres, moreover, are beautifully warmed during the winter months; so that the risk of bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs to which the enterprising theatre-goers of our own country are exposed has in the United States no existence. Apart from the risk of getting her dress injured by dirt or dust, a lady has no inducement to wear a handsome _toilette_ at a London Opera-house, where the high-fronted boxes with their ridiculous curtains prevent the dresses from being seen. At the American Opera-houses the boxes are not constructed in the Italian, but in the French style. They are open in front, that is to say, so that those who occupy them can not only see, but be seen. As for the curtains, they are neither a French nor an Italian, but exclusively an English peculiarity. What possible use can they serve? They have absolutely no effect but to deaden the sound. An interesting feature in every American Opera-house is the young ladies' box--a sort of omnibus box to which young ladies alone subscribe. The gentlemen who are privileged to visit them in the course of the evening are also allowed full liberty to supply them with bouquets, which are always of the most delicate and most expensive kind--costing in winter from £4 to £5 a-piece. The front of the young ladies' box is kept constantly furnished with the most beautiful flowers that love can suggest or money buy; and if, as it frequently does, it occurs to one or more of the young ladies to throw a few of the bouquets to the singers on the stage, their friends and admirers are expected at once to fill up the gaps.