The functions of the lawyer will not perhaps be apparent to everyone. His appointed duties, however, are to draw up contracts and to recover damages in case a clause in any existing contract should seem to have been broken. The hire of all these attendants causes no perceptible hole in the immense salary payable to the artist who employs them; and the travelling expenses of a good number of them have to be defrayed by the unfortunate manager. Only an oriental prince or a musical _parvenu_ would dream of maintaining such a suite; and soon, I believe, the following of a vocalist with a world-wide reputation will not be considered complete unless it includes, in addition to the other gentlemen who wait upon the Masini's and the Tamagno's, an architect and surveyor. It will perhaps have been observed that by one of the clauses of Mdme. Patti's engagement the letters of her name are in all printed announcements to be one-third larger than the letters of anyone else's name; and during the progress of the Chicago Festival, I saw Signor Nicolini armed with what appeared to be a theodolite, and accompanied by a gentleman who I fancy was a great geometrician, looking intently and with a scientific air at some wall-posters on which the letters composing Mdme. Patti's name seemed to him not quite one-third larger than the letters composing the name of Mdlle. Nevada. At last, abandoning all idea of scientific measurement, he procured a ladder, and, boldly mounting the steps, ascertained by means of a foot-rule that the letters which he had previously been observing from afar were indeed a trifle less tall than by contract they should have been. I can truly say, "with my hand on my conscience," as the French put it, that I had not ordered the letters to be made a shade smaller than they should have been with the slightest intention of wounding the feelings or damaging the interests either of Mdme. Adelina Patti or of Signor Nicolini. The printers had not followed my directions so precisely as they ought to have done. In order to conciliate the offended prima donna and her irritated spouse, I caused the printed name of that most charming vocalist, Mdlle. Nevada, to be operated upon in this way: a thin slice was taken out of it transversely, so that the middle stroke of the letter E disappeared altogether. When I pointed out my revised version of the name to Signer Nicolini in order to demonstrate to him that he was geometrically wrong, he replied to me with a puzzled look as he pointed to the letters composing the name of Nevada: "Yes; but there is something very strange about that E."