116 — To R. C. Dallas

February 22, 1809.

A

cut at the opera. —

Ecce signum!

from last night's observation, and inuendos against the Society for the Suppression of Vice

1

.

The

lines will come well in after the couplets concerning Naldi and Catalani

2

!



Yours truly,

Byron

.

Footnote 1:

 See

English Bards, etc.

, lines 618-631,

note

1, for the "cut at the opera." The piece which provoked the outburst was

I Villegiatori Rezzani

, at the King's Theatre, February 21, 1809. Guiseppe Naldi (1770-1820) made his

début

in London, at the King's Theatre, in April, 1806. (For further details, see

English Bards, etc.

, line 613,

2.) Angelica Catalani, born at Sinigaglia, in 1779, or, according to some authorities, 1785, came out at Venice, in an opera by Nasolini. She sang in many capitals of Europe, married at Lisbon a French officer named Vallabrègue, and came to London in October, 1806. The salary paid her was a cause of the O. P. riots at Covent Garden in 1809, when one of the cries was, "No foreigners! No Catalani!" A series of caricatures, one set by Isaac Cruikshank, and several medals, commemorate the riots. Madame Catalani died at Paris in 1849.


return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

 See

English Bards, etc.

, lines 632-637.

return

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