SAN CARLO. 



expects to receive a gratuity of three grains (about five farthings 

 English) for his trouble : in case you are labouring under a fit of 

 economy or meanness, he can have his revenge : for the bottom 

 cushion of the chair is his property, or at any rate, his perquisite, 

 and if the three grains are not forthcoming, it is in his power to walk 

 oft' with the cushion under his arm, thus leaving you seated on a level 

 six or seven inches below the rest of the audience, A capital posi- 

 tion that, for seeing the ballet! 



The half ticket thus formally delivered to the spectator by the 

 usher of the theatre, gives him the fee simple of the chair for the rest 

 of the night. He may lounge about the lobbies during the whole of 

 the performance, and only show himself to hear some popular ana, 

 or peep at the movements of some favourite dancer. No one would 

 venture to possess himself of this tenement in possession, or if he do, 

 he must vacate, immediately that he beholds the magical scrap of 

 paper. If some very extraordinary attraction should induce the 

 management to issue a greater number of tickets than that of chairs, 

 " Posto in Piedi," i. e. " place only for standing" is printed in large 

 letters on the top of the supernumerary billets ; so that you cannot 

 complain of an inconvenience, which you have incurred with your 

 eyes open. The price of tickets varies according to circumstances: 

 on grand nights, when the Royal family is sure to be present, and 

 there is an illuminuzione , the admission money is treble the usual 

 amount. 



In all cases, the cheapest plan is to go to the Cafe d'ltalia, just at 

 the beginning of the Strada Toledo, if you can contrive to make 

 your way through the crowd of over-civil and wonderfully subservient 

 gentlemen, who are always collected round its doors, and purchase 

 from one of the waiters there, the ticket of some Privileggiato, who 

 either cannot go himself, or who prefers the sight of the money, to 

 that of the spectacle. Take care, however, that the said waiter does 

 not suspect you to be an Englishman. If you can pass for a French- 

 man, you will find that you have achieved a wondrous saving of grains 

 and carline, at the end of a very short course of opera-going. The 

 middle, i. e. the best rows in the pit, are appropriated to the military ; 

 but a little management will procure a seat in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of these gentlemen, if not in the very centre of their society. 

 It may be as well to state, that no wise man would, at Naples, breathe 

 the slightest disapprobation of any thing which concerns San Carlos. 

 Great is the Diana of the Ephesians ! and every stranger, who 

 sojourneth there for a while, must at least pro tempore become an 

 idolater. 



Such a theatre, and such an audience, demand, as an immediate 

 consequence of their very nature, a supply of actors and actresses 

 endued with corresponding powers. And here it is that we trace the 

 intimate relation that existed between the late Madame Malibran 

 and the theatre of San Carlo. Elsewhere, her great talents were ad- 

 mired and applauded, as a matter of course : here, they were abso- 

 lutely necessary. There is but one San Carlo, there was but one 

 Malibran, without whom its perfect orchestra, its life-like scenery, 

 its glowing decorations, its deep azure circuit, and its star-studded 



