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Italian Opera.—Catalani.
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away from home dming the day; whilst the dinner-party, commencing at seven or eight, frequently did not break up before one in the morning. There were then four and even five bottle men; and the only thing that saved them was drinking very slowly, and out of very small glasses. The learned head of the law. Lord Eldon, and his brother. Lord Stowell, used to say that they had drunk more bad port than any two men in England; indeed, the former was rather apt to be overtaken, and to speak occasionally somewhat thicker than natural, after long and heavy potations. The late Lords Panmure, Dufferin, and Blayney, wonderful to relate, were six bottle-men at this time; and I really think that if the good society of 1815 could appear before their more moderate descendants, in the state they were generally reduced to after dinner, the moderns would pronounce their ancestors fit for nothing but bed.


The Italian Opera.—Catalani.—The greatest vocalist of whom I have a recollection, is Madame Catalani. In her youth, she was the finest singer in Europe, and she was much sought after by all the great people during her séjour in