When we reached this point in the play, Benvenuto had already done a good deal of singing, and this scene with its violence seemed certain to exceed the strength of the most valiant artist.

In connection with our _Proserpine_, I have been accused of supposing that Vacquerie had genius.

It would be too much to say that he had genius, but he certainly had great talent.

His prose showed a classical refinement, and his poetry, in spite of fantastic passages which no one could admire, was sonorous in tone, contained precious material, and was both interesting and highly individual.

What allured me in _Proserpine_ was the amount of inner emotion there was in the drama, which is very advantageous to the music.