harp: though not timid of her powers, yet unused to perform among strangers, her heart palpitated; she looked instinctively towards Valpée, whom she knew to be a connoisseur, as contemplative and silent he stood by her side.
The piece she had selected possessed a flute accompaniment, and to encourage her, Valpée took his instrument and joined its soft mellow cadence with the full reverberating tones of the enchanting harp. In the concord of sweet sounds thus produced by Valpée, Oriana by degrees lost the consciousness of self, and, her soul became rapt by the influence of harmony. Valpée instantaneously paused in his accompaniment to listen to the low and deep, the full and soft expression given to the air by the incomparable skill of Oriana; he felt his assistance was unnecessary. No one was more skilled in the theory as well as the practical part of music than himself; he well knew how to discriminate and mark with due distinction the separate beauties of every composer; he admired the brilliancy of Dussek, he deeply felt the pathos of Mozart, but the grandeur of Haydn thrilled upon his every nerve.
The piece that Oriana was executing possessed science, but was not the less embellished by taste. The variety of her tones, the energy of her style,
