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Garden Opera, during the Pyne-Harrison management, and achieved his first great success in the part of Rhineberg in Vincent Wallace's opera of "Lurline," in March, 1860. He created so favourable an impression in this character that he took rank as one of the most effective barytones of the day. His career, especially since he attached himself exclusively to the Italian operatic stage, on the boards of which he has distinguished himself in most of the great capitals of Europe, has been very successful. His voice is as remarkable for its quality as for the extent of its register, in the upper part of which it partakes of a pure tenore robusto, while in the lower portion it displays the rich qualities of the basso profondo. In Gounod's opera of "Faust," Mr. Santley performed in the same season the parts of Valentin and Mephistopheles, with triumphant success.

SARDOU, Victorien, the celebrated French dramatist, is son of M. Léandre Sardou, a professor at Paris, and the compiler of several publications. He was born in Paris Sept. 7, 1831. At first he studied medicine, but he was obliged, in consequence of the embarrassments of his family, to give private lessons in history, philosophy, and mathematics. He also made attempts in literature, writing articles for several reviews, for the minor journals, and for the "Dictionnaire de la Conversation." His first comedy, "La Taverne des Ètudiants," was brought out at the Odéon April 1, 1854, and proved a complete failure. In the year 1857 M. Sardou was in a state of abject poverty and extreme distress. He was living in a garret, and was prostrated by an attack of typhoid fever; but a neighbour, Mdlle. de Brécourt, nursed him with tender care during his illness, from which he slowly recovered. He married this young woman in the following year, and by her he was introduced to Mademoiselle Déjazet, who had just established the theatre which was named after her. M. Sardou, undeterred by his former failure, now turned his attention again to dramatic composition, and quickly built up for himself a brilliant reputation. Nine years later he was in possession of a handsome fortune and a European renown, when a gloom was temporarily cast over his career by the death of his devoted wife (1867). M. Sardou's earlier pieces were performed at the Théâtre Déjazet, viz.:—"Les premières Armes de Figaro," Sept. 27, 1859; "Monsieur Garat," April 30, 1860; and "Les Prés-Saint-Gervais," April 24, 1862. "Monsieur Garat" was one of the most prolonged successes of the little theatre, and "Les Prés-Saint-Gervais," transformed into an opera-bouffe, was afterwards brought out at the Théâtre des Variétés, and also, in an English version, at the Criterion Theatre, London. M. Sardou has since produced a large number of dramatic pieces in rapid succession. Several of his contemporaries have not hesitated to accuse him of plagiarism, and to assert that he composes rapidly because he is not at all scrupulous as to the sources from which he borrows his ideas. Subjoined is a list of his other works, with the dates of their first representation:—"Les Gens nerveux" (Palais Royal, Nov. 4, 1859); "Les Pattes de Mouche" (Gymnase, May 15, 1860); "Les Femmes Fortes" (Vaudeville, Dec. 31, 1860); "L'Écureuil," under the pseudonym of Carle (Vaudeville, Feb. 9, 1861); "Piccolino " (Gymnase, July 18, 1861); "Nos Intimes," one of his most briUiaiit successes (Vaudeville, Nov. 16, 1861); "La Papillonne" (Théâtre-Français, April 11, 1862), a piece which was unfavourably received; "La Perle noire" (Gymnase, April 12, 1862); "Les Ganaches" (same theatre, Oct. 29, 1862); "Batailles d'Amour," a comic opera in three acts, written in conjunction with M. Daclin (Opéra-Comique,