composer, and certainly Balfe's most popular inspiration. At the close
of the ballad Manuel appears, and is granted an audience, in which he
informs her of the meeting with the peasant girl and boy, and declares
his belief that they were the Queen and Carmen. She ridicules the
statement, and a very funny trio buffo ensues ("I'm not the Queen, ha,
ha!"). He then informs her of the conspirators' plot to imprison her,
but she thwarts it by inducing a silly and pompous old Duchess to
assume the rôle of Queen for the day, and ride to the palace closely
veiled in the royal carriage. The plot succeeds, and the Duchess is
seized and conveyed to a convent. In the next scene there is another
spirited buffo number, in which Don Pedro and Don Florio are mourning
over the loss of their peasant girl, when, greatly to their relief,
she enters again, singing a very quaint and characteristic scena ("I'm
but a simple Peasant Maid"), which rouses the suspicions of the
conspirators. They are all the more perplexed when the Queen announces
herself, and declares her intention of marrying the muleteer.

The last act opens with a song by Carmen ("Though Love's the greatest
Plague in Life"), which falls far below the excellence of the other
songs in the work. It is followed by a buffo duet between Carmen and
Florio, who agree to marry. The Queen and ladies enter, and the former
sings a bravura air ("Oh, joyous, happy Day!"), which was intended by
the composer to show Miss Pyne's vocal ability. At this point a
message is brought her from Don Sebastian, announcing his marriage.
Enraged at the discovery that the muleteer is not Don Sebastian, she
severely upbraids him, and he replies in another exquisite ballad
("'Twas Rank and Fame that tempted thee"). At its close she once more
declares she will be true to the muleteer. Don Pedro is delighted at
the apparent success of his scheme, as he believes he can force her to
abdicate if she marries a muleteer, and gives vent to his joy in a