Katherine Tofts, who made her debut in Clayton's "Arsinoe, Queen of
Cyprus," about 1702, was the first dramatic songstress of English birth,
and is described by Colley Cibber as a beautiful woman with a clear,
silvery-toned, flexible soprano. Her professional career brought her
fortune as well as fame, but was short-lived. In the height of her bloom
her reason gave way, and although judicious treatment restored it for a
time, she did not return to the stage. As the wife of Mr. Joseph Smith,
art connoisseur and collector of rare books and prints, she went to
Venice, where her husband was British Consul, and lived in much state
until, her malady returning, it became necessary to seclude her.
Wandering through the garden of her home she fancied herself the queen
of former days. Steele, in the "Tattler," attributes her disorder to her
stage habit of absorbing herself in imaginary great personages.
While Mrs. Tofts reigned in Clayton's opera, Signora Francesca Margarita
de l'Epine, a native of Tuscany, sang Italian airs before and after it.
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