The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-14 00:00:00

IMO The Art Journal for this month contains two en gravings—" Job and his Friends " and " Morton the Dramatist"—rather inferior in execution to the usual style of engravings in this periodical. A third engraving is after a fruit piece by Lance. The lite rary papers contain the usual amount of information upon art, not the least interesting among which is a pleasant chatty letter from " Florentia" upon the " Studios of Rome." A new magazine appears this month under the head of the Statist, professedly devoted to the ma thematical examination of social statistics. " The " application," states the preface, " of scientific for• " mulai to the reduction of facts to averages has " hitherto been very limited . . . . and it is intended " that the Statist shall be specially devoted to such " objects, and be the medium between the classes " requiring such information and the professors of " the science." The first number contains Part I. of the " Statistics of Violent Death," in which it is singular to observe how the mortality from suicide in males increases with advancing years. Between the age of fifteen to twenty-tour, deaths from suicide are 1 in 10,393, and the rate advances till, between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-five, it is 1 in every 1,903. There are other papers on "Cholera Statistics," "Health and Longevity," and "Hospital Statistics," but they are incomplete ; and it appears to us a mistake to insert so little matter upon one subject. The plan of the periodical is good, and, with careful management, will no doubt command support. Sabina ; a Sicilian Tale. By John Brampton Philpot. London : Saunders and Otley. A TALE of the Sicilian vespers, containing the orthodox hero, a knight pious and valiant, who is in love with the no less orthodox heroine, a countess, young and artless. Their love does not run smoothly, the villain of the story, a recreant knight, perpetually trying to abduct the heroine against her will and pleasure. The following extract is a fair sample of the style in which the book is composed. We must premise that Adriano, the hero, has just rescued Sabina, the heroine, from the wicked designs of the villain, Count Juvainco:i. The faithful guide who has led them safely through an impenetrable forest has just disappeared in the undercover, and Adriano is left alone with his lady love To pause on their progress after being left to themselves seems superfluous ; to linger with them through scenes whose beauty formed no attraction, or whose diversity drew from them no remark, may be considered tedious and tiring. The gentle reader is already acquainted with their hearts, and can picture with greater truth; can conjure up in his or her imagination the varied and complex emotions that such moments iu such a situation could produce with far greater force than description can zonvey• . . • • For some time they rode on in silence. It might be that Adriano was merely collecting, arranging, and putting into some definite form and order his ideas, thoughts, feelings, and plans, culling the choicest, most fitting, and best a his s a first offering to his love She noticed not silence, her heart was too full of gratitude • the pearly drops glistened among the jetty fringes of her dark eyes, her lips parted, and a deep sigh only escaped. From this the reader may form his own judgment of the style and matter of Mr. Philpot's Sicilian tale. Pigeons and Rabbits in their Wild, Domestic, and Captive States. By Sebastian Delamar. Lon don : Routledge and Co. A thoroughly practical treatise upon the care and management, varieties, and diseases of pigeons and rabbits an d concluding with a no les s p ractical appendix upon the art of cooking them. The illus trations are correct and spirited. Food for My Flock. By the Rev. T. Goodwin Hatchard, M.A. London : Hatchard. THESE sermons were preached in Havant Church by its rector. They are distinguished by a tenderness of tone which sometimes becomes too sentimental. But the feeling displayed throughout the volume is genuine, and in discourses addressed to mixed con• gregations the purely intellectual should not exclu sively predominate. Mr. Hatoliard's style is smooth and graceful, and well adapted for the purpose of ex citing pious emotions. Eloquent in expounding the consolations of the gospel, he knows how to elevate those minds that are dejected by worldly affliction. The volume is published at the request of his parishioners, and the compliment is well merited. PUULICATIONS RECEIVED. The Baltic : its Gates, Shores, and Cilia.. Rev. Thomas Milner, M.A. F.R.G.S. Longman. Gleanings from Piccadilly to Peres. John Oldmizon, Esq., C omm ander R.N. Ditto. Lit.'s of the English Poets. Samuel Johnson. Murray. The Deer-slayei . Routledge. Oak Openings. Ditto. Poona. W. B. Scott. Smith and Elder. Dream of Pythagoras. Minns and Goodwin. The Vicar of Wakefield. Grant and Griffiths. Principles of Church Authority. Rev . R. I. Wilberforce. Longman. THE PRESS. lilt puma. PRINCESS'S THEATRE. This theatre opened for the season on Monday even ing. The performances commenced with an original comedietta, by Mr. Troughton, in one act, entitled Living too Fast, and a new drama, in three acts, A Heart of Gold, by Douglas Jerrold. The comedietta is a light piece, intended to depict the embarrass ments that sometimes fall upon a young married couple, who spend their first year's time arid money in amusement and indulgence. Mr. Lacy and Miss Murray played 'he young couple with great ease and spirit, and contributed much by their acting to the success of the piece. The more important drama of the evening was that of Mr. Douglas Jerrold which followed. Choos ing a period of about a hundred years ago, the author has laid the scenes of his drama in London and in Essex. The story is simple, and relates to the re jection of one John Dymond, a rich Essex yeoman, by Maude Nutbrown, a village belle, who loves spoor man, Pierce Thanet. Maude's father, a selfish, ava • ricious,yethospitablo old farmer, encourages Dymond because he is rich, and hates Thanet because he is poor, uses all his influence to induce Maude to marry Dymond, and forbids her having any intercourse with Pierce Thanet. But Maude is true to her lover, Pierce, who goes to London to seek his for tune. Dymond, maddened with Maude's continued rejection of all his offers, wanders to London with the intention of going abioad, and meets Maude and her father, who have come up to London too. Dymond makes a last attempt to secure Maude's affection by a magnificent present of jewels, which she returns, and frankly tells him that her heart is engaged. Worn out in body and mind, Dymond, who is passionately fond of Maude, falls seriously ill, and, feeling that death is at hand, he sends hurriedly for the son of an old and valued friend, Pierce Thanet, and to him leaves the bulk of his wealth, enjoining him at the same time to make gold the god of his idolatry, and then to all appearance dies. Pierce Thanet, now a rich man, is eagerly accepted by Maude's father as her intended husband. They all return to their village to prepare the funeral of poor Dymond, and the marriage of Pierce and Maude. But Dymond does not die, and suddenly appears at the village inn, overhears the plans for the marriage, finds that he himself has been the positive means of his rival's successs, and, furious at the thought, dis covers himself and reclaims his gift. Pierce, aware that the possession of this wealth is his only chance of obtaining Maude's hand from her obdurate father, refuses to restore the given property, which Maude overhearing, she, disgusted with her lover's dishonourable action, discards him for ever, and in a moment, forgetting years of love and affection, rows herself into the. arms of Dymond, who, in her th eyes, now appears as a martyr to generosity and honour able feeling. The third and last act brings on a cri sis. Maude soon finds, as most women would, that she has acted hastily, that her love for Pierce is too deep to be obliterated, that friendship is all she feels for Dymond, while Pierce, on his part, reflects upon his ill doings, repents and returns his uneasy burden of wealth to Dymond, who is compelled to hear from Maude's own lips that she does not love him, and is finally left in the unpleasant situation of seeing the woman he loves quietly marrying his more fortunate rival. The moral of this drama is against an insatiable love of gold, a due punishment for the love of which, more or less, falls upon the heads of all concerned. Maude is the " heart of gold," though it would be more appropriate to denominate her as a " heart above gold ;" but the heart of a young lady that changes three separate times between two men looks prinid facie very like a heart of some baser metal, the owner of which has acted more from caprice than principle. The inconsistencies of character in this drama are very glaring. John Dymond, a generous, charitable man, is made to express his dying injunctions in words that would far better become the character of a selfish old miser than an Essex yeoman; and then the idea of a man travelling about the country a hundred years ago with a small box of 1,000 guineas in his pocket, and an Essex yeo man buying a three-hundred guinea bracelet for a young lady, and, without having paid for it, throwing it into the Thames because she refused to keep it. And again, it is most improbable that Maude would in a moment promise to marry Dymond, a man for whom she had no particular regard, because her own old lover refused to Lonimit an act that would deprive him for years of the opportunity of marrying her. Her woman's kind nature would have told her that he did not so much value the money for itself as for what it gave to him in her, and, however much she might have failed in persuading him to do a disagreeable duty, she would scarcely have married his rival. In spite of brilliant little bits of dialogue .1 and repartee, the interest of the piece is not well sustained, and, unfortunately, the characters are • SATTJAPAY; not uniformly well supported. Miss Heath, - as s ' Maude Nutbrown, was certainly admirahle for the genuine feeling she displayed, and the per fectly natural manner in which she sustained th e character. Her description of Loudon was given with. such happy animation, and iu such buoyant spirits . that, it seemed, could scarcely AO words to express all . the wonders she had seen. She did perfect justice tq. this choice bit of writing by the author. Mr. Addi,: son's lamer Nutbrown was a very good, homel .. piece of acting. Miss Murray, as Molly Bindle, t evidently takes a popular a&tress for her model, while the part of Michaelmas would• suit Buckstone better than Mr. Fisher. Mr. Ryder, as John Dymond, exag. gerates the character too much : no doubt a distracted lover is a difficult part to play, but an Essex yemnaix would not be so artificially melodramatic in the ex pression of his passion. The anise en seine was perfect, and the play on the whole was successful, but, beyond the first night, the house has been but thinly attended. The performances concluded with The Halt of the Ballet, a pretty and successful diver tissement. Mr. Charles Kean makes his first appear ance next Wednesday, in The Courier of Lyons. AD LPHI. Mn. MORRIS BARNETT has this week proved his ver satility of talent by giving a striking delineation of French character, as the Marquis de Grandville, in Mr. Lunn's popular version of Les vieux Fiches, better known by the name of Capers and Coronets ? Originally a dancer at the Grand Opera, though inheriting his title from the death of a brother, the marquis is incessantly pursued in all his adventures with distressing reminiscences of his earlier life, which painfully embarrass him; and, when at length he is irresistibly led to accompany a danseuse in the execution of a grand pas, Mr. Baruett's acting was one of the most perfect exhibitions we have wit nessed. In the second piece, The Station House, his impersonation of the modern Frenchman, with short hair and long beard, though less im portant as a character than that of the Marquis de Grandville, was scarcely less perfect as a portrait. Mrs. Keeley, who in Capers and Coronets acted the danseuse, was of course a most efficient addition to the strength of the cast. The OLYMPIC opened on Monday evening, under the management of Mr. Wigan. The performances consisted of A Match in the Dark, Hush 41Iancy, and Perfect Confidence. Mr. and Mrs. Wigan, and the popular favourites, were received with great applause, and the house, which has been thoroughly cleaned and repaired, was very fully attended. HAYMARKET.—The Spanish dancers have at length terminated their engagement at this theatre, and their place is now supplied by Mr. Wright, who has appeared in some of his most popular characters during the week. ST. JAMES'S.—The King's Rival still continues to attract at this house, and other novelties are pro mised. The MABYLEBONZ opened on Saturday evening last, under the management of Mr. William Wallack, for the performance of the higher class of drama, and inaugurated the season with the play of As You like It. The acting throughout was highly satisfactory. Mrs. Wallack as Rosalind, and Mr. Wallack as Jacques, both sustained their parts with talent; and Miss Cleveland was an interesting Celia. The scenery and decorations were judicious and effective, and the house was well Ailed with a highly respect able audience. T HE SANDWICH ISLANDS are to b e admitted forth with as a State among the United States, on the pay ment of annuities to the King, his sons, and coun cillors, the purchase of the Government buildings, and the assumption of the debts due to the French and English Governments. The whole advan he mo ney will not exceed probably 800,0001. Th annexation is put forward as a master-stroke of Presi dent Pearce's policy, though the States' represen tative, Mr. Gregg, who owns property in the capital, Honolulu, deserves all the credit of the transaction. THE RECRUITING FOR THE ROYAL ARTILLERY, 1.0 the number of 2,000 men, has been closely followed up both at home and in Ireland, where the service has always been popular. The authorities there have reduced the standard heig ht to 5 ft. 64 in., and is a bounty of St. 15s. 6d. The large howitzer, weighing 64 tons, being mounted at the Royal Arse nal, 'Woolwich, on a solid bed, for service on board a war-steamer, is destined for the Baltic fleet. The spherical solid shot it discharges is upwards of 100 lb. weight, and it could breach the stoutest niason.ry. ON the Ist January, 1855, the official inauguration of the Calcutta Rail wa y will be solemnised, middle line will be opened to Itaneegunge, which lies distant 122 miles from Calcutta. The prese nt rate of travel ling on the section used between Hourah and Pun dooan is as nearly as possible thirty miles an hour, and there is already a marked increase in the goods tra ffic, consisting principally of provisions, suice the railway was opened in August last.