The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-02 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 2, 1858. house. " The Light on the Hearth " concludes, as it began, in an interesting style, but a somewhat stem der substratum of story. The article on ballad poetry is a tasteful literary essay, and agreeably diversifies the number. Fraser this month is about an average number. It commences with a ghost story by Whyte Melville — rather pointless. Then wo have a capital account of the murder of two women by a priest in Germany in 1803; then a lively memoir of Mr. Ford. The in • stalment of the serial is much as usual. We have never admired " Hanworth " from its commence ment, and the present number has wrought no change in our opinions. "Hints for Vagabonds" is a very amusing article. The following bit is perhaps rather too funny, but still it is ingeniously quaint. It is the description of a village band by the Moselle : After a little yon perceive that the conductor is in some thing the same position as the huntsman of a scratch pack of hounds; the dogs, as individuals, are good dogs , but there is a ittle ton much individuality among them. They threw off gallantly, and dashed out of cover in a style that could scarcely be surpassed by the Royal Italian or Mr. Costa's pack ; and while the scent is strong over the open ing movement, they keep well together. But before long there are unmistakeable signs of an impending check. First Cornet all but throws up. Bass-viol shows a disposition to run hare after a tune of his own. Sax horn scarcely acknowledges the scent; but Clarionet holds to it steadily, and the conductor caps them on for another burst. Fortunately, here they come on a fine stretch of low movement, and work beautifully together. A little lot of allegro intervenes, which they go at breast high, and get over capitally. But at the other side they are at fault ligain. That inveterate skirter Trombone is at his old tricks. Little Piccolo, a giddy young thing, is running heel wildly. Conductor is desperate ; he taps his desk madly. All seems lost. But no ; old Clarionet has it still ; good old dog, he never gave gave it up ; he flourishes a bit—he breaks away. Hark to Clarionet ! Off they go once more, and run into the finale with a crash. Then all clear out, and dancing sets in severely all over the town. Every house that has a floor and a fiddler becomes an extempore Almack's. Of the remaining articles there are none of any striking excellence. "The Political Pulpit of the Civil War " is very well ; " How I Killed a Cariboo " much the same. "Du Berths "is a curious literary essay, and "British Columbia and Vancouver" is a careful and readable paper enough. Although the Dublin University Magazine is generally well written, it is from some cause or anather less interesting than it twilit to be. In the present number we can only find two articles which in our opinion possess this latter qualification ; they are " Recent Travels in Sardinia " and " Theological Styles." The former we praise because it is a legi• timate "review," and well done. The latter could scarcely fail to be interesting, though shorter and more sketchy than we like. We differ from the author, however, on two points. We can see no humour in Mr. Kingsley ; it is, in fact, just the thing he wants. And we certainly think that Mr. New man's " Romanism " has not spoiled his style ; wit ness his last work on the office and work of univer sities, which contained some exquisite!) , beautiful passages. "Our Foreign Courier" is a nice summary of foreign literature. Bentley and the New Monthly contain their usual tales by the authors of " Ashley " and " Moat Grange," the usual literary articles of Monkshood and Sir Nathaniel, and two or three papers on travel and other foreign subjects. The stories aforesaid are told with remarkable skill, and constitute quite a unique feature in these two magazines. The National Magazine, the Englishwoman's Journal, Davenport Dunn, and the Gordian Knot have all arrived too late to enable us to notice them in our present issue. MESSRS. HURST AND BLACKETT'S NEW PUBLICA• TIONM.—We have received a list of new works issued by this weltknown firm for tho forthcoming season ; which comprises many works of great promise on various literary subjects. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED—SEr. 30. BOOKS. Gunnery i n 1858 ; t h e Newest Improvement in Firearms. By Wm. Greener, C.E.—Smith and Elder. How we are Governed. By A. Fonblanque.—Routledge. The Theory and Practice of Composition for Schools and Private Students. By W. Hunter, LL.D.—Sangster. Tales and Adventures. By J. G. F.—Saunders end Otley. The Life of Charlotte Bronti. By E. C. Gaskell.—Smith and Elder. Paid Ferrol!. A Tale. By the Author of IX. Poems by V." Fourth Edition .— Smith and Elder. Old Gingerbread and the Schoolboys. By the Author of "Uncle Jack," ite —Smith and Elder. Rhymes for Little Ones,—Smith and Elder. Homely Ballads. By Mary Sewell.—Scoith and Elder. The Poetical Works of Robert Story.—Longmsns. Clare, the Goldseeker ; the Elfin Revel ; and Other Poems. By John George Watts.—Groombridge. A New Classical Lexicon of Biography, Mythology, and Geography. By Thomas S. Carr, M.A.—Simpkin and Marshall. The Elements of Social Science. fly a Student of Medicine. —Truelove. A Course of Exercises in German. By Fetich Lebahn, Ph. Dr.—Simpkin and Marshall The Court Journal Register, 1858.—Thomas. The Secret of a Life. By M. M. Bell.—Routledge. Agricultural Chemistry. By A. Sileson.—Routledge. The (Roaming of Life. A Memoir of James Stirling. By the Rev. A. Wallace.—Temperance League, Glasgow. History of Friedrich 11. of Prussia. By Thomas Carlyle. Vole I. and 11.—Chapman and Hall. My Lady. A Tale of Modern Life.—Smith and Elder. Curiosities of Literature. By Isaac Disraeli. Vol 11. Routledge. The Struggles of a Village Lad —Tweedie. Thoughts on Church Matters.—Saunders and Otley. The Atlantic Telegraph. By E. 0. Whitehouse.—Bradbury and Evans. A Reading Party in the Long Vacation —W. Blackwood _ and hone. Father Tom and the Pope.—W. Blackwood and Sons. Tales from " Blackwood."—W. Blackwood and Sons. The Political Eronomist.—Trnelove. • 7'he Lifeboat ; or, Journal of the National Lifeboat Ins fits tion.—C. Knight. PERIODICALS. Roulledqe's Shakespeare. " Measure for Measure." The Westminster Review. The London Review. The National Review. Art Union. Sabbath Evenings : The In/a n ! Son, St. John. By Dr. Itimbault. Parts I. and IL—Hammond. Home, Sweet Home. Transcribed for the Pianoforte. fly G. A. Osborne.—Hammond. Semirarnide. By G. A. Osborne.—Hammond. Il Balen Del Sad Sorriso. By G. A. Osborne.—Hammond. Dal Tuo Stellalo. fly G. A. Osborne.—Hammond. Assur (Airs by Rossini). By G. A. Osborne.—Hammond. Arsace ( Airs by Rossini). By G. A. Osborne.—Hammond. La Grazia, Andantino, pour le Piano. Par W. C. Selle.— Hammond. Cujea Animan. By Roasini.—Hammond. The Bloom upon the Cherry Tree.—D'Altnaine. Itimbault's Opera Music Books for the Pianoforte, without Voices. Nos. 49 and 50.—D'Almnine. Henry's Royal Modern Tutor for the Pianoforte.—D'Almaine The Early Dream. Words by Carpenter, Music by Glover. —Williams. 'Tie the Hour for Music. Ditettino. Words by Carpenter, Music by H. Farmer.—Williams. Sing me a Song of Summer Days. Words by Mrs. Newton Crossland, Music by Mactatren.—Williams. Sunshine and Cloud. Words by Carpenter, Music by _ Peal( Drops. Mazurka ►ur the Pianoforte. By Ricardo - - . L'Espalier de Roses ; Mazurka Brillante. Par Adrien Talexe.—Wilhams. z4e gram a. THE OLYMPIC.—A comedietta by Mr. Wooler, , entitled A Twice-told Tale, was produced for the first time at this theatre on Monday. The title is certainly apposite, for from the day:: of Athelwold and Elfrida down to modern times incident; similar to that oa which the author has founded his plot have not been wanting. Mr. Barnacle Breezeley is by no means the only gentleman who has been commissioned to woo a wife for another, nor was Mr. Percy Gauntlett the exception when he confided a negotiation so deli cate in its nature to his fides achates. Such was the position fortified by precedent of two of the prin cipal parties in this twice-told tale—the prize which both seek and one wins being a lady who is not only undeniably eligible as a match, but perfectly willing to make one. Mr. Breezeley was not a faith ful ambassador. He told Mr. Gauntlett the lady was ugly, and his friend declared off. He vowed to the lady herself she was beautiful, and dropcing his representative character he became one of the con tracting parties to a matrimonial alliance. Retribu tion and his injured friend were, however, about to visit him, and in this awkward dilemma Barnacle was driven to the desperate expedient of passing off Mrs. Breezeley as an unmarried woman, and her friend Miss Mannerly as his own wife. Gauntlett, however, has discovered t::s deception which has been practised upon him, and turns it to a good account by waking violent love to the real Mrs. Breezeley. The husband is distracted by jealousy, which he seeks to drown in copious libations of brandy, while the fair wife by no means relishes the false position in which she is placed. The mental tortures of the modern Athelwold are not, however. destined to last; and when Mr. Percy Gauntlett avows his marriage with Miss Mannerly, whose womanly graces have cap• tivated his heart, and thus leaves his re pentant friend in undisputed possession of his wife, the result was equally satisfactory to all the parties. If this little comedy, like the usual run of such pieces, be wanting in novelty of design, it is treated with a freshness which atones for the defi ciency. The dialogue, which is smartly written and well sustained throughout, renders it extremely 965 diverting, and when the curtain fell the applause of the audience afforded unmistakable evidence of the author's success. Mr. Lewis Ball, as Mr. Barnacle Breezeley, acted the part with spit it, and yet free from exaggeration. Mr. Walter Gordon, as Percy Gaunt lett, Miss Wyndham as his wife, and Miss Hughes the female friend whose opportune presence smoothed away all difficulties, also exerted themselves with effect to give eclat to the piece., which was well put on the stage. THE lisystautET.—The event of the week was the appearance of Miss Eliza Weeks, who has acquired a fair provincial reputation in the character of Mote. Golochard, in The King's Gardener. Possessed of a pleasing manner and good a VOIC3, this young lady will doubtless, when she has acquired greater expe rience, become a favourite with a London audience. The week's programme included several attractive pieces, amongst which was the popular farce, Lend Me Five Shillings, which gives full scope for Mr. Buckstone's inimitable acting in his original cha racter of Mr. Golightly. The house has been there fore well filled on each performance. A new comedy, by Mr. Bayle Bernar.l, is in preparation, and will be immediately produced. THE STRAND.—Mr. Charles Selby, whose produc tive powers as a dramatic writer would app3ar to have no fixed limit, has again achieved a success in a new farce, My Aunt's Husband, which was pro duced on Monday. A certain Mrs. Moulsey Miffins, whose weakness is a love of prying into the domestic concerns of her friends, has come to the conclusion that one of them, a fair widow, has so far forgotten her first husband and the provisions of his will as to have married a Captain Touchwood. She accord ingly communicates her suspicions to Mr. and Mrs. Nettletop, on wham the property enjoyable by the lady during her widowhood would devolve in the event of her re-marriage. The author has masked a keen satire on matrimonial life, when he makes the bickerirlgs of Captain Touchwood and his lady the basis on which Mrs. Moulsey Miffins grounds her doubts. With such an object to feed their rapacity, the Nettletops adopt every available means to make the grand discovery, but they are defeated by the counterplots of the gallant captain himself, aided by Mr. Nettletop's own man, Sniggers, whose admiration for Mrs. Touchwood's maid, Kitty Crinoline, is superior to his devotion to his master's interests. The state of dread and hope as to the con sequence of a revelation which could not long be de laced however, happily put an end to by the dis covery of a second will which left the lady whose fortune was aimed at as the prize of her rapacious relatives free to marry whom and when she pleased. The piece was very cleverly acted throughout, and the drolleries of Mr. Clarke as the eccentric footman, and the smartness of Miss M. Ternan as the ready-witted soubrette, kept the audience in roars of laughter. Miss Swanborongh as the lady whose energies were directed to toil the attacks of her grasping relatives, and Mr. Swanhorough as her military spouse, also materially contributed to the success which this last of many novelties unmistakably achieved. THE PRINCESS'S.—Mr. Charles Kean, after a brief repose from the onerous duties of his successful management, will reopen this evening with the farce of Dying for Lore, to be followed by The Merchant of Venice, one of the best of the Shaksperian " revivals ^ at this popular and fashionable house. Amongst the theatrical events of the week, we note the reopening of the SURREY for the winter season, under the enterprizing management of Messrs. Shepherd and Creswick. Mr. Dalby has contri buted to the scenic decorations a new drop-curtain painted in imitation of white satin. The inaugura tion of the season was marked by the production of no less than three new pieces—The Branded Race, a tragic drama, by Mr. Wooler ; a melodrama, entitled Harold Hawk, or the Convict's Vengeance, by Mr. Selby ; and a capital farce by Mr. Bruton, under the taking title of What's your Game ? The Lyceum still trusts to Extremes, or Men of the Day ; with the ballet of The Rendezvous, which we have already noticed. And at Drury Lane the Pyne and Harrison company continue the attractions of Eng lish opera. Vublic lmusentents. THU: CRYSTAL PALACE.—The brilliant assembly which gathered at the Crystal Palace on Tuesday, when Mile. Piccolomini bade a farewell to England, previous to her departure for the United States, marked the unceasing flow of that popular enthu siasm which greeted the advent of the fair songstress amongst all lovers of Italian song in this country. On her first appearance, and again when she made , Y