The Press. — London, England, 1854-12-23 00:00:00

1226 PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. Studies from Nature. Dr. H. Masins. Chapman and Hall. C. Boner. Ditto. Jerusalem Revisited. W. H Bartlett. Hall and Virtue. 4 Boy's Adventures in Australia. W. Howitt. Ditto. The Old Chelsea Bun-House. Ditto. The Daily Life. Rev. J. Cumming, D.D. Ditto. Lyrics of the Heart and Mind. M. F. Tupper. Ditto. Athens and Attica. C. Wordsworth, D.D. Murray. Dictionary of Italian Painters. Ditto. The Englishwoman in Russia. Ditto. Handbook for Young Painters. C. R. Leslie, R. A. Ditto. History of British Guiana. H. U. Dalton. Longman and Co Life of Nicholas I. F. Mayne. Ditto• The War; or, Voices from the Ranks. ltoutledge• PAMPHLETS. ka Fleur et la Feuilk. Translated by Le Chevalier de Chatelain. Jeffs. Rejected Addresses. J. and H. Smith. Murray. Notes from Life. H. Taylor. Ditto. The Conduct of the if A Speech by the Right Hon. S. Herbert, M.P. Ditto. The Death Ride. W. Marston. Mitchell. Af/tna and Other Poems. R. C. Trench. J. W. Parker and Son. The Treasury of Rampsinilus. J. S. Phillips, ➢1 A. Bogue. The Philosophy of Evidence. W. Williams Ridgway. MR. WARREN'S MISCELLANIES. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PRESS." Sir,—l have been equally surprised and concerned by your strong observations in your last week's num ber on the publication of Sir Walter Scott's letter to me in my " Miscellanies." You say that it was " most unpardonable to print a letter which, if only " from compassion to a great man's failings, ought " never to have seen the light. . . . To us it is " evident that Mr. Warren has published it from " much the same kind of animus that would lead a " callous operator to exhibit a tumour which he had " cut from a great man's body." I beg to disclaim being actuated by such motives ; and lament that any one can seriously imagine me capable of acting thus by one whose memory I vene rate as that of incomparably the greatest genius of the age in which I have lived. I published the letter bolely because I thought it so illustrative, as I !Mated, of Sir Walter Scott's " good nature and con descension." Ido not enter upon the vexed ques tion as to the validity of the right exercised by that great writer of denying the authorship of a work which he desired not to be known as written by himself. I remember who has said, "Let your corn " munication he Yea, yea ; Nay, nay ; for whatsoever "is more than these, cometh of evil." But I venture to ask you if, when you penned your Revere strictures, you were aware of Sir Walter Scott having deliberately avowed and vindicated what he had done, not to me only, but to so many others, in his " General Preface" to the Waverley novels ? There you will find the following remarkable passage; to the last sentence in which I beg particularly to point your attention : My desire to remain concealed, in the character of the author of these novels, subjected me occasionally to awkward embarrassments, as it sometimes happened that those who were sufficiently intimate with me would put the question in direct terms. In this case, only one of three courses could be followed. Either I must have surrendered my secret, or have returned an equivocating answer,—or, finally, must have stoutly and boldly denied the fact. The first was a sacrifice which I conceived no one had a right to force from me, since I alone was con cerned in the matter. The alternative of rendering a doiibtffil answer must have left me open to the degrading suspicion that I was not unwilling to assume the merit (if there was any) which I dared not absolutely lay claim to; or those who might think more justly of me must have received such an equivocal answer as an indireot avowal. I therefore considered myself entitled, like an accrued person put upon trial, to refuse giving my own evidence to my own conviction, and flatly to deny all that could not be proved against me. You have printed in italics Sir Walter Scott's de nial of the authorship of his novels, but I had not. Nay, I had considered whether I should omit the sentence; but it was so connected with the previous and succeeding sentences that I determined not to do so, as it would be a liberty which I did not feel authorised by literary licence to take. I thought, besides, that Sir Walter Scott's avowal and vindica tion of his denial were equally notorious with the denial itself. Finally, when I spoke of the letter as " an evi " dance of the extraordinary good nature and con " descension of that great writer to an unknown cor " respondent, a mere boy," I think it is going a great way to charge me with representing Sir Walter Scott's denial of the authorship of his novels as " creditable to his character," and to express your self as " very sorry for the deadness of my moral " perceptions." I made no allusion whatever to that denial, and porposely assigned reasons for lauding the letter, altogether independent of such denial. THE PRESS. I should not have troubled you with this letter—a course I never before adopted—but for the uniform faithfulness and ability which I have observed in your literary criticisms, which have, moreover, been always so kind and flattering to myself.—l have the honour to be, sir, your faithful servant, SAMUEL WARREN. Inner Temple, Dec. 21, 1854. [We are bound to accept Mr. Warren's disclaimer of any intention to give painful prominence to the great blot in Scott's character by the publication of the letter alluded to, and he must allow us to retain our opinion on the im propriety of publishing it. We were perfectly aware of Sir Walter's vindication of his falsehood ; but a great mind, when warped to wrong, seldom descends to gratui tous shame, and we must confess that we know no in stance in which Scott, with so little reason, volunteered a direct and deliberate denial of his authorship of the novels. We did not, as Mr. Warren supposes, represent him to say that the denial was creditable to Scott's character, which would have been incorrect, but that the letter on the whole was creditable to his character, which, we think, the praise given to it for good•nature and condescension justifies. Mr. Warren expresses no opinion on the validity of Scott's defence. We are sorry that on this point his trumpet should give an uncertain sound, because, if direct falsehood is to be excused by every petty motive of con venience, interest, or whim, the obligations of truth would be altogether set aside ; the words of men, even of those who stood highest for social position and character, would meet with no belief, and falsehood would defeat its own ends by generating universal incredulity.] usit. THE SACRED Henn°rue Socirry has commenced its winter season within the last few weeks, with one performance of Deborah, and two of The Messiah. The Messiah, performed with a powerful cast, including Mme. Clara Novello, Miss Dolby, Sims Reeves, and Herr Formes, is too well known to need description, but the evident failure of the attempt to introduce Deborah calls for remark. This oratorio was composed in 1733, and brought out in the same year at the King's Theatre at the special desire of George II.; but, notwithstanding the royal patronage under which it was ushered into the world, Deborah does not appear to have met with any success, for after a few presentations we cease to hear of it; and at present, with the exception of a single air and one or two choruses, it is almost entirely unknown to the musical public. The causes of this neglect are various: the poem composed by Pelham Humphreys, at the express desire of Handel, surpasses even librettos in feebleness ; the oratorio itself is poor in airs, and the recitative out of all proportion to the rest of the work, which depends for its attractive ness entirely upon the choruses, of which, though a few would have done honour to the composer in the fulness of his fame and powers, the majority are rendered tedious and uninteresting by conven tionalisms whioh the creator of Israel and The Messiah was unable to cast aside. The subject is taken from the Book of Judges. The parts of Deborah and Abinoam on the late performance were effectively filled by Mme. Clara Novello and Herr Formes, the latter fully meriting the encore which, in defiance of etiquette, was unanimously accorded to him in the pathetic air, "Tears such as tender fathers shed," an air which to most persons has hitherto represented, and we much fear will still continue to represent, the entire oratorio of Deborah. The part of Barak was hardly suited to the conscien tious and unobtrusive style of Miss Dolby ; she lacked the energy requisite to produce a full effect in such airs as " All danger disdaining," and "In the battle," ctc. And hence one principal reason why Deborah failed upon this occasion. In addition to its weakness as an oratorio, we had one of the prin cipal warlike characters ineffectively sustained by a gentle woman who found it physically impossible to throw that force and energy into words that breathed the fire and fury of a war god. Of the orchestra and choruses every praise may be repeated ; and, though the magnificent opening choruses were executed in a manner which left nothing to be desired, yet Deborah was felt to be a failure, as much perhaps on this occa sion from the weakness of execution of certain cha racters as from any inherent feebleness of its own. Sr MARTIN'S-HALL.—Mr. Hullah gave a grand Christmas performance of The Messiah on Wednes. day evening at this institution. The execution in general was correct and impressive, and the hall densely crowded. Mr. and Mrs. Sims Reeves, and two very promising debutants—Miss Palmer, a con tralto, and Mr. Thomas, a basso—were included in the cast, which was effective throughout. Mr. Hullah's instrumentalists were selectly chosen, and the accom paniments, including those of Mozart, most deli cately and carefully played. THE MUSICAL CONCERTS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE do not appear to succeed to the satisfaction of the directors. The radical defects of the palace as a concert room, from the discordant reverberations of the glass roof, seriously affect the instrumental per formances, and the harmony of those fine bands of the Artillery, Life guards, Grenadiers, and Fol. SATURDAY, hers, is completely destroyed. The vocal choruses are incontestably weak, and out of all proportion to the strength of the instruments, which, except in pianissimo passages, completely drown the vocal accompaniment. A grand concert was given on Thursday last, and is to be repeated this day. COVENT GARDEN.—M. Ju llien, we are happy to see, has at length concluded his arrangements with the directors of Covent-garden Opera-house for the lease of that establishment for a month of promenade concerts. We need hardly congratulate the public upon such a valuable accession to our musical amuse ments during the month of January; and when we state that Ernst, Bottesini, Kcenig, Madame Pleyel, and Madame Anna Thillon, are engaged as solo per formers, and that, in addition to the Beethoven and Mendelssohn nights, we are to have a night devoted to the works of Mozart, we can have no hesitation in predicting as great a success to M. Jullien's excellent efforts as was recently achieved at Drury Lane. Meyer beer's Struensee, Rossini's Le Comte Ory, Verdi's Riyo letto, and Spohr's Jessonda, are all to be performed. A new quadrille, "The Pantomine Quadzilla," com posed for the Christmas holidays, and a new polka, together with that piece de resistance, " The Allied Armies Quadrille," are to be nightly performed. The concerts commence on Friday next, the 29th instant, and will continue for one month. THE WESTMINSTER PLAY. TERENCE'S Eunuchus was fully performed, with prologue and epilogue, upon Monday and Thursday evenings last. The representatives of Phadria and Charea, Mr. E. H. Wodehouse and Mr. H. L. Harris son, were both good, and the energetic temperament of the latter contrasted forcibly with the despondent sentimentality of the former. These parts, however, come out less conspicuously than those of a more marked individuality, as for instance, those of Parmeno and Gnatho. Mr. J. F. Dickson embodied the " servus " with a quick perception of the peculiar cunning which lies beneath the surface ; and he gave the amusing essay on the vagaries and solici tudes of love, beginning— " In amore bee omnia insunt villa ; Injarie, Suapicionea, inimicithe, inducts. Belhun, pax rureuui " which occurs at the very outset of the comedy, with a pertinence that promised well for the after scenes. The parasite, who scans so shrewdly and dupes so cleverly, was personated by Mr. R. M. Freeman with equal dexterity; and the satire of the coxcomb, in cluding the inimitable soliloquy in which he describes with such sublime complacency the villany of his vocation, was enjoyed as usual. The blustering Thraso was made the most of by Mr. G. F. Wells; and the situation incident to the assault upon the house of Thais came out accordingly with much comic breadth. The ladies, it has been before noted' are dramatically stronger in the Eunuchus than in any of the other plays of Terence ; and Thais in par ticular, demands a representative of considerable ability. Mr. C. E. Fisher delineated the anxious courtesan, painted by the author in such truly feminine colours, with care and delicacy, though with some abridgement of the pathos which properly belongs to the part. This, however, was partly attri butable to the " make up" of the young gentleman, which was so thoroughly womanly as to occasion a titter of merry admiration. The other personages were filled more or less meritoriously, and the comedy, which was capitally costumed throughout, passed off amid the usual reiterations of applause. In the prologue, which, as well as the epilogue, was spoken by the captain of the school, Mr. J. F. Dickson, a special tribute was paid to the memory of the eminent classic, the Rev. Fynes Clinton ; and also to another deceased but unnamed Westminster —we believe Mr. Vaughan Williams. An incidental allusion to the mercenary soldier, of which Thraso is the type, was caught up with emphatic avidity by the audience, who evidently applied it to the Ministerial proposition of raising foreign troops. The mistake was palpable enough, but it was none the less signifi cant of public feeling. Among the company present were Lord Wrottesley, Mr. Baron Alderson, the Dean of St. Paul's, Mr. G. Cornewall Lewis, Mr. R. Monckton Milnes, Dr. Haggard, Dr. Sutherland, &c. At the HANOVER-SQUARE Rooms an exhibition is to open on the 26th, presenting to public notice the Erdmanniges or Earthmen, and the Aztec children. These creatures are to be daily exhibited at the Hanover-square Rooms from eleven to one, and at the Linwood Gallery, Leicester-square, from three to five and from seven to nine p.m. THE NEW GRAVING DOCK AT SOUTHAMPTON WAS opened on Monday for the first time for the reception of ships. This dock, which has cost 52,0001, is 500 feet in length, its extreme width Hy feet, its depth over the sill and blocks 25 feet ; but a better idea of its magnitude will be derived from the fact that it would hold a ship 100 feet longer than the Hima laya.