The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

research. But it tells us nothing that we did not know before, as the writer had no &infield family papers before him. It is possible that, in his account of the Irish campaigns of 1691, Mr. Macaulay may meet a very formidable critic in the author of this article. The memoir of Dr. Singer, the Bishop of Meath, does full justice to the talents of that eminent divine, so happily selected by Lord Eglinton for pro motion. In the following paragraph, the sentiments of all independent Irishmen, concerning Lord Eglin ton, are faithfully echoed:— " On the appointment of Lord I to the Premiership, that biesaanaded nobleman openly announced his deter te look for the beet men for preferment in the e▪ lisesk, Iswriag all free to form their own opinions on the Wont of !Mona! education. This policy was safely and Wiley es rented to the generous and chivalrous Viceroy whowes hasetwed with the responsible charge of Irt•lainl. Kent was there one more eminently suited to his tinier. Noble, frank, dignified, accessible : there was in him the knee of genuineness, the power of sincerity, the attraction of a thoroughly kind good nature. His policy was simple and straightforward : it was, therefore, firm and just, but fair and generous : merit was the surest title to favour. The Deanery of Emly became vacant. He inquired, he observed ; he diligently informed himself of the claims of men in the deportment* fr►m which he might have to ele vate them. The first (Air of the first vacancy in his gilt was made to the Regius Professor of l►ivuuty, to Imr. Ringer ; but, as already an archdeacon, I►r. Singer re spectfully declined the favour; it was then bestowed on a man of modest but genuine piety and worth, the Rev. Penis Browne. " The see of Meath next became vacant. Speculation was busy as to the Kobel& meeemor of the late bishop. Several names were suggested ; the tame of Dr. Singer was naturally pnimineet. " Lord Eglinton mastic his selection ; creditable alike to his diseernment, his impartiality, his desire to give the Church the service of one of the best and wisest of her sons, whose example and teaching might help forward the geed tttt of peace, freedom, and truth. The letter in which this choice was communicated is indeed worthy of the heart from which it emanated; it breathed goodeess, kindness, and generosity ; it did homage to merit, and justice to the University, whilst it presented the Church in lrehind with that precious gift, a godly and learned bishop" The reviews of novels in this periodical are rarely executed with ability. They are often too late, a►►d are written without literary knowledge. What can be more absurd than, iu criticising the late Henry Coekton's posthumous novel of " Percy Effingham," to treat the author as a living person, and conclude with the sentence—" And so, Mr. Cockton, we wish M you success !" Tait'. Edinburgh Magazine. Edinburgh : Sutherland and Knox. We have read better numbers of Tait than the prevent one. Its articles are below the average Manama, and cannot be commended. " Priest and People—a Story of American Life" has some read able passages, but it is written with great carelessness. Describing a Romanist priest preparing an altar, the author says, "He then proceeded to light a " eandle—a most indispensable point —said candle " figuring quite as a hero in the ceremony. He " rigged out a little table at the head of the bed, &c." The article on the history of " Russia and Turkey " is the best in the number. Intik Lakadani. London Vizetelly and Co. Pi this, the second number, we rejoin our much esteemed friend the Wandering Jew at Rome, in the rontifieate of rim 11. After some heart• groans. which plunge the Pope into profound grief, Izaak requ 'fits permission to relate a few autobiographical and historical anecdotes, and, as the period over which they extend is only IWO years, ho can be at no loss for matter. Indeed lzaak does not waste time or words, but sets to work at. once. In a few pages he has jumped down a mountain, through the clouds that encircle its sides, plunged headlong into► Vesuvius during an eruption, bathed in Scylla and Charybdis, had a subaqueous interview with an alligator and a shark, taken a run which lasted three days without stopping through an Indian forest on fire; slept a night under an upas-tree in Japan, with a corpse on either side of him, on the principle that company makes it more eheerful; fought and driven away a few hundreds of leopards and lions from a dead giraffe; related the Macedonian conquest, and the history of J erusaletn and of Rome, in the compass of one number! Independently of this super hydraulic power of compression, there is artistic skill In the rapid sketch of the swift march of the Maeedo• nian conqueror. The Natioaal Temperance Chronicle. NON ember. - - London : Tweedie. now this number we learn that the leading members of the House of Commons are, compared with their predecessors, very well behaved, and drink Seltzer water instead of bottles of wine, like l'itt, Fox, and unhappy Sheridan; that the aggregate annual expenditure of the people of the United kingdom in THE PRESS. strong drinks is about 04 millions ; that out of a party of four tradesmen who met daily to take a glass of ale together, one commited suicide, the wife of the second did the same, and that all went to the dogs. " The Queen and Morning Dew Drops" is one of the titles in the index. We imagined all sorts of things about mountain dew and the High lands, and, lest the reader should do the same, we hasten to inform him that her Mikjesty has been grtwiously pleased to accept from the authoress a book bearing the above poetical designation. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. Itnantan Sharer, of the flack sea. 1.. Oliphant Illttckw•ood & Sons. Sari'!" Masc. V vols. A. I G. Rotaledge and Co. I 'of and Inv. A Story. Want taut A Prep at the Pixio. Mr*. limy. I►itta. zke prama. HAYMARKET"IHEATRE. Sin EDWAItD LYTTON'S popular comedy of Money was played here on Wednesday night. We were desirous of seeing Mr. George Yandenhoff in Evelyn. We need not dwell upon his performance of the part, as our previous remarks on his Hamlet are equally ap plicable to his personation of the leading character in Money. In both cases we saw much to praise, not a little to admire, but nothing to astonish. We ex pected on Wednesday more novelty, and his acting left upon us a more confirmed impression that he is an artist of acquired ability, rather than original power. Ile obtained, however, considerable applause from the audience. The Graves of Mr. Compton was highly effective, and produced roars of mirth ; but he looked too much like "a Guy," and his wig was too grotesque. Mr. Buckstone was excellent in Benja min Stout, and ho impersonated the noisy Radical with an exhilarating vivacity that we miss in the originals of the part. The Sir Frederick Blount of Mr. W. Farren,jun., was the most creditable piece of acting we have seen from this performer, who has not yet done much to illustrate his name. Mrs. }'itzwilliam gave only a sketch of Lady Franklyn; she failed to bring out the requisite comic effect in the capital scene where Lady Franklyn quizzes Graves about his front teeth ; and we could not help recalling the incomparable humour of the late Mrs. Glover in the same part. The Clara Douglas of Mrs. L. S. Buckingham was ladylike, and very effective in the first acts, but it wanted depth of tone and passion in the later scenes. We rarely saw an audience more thoroughly enjoy the performance of this admirable acting comedy. At the close of the piece the curtain had to rise again, and then descend amid hearty applause. PRINCESS'S. THEATRICAL managers appear to think that it is im possible to have too much of a good thing. The Fils de Familk having proved a pre-eminently " good thing" to the Paris Gymnase, Mr. Kean has accord ingly presented a translation of it at the Princess's Theatre—uudeterred by the circumstance that an other version had been alrealy brought out at the Adelphi only last week. In justice to Mr. Kean, however, we must add that his translation, though last performed, was the first prepared, having been got ready before the late season closed, but shelved during the run of other performances. So that to the Oxford street manager fairly belongs the credit —such as it is—of precedence in piracy. The title under which the translated play now ap pears is The Lancers; or, the Gentleman's Son. Its plot we need not detail, as it precisely resembles the Adelphi version; but no habitue of the Princess's needs to be informed that the dialogue has been somewhat refined, the characters somewhat idealised, and the getting up rendered in every sense com plete, accurate, and splendid. This latter achieve ment has indeed become characteristic of all the pieces mounted under Mr.—or should we not say Mrs.?—Kean's management- From the grotesque sculptures of a N Himont's palace to the delicate amen blemens of a French salon, the object always aimed at, and generally attained, is to reconstruct upon the stage the very facsimile of the natural scene. The banquet-hall in Sardanapalas, and the ballroom in The Lancers, stand perhaps at the opposite extremes of " interior " scenery ; but the success with which the actual or supposed originals have been imitated is, in both, equally complete. And this, in the pre sent dearth of originality among British dramatists and actors, is probably the best thing a manager can do. An actor new to London, but accredited by a fair provincial reputation, Mr. D. Fisher, made his first appearance in the character of the " gentleman's son." His peculiar "walk "is that of gentlemen iu comedy and melodrama, in which, at this moment, he will have few rivals on the boa r.ls. Though rather deficient in aplomb, Mr. Fisher performs in a quiet, unaffected, style : his deportment is graceful ; and both by tone and action he shows himself not unqualified for the line of character which be has selected. If SATURDAY, his future performances fulfil the promise of his first appearance, he will supply a void not easy to fill up properly, especially in a theatre where the tastes of persons of refinement have to be gratified. Both drama and actor, we need hardly say, were perfectly successful on Tuesday, the first night. E l M. BEYOND the fact that the season opened on Monday night, and that Mr. Wright is now a member of th e corps, there is little worth recording of the perform. ances at this theatre. The pieces hitherto pertia•wed are old—very old—favourites, except the one designed to introduce Wright to his new house—which will never be a favourite at all. The idea of playing off an elaborate mystification on the audience has been often worked out more happily than in the present specimen. A farce, intentionally bad in construction, is commenced with a series of intentional blunders in scenery and acting. When hisses are heard, Mr. Mathews rushes on as manager, and with feigned wrath and agitation declares that he is the victim of hostile partisanship, and singles Wright out of the pit as the emissary of a rival theatre, sent there to disturb the performance. Wright denies the charge ; a long colloquy ensues, interspersed with sundry jokes and scraps of thea trical gossip ; and in the end Wright is invited upon the stage, and consents not only to enlist among the company, but to give a ►roof of his talents there twit then in a new farce. This opening is tolerable— although the point of the jest depends upon the sur prise of the audience, and this cannot survive the first representation. The worst is that the " Wright" farce turns out nearly as dull as that which was in terrupted. However, the affair is meant for nothing more than a pike de eiremetance, and when Mr. Mathews has shown for a few nights more that he has got " Wright at last " we may hope he will give him something better to do. ST. JAMES'S. AN "opera season" was commenced at this house on Saturday last, when the Sunnambula was presented by a company of artists heretofore known only, and cre ditably, at concerts. Miss Lowe was the Amine, and Mr. Henry Drayton took the part of Rudolph°. The performance has been repeated during the week, and obtained favourable acceptance from the audiences ; but whether the new entreprCneur will succeed in establishing that "fond impossibility," an English opera-house, remains to be seen. art, 2:ittraturt, k. THE CURIOUS CASE OF LUMLEY r. GYE iv still pend ing, and will be tried at the sittings after the ensuing Michaelmas Term. It is an action against Mr. (lye for inducing Miss Johanna Wagner, the celebrated German artiste, to break her alleged contract with Mr. Lumley, who lays his damages at. 30,0001. The principal witnesses, including Miss Wagner herself, being beyond the regular jurisdiction of the English courts, a commission has been issued to take their evidence at Berlin, where their examination anti cross-examination will be conducted by English counsel, through the medium of a sworn interpreter. Mr. Hayward, Queen's Counsel, has been named sole commissioner, and will discharge, pro tanto, the ditties of a judge at a nisi Arius trial. The COLUllliN sion is to open at Berlin on Monday next, the Sth instant. FESTIVAL or THE THREE Cuouts.—Arrangentents are already in preparation for the meeting to be held at Worcester next year. At a preliminary meeting twelve gentlemen signified their willingness ti accept the office of stewards. The Dean of Worcester, who was present, granted permission that the cathedral may be used for the purpose, upon condition that early divine service be performed on each day of the festival, as at Gloucester last month. TnE CELEBRATED GIRAFFE, "Jenny Lind," the star of her species, left the Zoological Gardens, Re gent's-park, yesterday week, for a provincial tour, having been purchased of the society by Mr. James Edmonds, proprietor of the Royal Menagerie ( late Wombwell's), fur 1,000 guineas. This splendid animal stands eighteen feet high. There were many eompetitors for the prize, and the purchaser, it is said, had au offer of 1,5041/. for "Jenny " some two hours after having secured her, but it was at once declined. TAE WELLINOTON STATUE COMMITTEE Of 011ild ball, of which Mr. John Wood is chairman, have selected the models sent in by the six following sculptors as those entitled to the premium of 10(5 guineas each :—Adams, Belmes, Bell, Foley, Smith, and Thomas. The number of models before the committee was thirty. The committee have not yet determined upon the se:ection of a model for the monument, and it is not known whether any one of the above-mentioned artists is to be engaged to carry into execution the great work. THREE YOUNO LADIES, nieces of Mr. Henry Russell. made their (abut last week as vocalists. On the .-26tIt of October they sang before a numerous audience at Breutfcci s and were well received.